This learning path explores the use of monitoring your Cisco SD-WAN fabric with SD-WAN Analytics and ThousandEyes, showcasing their unique methods of providing visibility into network and application performance. As a WAN engineer, monitoring and keeping an eye on the health of your network can be a constant challenge, but luckily network monitoring capabilities have come a long way. In today's complex network environments, having robust monitoring capabilities is essential for network engineers to understand and troubleshoot issues effectively. SD-WAN Analytics and ThousandEyes are powerful tools that provide varying levels of network visibility, each offering unique perspectives and usage scenarios. Understanding the capabilities of each helps network engineers identify the right tool for their specific needs, ensuring optimal network performance and reliability.

SD-Routing is a new capability offered by Cisco, in an attempt to simplify and overcome the challenges of traditional routing deployments. This capability enables autonomous (non-SD-WAN) routing devices to be managed through the Catalyst SD-WAN Manager, unifying autonomous and SD-WAN devices into a single platform, unlocking many of the tools and features previously only offered to SD-WAN devices, such as device lifecycle management, DIA (Direct Internet Access), Cloud-onRamp, and troubleshooting tools. Enroll to gain practical skills in onboarding traditional routing devices into SD-WAN Manager, and become proficient in leveraging SD-Routing's benefits for simplified network management and enhanced operational agility. Start your SD-Routing journey today!

This learning path is a comprehensive, progression-driven curriculum designed to take network engineers from core Layer 2/3 fundamentals all the way to architect-level mastery of VXLAN EVPN — one of the most critical technologies underpinning modern data center and cloud networking. Spanning multiple structured modules, the path is carefully sequenced to build knowledge layer by layer, ensuring that each concept is grounded in what came before and every advanced topic is supported by a solid technical foundation. The journey begins with a deliberate refresher of networking fundamentals — Ethernet, VLANs, IP routing, and ARP — not as a review for its own sake, but to reframe those concepts through the lens of scalability challenges that VXLAN EVPN was built to solve. From there, learners explore the evolution of data center design, the mechanics of overlay networking, and the inner workings of VXLAN itself, before advancing into the EVPN control plane, distributed routing models, multi-tenancy, and high-availability designs. Throughout the path, the curriculum maintains a strong emphasis on real-world applicability and multi-vendor relevance, with content aligned to production deployments on Cisco NX-OS, Arista EOS, and Juniper Junos platforms. Learners will not only understand how VXLAN EVPN works in theory, but will develop the design intuition to architect, validate, and defend fabric deployments in complex, large-scale environments. Advanced modules extend the curriculum into automation and programmability, multi-site and inter-DC architectures, hybrid cloud integration, and emerging trends such as SRv6 and AI-driven network operations. This learning path is built for engineers at the CCNA level and above who are ready to move beyond traditional campus and enterprise networking into modern data center and cloud infrastructure. It is equally valuable for seasoned professionals seeking to formalize and deepen their VXLAN EVPN knowledge, close vendor-specific gaps, or transition into architecture and design roles. Whether you are preparing for a professional certification, building a lab curriculum, or enabling a team of engineers, this path provides the structure, depth, and practical grounding to make that outcome a reality. Look for part 2 of this series, where we dive into advanced VXLAN techniques such as flood and learn, MP-BGP EVPN, multi-tenancy, and troubleshooting.