Before you begin -- What is a Cisco network? -- A crash course on Cisco's internetwork operating system -- Managing switch ports -- Securing ports by using the port securit feature -- Managing virtual LANs (VLANs) -- Breaking the VLAN barrier by using switched virtual interfaces -- IP address assignment by using dynamic host configuration protocol -- Securing the network by using IP access control lists -- Connecting switches using trunk links -- Automatically configuring VLANs using the VLAN trunking protocol -- Protecting against bridging loops by using the spanning tree protocol -- Optimizing network performance by using port channels -- Making the network scalable by connecting routers and switches together -- Manually directing traffic using the IP routing table -- A dynamic routing protocols crash course -- Tracking down devices -- Securing Cisco devices -- Facilitating troubleshooting using logging and debugging -- Recovering from disaster -- Performance and health checklist -- Next steps.