Cisco Systems Explore Cisco NETLAB for Enhanced Learning and Hands-On Experience

B.2.3 NETLAB

Figure 1: NETLAB

Many educators are interested in remote access to shared lab equipment to give students more access to hands-on experiences. Remote access technologies can be used in courses such as the CCNA, CCNP, and sponsored curriculum to help lower student-to-equipment ratios in distance-learning situations. These technologies are currently fully implemented only for the CCNA courses. This course will examine this issue in more depth and suggest how instructors and Academies can use these technologies or implement their own versions of them.

Cisco Networking Academy now offers the NDG NETLAB solution. This web-based appliance allows Cisco Networking Academies to host live router topologies and curriculum over the Internet. The NETLAB automation and sharing capabilities allow Cisco Networking Academies to maximize the use of their equipment and save money in the process. The networking hardware is identical to the lab bundle used in Cisco Networking Academies worldwide. This will allow students to maintain a consistent topology to practice the configuration commands covered in the Academy curriculum and labs.

The use of NETLAB in the Cisco Networking Academy will allow students to log in, create, and edit configuration files. Students can also program one or more of the devices. Students can work in teams to configure an entire topology or schedule individual time to practice new commands. Since the NETLAB environment equipment is similar to the equipment used by Cisco Networking Academy programs, students can practice configuration tasks just as they would with their Networking Academy equipment. Since the NETLAB equipment can be accessed from any PC with a browser that is connected to the Internet, students can perform these configuration tasks outside of the Academy.

184 - 238 CCNA 2: Routers and Routing Basics v3.1 Instructor Guide – Appendix B Copyright ♥ 2004, Cisco Systems, Inc.