CCNP labs — hands-on Cisco practice

CCNP Route Control: A Second Boundary and the Distance Trap

Add a second boundary router for resilience, then stop it from routing the acquired site's routes the long way round.

CCNP45 min3 objectives

CCNP Route Control: Set Metrics and Tags with a Route Map

Mark the partner extranet so HQ can tell it apart: give it its own metric, external type and tag as it enters OSPF.

CCNP65 min3 objectives

CCNP Route Control: Filter Redistribution with a Prefix List

The acquired site is leaking its vendor test bench into HQ. Let only its production subnets into OSPF.

CCNP40 min3 objectives

CCNP Route Control: Seed Metrics and External Types

Set one seed metric for every route entering EIGRP, and carry EIGRP routes into OSPF as type 1 externals.

CCNP55 min3 objectives

CCNP Route Control: Join Two Routing Domains

HQ runs OSPF and the company it bought runs EIGRP. Join them at the boundary router so both sites reach each other.

CCNP40 min3 objectives

Free with an account

CCNP VRF & GRE Capstone: The Overlay That Came Back Wrong

HQ and the branch came back from a provider change unable to reach each other. Bring the overlay back to its design.

CCNP55 min3 objectives

CCNP VRF & GRE: Keep the Internet Out of the Routing Table

Put the internet circuit in its own routing table. The tunnel still rides it, but the global table never sees the internet.

CCNP55 min3 objectives

CCNP VRF & GRE: Routing Over the Tunnel

The tunnel works, but static routes won't scale. Run OSPF across it, and size its packets so nothing gets dropped.

CCNP45 min3 objectives

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.

CCNP35 min3 objectives

CCNP VRF & GRE: A Routing Process per Tenant

Static routes don't scale. Give each tenant its own OSPF process, so its routes are learned instead of typed.

CCNP52 min3 objectives

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.

CCNP45 min3 objectives

CCNP VRF & GRE: Two Tenants, One Router

Two tenants share one edge router. Give each its own routing table, so both can use the same service address.

CCNA & CCNP30 min3 objectives

Free with an account

VRRP Load-Sharing with Two Groups

Advanced VRRP on a single VLAN: configure two VRRP groups on R1/R2 so each router is Master for one group and Backup for the other, distributing host egress while preserving gateway redundancy.

CCNA & CCNP45 min4 objectives

VRRP: Tune Advertisements to 3 Seconds

Advanced CCNP VRRP lab: standardize the VRRP advertisement interval to 3 seconds on a shared user VLAN. Two IOS routers (R1, R2) and two hosts connect to a single access switch on VLAN 10 (10.0.10.0/24). Both routers share VRRP group 1 and the same virtual IP 10.0.10.254 so hosts keep one default gateway. R1 is the master via priority 110; both routers explicitly set 'vrrp 1 timers advertise 3' to enforce a consistent master advertisement rate and backup master-down detection window. Verify with 'show vrrp' (Advertisement interval 3.000 sec) and host pings to the VIP.

CCNA & CCNP45 min5 objectives

VRRP Object Tracking for Uplink Failover

Configure VRRP with interface object tracking so the virtual gateway fails over when the active router loses its upstream link, avoiding black-holing. The site LAN (VLAN 10) uses a single virtual default gateway (10.0.10.254) shared by two IOS routers (R1, R2). A separate access switch (SW) bridges the LAN. Both routers uplink via Ethernet0/1 to a second switch (CORE) on VLAN 99 to represent the upstream path. R1 is the intended VRRP master (priority 110). You will create a track object that monitors R1's uplink (Ethernet0/1) and decrements its VRRP priority by 20 if the link fails, allowing R2 to preemptively take over as master. The lab grades the deterministic VRRP configuration: common group and virtual IP on both routers, R1 priority 110, the global track object, and the 'vrrp 1 track 1 decrement 20' tie-in on R1.

CCNA & CCNP40 min5 objectives

AS-Path Filtering: Accept Only Neighbor’s Own Routes

Advanced CCNP BGP policy lab focusing on inbound AS-path filtering at the edge. You will build a simple eBGP chain (AS 65003 — AS 65002 — AS 65001), originate prefixes from the two upstream routers, confirm that the edge learns multiple routes, then enforce a policy on the edge (R1) to accept only routes originated by its directly connected eBGP neighbor (AS 65002) while rejecting routes that transited AS 65003. Verification relies entirely on R1’s BGP table and AS-path regular-expression queries.

CCNP45 min5 objectives

Lab 9: Path Selection with Weight (First Tiebreaker)

In this advanced CCNP BGP lab, you will steer a single router's outbound path choice using Cisco's Weight attribute, the very first BGP best-path tiebreaker. R1 (AS 65001) peers eBGP with two ISPs (R2 in AS 65002 and R3 in AS 65003). Both ISPs advertise the same prefix 172.16.50.0/24. Your job is to make R1 prefer the R3 path using the neighbor weight command and verify the outcome using IOS and Linux tools.

CCNP45 min5 objectives

BGP Lab 2: Exact-Match Prefix Origination

Configure eBGP between two routers and originate select connected /24s using the exact-match 'network ... mask' command. Verify that only the intended prefixes are advertised and learned by the neighbor, and use host-based tests to confirm reachability to the advertised networks. This beginner CCNP lab reinforces that the BGP network statement only advertises a route if an exact match exists in the RIB, and that the 'mask' keyword is mandatory for non-classful advertisements.

CCNP45 min5 objectives

eBGP Fundamentals: The First Peering

Build your first external BGP (eBGP) peering between two routers in different autonomous systems over a /30 point-to-point link and exchange one /24 prefix from each side using Loopback0. The topology is intentionally small yet realistic, with two edge routers (AS 65001 and AS 65002) and three Alpine hosts for basic reachability checks and operator context. You will configure deterministic BGP neighbors, originate prefixes with exact-match network statements, and validate reachability and route installation using standard IOS and Linux tools. This is Lab 1 of 10 in the CCNP-aligned BGP Fundamentals series and sets the foundation for later labs on iBGP, route filtering, and path selection.

CCNP35 min5 objectives

Free with an account

Inbound Steering: AS-Path Prepending (Primary/Backup eBGP)

Advanced CCNP BGP lab: Build parallel eBGP sessions between two ASes over primary and backup /30 links. Originate a service prefix from AS 65001 and influence AS 65002's inbound path by applying outbound AS-path prepending on the backup session only. Validate best-path selection and next-hop on the neighbor, and confirm reachability from hosts.

CCNP70 min5 objectives

BGP Troubleshooting Capstone: eBGP + iBGP Repair

Advanced BGP capstone, run as a fault hunt. The hub lost its upstream service route overnight and the branch cannot see hub prefixes either. Sessions are not all down, which is what makes it interesting: one peering never establishes, one establishes and carries nothing, and one prefix is never originated at all. You get symptoms and the required end state — no fault list. Faults span all three routers, and one of them is not in BGP at all.

CCNP75 min5 objectives

Transit AS: Carry eBGP across iBGP (next-hop-self)

In this CCNP-level lab (BGP Fundamentals Lab 4/10), you will build a small, realistic transit-AS scenario: an external route learned by R1 via eBGP from AS 65003 must be carried across iBGP to R2 inside AS 65001. You will intentionally encounter the classic iBGP next-hop problem (R2 sees an unreachable next-hop for 172.16.30.0/24) and fix it on R1 with neighbor next-hop-self. iBGP peering runs over Loopback0 addresses with reachability provided by OSPF area 0 between R1 and R2. Two hosts validate end-to-end data-plane reachability and routing control-plane state.

CCNP55 min5 objectives

BGP Lab 5: Local Preference - Preferred Exit

Configure and validate BGP local-preference to prefer one provider when the same destination prefix is learned from two eBGP neighbors. You will see two equal AS-PATH routes to 172.16.100.0/24 on the edge router and then apply an inbound route-map on the R2 session to set local-preference 200 so the edge prefers exiting via R2. Verification includes host pings/traceroute and router BGP best-path checks.

CCNP45 min5 objectives

BGP Lab 7: Filtering Advertised Prefixes (Prefix-List)

Deploy eBGP between two routers and precisely control which locally-originated networks are advertised to a neighbor using an outbound prefix-list. R1 originates four /24 loopback routes but advertises only two to R2. Verify using IOS show commands and basic host reachability checks.

CCNP40 min5 objectives