Palo Alto Networks

TechNow has been involved in enterprise security architectures and education since 1990.  TechNow’s training program has followed the evolution of enterprise computing into security architectures.  Palo Alto Networks represents the current state of security product evolution.  With next generation firewall technology, the reunification of your security architecture is possible.  TechNow can present the ramifications of many centralized strategies.  All courses utilize enterprise security professionals with experience as instructors and can discuss the detail of implementation and the integration into an existing infrastructure.
Palo Alto Networks Certifications:  Accredited Configuration Engineer (ACE) take EDU-201; Palo Alto Networks Certified Network Security Engineer (PCNSE) take  EDU-201 + EDU-205 + EDU-221
TechNow is a mobile Pearson VUE Authorized Testing Center.  Palo Alto courses can be delivered on the customer site, with certificadtion testing on the last day of the course.  Take the course and get certfied, without  logistical effort of getting students to a training facility and the hassle of scheduling testing.
TechNow, Inc. is not associated in any way with Palo Alto Networks, Inc.
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N-415: Implementing and Operating Cisco Enterprise Network Core Technologies (ENCOR)

Course Overview:

The Implementing and Operating Cisco Enterprise Network Core Technologies (ENCOR) course gives you the knowledge and skills needed to configure, troubleshoot, and manage enterprise wired and wireless networks. You’ll also learn to implement security principles, implement automation and programmability within an enterprise network, and how to overlay network design by using SD-Access and SD-WAN solutions.

Attendees to N-415: Implementing and Operating Cisco Enterprise Network Core Technologies (ENCOR) will receive TechNow approved course materials, expert instruction, and prepare you to take the 350-401 Implementing Cisco® Enterprise Network Core Technologies (ENCOR) exam.

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Dates/Locations:

No Events

Duration: 5 Days

Course Objectives:

  • Illustrate the hierarchical network design model and architecture using the access, distribution, and core layers
  • Compare and contrast the various hardware and software switching mechanisms and operation, while defining the Ternary Content Addressable Memory (TCAM) and Content Addressable Memory (CAM), along with process switching, fast switching, and Cisco Express Forwarding concepts
  • Troubleshoot Layer 2 connectivity using VLANs and trunking
  • Implementation of redundant switched networks using Spanning Tree Protocol
  • Troubleshooting link aggregation using Etherchannel
  • Describe the features, metrics, and path selection concepts of Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP)
  • Implementation and optimization of Open Shortest Path First (OSPF)v2 and OSPFv3, including adjacencies, packet types, and areas, summarization, and route filtering for IPv4 and IPv6
  • Implementing External Border Gateway Protocol (EBGP) interdomain routing, path selection, and single and dual-homed networking
  • Implementing network redundancy using protocols including Hot Standby Routing Protocol (HSRP) and Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP)
  • Implementing internet connectivity within Enterprise using static and dynamic Network Address Translation (NAT)
  • Describe the virtualization technology of servers, switches, and the various network devices and components
  • Implementing overlay technologies such as Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF), Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE), VPN, and Location Identifier Separation Protocol (LISP)
  • Describe the components and concepts of wireless networking including Radio Frequency (RF) and antenna characteristics, and define the specific wireless standards
  • Describe the various wireless deployment models available, include autonomous Access Point (AP) deployments and cloud-based designs within the centralized Cisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) architecture
  • Describe wireless roaming and location services
  • Describe how APs communicate with WLCs to obtain software, configurations, and centralized management
  • Configure and verify Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP), WebAuth, and Pre-Shared Key (PSK) wireless client authentication on a WLC
  • Troubleshoot wireless client connectivity issues using various available tools
  • Troubleshooting Enterprise networks using services such as Network Time Protocol (NTP), Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), Cisco Internetwork Operating System (Cisco IOS®) IP Service Level Agreements (SLAs), NetFlow, and Cisco IOS Embedded Event Manager
  • Explain the use of available network analysis and troubleshooting tools, which include show and debug commands, as well as best practices in troubleshooting
  • Configure secure administrative access for Cisco IOS devices using the Command-Line Interface (CLI) access, Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), Access Control List (ACL), and Secure Shell (SSH), and explore device hardening concepts to secure devices from less secure applications, such as Telnet and HTTP
  • Implement scalable administration using Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) and the local database, while exploring the features and benefits
  • Describe the enterprise network security architecture, including the purpose and function of VPNs, content security, logging, endpoint security, personal firewalls, and other security features
  • Explain the purpose, function, features, and workflow of Cisco DNA Center™ Assurance for Intent-Based Networking, for network visibility, proactive monitoring, and application experience
  • Describe the components and features of the Cisco SD-Access solution, including the nodes, fabric control plane, and data plane, while illustrating the purpose and function of the Virtual Extensible LAN (VXLAN) gateways
  • Define the components and features of Cisco SD-WAN solutions, including the orchestration plane, management plane, control plane, and data plane
  • Describe the concepts, purpose, and features of multicast protocols, including Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) v2/v3, Protocol-Independent Multicast (PIM) dense mode/sparse mode, and rendezvous points
  • Describe the concepts and features of Quality of Service (QoS), and describe the need within the enterprise network
  • Explain basic Python components and conditionals with script writing and analysis
  • Describe network programmability protocols such as Network Configuration Protocol (NETCONF) and RESTCONF
  • Describe APIs in Cisco DNA Center and vManage

Prerequisites:

  • CCNA certification
  • Implementation of Enterprise LAN networks
  • Basic understanding of Enterprise routing and wireless connectivity
  • Basic understanding of Python scripting

 

Comments

Latest comments from students

User: don.seguin

Instructor comments: Tim was a great.

Facilities comments: The classroom was great.

User: jrtrussell

Instructor comments: Awesome

Facilities comments: Great

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Observations of Instructor Led Training with Real Hardware

TechNow has heard many students talk about virtualized/remote training that TechNow Does Not Do.  While training our most recent offering of PA-215: Palo Alto Networks Firewall Essentials FastTrack a student told his story of how he endend up in our course.  His story we have heard for other technologies like Cisco, VMware, BlueCoat and other products.

A large percentage of training is moving to the virtualized/remote lab environments.  Students are asked to use some variant of remote access software and remote into the training company's lab environment. Our student in our Palo Alto Networks Firewall course informed us that he went to a very costly offering of that course from the vendor and was not able to perform any labs.  There were either network connectivity issues, or issues with the remote access software, or other problems.  The whole training experience was very frustrating and not productive.

We keep our labs open to students if they would like after hours, or before hours access.  Repeatedly going through a lab engrains that knowledge for later recall.  Touching hardware is so critical in understanding the problems that arise when a cable comes loose, or a cable gets plugged in the wrong port.  There are other scenarios such as just pulling the power cable, or turning off a power strip, or accidently overwriting a configuration.  These disaster scenarious requires hands-on physical access to hardware.  Preventing and recovering from disasters is what it's all about, and that requires hands-on, instructor led, real hardware.

Palo Alto Networks Firewall Training Course Lab

Working with the TechNow lab for the PA-215: Palo Alto Networks Firewall Essentials FastTrack course has been nothing less than a techie's idea of fun.  When students come in we are immediatly configuring the Cisco 3750 switches for access ports, VLANS, and trunks.  We then cable the switch to the Palo Alto Networks Firewall.  Each student gets their own Palo Alto Firewall Pod of hardware and software.  What we find as fun is the VLAN environment, with an array of virtual machines hosted on an ESXi server that can really exercise the abilities of the Palo Alto Firewall.  The DMZ VLAN hosts virtual machines that support enterprise services and also potentialy vulnerable web services.  The Trust VLAN has Windows and Linux clients.  The UnTrust VLAN has Web services and a VM of Kali. The hardware Firewall is additionally connected to a Management VLAN.  All those VLANs are trunked into an ESXi server where the student also has a VM-Series Palo Alto Networks Firewall for High Availability.  

After configuring all the trunking, VLANs, and network interfaces we learn about the firewall and configure it for the lab environment.  Using Metasploitable and Kali/Metasploit nefarious penetration attempts are executed.  Using packet captures, custom APP-ID's  and custom signatures are generated.  Custom logging and reporting are created to similate and enterprise and assist the desired Incident Response.  It is always fun in a training environment to learn all about the controls available in a product, even though specific controls may not be used in the operational environment.  In the end we have a good understanding of the Palo Alto Networks Firewall.

CT-225: Network+

 

Course Overview:

CT-225: Network+ is a five-day course that teaches students the fundamentals of networking. Through hands-on training, students learn the vendor-independent networking skills & concepts that affect all aspects of networking, such as installing & configuring the TCP/IP client. The course also helps to prepare students for three popular certification examinations: CompTIA Network+, Microsoft Networking Essentials, and Novell Networking Technologies.

Attendees to CT-225: Network+ will receive TechNow approved course materials and expert instruction.

Dates/Locations:

Date/Time Event
01/13/2025 - 01/17/2025
08:00 -16:00 		CT-225: Network+
TechNow – San Antonio, TX, San Antonio TX
04/28/2025 - 05/02/2025
08:00 -16:00 		CT-225: Network+
TechNow, Inc, San Antonio TX
08/25/2025 - 08/29/2025
08:00 -16:00 		CT-225: Network+
TechNow, Inc, San Antonio TX
12/15/2025 - 12/19/2025
08:00 -16:00 		CT-225: Network+
TechNow, Inc, San Antonio TX

Duration 5 days

Course Objectives:

  • Identify basic network theory concepts and major network communications methods
  • Describe bounded network media
  • Describe unbounded network media
  • Identify the major types of network implementations
  • Identify TCP/IP addressing and data delivery methods
  • Analyze routing and switching technologies
  • Identify the components of a TCP/IP implementation
  • Analyze network security
  • Implement network security
  • Identify the components of a WAN implementation
  • Identify the components used in cloud computing and virtualization
  • Identify the components of a remote network implementation
  • Manage networks
  • Troubleshoot network issues

Prerequisites:

Comments

Latest comments from students

User: hanbri9

Instructor comments: Great instructor.

Facilities comments: BEST HOTEL!!!!!!! AMAZING LOCATION, GOOD FOOD, NICE SPACE. The location of the hotel is what is almost the best about it. Driving up hwy 10 in the morning is absolutely awful.

 

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