CCNA & CCNP practice labs — hands-on Cisco CML scenarios

Lab 9: Centralized DHCP for Two Departments via Relay

Build a central DHCP service on an IOS-XE router and service two branch departments across a routed hop via DHCP relay. Configure two DHCP pools (SALES and SUPPORT) with proper options and excluded ranges on the HQ server, and enable ip helper-address on both branch LAN interfaces so clients obtain leases from the correct pool. Verify leases and bindings using Linux and IOS show commands, and confirm return-path reachability with prebuilt static routes.

CCNA45 min5 objectives

DHCP Server Fundamentals: One Pool

Build a single-scope DHCP server on an IOS-XE router and verify two Alpine Linux clients lease addresses dynamically across a pure Layer-2 switch. Configure only the canonical pool (network + default-router). Verify leases from the router and from each client.

CCNA35 min4 objectives

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Router Interface as a DHCP Client (IOS-to-IOS)

Configure an IOS router as a DHCP server and have another IOS router obtain its uplink address dynamically via DHCP on a shared LAN. Validate the lease from both the client and server perspectives and test reachability from attached hosts.

CCNA35 min4 objectives

Lab 4: DHCP Relay with ip helper-address

Configure a centralized DHCP server on an IOS-XE router and relay DHCP from a remote branch LAN using ip helper-address on a branch router. Verify leases, helper configuration, and end-host reachability across a routed path.

CCNA40 min4 objectives

DHCP: Serving Two Subnets from Two Pools

Build and verify two independent DHCP address pools on a single Cisco IOS router, each serving a different LAN. Two Alpine Linux clients obtain leases from their respective pools via directly attached access switches. You will configure the pools, excluded addresses, default gateways, DNS, and domain names, then verify with IOS show commands and Linux tools. The focus is deterministic router DHCP configuration; clients lease dynamically and are verified rather than graded.

CCNA45 min5 objectives

Lab 3: Full DHCP Pool — Gateway, DNS, Domain, Lease

Configure an IOS-XE router as a DHCP server delivering a complete, production-grade option set (gateway, DNS servers, domain suffix, explicit 8-hour lease) to two Alpine Linux clients over a pure L2 access switch. Validate that clients obtain dynamic addresses in-scope and that /etc/resolv.conf reflects the delivered DNS and domain options. The graded outcome is the deterministic router DHCP configuration — not the clients’ dynamic addresses.

CCNA40 min5 objectives

DHCP Troubleshooting Capstone: Branch Relay

Advanced CCNA troubleshooting capstone for centralized DHCP across a relay. A centralized IOS-XE router (DHCP-SRV) serves the branch LAN behind BR-RTR via ip helper-address. The lab imports in a deliberately broken state: the DHCP pool scope and gateway are misconfigured on the server, and the relay configuration is missing on BR-RTR. Learners must diagnose using show outputs and Linux tools, fix all three discrepancies, and verify that two Alpine clients dynamically receive usable leases and can reach DHCP-SRV.

CCNA65 min5 objectives

Lab 7: DHCP Manual Bindings (Reservations)

Configure a Cisco IOS router as a DHCP server with a general LAN pool and a per-host manual binding (reservation) so that CLIENT-A always receives 172.20.10.5 based on its MAC, while CLIENT-B receives a normal dynamic address from the same subnet. Verify with router show commands and Linux host tools. Focus strictly on DHCP: pool scope, excluded addresses, options, and a hardware-address-tied manual binding.

CCNA35 min5 objectives

DHCP Exclusions: Reserved Statics on a Single LAN

Configure an IOS-XE router as a DHCP server with a correctly scoped pool and an excluded-address range that protects the gateway and a reserved static server (.10). Two Alpine clients obtain addresses dynamically from the remaining range (starting at .11). Verify leases, confirm the excluded count, and ensure the reserved static never appears as a DHCP binding.

CCNA35 min5 objectives

CCNA NAT3: Dynamic NAT with an Address Pool

Configure dynamic one-to-one NAT using a public address pool on an IOS router between a private LAN and a simulated ISP. Two inside hosts draw from a two-address public pool on-demand. Validate that no translations exist before traffic, that each host receives a distinct global address after generating traffic, and that entries age out when idle.

CCNA38 min5 objectives

CCNA NAT4: PAT Overload onto a Pool

Implement Port Address Translation (PAT) using a one-address NAT pool so multiple inside hosts share a single public IP. Reuse the same 5-node topology and addressing as the prior lab; convert the pool to a single address and enable overload. Verify simultaneous connectivity from two inside hosts, observe translations and counters, and contrast with prior pool-exhaustion behavior.

CCNA45 min5 objectives

PAT onto the Outside Interface (SOHO Edge)

Implement and verify interface-based PAT (overload) on a single-edge SOHO router. Inside hosts on 192.168.10.0/24 share the router’s lone public IP (203.0.113.1) on its outside interface. Validate NAT translations, ACL matches, and simultaneous host access, and practice troubleshooting common misconfigurations (inside/outside role reversal, ACL selection errors).

CCNA45 min6 objectives