L2 Security Troubleshooting Capstone: Trust Boundary
Advanced CCNP Layer-2 security troubleshooting on a single access switch. Diagnose and correct an inverted trust boundary that breaks DHCP and ARP validation: DHCP Snooping and Dynamic ARP Inspection (DAI) are enabled for VLAN 10, but the uplink is not trusted for DHCP and a host port is incorrectly trusted for ARP. Use show commands to find the issues, fix the trust boundary, and restore client connectivity without changing router/host configs.
Discovery & Monitoring Troubleshooting Capstone
Troubleshoot a pre-broken monitoring deployment on a single shared management LAN. R1 is already configured for discovery and monitoring, but the NMS receives no syslog or SNMP traps from R1. Diagnose with show commands and correct the two seeded faults: wrong syslog target and missing SNMP trap generation. Deterministic, no-routing, single-subnet design for CML Free (5 nodes).
IP Addressing Troubleshooting Capstone
Advanced CCNP lab focused on diagnosing and correcting IPv4 interface addressing issues on Cisco IOS routers. The lab ships pre-broken with two independently failing faults that the learner must find and fix using show commands and directed pings. No routing protocols or static routes are used — verification is limited to directly-connected neighbor and gateway reachability.
NTP Troubleshooting Capstone
Advanced NTP troubleshooting on a two-router /30. R2 never synchronizes its clock. Use show commands to diagnose, then correct the design intent so R2 deterministically references R1, and R1 is an authoritative time source at the agreed stratum. The starter ships with a pre-broken NTP configuration already applied; your job is to find and fix two independent faults.
Secure-Access Troubleshooting Capstone: SSH VTY Fix
Advanced CCNP management-plane troubleshooting on a single IOS router. You inherit a pre-broken remote-management config where SSH access is completely failing despite a hostname, domain name, and local admin user. Two independent VTY faults are seeded: the wrong transport and an incorrect login method. Your job is to diagnose with show commands, fix both issues, and validate SSH access from the ADMIN workstation.
CCNA Day 7: Layer 3 Static Routing Capstone
Build a realistic two-site branch topology with two edge routers linked over a /30 WAN and two isolated LANs on a shared L2 access switch. Configure static routes plus a default route at each edge so both LANs reach each other bidirectionally. Verify end-to-end from hosts and use show commands to confirm the routing tables.
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BGP Troubleshooting Capstone: eBGP + iBGP Repair
Advanced CCNP capstone on a compact 3-router, 2-host CML-Free topology. Restore end-to-end reachability to a remote advertised network by diagnosing and correcting two independent BGP issues on the hub router. The design intentionally combines an eBGP edge (R2–R1) with iBGP over loopbacks (R1–R3 with OSPF reachability) so learners validate neighbor formation, next-hop reachability, and route propagation end-to-end.
EIGRP Troubleshooting Capstone
Advanced CCNP-level EIGRP troubleshooting on a 3-router triangle with seeded faults: an AS mismatch on R3 and a missing network statement on R1 prevent a full-mesh of adjacencies and block reachability to a loopback LAN. Learners diagnose using show commands and repair the configuration to restore end-to-end reachability.
CCNA Foundations Day 6: Layer 3 Routing Troubleshooting
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.
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First-Hop Redundancy Troubleshooting
Troubleshoot and repair a pre-broken HSRP gateway on a single shared LAN. Two routers (R1, R2) and two clients (PC1, PC2) connect to a single L2 switch (SW1) in VLAN 10. The hosts intermittently lose gateway reachability because both routers act active due to seeded faults. Use show commands to diagnose, then correct HSRP so both routers share one virtual IP and R1 deterministically wins active.
EtherChannel Troubleshooting Capstone (L2 LACP)
Advanced CCNP EtherChannel troubleshooting capstone on Cisco IOS L2 switches. Two ioll2-xe switches are joined by two parallel links intended to bundle as one LACP Port-channel. The lab ships pre-broken with two independent faults on SW1: the parallel links are placed into different channel-groups and their switchport L2 parameters are inconsistent. Learners must use show commands to diagnose, then correct both faults so Port-channel 100 bundles both members as an access link for VLAN 100, restoring host-to-host reachability.
EtherChannel Consistency: Repair a Mode Mismatch
Advanced CCNP troubleshooting lab: a pair of Layer-2 switches are connected by a two-link EtherChannel intended to carry VLAN 90 between access hosts. The starter configuration ships broken on purpose: the inter-switch bundle won’t form due to incompatible aggregation modes, and a trunk allow-list drift on one side prunes VLAN 90. Diagnose with IOS show commands, correct the EtherChannel mode so LACP forms the Port-channel, and restore trunk policy so same-VLAN hosts can communicate.
DHCP: Verify Leases, Pools and Conflicts
Hands-on IOS DHCP server practice focused on validating pool state, inspecting conflicts, and fixing a real address conflict caused by a legacy static host on the LAN. You will verify server-side leases and exclusions, observe a conflict entry, then permanently exclude the static IP and clear the stale conflict so a client can obtain a clean address.
STP 10: Spanning Tree Troubleshooting Capstone
Advanced Rapid-PVST+ troubleshooting on a 3-switch triangle with a real Layer-2 loop. Two deliberate faults are seeded: an unintended root bridge wins VLAN 100 due to a mis-set/default priority, and PortFast/BPDU Guard are mistakenly applied on an inter-switch trunk. Two Alpine hosts in VLAN 100 verify user impact. Your job: use show commands to diagnose, then restore the correct root and remove edge features from the trunk while preserving them on access ports.
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.
NAT Troubleshooting Capstone: Interface Role + ACL
Advanced CCNA NAT/PAT troubleshooting on a compact 5-node CML-Free topology. A pre-broken edge (R1) sits between a private LAN and an ISP transit. Learners diagnose why inside-to-outside traffic never translates: the NAT interface roles are incorrect and the ACL referenced by NAT does not match the actual inside subnet. Fix both independently to restore translations, then verify from hosts and with IOS show commands.
CCNA Day 5: Static Route Next-Hop Types
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.
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ACL Troubleshooting Capstone: Classic Faults, NAT, Placement
Diagnose and repair an ACL + NAT policy on a small branch-to-DC topology. Implement PAT on the branch edge, correctly place an extended ACL to filter pre-NAT traffic, prove a permitted flow and a denied flow from the end host, and validate with show commands.
OSPF Network Types: DR/BDR, Broadcast vs P2P
Hands-on CCNP OSPF lab comparing broadcast and point-to-point network types. Three routers share a multi-access Ethernet via an access switch to observe DR/BDR election, manipulate interface priorities, and then convert to point-to-point. Includes a user LAN behind R1 and realistic troubleshooting: neighbor stuck in 2-Way due to type mismatch, area mismatch isolating a router, and incorrect interface priority preventing desired DR/BDR roles.
Diagnosing a Broken Router-on-a-Stick
Advanced CCNA troubleshooting lab on a router-on-a-stick design. VLAN 10 users can reach their gateway and other hosts, but VLAN 20 users cannot reach their gateway or any resources in VLAN 10. Methodically trace L2/L3 intent end-to-end - from the access ports through the trunks up to the router subinterfaces - to isolate the first-hop failure and implement fixes that restore inter-VLAN routing while maintaining enterprise trunk hardening and clean configurations.
Router-on-a-Stick Troubleshooting Capstone
Advanced CCNA capstone: diagnose and repair a fully-broken three-VLAN router-on-a-stick deployment. One iol-xe router uplinks by 802.1Q trunk to a pure layer-2 ioll2-xe switch, with three alpine PCs on their own access VLANs (10 Sales, 20 Voice, 30 CCTV); after a recent switch and router change, inter-VLAN connectivity is broken or intermittent across all three VLANs. Trace VLAN intent end-to-end from each host through the trunk to the router's subinterfaces, repair whatever faults you find, and verify with end-host pings/traceroutes and IOS show commands.
802.1Q Trunking Troubleshooting Capstone
Advanced CCNA switching capstone centered on restoring end-to-end VLAN 20 transport across three Layer-2 switches using 802.1Q trunks. The starter ships intentionally broken: after a simulated maintenance window, two Alpine hosts in VLAN 20 can no longer reach each other across the inter-switch trunks. Learners diagnose with show interfaces trunk, show interfaces switchport, and show vlan brief, then identify and correct the trunking faults in the right order and verify with host pings.
CCNA Capstone: Port Security Troubleshooting
Advanced CCNA port-security troubleshooting on a pure Layer-2 design. Two access switches linked by an 802.1Q trunk carry a Users VLAN across closets. Three Alpine Linux hosts are pre-addressed. The lab is intentionally shipped with multiple classic faults: one access port is err-disabled due to a prior port-security shutdown, one user-facing port lacks port-security altogether, another has the wrong violation mode and an overly restrictive maximum, and one port has an incorrect static secure-MAC configured. Your job is to diagnose using show commands, restore connectivity, and implement the intended security posture with sticky MACs, the correct maximum, the proper violation mode, and errdisable auto-recovery—without placing port-security on the trunk.
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.
