Table of Contents – Cisco Tutorial for Beginners

Section 1: Introduction to Cisco and Networking

1. What is Cisco? Overview of Cisco technologies

2. Cisco certifications roadmap (CCNA, CCNP, CCIE)

3. Basic networking concepts (LAN, WAN, MAN)

4. OSI and TCP/IP models explained

5. Introduction to IP addressing and Subnetting

6. Overview of common network devices (Routers, Switches, Firewalls)

Section 2: Cisco Devices and Working Environments

1. Understanding Cisco routers and switches

2. Introduction to the Cisco IOS operating system

3. Working with network simulators (Packet Tracer, GNS3)

4. CLI basics: structure and syntax of Cisco commands

5. Access modes: User, Privileged, and Global Configuration

Section 3: Essential Initial Configurations

1. Setting hostname, MOTD banner, and secure passwords

2. Configuring interfaces and basic connectivity

3. Testing connectivity (Ping, Traceroute)

4. Saving, backing up, and restoring configurations

5. Managing IOS files and upgrades

Section 4: Fundamentals of Switching

1. Switching basics: frames and MAC address tables

2. Introduction to VLANs and VLAN configuration

3. Access ports vs Trunk ports

4. Basic STP (Spanning Tree Protocol) concepts

Section 5: Fundamentals of Routing

1. What is routing? How routers make decisions

2. Static routes and default routes

3. Overview of dynamic routing protocols (RIP, OSPF, EIGRP – basic introduction)

4. IPv4 vs IPv6 and basic IPv6 configuration

Section 6: Basic Network Security

1. Securing device access (Passwords, SSH, Telnet)

2. Introduction to ACLs (Access Control Lists)

3. Configuring basic ACLs for traffic filtering

Section 7: Basic Network Services

1. DHCP and Router-based DHCP configuration

2. DNS overview and configuration basics

3. Network Time Protocol (NTP) setup

Section 8: Network Management & Troubleshooting

1. Monitoring and troubleshooting tools

2. Essential show and debug commands

3. Reading logs and identifying issues

4. Layer-by-layer troubleshooting methodology

Section 9: Final Beginner-Level Project

1. Building a small multi-VLAN network

2. Implementing basic routing

3. Testing, troubleshooting, and verification