This learning path on foundational Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) provides a comprehensive introduction and deep dive into the core aspects of BGP, the backbone of the internet's routing architecture. It starts by explaining the basics of BGP, including its purpose, operation, and fundamental concepts such as Autonomous Systems (AS), BGP sessions, and the BGP routing table. The series progresses to cover more advanced topics, such as BGP path selection, route advertisement, and the implementation of various BGP attributes like Local Preference, AS Path, and MED. Through practical examples, configurations, and troubleshooting scenarios, viewers gain a thorough understanding of how BGP facilitates global data exchange and the techniques network engineers use to optimize and secure BGP networks. The series aims to equip network professionals with the knowledge needed to manage and optimize BGP in real-world environments, emphasizing best practices and common pitfalls.

This Learning Path is designed to Discover and Experience Cisco (Viptela) SD-WAN. The lab environment that supports this Learning Path is virtual and dedicated to each individual consumer.

Cisco ACI is a policy-driven CLOS or Spine/Leaf based switching fabric utilizing layer 3 ECMP routing in the underlay and VXLAN encapsulation in the overlay to transport layer two and layer three traffic East/West across the fabric and North/South in and out of the fabric. ACI consists of the Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC), a centralized controller that manages all aspects of the ACI fabric. The leaf switches are ToR switches that provide connectivity between servers and external networks, and the spine switches are Layer 3 switches that provide ECMP high-bandwidth connectivity between leaf switches. An ACI fabric can be expanded East/West by adding leafs, cabling to the spines, and registering them. ACI was designed to operate as "One Big Switch" (like a chassis-based NEXUS 7K) with the controllers acting like the Supervisors, the spines as fabric modules, and leafs acting as blades. We can decouple these elements from the chassis and place them anywhere in the data center by taking this approach. The leafs (blades) can be placed anywhere in the data center, so you are not limited to a chassis.

Learn the basics about network security and how next-generation firewalls (NGFW) fits into a secure environment. Establish baseline knowledge around the Cisco Secure Firewall to better understand the tools and techniques used to secure the most important part of your networks. You will have the opportunity to explore these concepts, tools, and practices through this NGFW Learning Path. So Let's jump in!

Data Center Network Manager (DCNM), now superseded by Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (NDFC), is Cisco's version of an EVPN fabric controller. DCNM, or NDFC, has three essential primary components. Spines that act like physical aggregation points for all of the leaves. Leaves provide endpoint aggregation and link to the spine. The last essential component is the controller, which in the case of DCNM is a single device or HA pair, and for NDFC, it is a Nexus Dashboard cluster with a loaded NDFC application. In most cases, DCNM or NDFC will utilize OSPF for the underlay and VXLAN EVPN with MP-BGP as the overlay on Nexus 9000 switches. These fabric controllers are easier to use than similar fabric technologies on smaller to medium size networks, as most variables work out of the box without needing to change them. To what is known in the industry as a point and click your way to happiness.

Before a core network can provide advanced services and traffic engineering, it must first establish basic transport connectivity between its nodes. In this course, you will learn how interior routing protocols are used to establish dynamic routing within the core, how MPLS technology is used to enhance packet transport across the underlay, and how Segment Routing is changing the way we think about transport paths. In each module you will watch a brief video describing the underlying technology and then walk through a hands-on lab to dive deeper into the relevant protocols and configurations that make underlay routing work.

Previously, the Cisco day 2 operations suite of MSO, NAE, NIR, and NIA ran separately on computing as a .ova in vSphere or on the APIC as an application. The architecture never allowed for sharing data between the apps or correlations with errors and telemetry views of packet loss. With the roadmap moving, we had applications and a shared data lake for all applications to draw from and correlate between application errors, changes to the policy, and deep flow telemetry, all visual as an epoch. For all the applications to run and have sharable databases, Cisco NEXUS Dashboard (ND) was created. The ND platform allows all the Cisco Day 2 apps and third-party applications to run on a single appliance. Secondly, the ND has to be an expandable CPU and storage-intensive platform; today, the platform can scale with 3 master nodes and 4 worker nodes with the apps and their data residing on the ND cluster. As ND matures, more ND servers can join the cluster, and they can be separated regionally if within TTL requirements to distribute applications and provide DR strategies.

Explore Cisco's XDR allowing it's users to correlate data across several vendors and vectors providing a wholistic view of ones environment. Throughout this learning path and corresponding lab you will learn the fundamentals of the Cisco XDR components and tools that allow SOC analysts visibility and context into advanced threats! We will take you through an introduction and operation of the XDR console as well as automation. Let's get started!

.Cisco's Routed Passive Optical Network (PON) solution differs from traditional PON solutions by having the Optical Line Terminal (OLT) exist as a pluggable transceiver in a router rather than a dedicated device. This learning path will cover the basics of how Cisco's Routed PON solution works and how to operate it.

This learning path on foundational Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) provides a comprehensive introduction and deep dive into the core aspects of OSPF. It starts by explaining the basics of OSPF, including its purpose, operation, and fundamental concepts such as OSPF Neighbors, advertising routes, authentication, OSPF network types, and many others. This learning path aims to equip network professionals with the knowledge needed to manage and optimize OSPF in real-world environments, emphasizing best practices and common pitfalls.

The Cisco Layer 2 Fundamentals Learning Path focuses on key networking concepts including VLANs, Trunks, CDP, LLDP, and UDLD. It starts with understanding how VLANs segment networks for better security and performance, followed by learning how trunk links enable communication between VLANs. You'll explore CDP and LLDP to discover network devices and topologies, and finally dive into UDLD for preventing unidirectional link failures. This path equips you with essential skills to manage, secure, and troubleshoot Layer 2 networks, providing a strong foundation for more advanced networking topics.

This Learning Path is designed to guide users through the many possible Cisco SD-WAN (Viptela) integrations with other vendors and technologies. After these videos, you will understand how to integrate Cisco SD-WAN with carrier-neutral facility providers, public cloud platforms, and some of the most popular security service edge (SSE) vendors.