Summary

Having completed this chapter, you have learned some amazing skills and got to build your very own Cisco lab environment. Most importantly, you got hands on with Cisco switches and routers. There are many ways you can get the practical experience you desire, by either purchasing physical equipment or even building a fully virtualized lab environment. Keep in mind that Cisco Packet Tracer is updated quite often and new features are always being added, along with many improvements.

My personal advice is that you shouldn't be afraid of trying new things in your lab environment. If you break or misconfigure something, try to figure out what went wrong and how to resolve the issue. Network engineering is a continuous process of designing, configuring, and troubleshooting, but most importantly, it's about problem solving and critical thinking. So, don't be afraid – use the help (?) command, and even try to emulate your home or office network in your Cisco...