Build the foundations for everything else in CCNA. Follow data through the networking stack, understand the devices carrying it, learn the physical network underneath it and then move into IPv4, IPv6, transport protocols, wireless and modern network architecture.
Networking becomes much easier once the individual technologies stop feeling like unrelated facts.
The lessons in this module start with how data moves through a network, introduce the devices and physical infrastructure involved, and then build into addressing, transport and wireless networking.
The goal isn't simply to remember enough facts to answer exam questions. It's to understand why the network behaves the way it does.
New to networking? Work through these in order. Already comfortable? Jump straight to the topic you need.
Understand networking layers, PDUs, encapsulation and what happens to data as it moves through switches, routers and the network stack.
Routers, Layer 2 and Layer 3 switches, firewalls, wireless access points, controllers, servers, endpoints and Power over Ethernet.
Copper, fibre, connectors, Ethernet standards, transceivers, interface speeds, duplex and physical network troubleshooting.
IPv4 structure, subnet masks, private address ranges, default gateways and how hosts determine whether a destination is local or remote.
IPv6 address structure, hexadecimal notation, compression, global unicast, link-local and multicast addresses, plus basic neighbour discovery.
Understand connection-oriented and connectionless transport, port numbers, TCP reliability and the common application protocols expected at CCNA level.
SSIDs, access points, RF, frequencies, channels, interference, infrastructure mode and the basic journey of a wireless client.
Virtual machines, containers, virtual switching, cloud concepts and the common architectural ideas used by modern networks.
Once you've completed the IPv4 lesson, use the Baznetic subnetting trainer to practise network addresses, broadcast addresses, host ranges, subnet masks and CIDR calculations.
Every lesson aims to move from the concept to what you'd actually recognise on a network or in Cisco IOS.