PRACTICE PLAN

Full Target-Role Track
Senior Network & Security Engineer

30 sheets, in the order that actually builds toward the interview — context first, then mechanisms bottom-up, then the security/DR layer on top. Check items off as you go; your progress is saved in this browser.

Full Target-Role Track Network Engineer Firewall / Security Engineer SOC / Security Ops Analyst DevOps Engineer

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01 Know the Job 2 sheets

1. Network & Firewall Ownership — Interview Prep

Why they'll ask what they ask: the live branch network and firewall estate you'd actually inherit.

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2. Security Operations & Vendor Mgmt — Interview Prep

SOC/EDR, vulnerability management, wireless, and vendor governance context for the same role.

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02 OSI Foundations — Quick Refresher 7 sheets

3. Layer 1 — Physical

Cabling, signaling, ports, link lights.

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4. Layer 2 — Data Link

Switching, VLANs, Spanning Tree.

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5. Layer 3 — Network

IP addressing, routing, subnetting.

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6. Layer 4 — Transport

TCP, UDP, ports, handshake/teardown.

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7. Layer 5 — Session

Sessions and dialog control.

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8. Layer 6 — Presentation

Encoding and TLS.

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9. Layer 7 — Application

HTTP, DNS, application protocols.

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03 LAN & Switching Mechanisms 6 sheets

10. PC to Internet

The baseline mechanism vocabulary everything else builds on.

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11. Same VLAN, Same Switch

Pure Layer 2 — ARP and the first ping.

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12. Different VLANs, Same Switch

What changes once a Layer 3 hop is required.

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13. Unknown Unicast Flooding

MAC table learning and aging, from the switch's own perspective.

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14. STP Port States on Plug-In

Why a fresh port takes ~30-50s to pass traffic.

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15. A Loop Forms — STP Stops It

Root election and why exactly one port gets blocked.

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04 Routing, WAN & Firewall 5 sheets

16. BGP-4

Cisco IOS-XE & Arista EOS config and troubleshooting.

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17. Branch to Public Website

SD-WAN path selection and centralized breakout at HQ.

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18. Inside the Firewall

Session lookup, fast path vs. slow path, security profiles.

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19. Metro Fiber Circuit Down

Gray failures, BFD, and automatic reroute.

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20. Firewall — Concepts & Interview Q&A

Definitional Q&A, NAT, VPN, policies, vendor notes.

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05 Application Layer — DNS, TLS, TCP 4 sheets

21. URL to Page Load

DNS, TCP, TLS, HTTP, and render — the full sequence.

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22. DNS to First Encrypted Byte

Resolver hierarchy and TLS handshake, message by message.

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23. TCP Three-Way Handshake

SYN/SYN-ACK/ACK and the half-open state.

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24. Split DNS

Why internal and external resolution diverge.

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06 VPN, Wireless & Security Ops 5 sheets

25. Site-to-Site VPN

IKE Phase 1/2, SAs, and ESP passing real data.

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26. WPA2-Enterprise Wi-Fi

802.1X, EAP/RADIUS, and the 4-way handshake.

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27. Wi-Fi Roaming Mid-Call

802.11r/k/v and Fast BSS Transition.

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28. Malicious Process to Isolation

Behavioral IOA detection and host-level containment.

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29. Vulnerability Scanner Flags a Host

Discovery, fingerprinting, CVSS — and what it doesn't prove.

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07 DR & Wrap-Up 1 sheet

30. DR Failover

RTO/RPO, database promotion, DNS cutover, and unhurried failback.

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