Routing Course

Lesson 1 • Network Addressing and Numbering

Covers IP addressing, subnetting, and address hierarchy. Provides the addressing knowledge required to understand routing decisions.

Lesson 2 • Routing Table Structure and Lookup

Explains how routers store and query routing tables to forward packets. Connects addressing knowledge to actual forwarding decisions.

Lesson 3 • Key Routing Metrics and Decisions

Introduces metrics such as hop count, bandwidth, and delay used to select best paths. Links metric concepts to routing protocol behaviour covered later.

Lesson 4 • Types of Routes and Their Sources

Distinguishes static, dynamic, and connected routes by origin and use case. Prepares learners to choose appropriate routing methods.

Lesson 1 • Default Route Propagation

Explains how a single default route provides internet or upstream reachability. Connects static defaults to dynamic protocol redistribution.

Lesson 2 • Verifying and Troubleshooting Static Routes

Introduces diagnostic commands to confirm route installation and packet flow. Builds systematic troubleshooting habits used throughout the course.

Lesson 3 • Static Route Syntax and Parameters

Covers the command syntax for adding static routes on common platforms. Grounds learners in hands-on configuration before design decisions.

Lesson 1 • Distance Vector Protocol Mechanics

Explains Bellman-Ford-based routing where routers share full tables with neighbours. Establishes distance vector behaviour as a baseline for protocol comparison.

Lesson 2 • Neighbour Relationships and Timers

Explains how protocols establish and maintain neighbour adjacencies using hello and dead timers. Directly supports configuration and troubleshooting in subsequent chapters.

Lesson 3 • Link State Protocol Mechanics

Covers how routers build a complete topology map using LSAs and Dijkstra's algorithm. Contrasts with distance vector to highlight convergence advantages.

Lesson 4 • Path Vector Protocol Mechanics

Introduces path vector routing used in inter-domain environments. Prepares learners for BGP concepts introduced in later chapters.

Lesson 1 • OSPF Route Summarisation

Explains inter-area and external summarisation to reduce routing table size. Connects summarisation to scalability goals in large deployments.

Lesson 2 • OSPF Multi-Area Design

Introduces area types, ABR roles, and LSA types 1 through 5. Enables learners to design scalable hierarchical OSPF topologies.

Lesson 3 • OSPF Authentication and Security

Configures MD5 and SHA authentication to protect OSPF neighbour sessions. Introduces routing security practices applied across all protocol chapters.

Lesson 4 • OSPF Single-Area Fundamentals

Covers OSPF process ID, network statements, and area 0 configuration. Establishes the minimum viable OSPF deployment as a foundation.

Lesson 5 • OSPF Neighbour Adjacency Formation

Details the OSPF state machine from Down to Full and DR/BDR election. Learners learn to diagnose adjacency failures systematically.

Lesson 1 • EIGRP Summarisation and Stub Routing

Configures manual summarisation and stub router modes to control query scope. Directly reduces convergence time in hub-and-spoke topologies.

Lesson 2 • EIGRP Core Concepts and DUAL

Explains the Diffusing Update Algorithm and feasibility condition for loop prevention. Establishes EIGRP's unique convergence model before configuration.

Lesson 3 • EIGRP Unequal-Cost Load Balancing

Configures variance to distribute traffic across multiple unequal-cost paths. Differentiates EIGRP from OSPF in traffic engineering capability.

Lesson 4 • EIGRP Named Mode Configuration

Covers address-family configuration under named EIGRP for IPv4 and IPv6. Replaces classic mode as the current best-practice deployment method.

Lesson 1 • BGP Route Filtering and Policy

Applies prefix lists, route maps, and community attributes to control BGP advertisements. Connects filtering tools to real-world traffic engineering goals.

Lesson 2 • BGP Neighbour Configuration

Covers neighbour statements, update-source, and multihop for loopback-based sessions. Enables learners to build stable BGP peering in real environments.

Lesson 3 • iBGP Scalability with Route Reflectors

Introduces route reflectors to eliminate full-mesh iBGP requirements. Prepares learners for scalable BGP designs in enterprise and service provider networks.

Lesson 4 • BGP Path Attributes and Selection

Explains the BGP best-path algorithm using weight, local preference, AS path, and MED. Learners learn to predict and influence route selection outcomes.

Lesson 1 • Route Maps for Advanced Policy

Builds complex route maps with multiple match conditions and set actions. Enables granular policy beyond simple redistribution filtering.

Lesson 2 • Policy-Based Routing

Configures PBR to forward packets based on source, protocol, or size rather than destination. Extends routing policy beyond the routing table.

Lesson 3 • Redistribution Fundamentals

Explains mutual redistribution mechanics, seed metrics, and administrative distance conflicts. Establishes the risks and requirements before configuration.

Lesson 4 • Preventing Routing Loops in Redistribution

Covers tagging, filtering, and AD manipulation to prevent suboptimal feedback loops. Directly addresses the primary risk of multi-protocol redistribution.

Lesson 1 • Structured Troubleshooting Methodology

Applies a layered, hypothesis-driven approach to isolate routing failures. Integrates all diagnostic tools introduced across previous chapters.

Lesson 2 • High-Availability Routing Design

Designs redundant routing topologies using HSRP, VRRP, and dual-homed links. Synthesises optimisation and troubleshooting skills into resilient architecture.

Lesson 3 • Advanced Diagnostic Tools and Techniques

Covers debug commands, packet captures, and telemetry for deep routing analysis. Equips learners with professional-grade diagnostic capabilities.

Lesson 4 • VRF and Network Virtualisation Basics

Introduces VRF to create isolated routing instances on a single device. Prepares learners for MPLS VPN and multi-tenant routing architectures.

Lesson 5 • IP SLA and Object Tracking

Uses IP SLA probes and object tracking to trigger route changes based on reachability. Enables conditional routing beyond static administrative distance.