Section 1
Network Foundations
Preview
Preview: Architecture
- 4 of 40 lesson topics
- 1 overview segment
- 3 core concepts
- 2 exam tips
Lesson Topics
- Modular Architecture Domains
- Campus, WAN, Cloud, and Data Center Roles
- Enterprise Segmentation and Resiliency Boundaries
- Operational Ownership Boundaries
Overview
Network foundations cover how enterprise modules, overlays, underlays, forwarding behavior, QoS, wireless edge design, cloud connectivity, and first-hop redundancy fit together in enterprise design.
Core Concepts
- **Modular Enterprise Design:** Campus, WAN, data center, cloud edge, and management functions are separated to improve scale, operations, security boundaries, and fault isolation. The design is an approach, not a single mandatory topology.
- **SD-Access Control Plane:** In SD-Access, the control-plane node participates in the LISP mapping system by maintaining endpoint ID to routing locator mappings so fabric edge nodes can locate endpoints through the overlay.
- **Cisco SD-WAN Roles:** vSmart controllers distribute centralized control and policy. Management, device configuration, and orchestration are handled by the appropriate Cisco SD-WAN management and orchestration components rather than by vSmart alone.
Exam Tips
- Do not let product names hide the role being tested. Identify whether the scenario needs mapping, policy distribution, forwarding, queuing, or redundancy.
- When an answer says always or requires a single routing protocol for every SD-Access underlay, look for the actual design scope.