Explain concepts related to the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference model

Compare and contrast networking appliances, applications, and functions.

• Physical and virtual appliances
• Applications
• Functions

Summarize cloud concepts and connectivity options.

• Virtual private cloud (VPC)
• Network security groups
• Network security lists • Cloud gateways – Internet gateway – Network address translation (NAT) gateway
• Cloud connectivity options – VPN – Direct Connect
• Deployment models – Public – Private – Hybrid
• Service models – Software as a service (SaaS) – Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) – Platform as a service (PaaS)
• Scalability
• Elasticity
• Multitenancy

Explain common networking ports, protocols, services, and traffic types. 

• Protocols
• Ports
• Internet Protocol (IP) types

Compare and contrast transmission media and transceivers. 

• Wireless
• Wired
• Transceivers
• Connector types

Compare and contrast network topologies, architectures, and types.

• Mesh
• Hybrid
• Star/hub and spoke
• Spine and leaf
• Point to point
• Three-tier hierarchical model
• Collapsed core
• Traffic flows

Given a scenario, use appropriate IPv4 network addressing.

• Public vs. private
• Subnetting
• IPv4 address classes

Summarize evolving use cases for modern network environments

• Software-defined network (SDN) and software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN)
• Virtual Extensible Local Area Network (VXLAN)
• Zero trust architecture (ZTA)
• Secure Access Secure Edge (SASE)/Security Service Edge (SSE)
• Infrastructure as code (IaC)
• IPv6 addressing

2.1 Explain characteristics of routing technologies.

• Static routing
• Dynamic routing
• Route selection
• Address translation
• First Hop Redundancy Protocol (FHRP)
• Virtual IP (VIP)
• Subinterfaces

2.2 Given a scenario, configure switching technologies and features. 

• Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN)
• Interface configuration
• Spanning tree
• Maximum transmission unit (MTU)

2.3 Given a scenario, select and configure wireless devices and technologies.

• Channels
• Frequency options
• Service set identifier (SSID)
• Network types
• Guest networks
• Authentication
• Antennas
• Autonomous vs. lightweight access point

2.4 Explain important factors of physical installations. 

• Important installation implications
• Power
• Environmental factors

3.1  Explain the purpose of organizational processes and procedures.  

• Documentation
• Life-cycle management
• Change management
• Configuration management

3.2 Given a scenario, use network monitoring technologies. 

• Methods
• Solutions

3.3 Explain disaster recovery (DR) concepts.

• DR metrics 
• DR sites
• High-availability approaches

3.4 Given a scenario, implement IPv4 and IPv6 network services

• Dynamic addressing
• Name resolution
• Time protocols

3.5 Explain disaster recovery (DR) concepts. 

• Site-to-site VPN
• Client-to-site VPN
• Connection methods
• Jump box/host
• In-band vs. out-of-band management

4.1 Explain the importance of basic network security concepts. 

• Logical security
• Physical security
• Deception technologies
• Common security terminology – Risk – Vulnerability – Exploit – Threat – Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability (CIA) triad
• Audits and regulatory compliance
• Network segmentation enforcement

4.2 Summarize various types of attacks and their impact to the network. 

• Denial-of-service (DoS)/ distributed denial-of-service (DDoS)
• VLAN hopping
• Media Access Control (MAC) flooding
• Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) poisoning
• ARP spoofing
• DNS poisoning
• DNS spoofing
• Rogue devices and services 
• Evil twin
• On-path attack

4.3 Given a scenario, apply network security features, defense techniques, and solutions.

• Device hardening
• Network access control (NAC)
• Key management
• Security rules
• Zone

5.1  Explain the troubleshooting methodology.

• Identify the problem
• Establish a theory of probable cause
• Test the theory to determine the cause
• Establish a plan of action to resolve the problem and identify potential effects
• Implement the solution or escalate as necessary
• Verify full system functionality and implement preventive measures if applicable
• Document findings, actions, outcomes, and lessons learned throughout the process

5.2 Given a scenario, troubleshoot common cabling and physical interface issues.

• Cable issues
• Interface issues
• Hardware issues

5.3 Given a scenario, troubleshoot common issues with network services.

• Switching issues
• Route selection
• Address pool exhaustion
• Incorrect default gateway
• Incorrect IP address
• Incorrect subnet mask

5.4 Given a scenario, troubleshoot common issues with network services.

• Congestion/contention
• Bottlenecking
• Bandwidth
• Latency
• Packet loss
• Jitter
• Wireless

5.5 Given a scenario, troubleshoot common performance issues.

• Software tools
• Hardware tools
• Basic networking device commands