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Chapter 2. Building a CCNP Remote-Access Lab

This chapter covers the following topics:

• Creating LANs

• Creating WANs by Using a Cisco Router as a Frame Relay Switch

• Creating Asynchronous, ISDN, PPP, DDR, Dial Backup, AAA, and Security Labs

It is essential to have hands-on experience, because the new exam format requires you to understand how to configure Cisco devices to be able to pass the exam. In the new format, you are given interactive access to routers and are asked to configure the routers. If you have taken the new CCNA or CCNP Routing and Switching exam, you should be familiar with the new exam format.

This chapter provides some suggestions on what devices you should acquire to build a lab and which technologies you can practice by using this lab.

Before you begin, review some of the areas in which you can possibly build a home lab to study for the Remote Access exam:

• Asynchronous

• PPP

• ISDN BRI

• Dial-on-demand routing (DDR)

• Frame Relay

• Dial backup

• Queuing and compression

• Network Address Translation (NAT)

• Authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA)

• Security

Figure 2-1 illustrates the lab topology you can use to study most of the areas mentioned in the preceding list.

Several key components are required to model the remote-access lab. The following list should be viewed more as a list of roles than a list of devices:

• LANs: Switches/hubs and cables

• WANs: Routers and cables

• Routers

• Test hosts and applications

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