Practical IPv4 Routing, RIPv2, OSPF, BGP4, Route Redistribution, and Troubleshooting
1-Day Instructor-Led Hands-On Lab Class
Available in either Web-Based Delivery or On-Site Delivery
Minimum 10 students – Maximum 20 students
Course Description
IPv4 addressing defines networks. Routing connects them.
Once devices have been assigned IPv4 addresses and subnet masks, the next essential networking skill is understanding how packets travel between those networks.
CSI-HO-008 – Layer 3 IPv4 Routing 101 is a focused one-day hands-on course designed to build a practical understanding of IPv4 routing, packet forwarding, routing protocols, route selection, route redistribution, convergence, and routed-network troubleshooting.
Students begin by examining the fundamentals of IPv4 routing and packet forwarding before progressing into three important routing protocols:
- Routing Information Protocol Version 2 — RIPv2
- Open Shortest Path First — OSPF
- Border Gateway Protocol Version 4 — BGP4
The course helps students understand not simply how routing protocols are configured, but why they exist, how they differ, what information they exchange, and how routers use that information to make forwarding decisions.
Students also examine the important distinction between Interior Gateway Protocols and Exterior Gateway Protocols, investigate route redistribution, and learn techniques for troubleshooting routed IPv4 networks.
Instructor-led explanation is reinforced with hands-on exercises using Cisco routers and Cisco IOS. Students configure routing, examine routing information, verify packet forwarding, observe protocol behavior, and troubleshoot problems in the lab environment.
The goal is to move students from simply recognizing a routing table to understanding:
Where did this route come from?
Why did the router select it?
Where will the packet go next?
And how do I determine what is wrong when routing fails?
From Addressing to Routing
IPv4 addressing and IPv4 routing are closely related.
An IPv4 address and subnet mask allow a device to determine whether a destination is on:
The local network or: A remote network
When the destination is remote, routing becomes necessary.
CSI-HO-008 begins at that routing boundary and explores what happens next.
Students learn how routers identify remote networks, exchange reachability information, select routes, forward packets, respond to network changes, and communicate routing information between different routing domains.
Why IPv4 Routing Skills Matter
Routing is one of the fundamental functions of an IP network.
A device can have a perfectly valid IPv4 address and still be unable to communicate with a remote destination if the required routing information is missing or incorrect.
Routing problems can affect:
- Customer Internet connectivity
- Broadband services
- Enterprise applications
- Cloud connectivity
- Data-center communications
- Voice and video services
- Network management
- Remote access
- Inter-site communications
- Service-provider networks
Effective troubleshooting therefore requires an understanding of what routers know about the network and how they learned it.
A technician or engineer should be able to ask:
- Is the destination network in the routing table?
- Where did that route come from?
- Which routing protocol supplied it?
- What is the next hop?
- Which interface will the packet use?
- Is a better route available?
- Is the routing protocol exchanging information correctly?
- Has the network converged following a topology change?
- Is route redistribution working as expected?
- Is the problem routing—or something else?
CSI-HO-008 develops the knowledge needed to begin answering those questions.
Course Objectives
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
- Explain the fundamental purpose of IPv4 routing.
- Describe how routers forward IPv4 packets between networks.
- Understand the relationship between addressing, subnetting, and routing.
- Explain the purpose of the routing table.
- Read and interpret basic IPv4 routing information.
- Identify directly connected and remotely learned routes.
- Explain the role of the routing control plane.
- Distinguish between packet forwarding and routing protocol operation.
- Explain why dynamic routing protocols are used.
- Understand fundamental routing metrics and route selection.
- Explain the difference between Interior Gateway Protocols and Exterior Gateway Protocols.
- Describe the fundamental operation of RIPv2.
- Configure and verify RIPv2 routing.
- Describe the fundamental operation of OSPF.
- Configure and verify basic OSPF routing.
- Understand basic OSPF neighbor and route exchange concepts.
- Describe the role of BGP4 in IPv4 routing.
- Explain the fundamental difference between BGP and Interior Gateway Protocols.
- Configure and verify basic BGP routing.
- Explain the purpose of route redistribution.
- Understand how routes can be exchanged between different routing protocols.
- Recognize the potential effects of route redistribution.
- Explain the importance of routing convergence.
- Understand how network topology changes affect routing.
- Apply a structured approach to troubleshooting routed IPv4 networks.
- Use router operational information to verify routing behavior.
- Identify common routing configuration and connectivity problems.
- Use hands-on configuration and analysis to reinforce IPv4 routing concepts.
The emphasis throughout the course is on understanding routing behavior rather than simply memorizing routing commands.
Understanding the Control Plane and Data Plane
One of the most important concepts in routing is the difference between learning where destinations are located and actually forwarding packets toward those destinations.
The routing control plane is responsible for learning and maintaining network reachability information.
Routing protocols such as RIPv2, OSPF, and BGP participate in that process.
The resulting information helps the router construct the routes it uses to make forwarding decisions.
Packet forwarding then uses that information to move actual user traffic toward its destination.
Understanding this distinction helps students separate two different troubleshooting questions:
Does the router know how to reach the destination? and: Is the traffic actually being forwarded correctly?
That distinction becomes increasingly important as networks grow in size and complexity.
Three Different Approaches to Routing
One of the strengths of CSI-HO-008 is that students encounter three very different routing protocols.
RIPv2
RIPv2 provides a relatively straightforward introduction to dynamic routing and distance-vector routing concepts.
Students can see how routers exchange reachability information and use metrics to select routes.
OSPF
OSPF introduces students to a link-state routing architecture.
It demonstrates a more scalable approach to Interior Gateway routing and introduces important concepts involving router relationships, topology information, path calculation, and convergence.
BGP4
BGP introduces an entirely different routing perspective.
Rather than functioning primarily as an Interior Gateway Protocol, BGP is designed to exchange reachability information between routing domains and is fundamental to Internet routing.
Studying all three helps students understand an important lesson:
There is no single routing protocol designed for every networking requirement.
Different protocols solve different problems.
Route Redistribution
Real networks do not always use a single routing protocol.
Networks may evolve over time, merge with other networks, use different protocols in different portions of the infrastructure, or require routes learned by one protocol to become available through another.
Route redistribution allows routing information to cross those protocol boundaries.
Students are introduced to the concept and learn why redistribution requires careful engineering.
The objective is not simply to move routes from one protocol into another.
The network professional must also consider:
- Which routes should be redistributed?
- In which direction?
- How will routing metrics be handled?
- Could routes be reintroduced into the protocol from which they originated?
- Could routing loops result?
- How will routing changes affect convergence?
Understanding redistribution introduces students to the broader concept that routing design involves controlling information, not simply exchanging as many routes as possible.
Audience
This course is designed for anyone who needs a practical understanding of IPv4 routing and routing protocol operation.
Ideal participants include:
- Broadband Technicians
- Service Provider Technicians
- Network Engineers
- Network Administrators
- Network Operations Center personnel
- Field Technicians
- Technical Support personnel
- Network Design Engineers
- Network Management personnel
- Systems Engineers
- Development and Test Engineers
- IT Professionals
- Technical Sales Engineers
- Technical Marketing personnel
- Individuals preparing for networking certifications
- Individuals beginning a network engineering career
- Anyone who wants to strengthen their IPv4 routing knowledge
The course is particularly useful for students who already understand IPv4 addressing and subnetting and want to understand how separate IPv4 networks are connected through routing.
Course Prerequisites
No advanced routing experience is required.
Students will benefit from a basic understanding of:
- IPv4 addresses
- IPv4 subnet masks
- IPv4 networks and hosts
- Basic subnetting concepts
- Ethernet networking
Completion of CSI-HO-007 – IPv4 Addressing 101 is recommended for students who do not already have a solid understanding of IPv4 addressing and subnetting.
Students with equivalent networking knowledge may enter CSI-HO-008 directly.
Because this is a hands-on course, students will work with the CellStream router lab throughout the class.
Students participating remotely should have a laptop or computer capable of connecting to the provided lab environment.
For on-site classes, students should bring a laptop computer unless suitable classroom computers are being provided.
Course Materials
Students receive:
- Course Student Guide
- Hands-On Lab Guide
- Access to the CellStream router lab environment
- IPv4 routing exercises
- RIPv2 configuration exercises
- OSPF configuration exercises
- BGP configuration exercises
- Route redistribution exercises
- Routed-network troubleshooting exercises
- Additional routing reference material
The combination of instructor explanation, router configuration, operational verification, and troubleshooting allows students to connect routing theory with actual network behavior.
The Hands-On Approach
Routing becomes much easier to understand when students can see it happen.
Throughout CSI-HO-008, students work directly with routers and routing protocols.
They configure networks, establish routing relationships, examine routing tables, generate traffic, verify packet forwarding, change network conditions, and troubleshoot routing problems.
The labs help students connect: The network topology with: The router configuration with: The routing table with: The actual path taken by packets.
This develops an important networking habit: Do not assume the route—verify it.
Course Outline
- Part 1:
- The Groundwork
- Overview and Introductions
- Introduction to the Distributed Internet
- LAB 1: Verifying the Lab Network
- Part 2:
- The basics of IP Routing and Packet Forwarding
- LAB 2: Routing IP Concepts
- Part 3:
- Anatomy of RIP and OSPF
- Routing with RIP
- LAB 3.1: Routing with RIP
- Routing with OSPF
- LAB 3.2: Interior Routing with OSPF
- Routing with BGP
- Route Redistribution – sharing routes
- LAB 3.3: Exterior Routing with BGP
- Part 4:
- Troubleshooting Routed IP Networks
- Insuring swift convergence
- LAB 4: Troubleshooting Routed IP networks
From the Routing Table to the Packet
A routing table contains far more than a list of networks.
It represents the router’s current understanding of how remote destinations can be reached.
When examining a route, a network professional should learn to ask:
- What destination does this route cover?
- How was the route learned?
- Which routing protocol supplied it?
- What metric or preference affected its selection?
- What is the next hop?
- Which interface will be used?
- Is there another possible route?
- What happens if the preferred path fails?
Learning to read routing information this way transforms the routing table from command output into a valuable troubleshooting tool.
Troubleshooting Routed Networks
Routing troubleshooting should be systematic.
When communication between networks fails, technicians and engineers should avoid immediately assuming that the routing protocol is responsible.
The investigation should consider:
- Addressing Are the source and destination addresses correct?
- Subnetting Are the devices using the correct network boundaries?
- Local Connectivity Can devices reach their local gateways?
- Routing Information Does the router have a route to the destination?
- Next-Hop Reachability Can the router reach the next hop?
- Routing Protocol Operation Are routing relationships established and exchanging information?
- Forward and Return Paths Does routing exist in both directions?
- Network Changes Has the network converged following a failure or topology change?
This structured approach helps distinguish a true routing problem from an addressing, Layer 2, configuration, or end-system problem.
Why Take This Course?
IPv4 routing can initially seem complicated because several different concepts are operating simultaneously:
- Addresses
- Subnets
- Gateways
- Routing tables
- Metrics
- Next hops
- Routing protocols
- Route redistribution
- Convergence
CSI-HO-008 organizes these concepts into an understandable progression and reinforces them through hands-on experimentation.
Students move beyond simply knowing that routers “send packets between networks.”
They begin to understand:
- How the router learns.
- How the router decides.
- How the router forwards.
- How routing protocols differ.
- And how to investigate the network when the expected route is not working.
Course Availability:
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Course Description, Content, Outline, and Instructional Design are Copyright ©CellStream, Inc.