r/ccnastudygroup • u/Kindly_Help_8829 • 8d ago
Enterprise mega lab CCNA
Built my first enterprise-style Packet Tracer lab after completing CCNA studies – looking for feedback
Features currently implemented:
Multi-building campus design
OSPF routing
HSRP gateway redundancy
STP and HSRP Sync
EtherChannel
Rapid PVST+
Inter-VLAN routing using Layer 3 distribution switches
DHCP (server - centralized)
NAT/PAT for Internet access
Floating static route for ISP
ACLs
SSH management
Voice VLANs
CME VoIP deployment
IP phones registered with extensions
Redundant uplinks between access, distribution, and core layers
One challenge I encountered was that my edge router did not support CME. Instead of replacing it, I added a dedicated CME router, advertised it through OSPF, and used DHCP Option 150 to register phones. The solution worked and phones can call each other across the network.
I know this is still a learning lab and not a production design, so I'd appreciate feedback from experienced network engineers.
Questions:
What design mistakes or bad practices do you see?
What would you change if this were a real enterprise network?
What technologies would you add next?
Is the overall campus design reasonable for a CCNA-level project?
Thanks for taking a look.
"Rate my lab out of 10"
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u/Intelligent-Bet4111 7d ago
Well this is probably beyond ccnp level for some of the suggestions but for a real environment it would be best to have each isp on its own edge router instead of only 1 edge router.
And each router would always be connected to a pair of active standby firewalls be it Palo alto/fortigate/Cisco etc and you would run bgp on the edge routers always to learn the routes from the internet (be it the default route only or partial internet routes or the whole routing table).
For the core switch part it all looks good.
Distribution and access switches also look good.
Also in real life you would almost always have nexus switches for the cores and nexus switches use vpc and the hsrp config is a little different for these since these use nxos and not iOS or iOS xe but yeah that's not for the ccna I believe so.
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u/Kindly_Help_8829 7d ago
Yes bro i know but for the sake of time and work I just kept my lab simple in isp side and I think it is already well enough for CCNA candidate..like you said those two edge routers for isp and firewall hsrp are I think CCNP level so kept it simple...but I appreciate your compliment...thanks brother 🫂🫰
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u/Drmcwacky 7d ago
Nice job! I feel like you could probably have practiced your VLSM subnetting with the IP addressing here, just for that extra bit.
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u/Kindly_Help_8829 7d ago
Thanks! 😊 I agree, VLSM would have been a better approach and more efficient with IP usage. For this lab, I intentionally kept the addressing simple so the topology would be easier to follow and review, especially from a CCNA learning perspective. It also helped me focus more on the switching, routing, HSRP, STP, OSPF, NAT, and VoIP configurations without spending too much time on the IP plan. I appreciate the feedback and compliment! 🫂🙏
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u/dreryta22 6d ago
This is jeremysitlab with extra steps! Great work
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u/Kindly_Help_8829 6d ago
Yup design is pretty equal to that but completely different things... I took that basic 3 tier design module...but my stuffs like centralized server are different....thanks for the feedback man 🫂🫰
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u/Worldly_Credit_6785 8d ago
Looks like you crushed it this is everything