Aruba Switching Professional study plan

Diagram the path of a frame from access port to routed destination, labeling VLAN boundaries, trunk links, and the default gateway hop

Configure a two-switch topology with 802.1Q trunks and verify VLAN propagation with show commands

Explain the difference between a broadcast domain and a collision domain using your own lab topology as the example

Configure and verify link aggregation between two switches

Compare static routes, OSPF, and directly connected routes by when each is the correct choice

Build a 3-router OSPF area and verify neighbor adjacency and route table convergence

Trace a packet across the OSPF topology using traceroute and explain each hop

Configure spanning tree and predict which port becomes blocked in a redundant triangle

Convert between dBm, mW, and dB gains/losses by hand for 10 practice problems without a calculator app

Map the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz channel plans and identify which channels are non-overlapping in each band

Explain how channel width affects throughput and co-channel interference in a dense deployment

Describe how transmit power and antenna gain change a coverage cell and where roaming boundaries fall

Differentiate WPA2-Personal, WPA2-Enterprise, and WPA3 by authentication flow and key hierarchy

Explain what 802.1X, EAP, and RADIUS each contribute to a wireless client authentication

List the common rogue-AP and evil-twin indicators and how a WIDS would surface them

Identify which RF and security misconfigurations create the largest exposure in a guest network

Configure port security with a MAC limit and violation action, then trigger and observe the violation

Configure DHCP snooping and dynamic ARP inspection on an access VLAN and verify a rogue DHCP server is blocked

Explain how 802.1X port-based authentication differs from MAC authentication on a wired port

Describe how management-plane hardening (SSH-only, AAA, role-based access) reduces attack surface

Configure a DHCP relay and verify clients on a remote VLAN receive addresses

Set up a guest VLAN and a voice VLAN and explain how traffic is classified onto each

Configure PoE on an access port and verify power budgeting for an attached AP

Troubleshoot a client that cannot reach its gateway, working from L1 to L3 in order

Configure SNMPv3 polling to a collector and verify traps arrive for a link-down event

Set up remote syslog and filter for security-relevant messages

Use port mirroring to capture traffic and identify a top talker

Interpret interface counters and error rates to distinguish a duplex mismatch from a congested link

Re-derive the RF math and channel plan from memory without notes

Reconfigure a security feature from scratch (DHCP snooping or 802.1X) in under 15 minutes

Work through 40 mixed practice questions and log every miss by domain

Re-teach the two weakest domains aloud in five minutes each