The Cisco BCRAN 642-821 series is designed to help learners prepare and take the qualifying exam for the Cisco Certified Network Professional CCNP certification. The BCRAN exam (642-821) certifies that students have acquired the understanding and skills necessary to successfully design, develop, configure, operate, and troubleshoot remote access solutions.

This Series is for anyone preparing for the Cisco BCRAN 642-821 exam or for anyone who wants to learn more about networking.

BCRAN 642-821: 1 WAN Technologies, Components, and AAA Security 

This course presents the methodologies involved with configuring remote access. The ability to work efficiently and effectively from a remote location?whether it's a branch office, small office/home office (SOHO), or a mobile location?is critical to virtually every industry and company. Knowing what technologies are available, how they can interact, and how to manage those technologies is a key component of any professional's skill set. The second part of the course describes IOS options and hardware products to help secure a network and make securing the network easier, such as virtual private network (VPN) capabilities and integration with intrusion detection system (IDS) sensors and the firewall feature set.

BCRAN 642-821: 2 PPP Authentication & Network Address Translation 
This course covers the login process using PPP. Today's corporate environments contain more telecommuters than ever before. As a result, dial-in access is an important part of network connectivity. The course also describes how NAT provides the ability to convert one address to another. One of the biggest challenges in networking is addressing, and the challenge only becomes bigger as networks scale and grow connected. NAT offers great flexibility in the use of addresses.

 

BCRAN 642-821: 3 Modems and Asynchronous Connections
This course describes how to correctly choose and deploy the proper cabling and master the configuration of the router, its resources, and modems attached to the router. Asynchronous connections via modem are an integral part of any wide-area network (WAN) implementation. Although it has been relegated to backup status in most cases, the asynchronous connection still has many advantages, including its ready availability and low cost.

 

BCRAN 642-821: 4 Using ISDN Connections 
This course covers the two forms of Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN): Basic Rate Interface (BRI) and Primary Rate Interface (PRI). ISDN usage, equipment and call progress, are discussed prior to a detailed description of BRI and PRI configuration.

 

BCRAN 642-821: 5 Using Frame Relay Connections

BCRAN 642-821: 6 Dial-on Demand and Broadband 
This course covers the DDR process by which a link is created on demand. As traffic needs to cross the WAN, a circuit is completed from the source router to the destination, allowing the traffic to cross. DDR circuits are useful when you pay for access based on the amount of time the circuit remains up. The second part of this course examines broadband technologies. A cursory look at direct broadcast satellite (DBS) and fixed wireless providers is followed by more on cable modems. Four wireless segments: local multipoint distribution service (LMDS); multichannel multipoint distribution service (MMDS); industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM); and unlicensed national information infrastructure (U-NII) bands are also presented.

 

BCRAN 642-821: 7 Enabling Backup Connections and Management of Traffic 

This course covers the use of dial backup to back up a permanent connection. Having a second connection that can move data in the event the primary connection fails is a wise move for today's corporate environment. This course also covers the use of each of the three types of queuing (WFQ, PQ, and CQ), how to configure the router for each type, and the potential pitfalls of each. The Link, Payload, Header, and Modem data compression types are presented.

BCRAN 642-821: 8 Securing the Network with VPNs 
This course covers VPN and IPSec terminology, design, configuration, testing, and verification. The key to the popularity of VPNs is that companies can replace traditionally high-priced dedicated WAN connections for a fraction of the cost with VPN.

 

BCRAN 642-821: 9 Practice Exams 
This course provides two practice exams for the Cisco BCRAN 642-821 certification exam.