IntermediateDailyLocked
CCNP VRF & GRE: A Private Link Across the Provider
Two sites, and a provider that won't carry private routes. Build a tunnel between the sites and route each LAN through it.
Topic
Static Routing practice labs
37 hands-on Static Routing scenarios you build in your own Cisco Modeling Labs instance and grade against the answer key. Static Routing configuration and troubleshooting practice for CCNA and CCNP.
Included with a subscription
IntermediateDailyLocked
CCNP VRF & GRE: Two Tenants Down One Cable
The tenant services moved to a core router. Carry both tenants over one cable and route each to its own services.
BeginnerDailyLocked
CCNA L3 Switching: A Routed Uplink to the Edge
Connect the campus to the edge router over a routed link, and give traffic a way out and back.
AdvancedDailyLocked
CCNA Break/Fix Capstone: One Floor, Two Layers, One Ticket
A full-path break/fix capstone for CCNA troubleshooting. A single floor was renumbered and re-cabled. Users on that floor cannot reach anything — not their default gateway, not other subnets, and not the internet. The change record mentions both the access switch and the internet edge. Your job: prove the path hop-by-hop from the client outward and repair every break. Fixing only one side does not change the symptom; both layers must be corrected.
AdvancedDailyLocked
CCNA Break/Fix: Routes Configured, Never Installed
Troubleshoot a dual-stack hub-and-spoke where IPv6 traffic never flowed after go-live. IPv4 works end-to-end, but IPv6 static routes are present in running-config and missing from the RIB. Compare configured vs installed routes, trace next-hop reachability per link, and correct the next-hop so each static becomes active. Validate from the user LAN.
AdvancedDailyLocked
CCNA Break/Fix: Subnets That Went Dark After Summary Tidy
Two internal subnets behind a branch router stopped working after a summarization tidy-up. Everything else inside the same /16 summary is fine, and the edge still has a discard route for the summary. Your job: trace which route each hop actually matches for those destinations, then restore reachability without removing or weakening the summary.
IntermediateDailyLocked
CCNA Break/Fix: Everything Is Crossing the Backup Circuit
Two sites have dual WAN links (primary and backup). Both circuits are up and end-to-end connectivity works, yet every intersite flow rides the slow backup path. Your job: read which routes each router actually installed for the opposite site and why, then restore the intended path preference so traffic uses the primary circuit while keeping the backup standing by.
AdvancedDailyLocked
CCNA Break/Fix: The ACL That Blocks Too Much
Branch staff cannot reach the server at 172.16.100.100, and they cannot close a day's tickets without it. Policy also requires Telnet from the user LAN to that server be denied while everything else passes, and the security review cannot confirm it is being enforced. Work the path from a client and find what is wrong.
IntermediateDailyLocked
CCNA Break/Fix: The DHCP Request That Goes Nowhere
Branch staff cannot work: no workstation on the user LAN holds an address. By design, clients there lease from the hub router's scope and the two sites route to each other statically. Find why no lease arrives; change nothing else.
IntermediateDailyLocked
CCNA Foundations: The IPv6 Default Route — One Route Out
Build a compact branch-to-edge topology that is dual-stack for IPv4 and intentionally incomplete for IPv6. IPv4 is fully working as a baseline. Your job: enable IPv6 forwarding on both routers, replace specific IPv6 routes at the branch with a single default (::/0) toward the edge, and add a specific IPv6 return route on the edge back to the branch LAN. Verify the branch host reaches the edge-side resources over IPv6 while the IPv4 plane remains stable.
IntermediateDailyLocked
CCNA Foundations: IPv6 Static Routes — Point at the Next Hop
Dual-stack enterprise lab with two routers, a shared access switch, and two hosts in separate VLANs. IPv4 is fully working via static routes in the starter. Your task is to add IPv6 static routes on both routers so the clients can communicate end-to-end over IPv6. Learn why a link-local next hop on a point-to-point link requires specifying the exit interface.
AdvancedDailyLocked
Static Routing Capstone: Two Sites Over a /30 WAN
Advanced static-routing capstone, run as a fault hunt. Two suites were cut over last night and now Suite-B is unreachable, Suite-A gets replies only sometimes, and one client cannot even reach its own gateway. Nothing was written down. You get symptoms and the required end state — no fault list. The faults span both routers and the access switch, and the routing table being present does not mean it is right.
IntermediateLocked
EIGRP Lab 6: Propagating a Default Route
Inject a static default route from an edge router into an EIGRP domain so internal routers and hosts gain internet reachability. You will verify the D*EX 0.0.0.0/0 on the internal router and validate end-to-end connectivity from a branch host through the edge to an ISP-side server.
IntermediateDailyLocked
Static Routing Troubleshooting: Return Routes & Bad Next-Hops
Troubleshoot classic static routing and connectivity issues in a 3-router, 2-site network. Faults seeded include a missing return route, wrong next-hop/mask, and a missing/misconfigured default route. Learners must identify and correct Layer 3 faults to restore end-to-end reachability between branch clients.
AdvancedLocked
Lab 8: L3 EtherChannel + Static Routing
Build a routed LACP EtherChannel (Port-channel 8) between two iol-xe routers and route real inter-LAN traffic using static routes. Two parallel physical links (Ethernet0/0 and Ethernet0/1) on each router are bundled into a single Layer-3 Port-channel with a /30 transit. Each router serves a local /24 LAN with an alpine host. Validate that Po8 is up/up, static routes are present, and end-to-end host pings succeed across the aggregated uplink.
IntermediateLocked
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.
IntermediateLocked
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.
IntermediateLocked
NAT at the Internet Edge with Default Routing
Build an Internet-edge NAT design that reaches beyond the ISP to a real external network. You will configure dynamic PAT (overload) from a private LAN to a public /29 using a NAT pool on the edge router, with the router’s default route already pointing to the ISP. Verify that an inside host can reach a public server across the ISP and that translations, counters, and default routing reflect the expected state.
IntermediateDailyLocked
Static Route Next-Hop Types: Recursive, Direct & Fully-Specified
Hands-on static routing lab in a small branch–WAN–branch triangle. You will configure recursive, directly-attached, and fully-specified static routes to enable end-to-end reachability between two hosts across three routers. You will learn how next-hop resolution works, how it appears in show ip route, and how to troubleshoot when static routes don’t resolve or forward as expected.
IntermediateLocked
Extended ACL: Application Filtering at a Hardened Edge
Build a 5-node edge/DMZ topology. Implement a named extended ACL on the EDGE router to allow only TCP/80, TCP/443, and ICMP echo from the Inside LAN to a DMZ web server, deny all other traffic to that server with logging, and still permit general traffic elsewhere. Apply the ACL inbound on the EDGE inside LAN interface. Harden router SSH management with a standard ACL. Verify with wget, ping, and an intentionally denied SSH attempt that increments the deny log counter.
IntermediateLocked
CCNA Static Routing: Redundant Branch Triangle
Build a 3-router triangle with two branch LANs and real Alpine clients. Deploy primary static routes via the hub and floating backup statics over a direct branch-to-branch link. Verify reachability, path selection, and failover by simulating a hub outage.
BeginnerDailyLocked
Default Routes & the Gateway of Last Resort
Build a small hub-and-branch network to master default static routes and the gateway of last resort. Each branch uses a default route toward the hub; the hub holds specific routes back to branch LANs. Verify routing tables and end-to-end host connectivity, then troubleshoot common misconfigurations.
BeginnerDailyLocked
Static Routing Between Branches Through an HQ Hop
Deploy IP addressing and bidirectional static routing across a three-router topology to connect two branch LANs through an HQ hop. Practice verification from end hosts, analyze routing tables, and troubleshoot asymmetric reachability.
BeginnerFree2026-06-25
Standard ACL: Permit Host & Subnet, Deny Others
Beginner CCNA ACL lab on a compact 5-node CML-Free topology. You will configure static routing end-to-end, implement source NAT (PAT) at the source edge, and then build a standard numbered ACL near the destination to allow a single NATed host and a specific subnet while denying all others. You will validate with pings from end hosts, observe ACL hit counters and NAT translations, and troubleshoot common mistakes such as ACL placement, wildcard masks, and pre-/post-NAT address matching.
Free with an account
Practicing static and default routing on Cisco Modeling Labs
Why it matters, and what these labs cover.
Static routing is the foundation everything else builds on: before you trust a dynamic protocol, you need to reason confidently about a routing table, next-hops, administrative distance, and the default route. Static routes are also still everywhere in production — stub sites, a default route to an ISP, and floating statics for backup paths.
In these labs you configure ip route statements on real Cisco IOS in Cisco Modeling Labs: static routes, next-hop vs exit-interface, a default route (0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0) as the gateway of last resort, and floating static routes with a higher administrative distance for failover. Verify with show ip route and end-to-end reachability, then upload your export for per-requirement grading. Troubleshooting labs give you a broken static — a wrong next-hop, a missing return route, an overlapping subnet — to diagnose and repair, which is the single most common real-world routing ticket.
Frequently asked questions
What's a floating static route?
A static route configured with a higher administrative distance than the primary path, so it stays out of the routing table until the preferred route fails — then it 'floats' in as a backup. Several labs have you configure and test one.
Do the labs cover default routes?
Yes — configuring ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 as the gateway of last resort and verifying it's used, including the distinction between a static default route and default-information originate in a dynamic protocol.
Is static routing a CCNA topic?
Yes — IPv4/IPv6 static and default routing is a core CCNA objective. The troubleshooting labs also build the diagnostic habits that carry into CCNP.
Learn Static Routing
The theory behind these labs: the study hub, explainers and guides.
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