Network Discovery & Monitoring

Enable the open-standard LLDP on adjacent Cisco IOS routers over direct point-to-point links while also attaching the devices to a shared management LAN. Learners configure deterministic LLDP behavior (global enable plus per-interface transmit/receive) and verify neighbor discovery without adding any routing protocols or static routes.

Harden Cisco IOS edge interfaces by disabling CDP/LLDP toward untrusted endpoints while keeping discovery active on trusted infrastructure links. Routers share a management LAN with a server and form a direct router-to-router adjacency for CDP/LLDP. The learner enables discovery globally, selectively suppresses it on the client-facing edge, and verifies the outcome with show commands.

Configure a Cisco IOS router (R1) to forward its logs to a central syslog server with accurate date/time and millisecond timestamps. Validate the remote host and trap level in show logging. This is Lab 4 of 10 in the Network Discovery & Monitoring series.

Tune which syslog messages go where on Cisco IOS using severity levels: keep detailed logs locally in a 16 KB buffer, reduce console noise to warnings, and send notifications to a central server. Single management LAN, no routing. Grading focuses on three R1 commands steering severity: logging buffered 16384 debugging, logging console warnings, and logging trap notifications.

Configure Cisco IOS SNMPv2c read-only access on R1 so an NMS on a trusted management LAN can poll device status. You will add a read-only community string and device identity (location/contact), validate from IOS show commands, and confirm basic reachability from the MGMT host. No routing protocols or static routes are used; all devices share a single management subnet bridged by an L2 switch.

Configure a Cisco IOS router (R1) to proactively send SNMPv2c trap notifications to a centralized NMS host. Learners practice the difference between polling and traps, add the trap destination and enable device-initiated notifications, and verify deterministically with show commands. Flat L2-only management LAN; no routing, no VLAN/STP complexity.

Harden the monitoring plane by replacing cleartext SNMPv2c with authenticated and encrypted SNMPv3 (authPriv) on R1. You will create a v3 group that requires privacy and a user with SHA authentication and AES-128 encryption, then verify the configuration. The flat management LAN avoids routing complexity so you can focus on the security mechanics of SNMPv3.

Enable and verify DNS-based name resolution on Cisco IOS. R1 will use a central DNS resolver on the management LAN and also maintain a static host mapping for R2, demonstrating resolution order and operational differences between local host tables and DNS queries.

Advanced discovery and monitoring capstone, run as a fault hunt. The NMS has stopped seeing this site: neighbours are missing from the topology map, no traps are arriving, and syslog went quiet — while every device is reachable and pingable. You get symptoms and the required end state — no fault list. Faults span both routers and the switch they all peer through, and more than one of them leaves the monitoring configuration looking complete.