I went with Cisco small business equipment for my home and I thought it was overkill that my internet access can automatically fail-over from 1 Gig cable to 4G wireless. This video, though. It makes me feel inadequate.
for a home network....need to look into mesh networking. In theory, every device has a connection to every other device which is good for failover, but is wifi only. (It solves one problem, but creates several more....this is where the budget comes in and prioritizing whether failover is more important than raw bandwidth, etc)
@@TurboSpeedWiFi Fundamentally, mesh topology allows for redundant communication links -- performance isn't really a focus because it is unimportant in this context. If you want performance you should be using a star topology (traditional single link to a hub/switch) .
This guy lives in the corporate mindset, which is how I was educated. When I went into the small business space, it's about keeping costs under control.
I can probably name 100 large businesses with locations that do multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars per day in business (if not over $1M) that don't have 2 layers, let alone 3 and definitely don't even have redundant routers. Or any 10G links even. I'd be surprised if you can find TWO single 3-tier system as outlined in the video in any medium to large city around North America, unless that city has more than one top-5 tech company HQs, server farms and a handful of banking HQs.
Yeah, no money or so cheap they won't spend on the network. So then you just have to "make it work". Then they learn the lesson the hard way, and suddenly funds are available. It doesn't matter how good your sales pitch is if the boss is a cheap bastard.
also I don't believe redundancy means spaghettis mess of wires, I think it means that if something goes down a packet can still be routed through the network efficiently. I'm sure there are much less complicated network designs
Not actually. When you run a coffee shop you still can make your network redundant enough without spending a lot of money, and Chuck shows how to do it. Then you open another coffee shop, and another, and 10 more, and 50 more, and then network needs grow together with business. And this video really tells us much about it.
@@waqasahmed939 My redundancy is called my smartphone...........to use my data allotment to order replacement equipment. I worked for a telecomm years ago and the business access points were the size of a double wide bed, but cost A LOT of money....................without a computer controller for the access management. The stuff now available is just insane in its' capabilities.
@@waqasahmed939 Right. I mean, I have another router and modem and who knows how many cables in a closet if I need. I don't need anything else. People be showing their mini racks with switches and blah blah etc. Bruh, I live alone in a small place.......
Thank you for your excellent vid, as always! Today I passed the CCNA 200-301 exam with a 925 score! The material and resources I found the most useful are, ExamHighPass CCNA 200-301 practice exam. I can confirm that it is valid for 2022. Most of their Q&A shows are at the actual exam.
I just want to point out for smaller networks with a lower budget, you can link multiple access switches between eachother in a full or partial mesh, to achieve redundancy. Before you do that make sure you read up on Spanning tree protocol.
@@donatj As long as the switches support STP, no. Wire them up as you like, and the protocol will prune away redundant loops, to form a minimum spanning tree between the switches. Of course, this isn't efficient, and what you really want is designated trunk ports, interface tying, or other such methods to tell a managed switch about the simultaneous links.
Whilst technically correct, this might be the single most dangerous comment I've ever seen. If your kit doesn't support spanning tree or you don't turn it on, this is a great way to kill the entire network. Never create loopback connections without spanning tree or equivalent protocols kids.
There's one thing you do that's a cut above most channels - You're excited and enthusiastic about everything you share. I cannot stress how beneficial that has been for myself learning from your videos. You have retained a sense of wonder and it's brilliant. Absolutely stellar.
OK, so, to get rid of single point of failure: 2 sources of electrical service - two mains companies, or more often, mains + generator 2 data backbones - primary and secondary ISPs. 2 routers on each ISP - primary and backup. (that's 4 routers) 2 main (l3) switches - each connected to all 4 routers. 2 LAN switches - connected to both l3 switches 2 data cables to each drop. And this is where we start getting into ad-nauseum. Spend $15000 setting up a business... $20k for the network. If your business can't take a 10 minute outage without completely failing - you're doing /that/ wrong.
Sometimes good enough is meaning having a spare switch available on site to replace a broken one or being able to remove some floortiles to get access to a broken cable instead of making all redundant. If your business has an allowable outage of a couple of hours, that might do well. They are not all microsecond trading platforms :)
Agree, though with many businesses it’s over scoped equipment 2 x 48 ports or 3 x 24 with capacity for one failing and still being able to handle the load on port capacity. Sometimes multiples of the lower number of ports means you have build in redundant capacity without have it to have an offline spare. because it’s in place and running hot your have significantly less down time. And you also have capacity for surge growth when needed. In my use case in a project engineering office, projects finish and all of a sudden you have desk sharing in head office as a site is disestablished and they’re all back ‘home’ prepping for the next job. That surge capacity is critical in suddenly changing environments.
I support an office of about 20 users, 7 printers, IP phones, 6 APs and have 1 48 port switch, 1 24 port and 16 port as backups, have backup SOHO routers, and mobile hotspot for backup internet connection for the one computer that NEEDs internet to do vehicle registrations. And BTW I live 1400 miles away and go onsite several times a year.
As support manager for a software company serving the legal community, I got a call one day from a LARGE law firm in midtown Manhattan saying our software was just to slow for them. With a conference coming up in a week or so, the sales manager asked if I could troubleshoot the problem if I was on site. I popped into their office and they showed me their networking closet, with stacks and stacks of HUBS. That was a short visit. As soon as they dumped the hubs for switches, they called to say all was well! (Nearly 25 years ago!)
@@The_Unexpected_Inquisitor thumbs up for you and Kevin, thanks for your input. As with everything, there is a range of quality in any brand... the people I knew must have been on the low end of things.
All really good points! One thing I've been challenged with in the past is small business office networks without a full-time IT person. Then you have this trade-off between reliability and simplicity. With growing businesses sometimes they are stuck in-between the SOHO and enterprise models until they get a couple of good contracts to pay for proper IT staff.
I've been in the trades for 25 years, 10 of them as a network tech, I've only ever seen two 3 tier networks, one was my local government center. Can't tell you the pride I feel knowing I personally terminated 24 cables to each of the thirteen 911 desks, on top of the hundreds of miles of cable just in the data center. The other was a global company they had two juniper switches similar to the Cisco one you showed. According to the documentation, each chassis was about a hundred grand, as well as each individual routing engine. 6 per chassis, all tolled 1.5 mil just on tier 3. Then there was the 6 racks of tier 2 switches...
Wow thank you..l was thinking like who can actually afford these $20,000+ switches. It’s definitely something I’ve never heard of or ever seen in a typical office space. I’d like to know what’s the best setup for an office of 100-200 people though for redundancy
@@Larimuss well I wasn't expecting any genuine questions on this one, thanks! For most small to medium companies redundant switching and routing engines just isn't feasible, this puts the network somewhere in the 0.5 to 1 mil range. The fact is switches don't go out that often once properly configured. So for a network of that size I would expect to see 4-6 switches, all interconnected and a good firewall, with the modems being redundant. For instance I see a lot of companies use fiber optic service, with Comcast business as a backup in my area. For small companies a cellular fail over is adequate, like the Cisco MG21. This would all feed one cable to each desk for a phone/computer daisy chain, plus any printers and other IOT devices. The fact is most companies can do without a fifth of the employees having internet for several hours without any major consequence, servers on the otherhand really need that 100% up time.
@@Larimuss ONT, Firewall, Router, Managed Switches, Firewall, Servers and Dumb Switches (poe?). This is my office network. We have 2 ONTs (modem) in case one ISP is down, both goes in same firewall. Lets say doing maintenance we stripper down all the racks, physical LANs still works cuz got dumb switches in good locations. There is no like double switches and stuff, we just have some switches with 2 uplink cables coming out in case yk a rat eats the cable, other than that, no real need to go alllll the way I guess. And yea definitely agree with the daisy chain the other dude said, when you buy IP devices its a good idea to get those, If you don't have it it's ok, just connect to dumb switch XD. Even UPS got POE passthrough so, it's usually UPS to desk phone to PC.
@@Larimuss Two s series dell switches in a VLT for your 2tier model is what I would do, have your servers, firewalls, and client switches connected into them using LACP/etherchannel as the backbone.
After watching this i finally understood how bad our Network is. Its a 2 tier and theirs a lot of Just switch to switch connections from buildings to buildings Thanks Mate, helped a lot
The way he described the growth of the company, it must have been a coffee company rather than a coffee shop. They even hosted their own web server on-site.
I work in the UK for a research compamy in the IT department. We have 4 sites accross the UK with massive budgets. And yes you guessed it we have a 3 tier Cisco network and are in the process of upgrading our server rooms, which I work with daily. So it was fun to see other methods that I've never come accross, keep up the good work.
Recently Iv been getting incredibly burned out when it comes to studying due to the lack of engaging study material. Your video to the contrary was engaging, interesting, and full of positive energy. It doesn’t just provide the information in an easy to digest way, it makes me actively want to engage with the material and learn it to the best of my ability. Keep up the good work, and thank you for helping to make my studying a little easier.
I just retired a couple years ago as a network admin and tuned into this video for fun. It was a blast seeing the 6509 and 3850s. We used the 6509 in our main building, and I had stacks of 3850s in satellite locations. I was looking into Meraki when I had decided to retire. Yeah, networking isn't cheap. It's one of the reasons I decided to take my retirement. When the equipment is EOL and you can't talk your agency to replacing it, you get panic attacks in the evening thinking about the entire agency going down.
@@ScottTreaster Hang in there! At one point, I was thinking "I don't know if I could last another 10 years", but then one day realized I was a couple years past that point.
A lot of years dealing with IT in medium and large size companies have learned me 2 things. Redundancy a d HA most of the time means that both devices go down at the same time, and the reason for needing a L3 Cisco switch is that Cisco firewalls doesn't have a true firewall able to handle the level of traffic of a normal network.
A layer 3 switch does the traditional role of "routing" so your "routers" turn into firewalls, layer 3 turns into your routers, and layer2 turns into your distribution
A layer 3 switch doesn't replace routers. It literally uses the IP header to perform hardware switching, using only a very narrow set of subnets, those configured in its VLANs. By just examining the IP and mask, it can replicate the entire frame on just the ports that need it, because it can assign, remember and regulate the IPs of each port. Routers use mostly software, but can route, that is, find a recipient of a packet across different PHYSICAL networks. A router can only use one possible logical Layer 2 output for each unicast packet, therefore it doesn't switch ports. That being said, devices which do both MLS (L3S) and routing, typically contain both an MLS subsystem and a routing capable CPU. But, topologically, even in the management of the device, each subsystem is segregated and autonomous.
IMO for most home networks, switches connected directly to a good router (not daisy-chained) is just fine. While Chuck's setup provides higher performance, it's best to be used in high performance networks where budget is not an issue.
Yup exactly. In our case we use a very powerful Firewall that connects to the tier 2 but also acts as a Core switch. 3 story building, so small, works perfectly. We also expanded to branch offices via IPSec. Using a firewall as both a core and firewall allows you to do and integrate a lot of functionalities, for example connect it to an LDAP and you can then add subnet authentication via policies. Just one example of inventivity outside of the BS CCNA teaches you. For Future network engineers, please think outside the box, what you learn in CCNA rarely applies perfectly to the real world, and not all of you will land jobs in Data Centers where it would be required.
Why do you think the Cisco "Grey Market" exists... Instead of $10K for just the switch you can get a 3850, with the 4x10G SFP module, redundant 1100W PSU for about $5-6K. If you don't run fiber or don't need the larger PSU then you can drop it to around $4K.
You don't really need to throw 10k, or even 2k at a layer 3 switch. I picked up a HP A5800-56C for £150, but supposing you don't want to go that old, a hp 2930 can be had for under 1k
14:50 Your other buildings typically don't have the routers (that's handled in the core) 15:00 Distribution layers should be connecting to core, not to routers
@@FrostyBrew With the tier 3 method, you have full control of the connections between your satellite offices as the only door data can move through to escape that network is on the network with an internet connection. All other location just need to share intranet.
@@browsingdata you can accomplish this same thing with collapsed core. Albeit if you are connected a large amount of campuses, it becomes a density problem. A couple thousand people, though, not a problem at all. Security and control aren’t where you’ll really look to separate the distribution and core layers.
10Gbps minimum per room; 10:1Gbps on each gigabit access switch; For redundancy we've got two dedicated core routers, two core switches, about 3 AP's inside (not including test devices). The house is also a NOC for our community broadband project. We really appreciate your videos and love seeing lots of people eager to get into networking :)
Not surprising this guy gets tons of views, the way he explains and teaches is fun. I barely noticed that the video was about to end. When time flies watching a video then the creator is doing something right. My attention span is usually very short but this guy always manages to consistently keep my eyes glued to the screen and listening attentively.
This is honestly amazing. Every time I watch a CCNA video I feel the information seep in a lot easier than some other videos out there. You make things a lot simpler to understand and grasp, thank you.
So cool to get to this video on my journey. I was working on a Cisco 4510R+E as a hands on technician and although they called it the “core switch” I had no idea what they meant! Getting to this video brings to light how immense their network layout must have been, and now knowing this makes me feel like I’m one step closer to becoming a qualified engineer. Thanks so much Chuck!
OMG, I love your CCNA series, thank you so much for making them!!! You have single handedly make me an aspiring network engineer - at just 15 - love all your incredible work. Keep it up and many thanks!
If you only have 4 switches don't event attempt the above, just stack them, setup LAGs for the most important servers/router, done. Also look at used old enterprise equipment.
You’re such an amazing teacher. I’m in the process of study for my CCNA and the other courses I’m taking don’t make a lot of sense, but you’re making it make sense. Thank you so much
Old, HP Intel core2 duo workstation upgraded to 8 GB Ram, a 2.5" 250 GB SSD, and a 4 port Intel NIC running pfsense. Paired with a TP-Link, 8-port, managed switch and TP-Link AP. I have soooooo many more aspirations for my dream build though :( Awesome video, Chuck! God bless, my friend!
Fernando De la torre Saenz and what do you think is so wrong with them? anything technically waterproof to back your "lol" up? of course you should know their limitations, but I had some very good tp-link switches over the years that fit the purpose perfectly.
For of all I really enjoy watching your videos. Thank you! I work for a mid-sized community college and we use the redundant Catalyst 4500-X Series Switches for our core layer. We have 17 buildings. It's been servicing up well for many years.
This video was so helpful, I studied IT for three years and I had the worst Network lecturer ever. I could never understand the layers now I do. You have explained this so simply. Using the muscle guy in the gym to explain the core layer was brilliant. Totally get it. Thank you :)
Or, if you already have a pug, simply put your hardware out of said pug's reach. If, however, you own an animal with opposable thumbs, such as a chimpanzee or small child, redundancy you will need hmmm.
Awesome form of presenting knowledge. I'm very impressed. Thank you for making such as amazing content and making clear everything what is unclearness. In a details there's the key to understanding.
He’s teaching you wrong. His BS might be how they do it in big data centers, but out in the real world you’ll find that you can’t just throw money at everything.
I love when people explain things like this rather than teaching with an "I'm smarter than you and I want you to know that so I'm going to use terms you haven't heard of yet and expect you to know things already" attitude
There is always going to be a single point of failure. I've been daisy chaining switches for years and the only problem I've ever had was Comcast's poor service.
Love your vids 👌. In my experience in IT/Networking jobs, clients always try to cut the most costs when it comes to networking and networking security, but then when something goes night night they spending exponentially more money paying someone like myself (and you guys) a ridiculous amount per hour to get everything back up and running. Yet they won't think twice about getting the accountant a triple monitor setup with a $2500 laptop to use MS calculator, Excel, and a browser. (Also, it drives my OCD crazy when company's do have a well done network, but don't have a single UPS for the devices. Gotta have dat powa
I am taking a network class and this video made more sense than any of the course work that I am learning. I will be watching more and the older episodes. Just wow!
This made me want to upgrade into a 2-tier design, so I tried to canvass how much it would cost, *Saw Cost* I guess the BAD Network design isn't that BAD, ill keep it.
Used to be a network engineer 💔, now I'm refreshing back my knowledge to build my home network... And I have a problem... Being an ex-network engineer I'm kinda oversizing everything on my network and bloating the cost up to a medium company level cost 😅 guess I need to cool it down a bit... BTW I love your approach and I subscribed.
I am currently in a high school in Poland and my school's network is just "add another switch if needed and connect it to a free port, and sometimes add a cheap home router to create another subnet cuz why not". Okay, I get it, we have no money for an L3 switch or redundancy, it's absolutely fine! But this network design... Well, the most annoying thing is the one with those routers. The small routers' WAN ports are connected to the main switch (thank God) but are in the same network as some computers because in one case there's a router connected to the main switch while in the other it's just a switch. VLANs? Noooo why make VLANs... Really, I'd improve the network by not adding but removing devices.
Many years ago I worked for a UK Government quango. This was roughly late 90's. I was the "IT guy" in the building. I told them flat out their network needed a serious rework as it just wasn't working. They had daisy chained all 30 odd PC's on a single chain around the entire building (2 floors, 9 personal offices plus main open plan floor). One end connected to the server. Needless to say when I started I almost immediately had complaints that when certain machines were turned off, one end couldn't get access to the server. I spoke to the boss about getting the network at least split up a bit so the issue was somewhat mitigated. I was denied.... They also had the server connected directly to the internet and no UPS or other power protection on that server. The boss had a go at me when I password protected/encrypted the payroll database.... I quit.
The government and quango's are still filled with know-nothing idiot's like your boss. So are many companies. And when everything crashes, it's your fault, not theirs. Solution: be your own boss, start your own company. Like in...networking. And charge them nicely.
"The boss had a go at me when I password protected/encrypted the payroll database" Security is soo important. I absolutely agree with that. However, can you add some context here? This reads like, "I password protected/encrypted the DB without telling the boss, without telling those that needs access to it, without providing proper explanation as to why it needs to be protected, without providing clear instructions on how to access the it after it's password protected."
I'm glad I found this channel! I am the from the IT team in my company and I think we have a tier 3 structure. We have 2 ISPs for redundancy, each ISP kit connects to an NTE and each NTE is connected to 2 ISP switch (one kit per switch), which I think it's part of the core tier. Then, these 2 switches connect to the 2 cores, and these 2 cores connect to 2 distro switches, and of course, these distros are connected to all access switches in the building.
Dude! Network Chuck, thank you for these classes. As a Delivery Specialist, we do recruiting and currently looking for Network Engineers across America supporting the Navy and Marine Corps. This has helped me a previous LAN engineer regroup his understandings in networks and further understand them, going to get my CCNA before July!! You're Awesome bro!
Seems to work for me. Nice little pfSense box and a gigabit switch running everything... and a cheap wireless router next to it in case shit goes down.
John Galt Line yeah, so tired of pseudo IT guys who only can throw more money and proprietary stuff on things, instead of being creative and innovative. you can do MUCH with cheap hardware, if you use that brain of yours.I've proven it very often that I can establish the same result with 1/10th of the cost of using brands like cisco, not only on the hardware part.
@romaneeconti02 If you are onsite why would it be "several hours"? It should be 15-30 min..if that. If its already racked, like I assume it would almost always be you swap cables and power on.
@romaneeconti02 its not inovative but for smaller Orgs it can certainly be better than redundancy in the System as it allows for easy quick fixes as opposed to expensive complex diagnosis.
1 of this cheap 5 port bastard cost me a all night brainfuck. he flood all access l2 switches in a stack. before i found him. behind fridge 0_0. as for now i pref l3 switches with loop protection.
I wish I would have found your channel before I took my n10-006. You have finally explained things in a way that I can really understand!!! Keep up the great work!!!
in small to medium businesses the first example you showed (daisy chaining switches) or possibly having one 24-48 port switch would work for them. also it would be much easier to examine in case of any failure. The T2 and core switching is for big companies like Google..etc.
You can cost efffectively move to collapsed core long before "google" size. Cost effective evolution for me comes once you are considering more than 48 ports. Don't buy cisco build is out of TP-Link, Netgear, FS, Aruba. You get reliability and performance without breaking the bank.
Well, this video only makes sense to those who have a big budget for equipment ... and that's it. For everyone else, who create a network for users up to 50 workers just look at Mikrotik switches that are drastically cheaper and do the same job.
home network: dual isp (cable/dsl), load balanced failover. router wirewall via friendlywrt (2.5 lan/wan) - switch (10gb trunks to attic and basement (all managed)) - server and main desktop via 10gb copper to switch - redundant main pc to server 2.5 connection. 2gb internet and dual WAP's. also failover 1gbe from main desktop to router (normally down)
You might want to mention that bad things happen when you connect 2 home switches or routers together with more than one cable between the 2. They don't do redundancy and you get a cycle into which traffic disappears forever. It's a great way to bork your entire network. if your wiring is particularly messy it can be hard to find too.
3 years later and I'm here watching this playlist. I work in a Data Center and network here is CRAZY. We have multiple locations. Each location has a core switch. The core switch is part of a internal fiber ring which connect all our CARs ( customer access routers ). Basically, each CAR has 2 uplinks. One to N and other to S. ( or E and W dependin on CAR geolocation ). If the fiber to N got a cut, all traffic will be routed to S and the oposite is also true. This same topology also happens on our external network. Each Core Switch is over fiber forming an external fiber ring that we have around 2 counties here in South Florida.
Thank You ! Your content is excellent. I have been teaching CCNA, CCNP and CCNA Security as part of the Cisco Networking Academy Program for over 15 years. With COVID I have had to move to online where I can, but the quality and content of your videos are so great, I am telling all my students to watch this series.
Work for a large healthcare provider, we use Nexus 7k for primary core, and Nexus 6.5k failover core, and those are fed by a 1gig primary and 450meg secondary circuits. Down the pipe in the MDF is cisco 3850x48 multi-gig and POE switches as TRS's (for each rack) and then the same switches in all the IDF's, oh and all of those are linked via 10gig fiber on the add on transceivers with fiber SFP's. The infrastructure was just upgraded to Cat6e, and all the access points changed out to cisco 3802's, the controlers were also changed out to AIR-CT5520-50-K9
This is great info if youre doing networking for very large businesses, colleges, or similar large organizations. In the small business world you minimize single points if failure to the best of your ability and keep spares on hand if youre lucky enough to get management to sign off on it.
I guess I am way late on the giveaways lol. Meh....such is life. If you do any raspberry pi giveaways I'm in lol. Seriously though, I can't thank you enough for getting me started on my cybersecurity path. I am a disabled vet and my depression gets to me severely. I have found that keeping busy with networking and ethical hacking keeps my mind focused on something other than my depression. I have you to thank for that discovery. Seriously brother, you have literally saved my life. I can't thank you enough. Hopefully, you read this. Keep up the good work brother, I am so proud of you!!!
i got my CCNA in 11th grade, we had a two year cisco class through netacad. sadly that program and all the other elective programs were terminated. i just happened to find this channel, great content man. i have not been in IT for many years now (switched to automotive electrical design) but its great to see just how much things have changed from 02.
Aw man, it is great to have graduated just as Covid ramped up. I love watching my meager savings account shave down week by week while looking for IT jobs that don't exist for people without 4 years of experience.
We're moving from a messy mix of HP and Unifi switches to redundant Cisco C9300 L3 switches for the collapsed core and C9200 stacked L2 switches for access. I'm more focused on the dev team at the moment, but I'm looking forward to having a little more faith in our network. It sure does come at a cost though...
(1) I also started my business network like a glorified home network. Nowadays we run all structure network cabling is run through metal conduit to wall jacks, and all inter-building fiber is through schedule-40 underground PVC to an environment secure (i.e. dust, water, rodents, etc.) junction box on each end. All equipment connection is via a short cat-6 or fiber pigtail. This basically eliminates cable failures, and pushes any cable failures that might happen to the pigtails. Through the years, I have found that cable failures are far more common than equipment failures. (2) No doubt a distribution / access architecture is the way to go at a minimum. And the distribution switch(s) must have substantial throughput capacity. It's all too easy to look only at port speed specifications and forget to vet the overall throughput specs. A cheap switch may boast all 2.5Gb ports plus 4 SFP+ ports, yet still have low aggregate throughput. This also applies to the router running your VPN. It may be fast, but is it fast under heavy VPN traffic?
I just started out as the general IT-Client Service guy in a company that solves some windows issues etc. And i am always lurking into the network department and talking with them. Super interesting to see what's going on in a very big company and your videos really help me understand the nitty gritty details of all this stuff
It might've been interesting (or alarming) to have a running $ amount in the lower corner as you added components to your examples, just to drive the point home. :) But as a developer who has had to learn the various facets of network topology on the fly (i.e., I was standing closest to the server one day... and so it goes), your video does a great job of tying things together and filling in some blanks - thanks!
As a network designer, I always explain to customers that you can have a network with any two of the following: - High Performance - High Reliability - Low Cost You can not have all three. If you want high performance and reliability, then it ain't gonna be cheap. If you want cheap, then sacrifice one of the other two.
Just found you and you are freaking awesome and explain things very simply but still get the point across. Thank you! Feels like I'm in my undergrad and ready to learn again!
Due to a single failed device at work [in our office, not our data center] we lost phones and internet for more than a day. Found your video while researching network design to hopefully avoid such a failure in the future. Already dual-WAN but through a single router [and that is what failed, sadly]. Thank you.
This guy would explode if he came and saw the way the networking was for my company before I got there. Working there for over a year, still discovering switches in ceilings that are basically just used a cable extenders.
Great video. Very informative and easy to follow. You didn't touch on another single point of failure though. Both my wife an I work from home and have for years. I learned the hard way that the taken for granted ISP is also an single point. We invested in a wireless access point through our Cell phone provider that fortunately once the pandemic taxed out primary ISP we had the cell point as a backup. We still had lintel bandwidth for Netflix and such, but out home office continued with little to no down time. Wife was happy, but never apologized for the years we had it with little no use, but she was happy and that was more than enough for me. :-) For a small business i would almost insist they do something like this.
most of time some users dont have the knowledge to make their router or switch best of it. some configuration are demanded to make router for example faster, i was having a connection of 80MBs , with some modification could go up to 150MBs wifi connection. I enjoy your teaching , i am thankful to you.
This video helped me understand the network setup at my work so much better. I've been doing IT for 2 months and most of what I've learned has been through observation as opposed to training. We have a three tier system with a full data center and 50ish IDF's that function as tier 2 switches. Before this video I had a very vague understanding of how it all worked, but know I understand it much better.
Yeah, it all comes down to....how long can you afford to be offline. As in absolutely no internet? Whether it's business or home.......if you can or need WFH, then you need some increase in reliability. If neither the user or business hasn't got the money.....then the answer is simple.....stay offline 'til it's fixed. 😁
@@Gemini5AU exactly, like, if I'm working from home and my network is down I can just use the hotspot in my phone to use my mobile plan while the service is back, but at the office if we have a network outage every minute with no connection costs millions of dollars to the company, so is logical to invest thousands in robust networking devices.
I saw this video a while back. Enjoyed it, was already mostly familiar with the content, but ignored it for a non-critical setup :) Coming back to it now. I couldn't believe it. I had a 8 port 1G unmanaged switch die after 10 years. Fanless, no moving parts, low power. In one week 0-75% packet loss. Suddenly WTF. Couldn't believe it. I had some assumption that it would work forever hahaha. I'm actually really glad that it happened. Coffee to the face that I needed. I've learned my lesson now. Friends don't let friends have single point of failure in their networks ever.
I actually do the configuration of our network at home. Did quite a lot of research and learned quite a bit from a lot of resources. We have a Netgear switch, with a Netgear router without the WiFi, and then a TPLink EAP access point. I just got done configuring everything today, with guest networks, and the regular networks. Next step is to get a VPN configured so we can access and make it look like we are at home, but we’re not.
So, umm, let's talk about that homework assignment. Imagine you're taking a trip... You slap on your mask to take a few plane rides, keep it on for a long bus trip and several very hot car rides later, you find yourself at one of the furthest points from Western civilization. We're talking brick huts and a few sculpted pools for those weird indigenous building time-lapse videos. Of course, when you go out looking for a Wi-Fi connection, you find the local village people. You say computer, their leader says "Stick." You say "Access point," the leader points to the sun. Do you have a picture in your mind yet? That's better access than what my work has.
Dude that’s better than my ISP’s setup. my service drops dozens of times a day. new IP every time it comes back up so, it’s easy to tell when it drops.
When you mentioned the local village people, I honestly thought you were going to make a reference to the YMCA. I'm guessing you didn't mean THAT village people, though?
Thanks to this video my home network is more expensive than my actual home.
I went with Cisco small business equipment for my home and I thought it was overkill that my internet access can automatically fail-over from 1 Gig cable to 4G wireless. This video, though. It makes me feel inadequate.
for a home network....need to look into mesh networking.
In theory, every device has a connection to every other device which is good for failover, but is wifi only.
(It solves one problem, but creates several more....this is where the budget comes in and prioritizing whether failover is more important than raw bandwidth, etc)
ah the BFR or the HFR
@@WilliamLDeRieuxIV Mesh networking is over rated. Performance is just not that great.
@@TurboSpeedWiFi Fundamentally, mesh topology allows for redundant communication links -- performance isn't really a focus because it is unimportant in this context.
If you want performance you should be using a star topology (traditional single link to a hub/switch) .
This guy lives in the corporate mindset, which is how I was educated. When I went into the small business space, it's about keeping costs under control.
I can probably name 100 large businesses with locations that do multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars per day in business (if not over $1M) that don't have 2 layers, let alone 3 and definitely don't even have redundant routers. Or any 10G links even. I'd be surprised if you can find TWO single 3-tier system as outlined in the video in any medium to large city around North America, unless that city has more than one top-5 tech company HQs, server farms and a handful of banking HQs.
he lives in the content mindset. This is just content. Good knowledge but for most people at home way overkill.
We all start by suggesting top notch Cisco equipment, but end with crappy DD WRT or a beautiful Mikrotik :)
@ShaferHart nobody was ever gonna do this in their home. He is just explaining the architecture
As a self-employed man, I am the IT department. I looked at which tier I had set up. It only brought me to tears. 😀
This generally isnt a 'Noob Network Engineer' issue, this is generally a budget limitation of a small business.
The problem is they know how to "pass" interview tests (Job Interviews)!
Yeah, no money or so cheap they won't spend on the network. So then you just have to "make it work". Then they learn the lesson the hard way, and suddenly funds are available. It doesn't matter how good your sales pitch is if the boss is a cheap bastard.
also I don't believe redundancy means spaghettis mess of wires, I think it means that if something goes down a packet can still be routed through the network efficiently. I'm sure there are much less complicated network designs
Not actually. When you run a coffee shop you still can make your network redundant enough without spending a lot of money, and Chuck shows how to do it. Then you open another coffee shop, and another, and 10 more, and 50 more, and then network needs grow together with business. And this video really tells us much about it.
This channel survives on click bait.
"How to build a small home business network for $40 Million."
It gets funny if my home network has higher availability than the network at the client datacenter. My network is just router and 8 port switch.
:)
Hahahahahahahahahahahaha
@@waqasahmed939 My redundancy is called my smartphone...........to use my data allotment to order replacement equipment.
I worked for a telecomm years ago and the business access points were the size of a double wide bed, but cost A LOT of money....................without a computer controller for the access management. The stuff now available is just insane in its' capabilities.
Totally! :D If a dog eats my network cable, I just make and crimp the new one (: it takes less than a minute, and not more than 10 euros (:
@@waqasahmed939 Right. I mean, I have another router and modem and who knows how many cables in a closet if I need. I don't need anything else. People be showing their mini racks with switches and blah blah etc. Bruh, I live alone in a small place.......
Thank you for your excellent vid, as always!
Today I passed the CCNA 200-301 exam with a 925 score!
The material and resources I found the most useful are,
ExamHighPass CCNA 200-301 practice exam.
I can confirm that it is valid for 2022. Most of their Q&A shows are at the actual exam.
So you haven't been looking after your small coffee company then?
congratulations I'm actually currently studying for my exam now
congratulations!!, would you tell me if you did the boson courseware?
@@Wastefuldragon Good luck borther :)
@@fmwihler Only watch TH-cam videos & ExamHighPass Dumps.
Company I work for is getting super high tech, they've just ordered 30 tin cans and 500ft of string!
Enjoying the vids, learning a lot!
I just want to point out for smaller networks with a lower budget, you can link multiple access switches between eachother in a full or partial mesh, to achieve redundancy. Before you do that make sure you read up on Spanning tree protocol.
That’s what I was curious about. I am honestly kind of curious in the 2 and 3 tier if there’d be trouble if someone wired 2 access switches together?
@@donatj As long as the switches support STP, no. Wire them up as you like, and the protocol will prune away redundant loops, to form a minimum spanning tree between the switches. Of course, this isn't efficient, and what you really want is designated trunk ports, interface tying, or other such methods to tell a managed switch about the simultaneous links.
Spanning tree is for noobs. Try MPLS haha
@@egoobe Not sure if joking, but those two things serve very different functions.
Whilst technically correct, this might be the single most dangerous comment I've ever seen. If your kit doesn't support spanning tree or you don't turn it on, this is a great way to kill the entire network. Never create loopback connections without spanning tree or equivalent protocols kids.
There's one thing you do that's a cut above most channels - You're excited and enthusiastic about everything you share. I cannot stress how beneficial that has been for myself learning from your videos. You have retained a sense of wonder and it's brilliant. Absolutely stellar.
me too man, i studied IT but lost the passion and love for the profession, but thanks to this guy i'm starting to love it again
He makes it easy and likeable
To be fair 25% of that may be caffeine.
Yes,, well said🎉🎉 I’m so grateful I came across his videos
OK, so, to get rid of single point of failure:
2 sources of electrical service - two mains companies, or more often, mains + generator
2 data backbones - primary and secondary ISPs.
2 routers on each ISP - primary and backup. (that's 4 routers)
2 main (l3) switches - each connected to all 4 routers.
2 LAN switches - connected to both l3 switches
2 data cables to each drop.
And this is where we start getting into ad-nauseum. Spend $15000 setting up a business... $20k for the network.
If your business can't take a 10 minute outage without completely failing - you're doing /that/ wrong.
or or keep single Pointe of failure and create a simple diagnostic path.
@@NoOnesBCE Single point to the user, multiple paths at the tier 2 level.
Depending on the number of devices, just get a good router and put your switches in a star config.
Concern over SPOF for small business (
Or don’t own a pug! Signed, pug owner. 🤪😜
Sometimes good enough is meaning having a spare switch available on site to replace a broken one or being able to remove some floortiles to get access to a broken cable instead of making all redundant. If your business has an allowable outage of a couple of hours, that might do well. They are not all microsecond trading platforms :)
Agree, though with many businesses it’s over scoped equipment 2 x 48 ports or 3 x 24 with capacity for one failing and still being able to handle the load on port capacity. Sometimes multiples of the lower number of ports means you have build in redundant capacity without have it to have an offline spare. because it’s in place and running hot your have significantly less down time. And you also have capacity for surge growth when needed.
In my use case in a project engineering office, projects finish and all of a sudden you have desk sharing in head office as a site is disestablished and they’re all back ‘home’ prepping for the next job. That surge capacity is critical in suddenly changing environments.
I support an office of about 20 users, 7 printers, IP phones, 6 APs and have 1 48 port switch, 1 24 port and 16 port as backups, have backup SOHO routers, and mobile hotspot for backup internet connection for the one computer that NEEDs internet to do vehicle registrations. And BTW I live 1400 miles away and go onsite several times a year.
@@richziegler4194 And your point is?
@@allenperera6158 And my point is I am agreeing with @Jon-Paul Hale. I do tend to think that some vendors WAY over-complicate things.
As support manager for a software company serving the legal community, I got a call one day from a LARGE law firm in midtown Manhattan saying our software was just to slow for them. With a conference coming up in a week or so, the sales manager asked if I could troubleshoot the problem if I was on site. I popped into their office and they showed me their networking closet, with stacks and stacks of HUBS. That was a short visit. As soon as they dumped the hubs for switches, they called to say all was well! (Nearly 25 years ago!)
my company's network design has no tier,
but this does bring tears in my eyes every now and then
😂😂
just like me bro .. wkwk
You're tearing me up.
"No one said networking is cheap"
Especially when you go cisco.
What is your acceptable alternative that you are willing to put your name on? (serious question, not baited)
@Kevin J I have not heard great things about HP products... everyone I know that has managed an HP network has lost many nights sleep.
@@jong2359 We also go with HP's in multiple medium-sized company networks and it's been doing great so far.
@@The_Unexpected_Inquisitor thumbs up for you and Kevin, thanks for your input. As with everything, there is a range of quality in any brand... the people I knew must have been on the low end of things.
IMO cisco isn't also that popular in our country as it is in US...we dig a mikrotik and ubnt stuff a LOT.
All really good points! One thing I've been challenged with in the past is small business office networks without a full-time IT person. Then you have this trade-off between reliability and simplicity. With growing businesses sometimes they are stuck in-between the SOHO and enterprise models until they get a couple of good contracts to pay for proper IT staff.
I've been in the trades for 25 years, 10 of them as a network tech, I've only ever seen two 3 tier networks, one was my local government center. Can't tell you the pride I feel knowing I personally terminated 24 cables to each of the thirteen 911 desks, on top of the hundreds of miles of cable just in the data center. The other was a global company they had two juniper switches similar to the Cisco one you showed. According to the documentation, each chassis was about a hundred grand, as well as each individual routing engine. 6 per chassis, all tolled 1.5 mil just on tier 3. Then there was the 6 racks of tier 2 switches...
Wow thank you..l was thinking like who can actually afford these $20,000+ switches. It’s definitely something I’ve never heard of or ever seen in a typical office space. I’d like to know what’s the best setup for an office of 100-200 people though for redundancy
@@Larimuss well I wasn't expecting any genuine questions on this one, thanks!
For most small to medium companies redundant switching and routing engines just isn't feasible, this puts the network somewhere in the 0.5 to 1 mil range. The fact is switches don't go out that often once properly configured. So for a network of that size I would expect to see 4-6 switches, all interconnected and a good firewall, with the modems being redundant. For instance I see a lot of companies use fiber optic service, with Comcast business as a backup in my area. For small companies a cellular fail over is adequate, like the Cisco MG21.
This would all feed one cable to each desk for a phone/computer daisy chain, plus any printers and other IOT devices. The fact is most companies can do without a fifth of the employees having internet for several hours without any major consequence, servers on the otherhand really need that 100% up time.
@@Larimuss hope this helps!
@@Larimuss ONT, Firewall, Router, Managed Switches, Firewall, Servers and Dumb Switches (poe?). This is my office network.
We have 2 ONTs (modem) in case one ISP is down, both goes in same firewall. Lets say doing maintenance we stripper down all the racks, physical LANs still works cuz got dumb switches in good locations.
There is no like double switches and stuff, we just have some switches with 2 uplink cables coming out in case yk a rat eats the cable, other than that, no real need to go alllll the way I guess.
And yea definitely agree with the daisy chain the other dude said, when you buy IP devices its a good idea to get those, If you don't have it it's ok, just connect to dumb switch XD.
Even UPS got POE passthrough so, it's usually UPS to desk phone to PC.
@@Larimuss
Two s series dell switches in a VLT for your 2tier model is what I would do, have your servers, firewalls, and client switches connected into them using LACP/etherchannel as the backbone.
iam using "as long as it work" tier
same lol
Haha same I was looking for a 1/2 Tier cause that’s what my company has.
haha this made me laugh, was going to put in 1Tier network
my boss believes in the "as long as it works and is cheap" tier
Im a strong believer in cheap and works SLA
After watching this i finally understood how bad our Network is. Its a 2 tier and theirs a lot of Just switch to switch connections from buildings to buildings
Thanks Mate, helped a lot
2 tier will be multilayer switch which are expensive. If it's just a layer 2 switch daisy chained to another switch that would be layer 1.
A Catalyst in a coffee shop indicates money laundering.
Or maybe bitcoin mining?
The way he described the growth of the company, it must have been a coffee company rather than a coffee shop. They even hosted their own web server on-site.
Maybe they just need some pretty darn good streaming speeds for entertaining the modern costumers. But your comment just made my whole week :')
@@barrettabney then the coffee shop is stealing energy from a nuclear power plant
Maybe used Catalist? $20 2911 (with 24 PoE ports module + UC) + $20 2504 + $10 x 3 1702i + $5 x 6 7962 = $100
I work in the UK for a research compamy in the IT department. We have 4 sites accross the UK with massive budgets. And yes you guessed it we have a 3 tier Cisco network and are in the process of upgrading our server rooms, which I work with daily. So it was fun to see other methods that I've never come accross, keep up the good work.
Recently Iv been getting incredibly burned out when it comes to studying due to the lack of engaging study material.
Your video to the contrary was engaging, interesting, and full of positive energy. It doesn’t just provide the information in an easy to digest way, it makes me actively want to engage with the material and learn it to the best of my ability.
Keep up the good work, and thank you for helping to make my studying a little easier.
I just retired a couple years ago as a network admin and tuned into this video for fun. It was a blast seeing the 6509 and 3850s. We used the 6509 in our main building, and I had stacks of 3850s in satellite locations. I was looking into Meraki when I had decided to retire. Yeah, networking isn't cheap. It's one of the reasons I decided to take my retirement. When the equipment is EOL and you can't talk your agency to replacing it, you get panic attacks in the evening thinking about the entire agency going down.
Robert, your last sentence describes my life... But I've got 10 more years until retirement.
@@ScottTreaster Hang in there! At one point, I was thinking "I don't know if I could last another 10 years", but then one day realized I was a couple years past that point.
Yes,we have DC gear long past it’s EoL.
I don’t want to have to say “I told you so”, as fixing it will fall to me, but I’ve given up worrying.
A lot of years dealing with IT in medium and large size companies have learned me 2 things. Redundancy a d HA most of the time means that both devices go down at the same time, and the reason for needing a L3 Cisco switch is that Cisco firewalls doesn't have a true firewall able to handle the level of traffic of a normal network.
A layer 3 switch does the traditional role of "routing" so your "routers" turn into firewalls, layer 3 turns into your routers, and layer2 turns into your distribution
A layer 3 switch doesn't replace routers. It literally uses the IP header to perform hardware switching, using only a very narrow set of subnets, those configured in its VLANs. By just examining the IP and mask, it can replicate the entire frame on just the ports that need it, because it can assign, remember and regulate the IPs of each port. Routers use mostly software, but can route, that is, find a recipient of a packet across different PHYSICAL networks. A router can only use one possible logical Layer 2 output for each unicast packet, therefore it doesn't switch ports. That being said, devices which do both MLS (L3S) and routing, typically contain both an MLS subsystem and a routing capable CPU. But, topologically, even in the management of the device, each subsystem is segregated and autonomous.
IMO for most home networks, switches connected directly to a good router (not daisy-chained) is just fine. While Chuck's setup provides higher performance, it's best to be used in high performance networks where budget is not an issue.
Yeaaaaaah, you need to be more creative than “throw $10k at a L3 switch” this doesn’t fly in a ton of small->midsize businesses.
Seth Jestus exactly!
Yup exactly. In our case we use a very powerful Firewall that connects to the tier 2 but also acts as a Core switch. 3 story building, so small, works perfectly. We also expanded to branch offices via IPSec. Using a firewall as both a core and firewall allows you to do and integrate a lot of functionalities, for example connect it to an LDAP and you can then add subnet authentication via policies.
Just one example of inventivity outside of the BS CCNA teaches you.
For Future network engineers, please think outside the box, what you learn in CCNA rarely applies perfectly to the real world, and not all of you will land jobs in Data Centers where it would be required.
Why do you think the Cisco "Grey Market" exists... Instead of $10K for just the switch you can get a 3850, with the 4x10G SFP module, redundant 1100W PSU for about $5-6K. If you don't run fiber or don't need the larger PSU then you can drop it to around $4K.
@@Bultizar I would second what you are saying about CCNA. Use it as a toolkit to learn routing etc. and then apply it. Same goes for M$ certs as well.
You don't really need to throw 10k, or even 2k at a layer 3 switch.
I picked up a HP A5800-56C for £150, but supposing you don't want to go that old, a hp 2930 can be had for under 1k
14:50 Your other buildings typically don't have the routers (that's handled in the core)
15:00 Distribution layers should be connecting to core, not to routers
Collapsed core design is much more efficient.
@@FrostyBrew Yes, but the 3 Tier method does allow for more security and network control.
@@browsingdata Explain why, please.
@@FrostyBrew With the tier 3 method, you have full control of the connections between your satellite offices as the only door data can move through to escape that network is on the network with an internet connection. All other location just need to share intranet.
@@browsingdata you can accomplish this same thing with collapsed core. Albeit if you are connected a large amount of campuses, it becomes a density problem. A couple thousand people, though, not a problem at all. Security and control aren’t where you’ll really look to separate the distribution and core layers.
10Gbps minimum per room; 10:1Gbps on each gigabit access switch; For redundancy we've got two dedicated core routers, two core switches, about 3 AP's inside (not including test devices). The house is also a NOC for our community broadband project. We really appreciate your videos and love seeing lots of people eager to get into networking :)
Not surprising this guy gets tons of views, the way he explains and teaches is fun. I barely noticed that the video was about to end. When time flies watching a video then the creator is doing something right. My attention span is usually very short but this guy always manages to consistently keep my eyes glued to the screen and listening attentively.
This is honestly amazing. Every time I watch a CCNA video I feel the information seep in a lot easier than some other videos out there. You make things a lot simpler to understand and grasp, thank you.
So cool to get to this video on my journey. I was working on a Cisco 4510R+E as a hands on technician and although they called it the “core switch” I had no idea what they meant! Getting to this video brings to light how immense their network layout must have been, and now knowing this makes me feel like I’m one step closer to becoming a qualified engineer. Thanks so much Chuck!
OMG, I love your CCNA series, thank you so much for making them!!! You have single handedly make me an aspiring network engineer - at just 15 - love all your incredible work. Keep it up and many thanks!
Some of those switches cost more than the entire company I work for.
I can't even get £800 to replace our four switches.
Look at Mikrotik!
@@christopherberry8519 or HPE
If you only have 4 switches don't event attempt the above, just stack them, setup LAGs for the most important servers/router, done. Also look at used old enterprise equipment.
You’re such an amazing teacher. I’m in the process of study for my CCNA and the other courses I’m taking don’t make a lot of sense, but you’re making it make sense. Thank you so much
Old, HP Intel core2 duo workstation upgraded to 8 GB Ram, a 2.5" 250 GB SSD, and a 4 port Intel NIC running pfsense. Paired with a TP-Link, 8-port, managed switch and TP-Link AP. I have soooooo many more aspirations for my dream build though :(
Awesome video, Chuck! God bless, my friend!
Tp link AP. Lol
Fernando De la torre Saenz and what do you think is so wrong with them? anything technically waterproof to back your "lol" up? of course you should know their limitations, but I had some very good tp-link switches over the years that fit the purpose perfectly.
For of all I really enjoy watching your videos. Thank you! I work for a mid-sized community college and we use the redundant Catalyst 4500-X Series Switches for our core layer. We have 17 buildings. It's been servicing up well for many years.
This video was so helpful, I studied IT for three years and I had the worst Network lecturer ever. I could never understand the layers now I do. You have explained this so simply. Using the muscle guy in the gym to explain the core layer was brilliant. Totally get it. Thank you :)
me too 🥲🥲
2nd year of networking and I can say that you teach clearer than my professors
Typical CCNA: Overcomplicating even a simple coffee reseller.
Next time don't skip the step of redundency without l3 switches.
@romaneeconti02 you don't have to call people assclown even though you disagree.
This video explained good networking better than any class in college I took. Thanks!
Hello do u know how to fix packet loss 30%, from a xbox series s do u know what the problem?
@@sergiocazares5564 That would be layer 3, either it's the IP address is not configured correctly or the configuration with the router.
So just dont buy a pug when youre running a coffee shop. Got it.
Or, if you already have a pug, simply put your hardware out of said pug's reach. If, however, you own an animal with opposable thumbs, such as a chimpanzee or small child, redundancy you will need hmmm.
buy a bulldog instead lol
Don't buy a pug *or* a baby.
I reaaally hope you continue these series! I am learning so much!
Thanks :) Def continuing.
Really?
@@NetworkChuck plz upload more videos asap
Awesome form of presenting knowledge. I'm very impressed. Thank you for making such as amazing content and making clear everything what is unclearness. In a details there's the key to understanding.
He’s teaching you wrong.
His BS might be how they do it in big data centers, but out in the real world you’ll find that you can’t just throw money at everything.
I'm studying to become a+ and netowork+ certified and watching these videos helps me a lot! Thanks for explaining things in great detail!
My network is a "Go with the flow" tier. Everything can be up and fine and it still doesn't work
😂 i wonder how it looks like
I love when people explain things like this rather than teaching with an "I'm smarter than you and I want you to know that so I'm going to use terms you haven't heard of yet and expect you to know things already" attitude
I didn't really get that vibe here. But I guess people find whatever it is they're looking for
@@JK-gm6kk same me, he's just a bold prick who thinks is super funky and cool.... Pathetic
@@JK-gm6kk I think you both should read his comment again
There is always going to be a single point of failure. I've been daisy chaining switches for years and the only problem I've ever had was Comcast's poor service.
Literally laughed out loud at your comment! Thanks!
get an additional ISP
you're one of the few amazing IT profs, I enjoy listening to every word you say.
Love your vids 👌. In my experience in IT/Networking jobs, clients always try to cut the most costs when it comes to networking and networking security, but then when something goes night night they spending exponentially more money paying someone like myself (and you guys) a ridiculous amount per hour to get everything back up and running. Yet they won't think twice about getting the accountant a triple monitor setup with a $2500 laptop to use MS calculator, Excel, and a browser. (Also, it drives my OCD crazy when company's do have a well done network, but don't have a single UPS for the devices. Gotta have dat powa
I am taking a network class and this video made more sense than any of the course work that I am learning. I will be watching more and the older episodes. Just wow!
We use "I dont know why we are doing this, but we are" tier. One Cisco router, one HP pro curve that is trunked to a Unifi Switch. It works though lol
This made me want to upgrade into a 2-tier design, so I tried to canvass how much it would cost, *Saw Cost*
I guess the BAD Network design isn't that BAD, ill keep it.
hahahah ...me too .Products damn expensive
Hey chuck i am studying ccnna and i love the way you teach. It serves me a lot as a support to understand in a better and more fun way
i really like how you make everything simple but you dont make people feel dumb for not knowing good shit man
Used to be a network engineer 💔, now I'm refreshing back my knowledge to build my home network... And I have a problem... Being an ex-network engineer I'm kinda oversizing everything on my network and bloating the cost up to a medium company level cost 😅 guess I need to cool it down a bit...
BTW I love your approach and I subscribed.
I am currently in a high school in Poland and my school's network is just "add another switch if needed and connect it to a free port, and sometimes add a cheap home router to create another subnet cuz why not". Okay, I get it, we have no money for an L3 switch or redundancy, it's absolutely fine! But this network design... Well, the most annoying thing is the one with those routers. The small routers' WAN ports are connected to the main switch (thank God) but are in the same network as some computers because in one case there's a router connected to the main switch while in the other it's just a switch. VLANs? Noooo why make VLANs... Really, I'd improve the network by not adding but removing devices.
Many years ago I worked for a UK Government quango. This was roughly late 90's. I was the "IT guy" in the building. I told them flat out their network needed a serious rework as it just wasn't working. They had daisy chained all 30 odd PC's on a single chain around the entire building (2 floors, 9 personal offices plus main open plan floor). One end connected to the server. Needless to say when I started I almost immediately had complaints that when certain machines were turned off, one end couldn't get access to the server. I spoke to the boss about getting the network at least split up a bit so the issue was somewhat mitigated. I was denied.... They also had the server connected directly to the internet and no UPS or other power protection on that server. The boss had a go at me when I password protected/encrypted the payroll database.... I quit.
The government and quango's are still filled with know-nothing idiot's like your boss. So are many companies. And when everything crashes, it's your fault, not theirs. Solution: be your own boss, start your own company. Like in...networking. And charge them nicely.
"The boss had a go at me when I password protected/encrypted the payroll database"
Security is soo important. I absolutely agree with that. However, can you add some context here?
This reads like, "I password protected/encrypted the DB without telling the boss, without telling those that needs access to it, without providing proper explanation as to why it needs to be protected, without providing clear instructions on how to access the it after it's password protected."
I'm glad I found this channel! I am the from the IT team in my company and I think we have a tier 3 structure. We have 2 ISPs for redundancy, each ISP kit connects to an NTE and each NTE is connected to 2 ISP switch (one kit per switch), which I think it's part of the core tier. Then, these 2 switches connect to the 2 cores, and these 2 cores connect to 2 distro switches, and of course, these distros are connected to all access switches in the building.
Was it really worth it?
Dude! Network Chuck, thank you for these classes. As a Delivery Specialist, we do recruiting and currently looking for Network Engineers across America supporting the Navy and Marine Corps. This has helped me a previous LAN engineer regroup his understandings in networks and further understand them, going to get my CCNA before July!!
You're Awesome bro!
Hope it went well 🙏
What's a LAN engineer
without a redundancy plan. Have one extra router and switch configured in case of an emergency.
Seems to work for me. Nice little pfSense box and a gigabit switch running everything... and a cheap wireless router next to it in case shit goes down.
John Galt Line yeah, so tired of pseudo IT guys who only can throw more money and proprietary stuff on things, instead of being creative and innovative. you can do MUCH with cheap hardware, if you use that brain of yours.I've proven it very often that I can establish the same result with 1/10th of the cost of using brands like cisco, not only on the hardware part.
@romaneeconti02 If you are onsite why would it be "several hours"? It should be 15-30 min..if that. If its already racked, like I assume it would almost always be you swap cables and power on.
@romaneeconti02 its not inovative but for smaller Orgs it can certainly be better than redundancy in the System as it allows for easy quick fixes as opposed to expensive complex diagnosis.
@@NoOnesBCE Also running everything redundant makes the electrical bill higher
You sir just explained the basics very neatly that we wasted several months on in school trying to figure out using only cisco packet tracer files.
Chuck you should do more courses of just pure networking! You make it so exciting and fun.
In reality, most people just add tiny cheap switches connecting to the access layer switches when they run out of ports
indeed.
1 of this cheap 5 port bastard cost me a all night brainfuck. he flood all access l2 switches in a stack. before i found him. behind fridge 0_0. as for now i pref l3 switches with loop protection.
I wish I would have found your channel before I took my n10-006. You have finally explained things in a way that I can really understand!!! Keep up the great work!!!
C9300-48P-A Stack(2 switches), 2 DIA 1Gbps circuits(diverse), Cloud based 9800CL WLC, 9130AX APs(2), Palo 820 NGFW managed by a VM Panorama.
in small to medium businesses the first example you showed (daisy chaining switches) or possibly having one 24-48 port switch would work for them. also it would be much easier to examine in case of any failure. The T2 and core switching is for big companies like Google..etc.
You can cost efffectively move to collapsed core long before "google" size. Cost effective evolution for me comes once you are considering more than 48 ports. Don't buy cisco build is out of TP-Link, Netgear, FS, Aruba. You get reliability and performance without breaking the bank.
Well, this video only makes sense to those who have a big budget for equipment ... and that's it. For everyone else, who create a network for users up to 50 workers just look at Mikrotik switches that are drastically cheaper and do the same job.
home network: dual isp (cable/dsl), load balanced failover. router wirewall via friendlywrt (2.5 lan/wan) - switch (10gb trunks to attic and basement (all managed)) - server and main desktop via 10gb copper to switch - redundant main pc to server 2.5 connection. 2gb internet and dual WAP's. also failover 1gbe from main desktop to router (normally down)
You might want to mention that bad things happen when you connect 2 home switches or routers together with more than one cable between the 2. They don't do redundancy and you get a cycle into which traffic disappears forever. It's a great way to bork your entire network. if your wiring is particularly messy it can be hard to find too.
I was wondering why he drew two cables to connect switches, it's not like you're sending data on one cable and receiving it on the other.
Yeap This
@@galloe Noob here but when he connects the big switches is that etherchannel? I have a lot of issues with that subject.
my router failed... it was my single point of failure!
Business routers only have one port available for outside connectivity access and do no routing , home modems/routers have 4
@@pavlospilakoutas "Business *routers* do no *routing*"... Just think about that for a second 😉
@@donkmeister modems 😜
Get another isp.
Next moment
Intermittent traffic drop.
Why? Asymmetric routing
O shit
3 years later and I'm here watching this playlist.
I work in a Data Center and network here is CRAZY.
We have multiple locations. Each location has a core switch. The core switch is part of a internal fiber ring which connect all our CARs ( customer access routers ). Basically, each CAR has 2 uplinks. One to N and other to S. ( or E and W dependin on CAR geolocation ). If the fiber to N got a cut, all traffic will be routed to S and the oposite is also true. This same topology also happens on our external network. Each Core Switch is over fiber forming an external fiber ring that we have around 2 counties here in South Florida.
This man can be a network engineer, teacher, and barista at the same time.
I think his role model is Bob Ross.
Thank You ! Your content is excellent. I have been teaching CCNA, CCNP and CCNA Security as part of the Cisco Networking Academy Program for over 15 years. With COVID I have had to move to online where I can, but the quality and content of your videos are so great, I am telling all my students to watch this series.
Work for a large healthcare provider, we use Nexus 7k for primary core, and Nexus 6.5k failover core, and those are fed by a 1gig primary and 450meg secondary circuits. Down the pipe in the MDF is cisco 3850x48 multi-gig and POE switches as TRS's (for each rack) and then the same switches in all the IDF's, oh and all of those are linked via 10gig fiber on the add on transceivers with fiber SFP's. The infrastructure was just upgraded to Cat6e, and all the access points changed out to cisco 3802's, the controlers were also changed out to AIR-CT5520-50-K9
This is great info if youre doing networking for very large businesses, colleges, or similar large organizations.
In the small business world you minimize single points if failure to the best of your ability and keep spares on hand if youre lucky enough to get management to sign off on it.
I guess I am way late on the giveaways lol. Meh....such is life. If you do any raspberry pi giveaways I'm in lol. Seriously though, I can't thank you enough for getting me started on my cybersecurity path. I am a disabled vet and my depression gets to me severely. I have found that keeping busy with networking and ethical hacking keeps my mind focused on something other than my depression. I have you to thank for that discovery. Seriously brother, you have literally saved my life. I can't thank you enough. Hopefully, you read this. Keep up the good work brother, I am so proud of you!!!
i got my CCNA in 11th grade, we had a two year cisco class through netacad. sadly that program and all the other elective programs were terminated. i just happened to find this channel, great content man. i have not been in IT for many years now (switched to automotive electrical design) but its great to see just how much things have changed from 02.
02?? Damnnn you couldve been a veteran in this field by now...
@@jackdanksterdawson112 I worked in the industry until about 08 when the economy collapsed. I pivoted into automotive electrical and real estate
That moment Chuck reminds me I'm unemployed :(
Aw man, it is great to have graduated just as Covid ramped up. I love watching my meager savings account shave down week by week while looking for IT jobs that don't exist for people without 4 years of experience.
@@jong2359 - Go into business for yourself, then suddenly that limitation goes away.
@@hycron1234 Yup get to spend the next few years building up clientele while watching your savings dwindle. :)
We're moving from a messy mix of HP and Unifi switches to redundant Cisco C9300 L3 switches for the collapsed core and C9200 stacked L2 switches for access. I'm more focused on the dev team at the moment, but I'm looking forward to having a little more faith in our network. It sure does come at a cost though...
(1) I also started my business network like a glorified home network. Nowadays we run all structure network cabling is run through metal conduit to wall jacks, and all inter-building fiber is through schedule-40 underground PVC to an environment secure (i.e. dust, water, rodents, etc.) junction box on each end. All equipment connection is via a short cat-6 or fiber pigtail. This basically eliminates cable failures, and pushes any cable failures that might happen to the pigtails. Through the years, I have found that cable failures are far more common than equipment failures.
(2) No doubt a distribution / access architecture is the way to go at a minimum. And the distribution switch(s) must have substantial throughput capacity. It's all too easy to look only at port speed specifications and forget to vet the overall throughput specs. A cheap switch may boast all 2.5Gb ports plus 4 SFP+ ports, yet still have low aggregate throughput. This also applies to the router running your VPN. It may be fast, but is it fast under heavy VPN traffic?
I really love how you explain everything with drawings it makes it easy for people to understand what you're doing thanks chuck
"expensive... " Understatement of the year.
I just started out as the general IT-Client Service guy in a company that solves some windows issues etc. And i am always lurking into the network department and talking with them. Super interesting to see what's going on in a very big company and your videos really help me understand the nitty gritty details of all this stuff
It might've been interesting (or alarming) to have a running $ amount in the lower corner as you added components to your examples, just to drive the point home. :)
But as a developer who has had to learn the various facets of network topology on the fly (i.e., I was standing closest to the server one day... and so it goes), your video does a great job of tying things together and filling in some blanks - thanks!
Brilliant idea
15:03 You need to connect the other Tier 2 with the Tier 3, not with the Router.
Thank you for all the info.
As a network designer, I always explain to customers that you can have a network with any two of the following:
- High Performance
- High Reliability
- Low Cost
You can not have all three.
If you want high performance and reliability, then it ain't gonna be cheap. If you want cheap, then sacrifice one of the other two.
Just found you and you are freaking awesome and explain things very simply but still get the point across. Thank you! Feels like I'm in my undergrad and ready to learn again!
This was so well explained. I need to start on episode 1 now.
Due to a single failed device at work [in our office, not our data center] we lost phones and internet for more than a day. Found your video while researching network design to hopefully avoid such a failure in the future. Already dual-WAN but through a single router [and that is what failed, sadly].
Thank you.
This guy would explode if he came and saw the way the networking was for my company before I got there. Working there for over a year, still discovering switches in ceilings that are basically just used a cable extenders.
Great video. Very informative and easy to follow. You didn't touch on another single point of failure though. Both my wife an I work from home and have for years. I learned the hard way that the taken for granted ISP is also an single point. We invested in a wireless access point through our Cell phone provider that fortunately once the pandemic taxed out primary ISP we had the cell point as a backup. We still had lintel bandwidth for Netflix and such, but out home office continued with little to no down time. Wife was happy, but never apologized for the years we had it with little no use, but she was happy and that was more than enough for me. :-) For a small business i would almost insist they do something like this.
I know most businesses that need high availability will choose to get internet from two providers. And then route based off of priority.
most of time some users dont have the knowledge to make their router or switch best of it. some configuration are demanded to make router for example faster, i was having a connection of 80MBs , with some modification could go up to 150MBs wifi connection. I enjoy your teaching , i am thankful to you.
ha i passed my cn exam with help of this video, Thanks a lot man, Keep up the good work . lol
Chuck: Networking is costly and that's why we make big bucks.
Me: Which universe are you from?
me: network is costly and that's why everybody cheaps out on the wrong parts.
“Networking is costly” company spends hundreds of thousands with Cisco and $15 for their network admins 😂
Ccies would like a word with yoy
most networking engineers that I know work from home and make twice or three times as much as the On Site support IT, so yeah.
Great point. Most non-techies just want everything to work and be under budget. They will only care once something bad happens.
This video helped me understand the network setup at my work so much better. I've been doing IT for 2 months and most of what I've learned has been through observation as opposed to training. We have a three tier system with a full data center and 50ish IDF's that function as tier 2 switches. Before this video I had a very vague understanding of how it all worked, but know I understand it much better.
Great for large companies...home users and small operations...out of luck Chuck. Tooooo much $$$$'s
Yeah, it all comes down to....how long can you afford to be offline. As in absolutely no internet? Whether it's business or home.......if you can or need WFH, then you need some increase in reliability. If neither the user or business hasn't got the money.....then the answer is simple.....stay offline 'til it's fixed. 😁
@@Gemini5AU exactly, like, if I'm working from home and my network is down I can just use the hotspot in my phone to use my mobile plan while the service is back, but at the office if we have a network outage every minute with no connection costs millions of dollars to the company, so is logical to invest thousands in robust networking devices.
@@Gemini5AU Are you referring to a broken connection within your own network, or a loss of connection to the ISP?
@@scottyballz6447 Loss of connection to ISP via NBN in Australia.
Ridiculous amount of drop outs.
🎉🎉Who is watching in 2024
Me! Building a home network/lab trying to get a career in IT
Le me
I saw this video a while back. Enjoyed it, was already mostly familiar with the content, but ignored it for a non-critical setup :) Coming back to it now. I couldn't believe it. I had a 8 port 1G unmanaged switch die after 10 years. Fanless, no moving parts, low power. In one week 0-75% packet loss. Suddenly WTF. Couldn't believe it. I had some assumption that it would work forever hahaha. I'm actually really glad that it happened. Coffee to the face that I needed.
I've learned my lesson now. Friends don't let friends have single point of failure in their networks ever.
"nobody said networking is cheap"
And that's why businesses are moving to the cloud.
You are such a natural teacher, chuck! I’m not a network guy and yet I understand most of this. Thanks!!
I actually do the configuration of our network at home. Did quite a lot of research and learned quite a bit from a lot of resources. We have a Netgear switch, with a Netgear router without the WiFi, and then a TPLink EAP access point. I just got done configuring everything today, with guest networks, and the regular networks. Next step is to get a VPN configured so we can access and make it look like we are at home, but we’re not.
So, umm, let's talk about that homework assignment. Imagine you're taking a trip... You slap on your mask to take a few plane rides, keep it on for a long bus trip and several very hot car rides later, you find yourself at one of the furthest points from Western civilization. We're talking brick huts and a few sculpted pools for those weird indigenous building time-lapse videos. Of course, when you go out looking for a Wi-Fi connection, you find the local village people. You say computer, their leader says "Stick." You say "Access point," the leader points to the sun. Do you have a picture in your mind yet? That's better access than what my work has.
I am so sorry.
And I bet your boss is constantly blaming you guys for issues that happen as a result lol.
Dude that’s better than my ISP’s setup. my service drops dozens of times a day. new IP every time it comes back up so, it’s easy to tell when it drops.
@@Allstoned26 Sounds familiar...
When you mentioned the local village people, I honestly thought you were going to make a reference to the YMCA. I'm guessing you didn't mean THAT village people, though?