WAN....it's not the internet!! (sometimes) // FREE CCNA // EP 8

Summary

This video explores various Wide Area Network (WAN) technologies used to connect a company's corporate office, data centers, and branch offices. It discusses traditional methods like leased lines and MPLS, as well as modern alternatives like Metro Ethernet and SD-WAN. The focus is on ensuring reliable, cost-effective connectivity for services like VoIP and accessing cloud-based applications.

Takeaways

• 🏢 The corporate office and data center are often connected through a WAN (Wide Area Network) due to their geographical separation.
• 🌐 Traditionally, connections between corporate offices and data centers were made using leased lines, such as T1 or T3, which offer dedicated, stable, but expensive connectivity.
• 📡 Frame relay and ATM were alternative WAN technologies to leased lines, offering less expensive options but are now considered outdated.
• 🔖 MPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching) became a popular choice for connecting branch offices to corporate offices or data centers, providing a private and efficient method through virtual circuits.
• 🔊 The term 'WAN' can also include the internet, but the focus in the script is on private connections rather than public internet access.
• 🔑 MPLS operates at a sub-layer of the OSI model, specifically at layer 2.5, and uses label switching to create private, virtual paths for data traffic.
• 🌟 Metro Ethernet (Metro E) is a high-speed, point-to-point connection that can connect main offices within a metropolitan area, often used for data center to corporate office links.
• 🔌 Metro E connections can be point-to-point (E-Line), hub-and-spoke (E-Tree), or full-mesh (E-LAN), offering different configurations based on the needs and budget of the organization.
• 🔒 VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) are used to encrypt and secure traffic over public internet connections, providing a cost-effective alternative to MPLS for branch office connectivity.
• 🌪 The rise of SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Networking) is challenging MPLS due to its ability to optimize internet connections and better handle cloud-based traffic.
• 📚 The script emphasizes the importance of understanding different WAN technologies for network engineers, especially in the context of evolving business needs and cloud adoption.

Q & A

What is the main topic discussed in the video script?

The main topic discussed in the video script is the various Wide Area Network (WAN) technologies used to connect corporate offices, branch offices, and data centers, including old and modern methods like leased lines, MPLS, Metro Ethernet, and VPNs.

What is a LAN and how does it differ from a WAN?

A LAN (Local Area Network) is a network that covers a small geographical area, typically within a single building or campus. It differs from a WAN (Wide Area Network), which covers a larger geographical area and connects different LANs over long distances, often using public or dedicated infrastructure.

What is a leased line and why might it be expensive?

A leased line is a dedicated communication line that a company can lease from a service provider to connect two sites. It can be expensive because it offers a dedicated, private connection with guaranteed performance, speed, and latency, which is ideal for mission-critical applications but costly to maintain.

What is MPLS and how does it provide a private network for businesses?

MPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching) is a WAN technology that allows service providers to create virtual private networks for businesses. It uses label switching to prioritize and route traffic efficiently across the provider's network, ensuring that a company's traffic remains separate and secure without the need for encryption.

What is Metro Ethernet and how does it compare to MPLS?

Metro Ethernet is a service that provides high-speed, dedicated connectivity between two locations within a metropolitan area, often using fiber-optic cables. It can be more cost-effective than MPLS for certain applications but does not offer the same level of traffic prioritization and quality of service.

What is SD-WAN and how does it differ from traditional MPLS?

SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Networking) is a modern approach to WAN connectivity that uses software to manage and optimize traffic across a network. Unlike traditional MPLS, which relies on dedicated, private connections, SD-WAN can utilize standard internet connections and apply policies to optimize traffic flow, making it a cost-effective alternative.

What is a VPN and how does it secure traffic over the internet?

A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a technology that creates a secure, encrypted connection over the internet. It allows users to send and receive data as if their devices were directly connected to a private network, ensuring that the traffic remains confidential and integral even when transmitted over public networks.

What is the purpose of QoS in a WAN context?

Quality of Service (QoS) is a set of techniques used in WANs to manage network resources and prioritize certain types of traffic. It ensures that critical applications, such as voice calls in a VoIP system, receive the necessary bandwidth and low latency, improving the overall performance and user experience.

What is the difference between a point-to-point connection and a point-to-multipoint connection in the context of Metro Ethernet?

A point-to-point connection in Metro Ethernet is a direct, dedicated link between two locations. In contrast, a point-to-multipoint connection allows a central location to connect to multiple remote sites, often using a hub-and-spoke configuration, which can be more cost-effective for businesses with several branch offices.

What factors might influence a company's decision to choose one WAN technology over another?

Factors influencing a company's choice of WAN technology include cost, the required speed and reliability of the connection, the need for traffic prioritization and QoS, the geographical distribution of sites, and the specific applications and services that need to be supported.

What is the role of the CE router and PE router in an MPLS network?

In an MPLS network, the CE router (Customer Edge router) is the device at the customer's site that connects to the provider's network. The PE router (Provider Edge router) is the device at the edge of the service provider's network that connects to the CE routers, facilitating the MPLS traffic forwarding and ensuring the private, virtual circuit for the customer's traffic.

Outlines

00:00

🌐 Corporate and Data Center Connectivity

The script introduces the topic of how corporate offices and data centers connect, emphasizing the complexity of these connections beyond simply running a cable. It discusses the three-tier architecture of a LAN and the spine-leaf topology of a data center network. The script also introduces the concept of a Wide Area Network (WAN) for connecting geographically separate offices and clarifies the difference between LAN and WAN. It highlights the importance of centralized services like phone systems and databases that necessitate robust connections between corporate offices, data centers, and branch offices.

05:02

📡 Traditional WAN Connectivity Methods

This paragraph delves into traditional methods of WAN connectivity, such as leased lines, T1/T3 lines, and E1/E3 lines, discussing their speeds and limitations. It mentions the high costs and complexity associated with leased lines, especially when trying to establish a mesh network for multiple branch offices. The script also briefly touches on Frame Relay and ATM as older WAN options before moving on to more modern connectivity solutions like MPLS and Metro Ethernet.

10:04

🔄 Introduction to MPLS and Metro Ethernet

The script introduces MPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching) as a popular method for connecting various sites through a carrier's network, creating a private and efficient communication path. It explains the concept of virtual circuits in MPLS and how it operates at the 2.5 layer of the OSI model, using labels to ensure private traffic routing. The paragraph also begins a discussion on Metro Ethernet, hinting at its role in providing high-speed connections within a metropolitan area, but does not fully explore it within this section.

15:04

🚀 Metro Ethernet Connectivity Options

This section provides a detailed look at Metro Ethernet, discussing its capabilities for high-speed connections within a city or metropolitan area. It explains the different types of Metro Ethernet services, including E-Line for point-to-point connectivity, E-Tree for hub-and-spoke, and E-LAN for full mesh connectivity. The script also touches on the practical aspects of ordering Metro Ethernet services and the benefits of private fiber networks with SLAs.

20:05

🌐 Comparing MPLS, Metro E, and VPN for WAN

The script compares MPLS and Metro Ethernet with the more cost-effective option of using public internet connections secured by VPNs for site-to-site connectivity. It discusses the trade-offs between the private and secure nature of MPLS and the cost savings of using internet-based VPNs, which may lack some QoS features. The paragraph also introduces the concept of SD-WAN as a modern alternative to MPLS, hinting at its ability to optimize traffic over the public internet and its relevance in a cloud-centric environment.

25:05

🛠️ Evaluating WAN Technologies for Cost Reduction

In this segment, the script presents a scenario where a company seeks to reduce its WAN and telephone service costs. It provides a detailed analysis of various WAN technologies, including leased lines, MPLS, and internet-based VPNs, and their suitability for different organizational needs. The script concludes with a quiz to test the viewer's understanding of the concepts discussed, emphasizing the cost-effectiveness and flexibility of modern WAN solutions like SD-WAN.

🎓 Recap and Future WAN Technology Discussion

The final paragraph wraps up the video by summarizing the WAN technologies covered and their roles in enterprise networking. It mentions the integration of campus networks, data center networks, and WAN in the enterprise context. The script also previews upcoming content on SOHO (Small Office/Home Office) networking, reflecting on the growing relevance due to current trends. The video ends with a call to action for viewers to engage with the content and follow for more CCNA-focused videos.

Keywords

💡WAN (Wide Area Network)

WAN refers to a network that covers a large geographic area and connects multiple local area networks (LANs). In the video, the WAN is the focus for understanding how a company's different offices, such as corporate and branch offices, connect over a broad area. The script discusses various technologies used to implement WANs, such as leased lines, MPLS, and Metro Ethernet.

💡LAN (Local Area Network)

LAN is a computer network that spans a small geographic area, usually a single building or group of buildings. The video script contrasts LAN with WAN, explaining that typically anything outside of these contained networks is referred to as a WAN, and the script also describes a three-tier architecture for a corporate LAN.

💡Data Center

A data center is a centralized repository, typically housing servers, storage, and network devices, where organizations can store, process, and disseminate large amounts of data. The script mentions the data center's network and its connection to the corporate office as a critical aspect of a company's WAN.

💡Leased Line

A leased line is a dedicated communication line that a company can rent from a service provider for private data transmission. The video script refers to leased lines, such as T1 and T3, as an older method for connecting corporate offices to data centers, highlighting their reliability but also their cost and limited bandwidth.

💡MPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching)

MPLS is a data-carrying mechanism that emulates some properties of a circuit-switched network over a packet-switched network. The script explains how MPLS creates a private network for a company's traffic, using labels to ensure that the traffic is kept separate and secure, which is crucial for understanding the evolution of WAN technologies.

💡Metro Ethernet

Metro Ethernet is a type of local area network technology that uses Ethernet standards to provide data services over a metropolitan area. The script discusses Metro Ethernet as a modern alternative to MPLS for connecting main offices, such as data centers to corporate offices, within a city.

💡VPN (Virtual Private Network)

A VPN is a secure, encrypted connection used to connect to another network over the internet. The video script addresses VPNs as a cost-effective solution for connecting branch offices to a company's main network over the public internet, ensuring secure communication.

💡SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network)

SD-WAN is a technology that simplifies the management and operation of a WAN from a centralized point by separating the networking hardware from its control mechanism. The script mentions SD-WAN as a new technology that is replacing MPLS, offering optimization for traffic to the cloud and the ability to use standard internet connections more effectively.

💡QoS (Quality of Service)

QoS is the ability to prioritize certain types of network traffic to ensure that critical applications receive the bandwidth they need. The script discusses the importance of QoS in MPLS networks for prioritizing voice traffic, such as VoIP phone systems, over other types of traffic.

💡VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)

VoIP is a technology that allows voice communications over the internet. The video script mentions VoIP as an example of a service that companies may centralize in their data centers, with branch offices relying on a strong, stable connection to access it.

Highlights

Exploration of how corporate offices and branch offices connect to data centers, often geographically separated, and the complexities beyond a simple cable connection.

Introduction and appreciation of Bozon Software for Cisco certification preparation, including lab software, practice exams, and courseware.

Explanation of Local Area Networks (LAN) and Wide Area Networks (WAN), emphasizing the difference between internal corporate or data center networks and external networks.

Discussion on the necessity of connecting branch offices like coffee shops back to corporate or data centers for centralized services such as phone systems, email servers, and databases.

Overview of traditional connection methods like leased lines, T1, T3, E1, and E3, and their limitations in terms of speed and cost.

Introduction of MPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching) as a modern method for connecting branch offices to corporate offices or data centers with its benefits of privacy and traffic prioritization.

Description of MPLS as a 2.5 layer protocol in the OSI model, utilizing label switching to create private, virtual circuits for traffic separation.

Clarification on the difference between MPLS VPN and traditional VPNs, highlighting that MPLS VPNs do not rely on encryption for privacy.

Introduction to Metro Ethernet as an alternative to MPLS, providing high-speed, point-to-point connections within a metropolitan area.

Explanation of different types of Metro Ethernet services: E-Line, E-Tree, and E-LAN, and their respective use cases.

Demonstration of how to order Metro Ethernet services from a provider, emphasizing the importance of understanding service types and requirements.

Comparison between MPLS and Metro Ethernet, discussing the cost, speed, and practicality of each for different business scenarios.

Discussion on the shift from MPLS to SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) due to its ability to optimize internet connections and adapt to cloud-based services.

Highlight of the importance of Quality of Service (QoS) in prioritizing certain types of traffic, such as VoIP, over a network.

Overview of Site-to-Site VPNs as a cost-effective method for connecting branch offices to a central network over the public internet with encryption.

Emphasis on the need for encryption in VPNs to secure traffic over the public internet and the difference from private WAN connections.

Final thoughts on the evolution of WAN technologies and their impact on enterprise networking, hinting at future discussions on SOHO and remote work scenarios.

Transcripts

so how do you connect to your data

center and when i say you i mean your

company

your corporate office what about your

branch offices how do they all connect

is it through the internet is it

something else

that's what we're talking about today

and a massive shout out to the sponsor

of this series

bozon software they are what i use to

prepare for my cisco certifications

their lab software their practice exams

and now their new courseware

golden check them out link below so

network chuck coffee we have our

corporate office

this is where my employees might work

it's where i will work in my big massive

office

maybe someday and we saw what that

network might look like

and typically we'll have a three-tier

architecture or what i have here a

two-tier collapse core

architecture that's our lan our local

area network

and then we looked at our data center

network and we took a peek inside that

network we'll see a spine leaf topology

a class design but there's one thing we

haven't covered

it's how does our corporate office

connect to our data center

because they aren't they're separate

they're geographically

separate and you might be wondering well

chuck don't they just run a cable

connect them like that sometimes but it

can often get more complicated than that

and beyond that connection the corporate

office to data center what about our

coffee shops this is a coffee company

come on we're gonna have coffee shops

need to fix my labels here it's getting

kind of messy

so how do our coffee shops which could

be branch offices connect back to

corporate or even

connect back to the data center as well

depending on what they need how all

these connections work

how this all connects we commonly call

our when

our wide area network now just to clear

up some terms real quick

typically anything inside our corporate

office or our data center or whatever

our house will call a lan and anything

outside

those contained networks those private

networks will call a wan

so that could include the the internet

but here when we're talking about wan

we're specifically focusing in on how

our branch offices or maybe our coffee

shops connect back to our corporate

office

how our corporate office connects to our

data center those connections now let me

pause right there for a second let me

give you some context

why do we even need to connect our stuff

like this why do our coffee shops need

to talk back to the corporate office or

the data center why does a corporate

office have to talk to the data center

like why do we have to do that well

traditionally and how we still do things

a lot nowadays is we'll centralize our

services

so for example i might have my phone

system living in my data center my phone

system servers let's just say cucm

cisco's version of it and at my coffee

shops i would just have my phones

i wouldn't have to install a phone

system in each place and these phones

would need a strong

reliable stable connection back to the

data center to

do stuff to talk to each other to get

dial tone voicemail all that kind of

crazy stuff we get with phone systems

which is amazing

and it could be the same thing for the

corporate office now what i'm telling

you is a real world example this is how

my network was designed when i was a

network engineer and a phone system

engineer

this is what we did and it doesn't stop

there we're talking email servers

databases websites possibly payroll

systems the pos system at the coffee

shops you know the point of sale

typically all those servers live in the

data center or at the corporate office

and these branch offices need to talk

back to these places okay so that's why

that's why we need that communication so

how do we make that communication happen

okay here's what i'm gonna do i'm gonna

start with old stuff but it's stuff

we'll still see out in the wild so as

you encounter networks

you might see this and then i'll move on

to the more modern stuff that

is awesome and amazing and things you'll

want to see

so anyways stoneage version right here

things that jeremy chara and david

bomble used

because they're they're old we might

connect our corporate office to our data

center using what's called a leased

line just like you release an apartment

lease a house lease a car

you release a line a cable that connects

your corporate office to your data

center now it's not as fast as an

ethernet cable

traditionally we're talking t1 t1 speeds

which just for reference we're looking

at 1.54

megabits per second so blazing fast no

and then you know we'd have t3 as well

t3 will give us around 43 megabits per

second and then if you're in europe

we're talking about e1

and e3 with comparable speeds now these

leased lines were great because they

were just for you

just for your traffic whereas a lot of

internet connections like your home

internet connection is

shared so things like performance speed

and latency are not guaranteed for you

but on at least line

heck yeah they would be but they'd be

expensive and getting a bunch of lease

lines between my coffee shops and my

data center

man it becomes a mess and if i want them

to talk to each other

getting a mesh going on nah it gets

messy again you'll still see these

but again they're expensive and

depending on where your remote branches

are at your coffee shops are at they

might be hard to

actually get and actually let's assign

some locations to my coffee shops here

this one will be in dallas then phoenix

and my biggest competition i'll put it

in seattle now looking at my boson

courseware for ccna which

is amazing you should pick this up an

alternative to lease lines sticking with

our old theme here would be frame relay

or atm

you used to have to know how to

configure frame relay for the ccna thank

goodness you don't have to do that

anymore so we're not going to talk about

it forget it get out of here

but just know it was an alternative to

lease lines and it was a wan option as

well as atm but again lease lines are

expensive and it's hard to connect a

bunch of different locations and have

that connectivity you want but not for

the more modern stuff and i use modern

loosely because mpls is included in this

but mpls

and metro ethernet what is that let's

check it out need some more coffee

let's talk about mpls mpls

or multi-protocol label switching it was

all the rage in the early 90s and well

it's still pretty popular now with mpls

we basically tell our internet provider

or our carrier

hey i want all my stuff to connect and

talk and they say

okay we'll take care of it here's a

connection i would order that mpls

circuit

for all my sites boom boom each

connecting to a router at each site

my other sites don't have routers let me

fix that now real quick before we move

on i need to say this

this is not the internet keep that in

mind the options i've gone over so far

is not the internet it's it's when it's

wide area network

but it's all about connecting our sites

and only our traffic

is going across the stuff so again i

have all my locations that are

in different geographical areas dallas

phoenix

seattle and again when i asked my

provider my carrier to connect all these

places

they said sure here's your connection so

we just have the one connection

at each site our mpls connection

connecting it to our provider's network

it's mpls network so when my phoenix

store wants to talk back to the data

center

it'll go to my provider's mpls network

and my provider will route and connect

to everything connect my sites

same thing goes for if my phoenix store

wants to talk to my seattle store they

just connect to the carrier's mpls

network and the

carrier does its magic inside its little

cloud there the key difference between

this and at least line is that we don't

have to have a bunch of

leaked lines connecting all of our sites

we just have the one mpls connection

this has been a de facto standard of how

companies connect their branch offices

to their corporate offices or their data

centers

for a while now and for a lot of good

reasons because first it's private

now yes this network right here is a

carrier network and you're sharing these

paths

with other customers so you're probably

thinking chuck how is that private

well it's because they create virtual

circuits basically little private

networks just for you

your traffic is totally separate from

the other customers how do they do that

well it's part of what mpls does that's

why they run mpls the magic word is the

label label switching here and it's

actually quite fascinating how it works

i'm about to geek out you ready so we

just covered the osi model right

we have layers one two three four five

six seven and the ones we really care

about are layers one through four

now mpls is an interesting protocol

because it's not really a data link

protocol

and it's not really a network layer

three protocol

it's actually kind of right here a 2.5

and that's legit what people say

at this layer mpls will apply a label

saying hey

this internet traffic right here come in

hot

this is network chuck coffee traffic

apply that label and when it has that

label then

the carrier's network will know hey this

is just for network chuck

no one else can see this no one we're

going to put this on its own private

virtual circuit

safe secure this is often why you'll

hear mpls referred to as an mpls vpn

or virtual private network now i'm

hesitant to use that term because

when you think vpn you think oh

encrypted traffic

uh you use a vpn on your computer

probably your phone i hope you do anyway

but with mpls

it's not necessarily encrypted it is

virtual it is private and

it is a network but it doesn't rely on

encryption to keep your

network traffic separate and safe it

uses the label switching inside of the

carrier's network now there's a whole

whole thing with mpls a whole a lot of

stuff to learn and as you go down the

networking path as you go down the cisco

path

you'll definitely have an opportunity to

learn more about it now one last thing

these connections at our branch offices

at our data center at our corporate

office our connection into the mpls

cloud or the

the mpls network for our carrier it's

layer three

we're routing so we're dealing with

packets not frames if you refer back to

my video on what routers do and what

switches do in the different

layers and i'm telling you this because

we're moving on to talk about metro e or

metro ethernet metro e is lit

i love it now it doesn't necessarily

replace mpls

now in some situations it it definitely

can i'll show you in a moment but

there's a reason mpls is still around

it keeps your internet traffic going

between your branch offices and your

corporate offices and all that stuff

separated private secure you're not on

the big bad wild internet you're

you're still in a private when but we

are starting to see mpls die off

is mpls dead not quite but it is dying

thanks to something called sd-wan we'll

talk about that here in a moment oh and

one more thing before i erase everything

i want to just say this the router that

you'll use to connect to your provider's

mpls network

will commonly call it the ce router or

the customer edge

router and then the router you're

connecting to in the

mpls network the provider's network

we'll call it the pe router the physical

education no i'm just kidding

the provider edge router and focus on

the edge part because the router here is

at the edge of our lan

our internal network and the pe router

is at the edge of the

carrier's mpls network anyways just fun

terminology you can

nestle into that brand of yours as you

go down the cisco path again a whole lot

of stuff going on in here it's crazy

now let's talk about metro e or metro

ethernet metro e is kind of just like

this

just a cable between two sites like

legit that's kind of what it is

so between my corporate office and my

data center i would contact my carrier

and say hey

i want a blazing just crazy

connection between my data center and my

corporate office and they'll say yeah

here you go it's gonna cost you now

they're not crazy expensive but

sometimes it can be but this connection

is literally a cable

run underneath the city now keep in mind

i'm talking about a city here because

metro metro ethernet so notice both my

data center and my

corporate office are in dallas and

within that metropolitan area we're

going to have lots of

provider cable run underneath the ground

to connect these guys and i tell my

carrier i want to use one of them

and the speeds can vary but in my

experience you'll typically see between

a corporate office and a data center

you'll get a gig pipe one gigabit per

second you'll also see 10 gigabits per

second

and going with redundancy because you

should have redundant connections will

typically have two two connections now

this might feel familiar because it kind

of looks like a leased line right

and yeah i mean it's it's similar

because you got that point-to-point

connection and you'll often hear

metro e connections like this between

two sites called a point-to-point

connection

that's what i used to call my connection

between my corporate office and data

center that's

what we called it p2p but obviously it's

a bit different because you know it's

fast really fast it'll often be a fiber

connection and depending on what you pay

for it can be a shared line i've seen

this but typically when you're doing

something like this for your company

it's going to be a dedicated line just

for you now metro e can span

beyond one geographical area so while i

have my two sites here in dallas

you could have that connection going

across great distances to my phoenix

location providers do have cable running

these great distances but let me stop

right there

you won't see this very often where you

have your branch office connecting to

your data center or your corporate

office with a metro e-connection

unless that branch office or coffee shop

is really important and it's doing a lot

of stuff

but no it's it wouldn't be economical it

wouldn't make sense it's too expensive

so typically metro e is going to be

connecting your main offices together

data center to corporate office data

center to data center you might have

your and this is legit companies do this

depending on how big they are

they'll have a primary data center and

also a secondary data center so as

network

coffee expands got my other data center

over here and i want to put this in a

different area not in dallas because i

want to have some disaster recovery

maybe i'll put it in houston or

something and i'll put a

metro e-connection there boom maybe two

two one gig pipes now what's cool about

these connections is they're often

layer two you heard me right layer two

so it's like you're just

again connecting two chords together or

two switches together and that's

typically what you'll see you're gonna

have

your switch on this side and your switch

on that side your provider will provide

the cable but you provide the end

devices typically

and this will vary but for example in my

data center my provider will put a piece

of equipment

in my rack and they'd say here connect

to this port or they might just

dangle a cord down from the ceiling and

say here here's your connection connect

this to your switch now again this right

here the point-to-point is what i've

most often seen the most common thing

i've seen but it's not the only type of

metro e

now this one is called e-line this will

give you more terms and this circuit

you'll often see called an evc or an

ethernet virtual circuit but you might

see some where the provider basically

gives you a cloud switch and you get a

full mesh going so we'll have our metro

e connections let's just say all our

sites connecting let's just go crazy

money is no issue and the provider just

gives you one big massive switch that

can go across

great distances and i say it's like a

massive switch because yeah it's gonna

be layer two you're gonna be exchanging

ethernet frames often your end devices

might be switches

and whereas the point to point was

called an e-line this is called an e-lan

which i i love that

and again this is the craziest mode

probably the most expensive mode but

there's a middle

option as well the other option is more

of a hub and spoke where i'll have my

hub here and i'll have my spokes

all connecting back to him as the

central site this one's called e

tree which is just funny to me with this

location being the

and and these locations be in the leaves

e3

hub and spoke now i want to show you

what it might look like to go to a real

provider's website and order

these services hey i want some metro

ethernet well let's see

here's spectrum here we're at their

business site but we don't want normal

business

we're gonna go to products and we're

gonna switch over to enterprise

solutions because uh

that's some special stuff and i'll go to

the top here and go to services and

under here we got wan

we get our wan solutions now we got a

few and i'm excited to talk about a few

of these but real quick we'll click on

the ethernet services which

you might imagine that's metro ethernet

as i scroll down here this guy looks

really happy actually he doesn't what's

wrong with that guy

so here we have our three different

types of metro e we can order it's

obviously different terminology but real

quick can you guess which one is which

pause the video and see if you know now

the first one here ethernet private

line that's our e-line let's uh open

that up real quick

yep point-to-point ethernet connectivity

for organizations with two locations

it's for high speed

low latency and typically involves

external partners

hotels dr sites but essentially data

center to campus environment is very

common our ethernet virtual private line

this one might be a little tricky right

let's open that up and see what we have

and there it is right there we got point

to multipoint for companies with a

central office and satellite locations

and there's terminology right there hub

and spoke designs so that's our e tree

and then last but not least and

definitely not least in cost

we have our ethernet private lan true

multi-point connectivity

creating a transparent wan extension

basically a switch in the sky

and if you scroll down we find some

reasons why we love metro e and it's

very similar to

mpls as well but with spectrum's metro e

now this is not an ad for spectrum

if they want to sponsor me call me but

private fiber network

awesome backed by service level

agreement or slas meaning hey we're

going to make sure you're up and if

you're

not up then we'll pay you back some

money like that that's legit these

agreements say now let's talk about our

coffee shops real quick i mentioned that

metro e

isn't the best option for connecting

these guys because it's super expensive

and it's normally meant for your data

center to corporate office and or

data center to data center connections

that's why we love mpls or loved npls

because we're moving beyond that now for

a few reasons mainly it's

expensive not as expensive as metro e

might be but it's still more expensive

than the alternative and that's a good

old internet connection coming out of

your branch office or your coffee shop

and when i see internet connection here

i'm not talking about the private when

that we've been discussing so far no

this is public internet

in many cases the same type of internet

you have right now that you're watching

me with right now

instead of calling up the enterprise

solutions line i might call the business

solution line

or just the consumer solution line

saying hey just give me give me internet

access i don't care what it is just give

it to me

and using that public internet

connection we connect our let's say our

seattle coffee shop

to our data center over the internet

just like that

no not just like that we'd have to do

something to it we'd have to encrypt the

traffic make sure it's safe

this would be a vpn or a virtual private

network not in the same way that an mpls

is a virtual private network

no no here we're adding stuff to the

packets adding headers

and encrypting it to make sure that when

it goes to the big bad wild internet

only we can understand what that traffic

says or means or is doing that's what

you're doing when you use a vpn many of

you use a vpn client

it's an app or a program you install

that when you click on connect

it does just this it encrypts and hides

your traffic from everyone else in the

big bad wild internet because you know

what without encryption people can see

your stuff

now this type of vpn when it's between

two different sites so my coffee shop

and my data center we call this

site to site vpn now this isn't new

we've had this for a long time

and it's significantly cheaper than

anything else we could use

looking at umpls but often people opt

for using mpls they prefer mpls

why well because this right here this

internet connection can sometimes suck

it can be slow and again it's going

through the big bad wild internet it's

not going through a private

connection with your carrier it's not

being

gently carried from router to router no

it's not it's being

thrown oh god y'all can make me break my

pen

the public internet is not a safe place

for packets and i've learned this lesson

firsthand because i worked for a company

that did not like to spend money on mpls

circuits so we often had this scenario

and the vpn connections would drop all

the time

uh phone calls would be sucky like

because the road traveled here was full

of detours and

and car wrecks and all kinds of stuff

and we also didn't really have the

ability to

prioritize certain traffic which means

hey i want my phone calls

to be given the royal treatment i want

them to go to the front of the line

if things get hairy women and children

first them

send this in the voice calls first i

don't care if fred is trying to watch

netflix

you can let him buffer for a bit we have

to make sure that phone call sounds good

and that's what we call qos or quality

of service it's just

marking or labeling certain traffic is

important

and we give it the important treatment

the vip treatment that's what made mpls

great we could do that with mpls

not only do we have our own private

network we could prioritize traffic that

way now

again i mentioned before that mpls

is now dying that's because things have

changed now i don't want to go

too deep into this right now but i'm

just going to throw out some buzzwords

and get you uh

get you hungry for this buzzword s d

when or software defined when

this is a direct competitor replacement

for mpls

sd-wan will use the standard internet

connection that you can get

wherever you are and it will make it

awesome i'm not going to go into why

it's going to make it awesome but it

does solve a lot of the problems that

i've had with these site-to-site vpn

connections another reason sd-wan is

becoming

even more prevalent than mpls is because

man the traffic we care about now

isn't always traffic going back to the

data center in fact we're seeing less

and less of that because

of the cloud a lot of the services we're

using a lot of things we're doing

are in public cloud now i'm just going

to draw like crazy over my screen now

aws azure and guess what they're not in

our data center so we don't really care

about those connections back to our data

center as much because now we care about

the connection from

that site my coffee shop to the cloud

and things like sd-wan can optimize that

but that's a video for another time

okay we covered a ton in this video now

i want to see if you were paying

attention

time to do some questions from the boson

xm

it's the best let's check it out now

this question is definitely wordy and it

might feel intimidating but

if you watch the video you could pick

out the answer so i want you to do your

best here so let's read it real quick

your company is a headquarters office

and 12 district offices

the offices are separated by a large

geographic area the current wan consists

wide area network consists of a hub and

spoke design that uses

a point-to-point wan link between each

district office

and the headquarters office a single

internet connection is installed at the

headquarters office

district offices receive access to this

internet connection across the wan

when traffic consists of a mixture of

email terminal emulation client server

applications

and the transfer of small files

typically less than two megabytes in

size

the company recently installed voip

telephone systems in all offices

analog telephone lines are still used to

handle interoffice voice traffic as well

as telephone calls to the pstn

the current wan configuration meets the

company's data networking needs however

the company is interested

in reducing its annual expenditure for

wan and telephone services

you have been asked to recommend new wan

technologies to replace the existing

point-to-point network which of the

following should you choose

like three choices that was a wordy

thing a lot of things a lot of terms you

heard

you may have not learned yet that's fine

a lot of it was irrelevant so

pick out what you know and answer the

question pause the video

ready set go okay let's see how you did

when tackling a question that you really

don't understand

looking at all the terms you've never

heard before you have to pick out what

you do know and the focus of the

question is to say hey

we want to uh not pay so much for when

anymore

it's too expensive so let's look at our

options here we have to select three

options

option a isdnbri lines at each district

office for simultaneous voice and data

traffic we haven't covered that yet so

we don't know that

atm connectivity for all offices

carrying both voice and data traffic

now we talked about atm how was one of

the older ways we connected our branch

offices

along with frame relay and leased lines

i'm gonna go ahead and say no

because that's old and old means

expensive option c

point-to-point leased lines to connect

each district office to headquarters

well again

lease lines old expensive no get that

out of here

a converged network with qos maybe we

like qos and they have voice calls

so qos is important to make sure our

voice calls are prioritized we just

talked about that internet connectivity

for each

office yeah yeah we need that now why do

we need that and

it was in the first paragraph up here it

says a single internet connection

is installed at the hq or headquarters

office district offices or branch

offices receive

access to this internet connection

across the wan what does that mean what

means here like let me show you

hq they have one internet connection and

then we have our district offices

and these are connected to the hq office

over a private

lan notice these district offices these

branch offices do not have an internet

connection they only have a wan

connection back to hq

so when they want to access the internet

which they often probably will they'll

actually go across

the private lan to hq and then use the

hq's internet connection this might seem

weird but this is actually a very common

thing

becoming less common as the days go on

but it is a common thing

doing this will give the organization

more control over security and

everything but we won't get into that

but again the goal of this question was

to reduce the cost of this

wan so i guess one of the ways we could

reduce that cost

is install a dedicated internet

connection or dia connection

dedicated internet access at each branch

so let's let's select that option i

think it's a good option and the last

one

an internet vpn to provide inner office

connectivity well yeah if we have a

public internet

access or dia we're gonna need that vpn

we're gonna need that

if you want that connection to the

branch offices so b and c we rolled out

let me rule them out again here

we're really sure about isdn but you

know what i'm feeling good about the qos

let's select that and let's show our

answer

boom nailed it got it uh there is a

great explanation here if you want to

check it out

i'll let you let me remove my stuff here

pause and read

but if you got that right you're killer

you're awesome and if you didn't that's

okay

this stuff is new and it's not easy and

question number two here we go

which of the following statements

regarding vpns are true

select two choices ready set pause the

video

and go all right welcome back let's see

how you did so option a

vpns route traffic over dedicated leased

lines

theoretically they can but there's

really not a reason to because it's a

dedicated lease line why do you need vpn

for traffic that will never hit the

public internet so

that'll make no sense data is

transmitted in clear text

that means not encrypted and that's not

true so

no vpns typically cost less to implement

than a traditional

wan dang we know that to be true so i

want to go and select that bad boy

an isd and terminal adapter can be used

as an endpoint device

terms you may not have heard yet so

we're going to skip that workstations do

not typically need client software to

use a site-to-site vpn

well let's think about that if the

network devices at our site are handling

the vpn connection then our computers

don't need to connect a vpn

it's handled by the routers or our

firewall or whatever's doing it so

i'm going to select that option and that

was two let's check it out

got it again if you want to see the

explanation it's right here

pause the video and go now if you want

to see more questions like that as you

prepare for your ccna

check out boson xm in the links below

they are what i use to prep for my cisco

exams

can't recommend them more and i get

another sponsor of this video and they

make this free course possible

so show them some love click on it tell

them i sent you and whoo

man we covered a lot in this video we

covered a lot of wand technologies

and we have more of a holistic picture

of how our networks look

in the enterprise we have our campus

network we have our

data centers network and now we see the

when network how they connect to each

other

in our next video we're going to talk

about the soho or the small office home

office

which is becoming more popular nowadays

given the current situation

anyways that's all i got if you like

this video don't forget to hit that like

button it does help it helps more people

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every week well that's all i got guys

i'll catch y'all later

[Music]

you