The student must have completed the module Fundamentals of Computer Networks or equivalent e.g. CCNA 1-4.

Specialist networking laboratory with Cisco equipment

NOTE
Instructors teaching this module who use the CISCO material must have successfully completed a CCNP SWITCH and CCNP ROUTE course

CCNP ROUTE 642-902 Official Certification Guide (CCNP Route Exam Preparation), Cisco Press, 2010, ISBN-10: 1587202530

CCNP SWITCH 642-813 Official Certification Guide (CCNP Switch Exam Preparation), 2010, Cisco Press, ISBN-10: 1587202433

OSPF and IS-IS: Choosing an IGP for Large-Scale Networks, Doyle, 2005, Addison-Wesley Professional, ISBN 10: 0-321-16879-8

A written examination, length 2 hours weighted at 50% (Learning outcomes 1, 2 and 4). Final assessment.

A portfolio weighted at 50% (Learning outcomes 2 and 3). This will be consisting of two 1 hour practical tests to apply the students understanding in practical lab based solutions for routing and switching scenarios

The routing aspect of this course will look at the scalable, secure and reliable transfer of Layer 3 information within a commercial network. There are a number of protocols and addressing design techniques and the student will have practical experience of using these in addition to understanding the benefits and consequences of each of these. The course will look at the Interior Protocols used within a company and the Exterior protocols used to communicate between autonomous systems. Additionally increasingly important is the use of switching technology which is layer 3 aware and we will also look at this to see why this is now so heavily used in networks. The course will also look at the design of networks through the hierarchical considerations and redundancy to ensure the continued operation in the event of failure.

The lectures given will be covering the theoretical content of the course giving the students the information. The tutorial sessions will be carried out in the networking labs. The tutorial sessions will be used to allow the student to experiment on the equipment and to supplement their understanding through additional practical examples of using a particular technology. There will be 26 lecture hours and 52 practical hours.