Before enrolling in either the instructor-led or eLearning ECMS2 course, learners should have the following skills and knowledge:
General networking:
- Be actively engaged in the design, deployment, scaling, and management of enterprise networks
- Be experienced with hierarchical network segmentation (access, distribution, and core layer) design and best practices
- Strong fundamental knowledge of IP addressing and subnetting schemas necessary to build local area networks
- A foundational understanding of network authentication, authorization, and accounting services
- Strong fundamental knowledge of dynamic routing protocols (focus/emphasis on OSPF and BGP)
- A foundational understanding of wired and wireless quality of service (QoS) mechanisms, packet queue operations, and practical implementations
- Be experienced with the design and configuration of IPsec and associated VPN technologies
- A foundational understanding of threat modeling concepts/methodologies and apply them to identify, analyze and respond to cybersecurity threats
- A foundational understanding of network security controls/protocols, network management best practices, and data security
- Intermediate fundamental knowledge of RF concepts and terminology as they apply to wireless networking and current 802.11 wireless standards
- A foundational understanding of best practice RF design principles and practical implementations
- A foundational understanding of wireless security best practices centered around access control (802.1x) and spectrum security through wireless intrusion detection and prevention (WIDS/WIPS)
- A foundational understanding of standard logging/monitoring protocols (focus/emphasis on SNMP, syslog, and webhooks) and related implementation components or tools
- Be familiar with and have basic knowledge of application programming interfaces (API’s) and related languages/formats (REST, JSON)
Meraki knowledge:
- Be able to describe the security, reliability, and scalability of the Dashboard cloud architecture and its out-of-band control plane
- Fundamental understanding of Dashboard’s organizational structure, delineation of privileges, and overarching administrative processes
- Be able to outline the key components of Meraki licensing (co-termination model and expiration grace period)
- Have the knowledge and ability to deploy advanced security features on MX security appliances (intrusion detection/prevention, Advanced Malware Protection (AMP), layer 3 & 7 firewall rules)
- Fundamental understanding of Auto VPN and its purpose when utilized in an SD-WAN deployment
- Be experienced at navigating, configuring, and applying configurations to MS switches through the virtual stack interface in Dashboard
- Be able to describe the concepts behind a cloud-based WLAN solution and the features that can be delivered including layer 7 traffic shaping and various guest access authentication methods
- Fundamental understanding of device profile containerization and remote management capabilities as managed through the Systems Manager platform
- Fundamental understanding of the edge architecture as implemented by MV security cameras and its implications on video retention through various configurable options
- Be able to effectively leverage the live tools and monitoring capabilities of the Meraki Dashboard when troubleshooting device or application performance issues
Last Updated: May 2023
