When doing the switching, you don’t have the concept of VRF. Boom, we have endless routing possibilities. In fact, you can create sub-interfaces on the routers’ links, and then associate each of them to a different VLAN. VRF is a Layer 3 concept, VLAN is a Layer 2 segregation concept, so they work well together. But the concept we are going to use to increase separation is even simpler: VLANs.
Each virtual router has its own routing table and is independent of the other or from the physical router itself. Then, all interfaces with the same VRF name will be part of the same virtual router. You take a router and associate each interface to a given VRF name. In fact, our CCNP lab setup leverages VRF in some specific circumstances.įor the ones of you new to it, VRF is a routing virtualization and abstraction technology. Well, think again, because while we have 4 physical routers, we can easily turn them to 8, 12, or even 16. Multiply the number of routersĪt this point, many people think “Ok, I can get a great lab with 8 devices, but I won’t replicate a real scenario”. In the following paragraphs, we will see how to use it for BGP (eBGP and iBGP), advanced routing, and so on.
However, it has a lot of potential in many different areas.
The switches are connected together in a full-mesh topology. Our topology is simple is connected to the two other routers and to a multi-layer switch. Then, we connected them in a very special way. With these goals in mind, we took four routers and four switches. Allows the creation of all labs in CCNP.Must be replicable in GNS3 – that’s pretty self-explanatory.Keep hardware to a bare minimum: for the ones of you that want to buy real hardware, we know it can be expensive, so we didn’t add any fancy stuff.Maximize adjacencies: if each router can see the others in multiple ways we can create complex logical topologies.We kept in mind these items when creating this setup: So, we designed our CCNP lab setup to allow you to get the most out of each area. You get CCNP certified by passing three exams: one about switching, one about routing, and another about troubleshooting. Of course, practice means lab, and what is the best way to starting with the right foot, if not with the best CCNP lab setup? In this article, we will explain how to connect routers and switches to maximize the results in terms of learning.ĭon’t have the CCNA yet? Then check out our complete CCNA guide, it is online and free! The goals for our CCNP lab setup You will learn CCNP most by practicing, but you need to start with the right foot. This is completely normal: if few people have a certification, even fewer will write about it. However, as you climb the networking ladder, resources get scarcer. The natural step after the CCNA is the CCNP, at least for most people.
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