WAN....it's not the internet!! (sometimes) // FREE CCNA // EP 8
Summary
TLDRThis 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
- π’ The corporate office and data center are often connected through a WAN (Wide Area Network) due to their geographical separation.
- π 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.
- π‘ Frame relay and ATM were alternative WAN technologies to leased lines, offering less expensive options but are now considered outdated.
- π 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.
- π The term 'WAN' can also include the internet, but the focus in the script is on private connections rather than public internet access.
- π 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.
- π 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.
- π 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.
- π 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.
- πͺ 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.
- π 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
π 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.
π‘ 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.
π 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.
π 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.
π 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.
π οΈ 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.
π 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.
Mindmap
Keywords
π‘WAN (Wide Area Network)
π‘LAN (Local Area Network)
π‘Data Center
π‘Leased Line
π‘MPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching)
π‘Metro Ethernet
π‘VPN (Virtual Private Network)
π‘SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network)
π‘QoS (Quality of Service)
π‘VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)
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
discover this type of training and this
type of content
and if you want to see more of it hit
that subscribe button i'm posting a ccna
video here for free
every week well that's all i got guys
i'll catch y'all later
[Music]
you
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