The Cisco Certified Network Associate Routing and Switching certification exam would be covering lots of areas, which would be including network fundamentals, LAN switching, IPv4 as well as IPv6 routing, infrastructure services, WAN technologies, security and infrastructure management. Infrastructure management would be making up 10 percent of the exam topics which would be published by Cisco.
Infrastructure Management Overview
Infrastructure management would be referring to network infrastructure, which is considered to be a combination of routers, switches and the LAN/WAN links that would be binding those devices together. The management in infrastructure management would be referring to the use of concepts, protocols as well as tools for day-to-day troubleshooting and maintenance of networks.
CCNA Routing & Switching would be putting various technologies together under the banner of management of the infrastructure. These technologies would be sharing a common theme, but are considered to be different otherwise. You would be commonly able to study each of these technologies which would be independent without following a specific order. Before we discuss them more, it would be easy for you to obtain certification, if you have obtained some good prep courses, like that offered at the SPOTO Club.
Infrastructure Management Categories
For ease of comprehensibility, we would list the infrastructure management items and then it would discuss each category in depth. The basic tool list is:
- Monitoring Protocols
- IP SLA
- Device Management
- Device Maintenance
- Troubleshooting Tools
- Network Programmability
Monitoring Protocols
CCNA R&S covers two monitoring protocols:
- SNMP
- Syslog
IP SLA
IP SLA (IP Service Level Agreement) is believed a tool available on Cisco routers that would let you set up automated operations for distributing synthetic probe traffic into the network. By sending packets as we would be receiving responses, the router could measure and report network availability as well as performance. CCNA R&S covers ICMP echo-based IP SLA operations.
Device Management
CCNA R&S device management would be including several topics, listed below:
- Configuration Files
- CCDP and LLDP
- Licensing
- Logging
- Loopback
Device Maintenance
Cisco would be selling many different products that might be running different operating systems. The Cisco IOS Software is considered to be the most prevalent Cisco operating system, found on routers and Catalyst LAN switches. CCNA R&S covers a few IOS features that would be nearly working identically on routers and switches.
IOS Image Management
The Cisco IOS software would be coming as monolithic files stored in the device file system. For CCNA Routing & Switching, you should be able to upgrade as well as recover IOS image files utilizing several alternate methods.
Password Recovery
CCNA Routing & Switching has a brief discussion about how to recover a lost router or switch password. It is considered to be quite an important life skill for network professionals.
File System Management
Routers and switches could be thought of as specialized computers. They would be having a file system of their own where they keep the configuration as well as IOS image files, among other things. For CCNA Routing & Switching, you need a basic familiarity with the device file system.
Troubleshooting Tools
Network troubleshooting is a complex and sometimes-underestimated skill. CCNA R&S covers a few basic troubleshooting tools available in the Cisco IOS Software:
- Ping and Traceroute
- Terminal Monitor
- Log Events
- Local SPAN
Network Programmability
For decades, people have used the CLI or web interface to configure and maintain network devices manually. You would be spending time understanding protocols that devices use, learn the commands needed to configure those protocols, and manually add configuration commands, device by device. That’s how we’ve managed networks so far.
Hence, if you wish to have more information, you should obtain some good and reliable training courses offered at the SPOTO Club.
