Config Labs

This site features two types of labs: Config Labs and Ad Hoc Labs.

Each Config Lab blog post details a self-contained CCNA lab exercise that you can perform based on the content of the page. All you have to do is find a Config Lab post you like, then use the lab. You’ll see a logo like the one shown here at each post. Each post has these features:

• • One Lab Per Blog Post: Each Config Lab exists as a single post. The answers and related explanations sit behind buttons and accordions, hiding details to avoid spoiling the answers.
  • Configuration Focused: Most labs focus on configuration, with a topology and set of requirements. Your job: Add to the device configurations to meet the requirements.
  • Verification Skills: For each Config Lab, verify that you met the lab’s requirements. The lab post also emphasizes additional items to verify.
  • Configuration Solutions: The post includes the suggested solution.
  • Lab Commentary: Each lab includes brief text to anticipate common questions and further explain what should occur during the lab.
  • Scope:  By design, Config Labs focus on a small feature set with a small number of devices to configure.
  • Time: 10 minutes to understand the initial state of the lab, plus 10 minutes to configure the lab, on average, assuming you have already learned the fundamentals of the topic and are now practicing what you have already learned.
  • Audience: Learners who have already read about the topic and are ready to practice.

Most people implement the lab using Cisco Packet Tracer (CPT), beginning by opening the supplied .pkt file that shows the lab’s devices and topology. Once opened and started, you have a starting point that matches the initial configuration shown in the Config Lab post. Your workflow should run like this:

• • Read the lab post and understand the initial state
  • Download and open the supplied lab file for CPT
  • Review the lab again and plan your configuration
  • Implement the configuration in CPT
  • Verify that your configuration meets the design goals
  • Check your configuration versus the Lab Answer in the Config Lab post

You can do these labs on paper as well. The original Config Lab posts required no lab tools, so everyone could do them. You can still do these labs on paper or using a text editor. Read the lab and record your configuration on paper or in any text editor. Then, check your answer versus the lab post. Simple enough.

To find Config Labs, click the menu at the top of the blog. The labs are organized by topic areas that match the organization of the current edition of Cisco Press’s CCNA Official Cert Guides. As time goes on, I typically reorganize the menus to match future editions of the books, so the menus will change over time. Within a chapter, the labs are not ordered in any particular order; it’s up to you to choose when to use each lab based on the topics in the lab.