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About

Consistent, hands-on Cisco practice — without the busywork.

Goldfish Networks is a daily Cisco Modeling Labs platform for network engineers, students, and certification candidates. The hard part of getting better at networking is showing up to practice something real, every day. We handle the rest: a fresh, reviewed, import-ready lab is waiting whenever you are.

Veteran Owned & Operated

Veteran owned and operated. Same idea that makes practice pay off: show up, do the reps, get a little better every day.

Who's behind the labs

Built and reviewed by a working network engineer

Mr. Alec "Goldfish" Gauldin

Owner & Principal Network Engineer

Alec "Goldfish" Gauldin is the owner of Goldfish Networks and a Cisco- and CompTIA-certified network engineer with hands-on experience across enterprise routing and switching, wireless, and network security. A warrant officer in the U.S. Army National Guard specializing in network systems, he goes by the call sign "Goldfish" — the platform's namesake — and started Goldfish Networks to give engineers and CCNA and CCNP candidates the daily, graded, hands-on reps that build lasting skill. He personally reviews every lab before it ships.

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Who it's for

  • Network engineers keeping their configuration and troubleshooting skills sharp.
  • Students building real fundamentals beyond multiple-choice questions.
  • CCNA and CCNP candidates who want consistent, exam-relevant hands-on reps.

What you can do here

  • Open today's lab and build it in Cisco Modeling Labs.
  • Upload your finished lab to grade it against the answer key, then reveal the node-by-node solution.
  • Subscribe to download and run every daily lab from your start date forward — the current one and each new drop — while you're subscribed. Labs published before you joined (and any past lab) unlock permanently with a bundle.
  • Follow study paths that group labs toward a certification.
Quality

How every lab is made

Generation is review-first by design. A lab is only as useful as it is correct, so each one earns its place before it reaches you.

1 · Generated with intent

Each lab starts from a focused objective and a realistic topology — built around a concept worth practicing, not a random diagram.

2 · Validated automatically

Every draft is checked against quality gates: matching learner/solution topologies, valid device configs, complete node-scoped solution guides, and clean import packaging.

3 · Approved by a human

Nothing publishes until Alec Gauldin — a Principal Network Engineer — reviews it. You only ever see labs that have cleared both the automated gates and that hands-on engineer check.

4 · Import-ready

Each published lab ships as a license-free YAML package — built on CML free-tier images — that imports cleanly into Cisco Modeling Labs, plus a learner guide and solution runbook.

Start practicing today

See the current daily lab, or explore how labs build into certification study paths.

See today's labExplore study paths

Questions? Email support@goldfishnetworks.com.