Today I am going to talk about the configuration part of the BGP router id per VRF. In my example we took two different VRFs name NB and ttlbits and defined that VRF configurations.

The IP addresses are used here is for the demo purposes only and has no relevance with any of the enterprise network. These configurations are the demo configurations and will help you out for the configuration on your live network.

Below are the steps to configure the BGP router id per VRF. These steps are

• Defining VRF_ttlbits on the router
• Defining VRF_NB on the router
• Configuring Loopback with the IP address
• Configuring Ethernet interfaces with VRF
• Configuring VPNv4 and IPv4 address family

Fig 1.1- Basic Sample MPLS network topology

Below is the basic configuration of defining the VRF

Defining VRF ttlbits on the router

Today I am going to talk about new generation technology which Cisco launches in the LAN Campus network. The Next generation is dedicated to the Software defined network and thats what Cisco takes this approach to the LAN network as well with orchestration. Cisco put the pillars and made a architecture around it which includes - Campus Fabric Network, Automation, Authentication and Analytics. All these features are built into the SD-Access technology and will going to replace the traditional approach of Campus Network.

I knew you have some questions around it like
How traffic flows in Campus Network?
What and how fabric works?
Is there VLAN approach works?
Do we need to have SVIs ?

Well take a look into SD-Access approach you will come to know what approach Cisco takes to make it successful in the Campus

SD-Access = Campus Fabric+ DNA Center

Campus Fabric: 
Campus Fabric have these three protocols works together to make it excellent way to communicate.

• LISP- Location/Identifier Seperation Protocol- Control Plane 
• VXLAN- Virtual Extensible LAN - Data Plane
• Cisco Trustsec- Segmented Tags

Today I am going to talk about the fixed core chassis Cisco catalyst 9500 which Cisco released a month back. Cisco 9500 is actually enhanced version of Cisco catalyst 4500 chassis and also Cisco 3850 Switch. There are lot of other best features in Cisco 9500 Chassis as some of the features are just amazing in this device.

So we have Cisco 3850, Cisco 4500 Catalyst Switches, Cisco 6500 Catalyst switches, Cisco 6800 Catalyst switches and now Cisco 9000 catalyst switches with 3 flavours ( Cisco 9300 catalyst switches, Cisco 9400 catalyst switches and Cisco 9500 Catalyst switches)

How topology and the demand changes, below is the example topology showing the changes which leads to the next generation fabric network with cloud ready solutions and automation. CLI is gone for the campus fabric, All policy is driven with the SDN controller.

Fig 1.1- Network topology and Next Generations

If we have Cisco 4500 and Cisco 3850 fixed chassis why we required Cisco 9500 chassis ?
I knew this is one of the question which you actually thinking and for this i would like to say that you need to understand the next generation campus requirements where customer wants to be Continue reading

Today I am going to talk about the Access Lists and how we can use that access lists in our network. These Access lists are used in many ways. We have different ways to use it and we also have different configurations for different Access Lists.

Before we start with the various access lists, let's talk about what the Access Lists actual are and why they are used. So answer to your question is Access-List is the way to filter the IP packets entering to the network. So with the use of Access-Lists you can permit or deny the IP packets on the base of IPs, Names, protocols and so on and the routing table decide the traffic routing on the basis of the set of rules we authorised.

Below is just a Sample diagram showing using the Access-Lists and has no relevance with any of the configuration used below.

Sample Diagram showing Access-Lists

We have different kinds of Access-lists and I am taking a short note and the configuration part of these access-lists one by one. These access-lists are :

• Standard Access-Lists
• Extended Access-Lists
• IP Named Access-Lists
• Lock and Key Access-Lists
• Reflexive access-Lists
• Context-Based Access Control
• Turbo Access-Lists

Let's Continue reading

Today I am going to discuss on the OSPF configuration part, As you already know about the OSPF protocol and the network types in OSPF.

OSPF is a link state routing protocol and i wrote some of the articles on OSPF earlier as well. Please go through that articles to understand more about OSPF protocol

OSPF Basics
OSPF States
OSPF vs RIP protocols
Routing Basics : Distance Vector vs Link State Routing Protocol

Above are some of the articles on OSPF will help you more in the interview preparation.

OSPF Point to Multipoint Networks

Apart from all these today I am going to have sample configurations on OSPF point to multipoint networks.

Here in this article I am going to take a topology of OSPF point to multipoint network and let you know the Continue reading

As in my earlier article i talked about the new launch of the Cisco catalyst 9300 and explain the features of that catalyst switch. Now I am going to talk about the other 2 series which Cisco launches. Cisco understand the requirement of the market and also competing with the other vendors for Next generation networks like SDN where open APIs can be used to stitch third party applications.

Cisco come up with the solution for the campus where they are going to deploy the fabric network on the top of traditional IP network. I will come up with another article where I can explain the architecture of the SD-Access network for the campus network designed by Cisco Systems.

With the launch of Cisco 9300, 9400 and 9500 cisco is running ahead in the field of enterprise network architecture. For Cisco catalyst 9300 please check the below mentioned link

Cisco Catalyst 9300 Switches for Campus

Now let me talk about the other two series of switches launched by Cisco Systems for campus or enterprise network named Cisco catalyst 9400 and 9500 switches.

Cisco Catalyst 9400 Switch:
With the help of Cisco catalyst 9400 switch you will achieve Advanced persistent security threats, Continue reading

Cisco AMP so called as Advance Malware Protection is a term used for Malware file detection technology. AMP will provides you threat intelligence and analytics, point-in-time detection, continuous analysis, and retrospective security of malware files

Today I am going to talk about the Switching topic and that topic is Port Security. Port security is required in the case you want to control the traffic by allowing Specific MAC address entries, which means if the invalid MAC addresses traffic comes, it will be blocked or dropped.

Lets talk about the port security and the modes of port security. So the question is why port security required, may be want to safe from the attacks as well.

Why Port Security is important ?
Well port security is generally used so that you can easily prevent the unwanted MAC address traffic from the external or the internal network.

Port security can be enabled in three different ways are defined as below:

• Protect : In the protected state, switch port will drops packets with unknown source addresses until you remove a sufficient number of secure MAC addresses to drop below the maximum value. 
• Restrict : In the restrict state, switch port will drops packets with unknown source addresses until you remove a sufficient number of secure MAC addresses to drop below the maximum value and causes the SecurityViolation counter to increment
• Shutdown : In the shutdown state, switch port will Continue reading