Advanced Network Architecture (CIS-3250) Home Page

This is the home page for Peter Chapin's Advanced Network Architecture course notes for the Spring 2024 semester. Here you will find electronic versions of class handouts, homework assignments, lecture slides, and links to other references of interest. If you are a student taking Advanced Network Architecture, consider bookmarking this page.

The course syllabus gives an overview of the course and its content, lists course resources, and describes the grading policy and related issues.
The homework/lab submission area, quizzes, and grade book are on Canvas but all other course resources are here.
Cisco's PacketTracer tool can be downloaded from the Cisco Networking Academy site, but as a convenience I include links to it here: Windows, macOS, Ubuntu Linux. You will need to log into Packet Tracer using either your Cisco Networking Academy credentials (if you have any) or with your credentials from the Cisco Skills for All site (you can sign up for free).
There is no textbook that you have to buy for this course. Instead, we will make use of some books in the O'Reilly eBook collection available via the VSCS Libraries.
I've prepared some general information on submitting assignments.
My home page contains other resources of potential interest.

Lecture Topics

2024-01-22. Introduction to the course and available course materials.
2024-01-24. Introduced the Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP).
2024-01-29. Continued discussion of EIGRP. Described Lab #2.
2024-01-31. Discussed the EIGRP metrics.
2024-02-05. Introduced and discussed OSPF with a focus on multi-area OSPF.
2024-02-07. Discussed Lab #3 on multi-area OSPF. Introduced ACLs.
2024-02-12. Continued discussing ACLs.
2024-02-14. Discussed Lab #4.
2024-02-19. Finished discussion ACLs by talking about dynamic, reflexive, and time-based ACLs.
2024-02-21. No class.
2024-02-26. No class (Vacation).
2024-02-28. No class (Vacation).
2024-03-04. Introduced VLANs and VTP.
2024-03-06. More discussion of VTP. Introduced STP
2024-03-11. Discussed the XNetwork and introduced SNMP.
2024-03-13. A short class giving an overview of upcoming topics/material.
2024-03-18. Introduced PPP.
2024-03-20. Discussed Lab #6 on configuring PPP with CHAP authentication.
2024-03-25. Introduced First Hop Redundancy Protocols (such as HSRP, GLBP). Discussed Lab #7 on configuring HSRP.
2024-03-27. Introduced EtherChannel.
2024-04-01. No class.
2024-04-03. No class.
2024-04-08. No class (Vacation).
2024-04-10. No class (Vacation).
2024-04-15. Discussed Lab #8 on EtherChannel.
2024-04-17. Introduced IPv6.
2024-04-22. Discussed Lab #9 on IPv6.
2024-04-24. More on IPv6: How to read RFC-8200. Comments about the use of IPv6 flow labels.

Slides

Introduction
Enhanced Interior Gateway Protocol (EIGRP)
Open Shortest Path First (OSPF)
OSPF Concepts and Configuration
Multi-Area and Advanced OSPF
Access Control Lists (ACLs)
Virtual LAN (VLAN)
VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP)
Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)
Point to Point Protocol (PPP)
First Hop Redundancy Protocols (FHRP)
EtherChannel
IPv6 Overview
IPv6 Details

Lab Assignments

The lab set is summarized in the lab summary document, along with links to specific lab handouts and supporting materials.

Samples

The following are samples presented in class or augment material presented in class.

The Packet Tracer Demo illustrates a number of Packet Tracer features and shows how the basics of how the tool can be used in this class.
The OSPF sandbox demonstrates how OSPF can route around failed links.

Resources/Articles

General Hardware

Some information on the wiring of Ethernet cables. Generally, straight-through cables will use the 568B standard on both ends, while the crossover cables will have 568A on one end and 568B on the other.

Cisco Hardware

Cisco IOS Configuration Fundamentals Command Reference
The PDF version of the IOS Command Reference (from 2010) also contains some information about the general behavior of the IOS command processor.
Naming convention for Cisco interfaces.
Instructions for initializing a Cisco router and a Cisco switch. These procedures assume you know (or can guess) the enable secret.
If you need to reset a Cisco router back to a default initial state, and you don't remember the passwords needed to log into it, consult this page.
If you need to recover the password of a Cisco switch, consult this page.
This text file describes the basic settings for Cisco routers and Cisco switches that we will use in this course.
Configuring a router on a stick with Cisco devices.
This page gives detailed instructions for configuring HSRP.

Addressing

These slides review binary/decimal number systems and how subnet masks work.
This cheat sheet on IPv4 Network Masks is a quick reference for netmask values.
RFC-1918 specifies which IP address ranges can be used by private internets.
Ethernet frame formats.
Some notes on IP multicast addresses.
Ethernet multicast MAC addresses and how they are derived from IP multicast addresses.
Some notes on IPv6 unicast addressing. Note that the IPv6 site-local addresses described on that page are now deprecated in favor of the unique local addresses. The page also shows the EUI-64 algorithm for converting ethernet MAC addresses into interface IDs.
Here is some information on IPv6 solicited node addresses.
This answer on the Network Engineering stack exchange site gives a good explanation of IPv6 privacy addresses.

Routing & Switching

RFC-2328 describes OSPF version 2.
RFC-5340 describes OSPF version 3, which supports IPv6.
Layer 3 Switch vs Router
Wikipedia's article on First Hop Redundancy Protocols (FHRP)

Wide Area Network

Wikipedia's article on Point to Point Protocol (PPP) gives a good overview of the protocol and contains a great diagram showing the (somewhat complex) architecture.
RFC-1994 describes CHAP, the Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol, used by PPP.