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Networking Mastery Roadmap(Beginner → Industry Ready)

Phase 1: Networking Fundamentals

Phase 1 (0-2 Months)

Understand core networking concepts and build a foundation.

📘 Networking Basics

  1. 1. What is a Network, LAN/WAN/MAN/PAN
  2. 2. OSI & TCP/IP Models (7 Layers)
  3. 3. IP Addressing (IPv4, IPv6)
  4. 4. Subnetting, CIDR, and VLSM
  5. 5. MAC Address, ARP, DHCP, DNS
  6. 6. NAT, PAT, Port Numbers

🔌 Networking Devices

  1. 1. Switches, Routers, Firewalls, Access Points
  2. 2. Hub vs Switch vs Router differences
  3. 3. Cables (UTP, STP, Fiber)

📦 Packet Flow & Protocols

  1. 1. ICMP, TCP/UDP, HTTP, HTTPS, DNS, FTP, SSH, Telnet
  2. 2. How data flows through a network (packet encapsulation/decapsulation)

🧠 Practice

  1. 1. Simulate networks using Cisco Packet Tracer or GNS3
  2. 2. Subnetting challenges (manual + calculator)
  3. 3. Ping, traceroute, ipconfig, netstat, nslookup in CLI

🎯 Certifications (Optional)

  1. 1. CompTIA Network+
  2. 2. Cisco CCNA: Networking Fundamentals
Phase 1
Phase 2
Phase 2: Switching, Routing & VLANs

Phase 2 (2-4 Months)

Learn how enterprise networks actually move traffic.

🔀 Switching Concepts

  1. 1. VLANs, Trunking (802.1Q)
  2. 2. STP (Spanning Tree Protocol)
  3. 3. Port Security
  4. 4. EtherChannel

🛣️ Routing Concepts

  1. 1. Static Routing
  2. 2. Dynamic Routing Protocols: RIP, OSPF, EIGRP, BGP (Intro)
  3. 3. Routing Tables, Route Summarization
  4. 4. Inter-VLAN Routing
  5. 5. DHCP Relay, HSRP, VRRP

🧠 Practice

  1. 1. Configure VLANs, Trunking, and STP in Packet Tracer/GNS3
  2. 2. Create multiple subnets and route between them
  3. 3. Use Wireshark to analyze traffic flows

🎯 Certifications (Optional)

  1. 1. Cisco CCNA (200-301)
  2. 2. Juniper JNCIA-Junos
Phase 2
Phase 3
Phase 3: Network Infrastructure & Services

Phase 3 (4-6 Months)

Learn how to design, deploy, and secure enterprise-grade infrastructure.

🌐 WAN Technologies

  1. 1. MPLS, Leased Lines, Metro Ethernet
  2. 2. SD-WAN Fundamentals (Cisco vManage, Fortinet, VMware SD-WAN)

⚙️ Network Services

  1. 1. DHCP, DNS, NTP, Syslog, SNMP, NetFlow
  2. 2. QoS (Quality of Service)
  3. 3. Network Segmentation

🌍 IPv6 Deep Dive

  1. 1. Addressing, Tunneling, Dual Stack, Transition Mechanisms

🔒 Firewalls & Security Basics

  1. 1. Access Control Lists (ACL)
  2. 2. Stateful vs Stateless Firewalls
  3. 3. NAT Types and Firewall Rules
  4. 4. VPNs (Site-to-Site, Remote Access)

🧠 Practice

  1. 1. Configure ACLs and VLAN segmentation
  2. 2. Build site-to-site VPNs using simulation tools
  3. 3. Set up Syslog and SNMP monitoring in lab

🎯 Certifications (Optional)

  1. 1. Cisco CCNP Enterprise
  2. 2. Fortinet NSE 3-4
  3. 3. Palo Alto PCNSA
Phase 3
Phase 4
Phase 4: Cloud & Virtual Networking

Phase 4 (6-9 Months)

Adapt to cloud-native and hybrid networking (industry standard in 2025).

💻 Virtual Networking Basics

  1. 1. vSwitches, vRouters, SDN concepts
  2. 2. Network Virtual Appliances

☁️ Cloud Networking (AWS, Azure, GCP)

  1. 1. AWS VPC, Subnets, Route Tables, NACLs, Security Groups
  2. 2. Azure VNets, NSGs, Peering
  3. 3. GCP VPC, Firewalls, Cloud Interconnect
  4. 4. Hybrid Networking - VPNs, Direct Connect, ExpressRoute
  5. 5. Load Balancers, CDN, and DNS Routing (Route 53, Cloudflare)

🧠 Practice

  1. 1. Build VPCs with multiple subnets on AWS/Azure
  2. 2. Peer two VPCs and establish VPN tunnels
  3. 3. Set up Application Load Balancer and test failover

🎯 Certifications (Optional)

  1. 1. AWS Certified Advanced Networking - Specialty
  2. 2. Microsoft Azure Network Engineer Associate
Phase 4
Phase 5
Phase 5: Network Automation & Programmability

Phase 5 (9-11 Months)

Automate configuration, monitoring, and deployment - modern skill in demand.

💻 Scripting Languages

  1. 1. Python for Network Engineers (Netmiko, NAPALM, Paramiko)
  2. 2. YAML, JSON basics

🤖 Automation Tools

  1. 1. Ansible for Network Configuration Management
  2. 2. REST APIs (Cisco DNA Center, Arista, Juniper)
  3. 3. Terraform for Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
  4. 4. Git/GitHub for version control

📊 Monitoring Automation

  1. 1. NetBox, Grafana, Prometheus integration

🧠 Practice

  1. 1. Automate VLAN or interface configs via Ansible
  2. 2. Use Python scripts to backup router configs
  3. 3. Push changes via API to network devices

🎯 Certifications (Optional)

  1. 1. Cisco DevNet Associate (DEVASC)
  2. 2. Red Hat Ansible Automation
  3. 3. HashiCorp Terraform Associate
Phase 5
Phase 6
Phase 6: Network Security, Troubleshooting & Optimization

Phase 6 (11-13 Months)

Be production-ready - secure, monitor, and optimize enterprise networks.

🔐 Advanced Security

  1. 1. IDS/IPS, Firewalls, Zero Trust Network Access
  2. 2. Secure Access (802.1X, NAC)
  3. 3. DDoS Mitigation, Threat Intelligence

🔍 Network Monitoring & Troubleshooting

  1. 1. Tools: Wireshark, SolarWinds, PRTG, Zabbix, NetFlow Analyzer
  2. 2. Troubleshoot using ping, traceroute, show/debug commands
  3. 3. Analyze latency, packet loss, and bandwidth usage

⚡ Performance Optimization

  1. 1. QoS tuning, traffic shaping, caching, load balancing
  2. 2. Redundancy (HSRP, VRRP, GLBP)

🧠 Practice

  1. 1. Simulate attacks and troubleshoot in a lab environment
  2. 2. Capture live packets and diagnose issues with Wireshark
  3. 3. Create a full monitoring dashboard for a simulated network

🎯 Certifications (Optional)

  1. 1. Cisco CCNP Security
  2. 2. Palo Alto PCNSE
  3. 3. CompTIA Security+
Phase 6
Phase 7
Phase 7: Industry Projects & Career Prep

Phase 7 (13-15 Months)

Build production-level labs, documentation, and get job-ready.

🚀 Hands-on Projects

  1. 1. ✅ Enterprise Campus Network Design (3-tier model)
  2. 2. ✅ Hybrid Cloud Network Setup (on-prem + AWS)
  3. 3. ✅ Network Automation Dashboard (Python + Netmiko + Grafana)
  4. 4. ✅ Network Monitoring Solution (SNMP + Syslog + Grafana)
  5. 5. ✅ SD-WAN Implementation Demo

📄 Documentation Skills

  1. 1. Document network topologies
  2. 2. Create network diagrams using draw.io or Lucidchart
  3. 3. Write Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)

💼 Job Prep

  1. 1. Mock interviews on subnetting, routing, troubleshooting
  2. 2. Portfolio on GitHub (configs, projects, scripts)
  3. 3. Study real job descriptions (Network Engineer, NOC, Cloud Network Engineer)

🏆 Final Tips to Become Industry-Ready

Congratulations! You've completed the Networking Mastery Roadmap and are ready to design scalable, robust systems.