Enterprise IT Network & Systems Design

A Practical Visual Guide with Hands-On Labs and Real-World Projects

By: Applied Engineering Group

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Enterprise IT Network and Systems Design: A Practical Visual Guide with Hands-On Labs and Real-World Projects

Whether you are building your first enterprise network or preparing for a CCNA, CCNP, or cloud certification, this book gives you the conceptual foundation and the real-world configuration skills to design, secure, and operate enterprise IT infrastructure with confidence.

Written for network engineers, systems architects, IT administrators, and technology students, this guide covers the full stack of modern enterprise networking -- from the OSI model and IP addressing through spine-leaf data center fabrics, Zero Trust security, cloud VPC design, and automated operations.

What You Will Find Inside:

• The OSI and TCP/IP models explained with clarity, plus practical troubleshooting methodology by layer
• IPv4 addressing, CIDR subnetting, VLSM design, and a complete subnet cheat sheet for all prefix lengths
• VLANs, 802.1Q trunking, Spanning Tree Protocol, RSTP, OSPF, and BGP -- fully explained with Cisco IOS configuration examples
• Firewall architecture, DMZ design, Access Control Lists, IPSec site-to-site VPN, SSL/TLS remote access VPN, and Zero Trust Architecture based on NIST SP 800-207
• AWS VPC design, Security Groups vs NACLs, Direct Connect vs VPN hybrid connectivity, Transit Gateway, and DNS resolution
• Software-Defined Networking, NETCONF/YANG, and network programmability with Python
• Data center architecture -- three-tier vs. spine-leaf, VXLAN overlays, BGP EVPN, east-west traffic patterns, and high availability design
• Network monitoring with SNMP v3, NetFlow/IPFIX, and Python-based polling automation
• Network automation with Python Netmiko and Ansible -- idempotent playbooks, config backup, and compliance checking

Five Complete Hands-On Projects:

Each project walks through a realistic enterprise design from objectives through step-by-step configuration and verification. Projects include designing a three-tier campus network with OSPF and HSRP, building a spine-leaf data center with BGP EVPN and VXLAN, deploying a Zero Trust architecture, building an Ansible automation framework, and provisioning a production-ready three-tier AWS VPC with Terraform.

Fourteen Interactive Lab Simulator Descriptions:

The book describes all fourteen simulators from the Enterprise IT Visual Learning Studio app, including subnet calculator, VLAN planner, routing simulator, firewall ACL builder, OSPF neighbor state machine, ARP step-through, MAC table learning visualizer, and Dijkstra SPF algorithm animator.

36 Technical Diagrams Embedded Throughout:

Every major concept is accompanied by a detailed reference diagram -- OSI and TCP/IP stacks, VLSM design, campus hierarchy, VLAN segmentation, 802.1Q trunking, STP topology, OSPF neighbor states, BGP best-path algorithm, dual-firewall DMZ, IPSec VPN tunnel, Zero Trust architecture, AWS VPC tiers, spine-leaf fabric, VXLAN overlay, east-west vs. north-south traffic, and more.

Seven Reference Appendices:

CLI command reference, protocols and ports table, complete CIDR subnet cheat sheet, OSI model quick reference, standards and RFCs guide, enterprise design patterns, and a full 35-term glossary.

Ideal For:

Network engineers preparing for CCNA or CCNP certification, systems administrators moving into network architecture roles, cloud engineers who need to understand on-premises networking fundamentals, IT managers who want to communicate more effectively with their engineering teams, and anyone building or expanding an enterprise network from the ground up.