which WAN protocols we really need to know?

Lammel says only HDLC,PPP,FR are supported on a Cisco router serial interface. However, he mentioned a lot other WAN protocols like MPLS, ATM, PPPOE, ISDN, etc.. I'm really concerned. Do we really need to know much about them?

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Roguetadhg

Are you doing CCNA? or CCENT?

You'll need to know HDLC, PPP, FrameRelay. Know how they work, how to troubleshoot, what to expect to see if something's a miss. Especially FrameRelay. Yeah that puppy can be heavy.

I would, however, atleast keep in mind how everything sort of comes together. If you're just starting I know it looks like a black soup of mess. Keep at it, you'll get it. It's a lot of pieces for a very gigantic puzzle which is so beautiful when to think about it... it's amazing. Just thinking about what everything happens, how it can happen, how things go and the distances involved. Man o' Man. I have the mind set to fire up the ol' GNS3 and lab some FrameRelay.

Let's do this!!1

Before I got too excited, I was going to say - It's amazing that anything gets from A to B. Yet I complain when my ping sucks on the internet :P

johnifanx98

Roguetadhg wrote: »

Are you doing CCNA? or CCENT?

You'll need to know HDLC, PPP, FrameRelay. Know how they work, how to troubleshoot, what to expect to see if something's a miss. Especially FrameRelay. Yeah that puppy can be heavy.

I know HDLC/PPP/FR are required. I'm concerned other WAN protocols mentioned by Lammle...

Roguetadhg

Just know of them and where they lay on the OSI model. You may want to dig up some side research, but it's not a real need to do it. If you're just learning, I wouldn't bog you down anymore if you didn't want to read up on them. It's actually really neat stuff.

sratakhin

I think you only need to know the basics. Like, for example, PPPoE is usually used with DSL, and ISDN is a slow legacy technology.

matt333

Know your show commands for all of them.

johnifanx98

The whole WAN technology looks like a big piece of legacy to me...

Roguetadhg

framerelay may not be used - as much. I believe MPLS is the current golden technology - but that's learned at a different cisco track

Outdated, maybe, but people still have fr wan setup. If you don't want to learn it, don't learn it. You may be able to pass your cisco exam still. But I'd stress may.

NetworkVeteran

johnifanx98 wrote:

Lammel says only HDLC,PPP,FR are supported on a Cisco router serial interface. However, he mentioned a lot other WAN protocols like MPLS, ATM, PPPOE, ISDN, etc.. I'm really concerned. Do we really need to know much about them?

You don't need to know the details of configuring/troubleshooting WAN protocols for the current CCNA/CCNP exams. The CCNP track used to have an entire test called BCRAN (Building Cisco Remote Access Networks) which covered all the debug commands. Those days are gone.

johnifanx98 wrote: »

The whole WAN technology looks like a big piece of legacy to me...

It may seem that way at first since fewer companies deploy Frame Relay than in the past. However, the concepts such as VCs, LMI, NBMA, QoS bits, CIR/PIR, etc. exist in modern networks. They just happen to run over a more elaborate mix of protocols. Frame Relay clouds also tend to be one of the easier WANs to simulate in a lab so you can focus on routing over WANs in general.

For now, my advice is to focus more on "How does OSPF/RIP route over NBMA networks?" and less on "What is the precise format of a frame relay frame?"

johnifanx98

NetworkVeteran wrote: »

You don't need to know the details of configuring/troubleshooting WAN protocols for the current CCNA/CCNP exams. The CCNP track used to have an entire test called BCRAN (Building Cisco Remote Access Networks) which covered all the debug commands. Those days are gone.

It may seem that way at first since fewer companies deploy Frame Relay than in the past. However, the concepts such as VCs, LMI, NBMA, QoS bits, CIR/PIR, etc. exist in modern networks. They just happen to run over a more elaborate mix of protocols. Frame Relay clouds also tend to be one of the easier WANs to simulate in a lab so you can focus on routing over WANs in general.

For now, my advice is to focus more on "How does OSPF/RIP route over NBMA networks?" and less on "What is the precise format of a frame relay frame?"

I'm noted! thx