Lab: Spanning-Tree and EtherChannel

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Procedure
• Results
• Application and Analysis
• Questions
• Conclusion and Recommendation
• Lessons Learned
• References

Introduction:

Discuss what you did in this lab and what you will cover in the lab report. Provide some background information on the main idea in this lab and discuss the purpose of the lab activity.

Procedure:

You will be working on Skillsoft Lab: Spanning-Tree and EtherChannels.Make sure you take a few screenshots from the actual lab to include in your report. (You can paste some into the results section below too.)

DeVry Academics wants you to consider the following when answering questions about these labs: How did you go about implementing the lab activity? Describe the steps you took to ensure that the final implementation meets the original business goal. For example, did you design a new IP scheme and assign IP addresses to devices based on a given range of IP addresses? Did you assign IP addresses manually, dynamically, or both? Did you name devices based on location? Did you or would you connect switches first or routers first, and why? Did you configure the end devices or the infrastructure devices first? What was the plan to verify that the network works?

Note that the procedure must take into consideration the steps you took to implement the lab solution,as well as the order in which you carried out those steps, and a rationale for doing so.

Add in your screenshots of the labs as you describe what you did this week. You can continue this discussion in the results section below.

Results:

Discuss your findings here.

Spanning-Tree is a protocol that runs on top of your switched network to build a loop-free topology.In this lab, you work on a spanning-tree topology and manipulate an interface to become the root port on a non-root switch.In the second part of the lab, you work to configure an EtherChannel and investigate how that impacts spanning-tree and in the spanning-tree port cost of the EtherChannel.

Be sure to summarize what you found this week.

NOTE: DeVry Academics wants you to consider the following when answering questions about these labs:You worked through some steps to complete the lab. Did the lab work? Did you make adjustment to your original procedure? How can you tell that the lab activity implemented meets the business needs?How did you build your troubleshooting skills through these exercises?

Provide screenshots at the end of your lab write-up showing the results from using the "show running-config" command for each router and/or switch you configured in this lab, along with a screenshot at the end of the lab demonstrating that you completed the lab. This will be your verification for actually having done the lab by showing how you configured each router and/or switch.

Application and Analysis:

DeVry Academics wants you to consider the following when answering questions about these labs:Below are some sample questions that will guide you as you complete this lab section.

How can you use the topic that was covered in these labs? Talk about how to apply this in a business situation.

For example consider:

From the information given, can you develop a set of instructions to implement the solution in a small-to-medium sized network?

What, if anything, would you change before applying the lab activity in a production (live) network?

What vertical market (financial, manufacturing, education, healthcare, telecommunications, etc.) does this lab activity align with the most? Why?

How was this lab activity similar to other labs that you have done in the past?

Can you distinguish between concepts and application?

Questions:

1. What new concepts or theories have you learned about after completing this lab activity?

2. In this class, we use the three-step approach to complete lab activity. The steps include plan, implement, and verify. Discuss and explain how you execute each step in this lab activity.

3. What challenges, if any, have you encountered in this lab? How have you addressed those challenges? If you have not experienced any challenge, tell us what new troubleshooting command you have learned this week, and how that command has helped you complete the lab activity.

4. How would you apply what you have learned this week in future courses or in the IS/IT field?

Conclusion and Recommendation:

DeVry Academics wants you to consider the following when answering questions about these labs:

In the conclusion, you need to address what you intended to do when you started this lab,and correlate that with what you actually did in the lab. Did the two differ in any way? Please explain any differences between expectation and observation.

What would you suggest that we do differently to improve the lab experience? If you do not have any suggestions for this week, then what do you suggest we add or remove from this week's lab to enhance your overall learning experience?

How did the lab activity align with today's technology?

Lessons Learned:

This is the take-away message. What have you learned from this lab activity? Assume this question comes from your grandma, what would you tell her? She does not need to have a technical background to understand what you did. In brief, make it plain and simple.

NOTE: REMEMBER EACH SECTION OF THE LAB IS WORTH HALF CREDIT AND LABS THAT COMPLETE ONLY ONE OF THE TWO SECTIONS WILL HAVE MAXIMUM 50% CREDIT FOR THE LAB GRADE.

References:

Please provide any external references used to complete this lab assignment.