ou have been hired as part of the networking team at UMUC. After completing orientation and training, your manager calls you into a meeting to discuss your first project.

The university has recently leased two buildings in Adelphi, Maryland. The buildings will house faculty and administrative offices, classrooms, a library, and computer labs. Security is important for UMUC, as the university must protect students’ and employees’ data, as well as any intellectual property that UMUC has on its servers and computers. As a result, IT management would like to take the time to review proposals on how best to move forward on security issues. As a junior network engineer, you have been asked to prepare a network proposal on how to set up a secure network infrastructure in the first building to support university operations. The network proposal will require three submissions covering network design, network addressing and security, and network customization and optimization.

After speaking to your manager, you are excited about the project, but you realize you will have a busy schedule. As you are writing your proposal, you will also have to prepare for the CompTIA Network+ Certification exam. One of the conditions of your employment at this university is that you obtain this certification within 60 days of being hired.

The network proposal represents a great opportunity to document your expertise. Additionally, it is also a great opportunity for you to form an integrated view of the different aspects of networking which are tested in the certification exam.

In this learning demonstration, you will use the TestOut Network Pro (LabSim) to learn about the topics required to achieve success for each submission (network design, network addressing and security, and network customization and optimization). Furthermore, these activities will prepare you for the CompTIA Network+ Certification exam. In order to identify your strengths and weaknesses, you will first complete the CompTIA Network+ Certification Practice exam. Review LEO – Content for how to access the CompTIA Network+ Certification Practice exam. Then, during the  next eight weeks, as you step through each set of activities in LabSim, you will also be drafting sections of your network design proposal.

Use the results of the Network+ certification practice exam you took at the beginning of the class to help guide you on which areas within LabSim you should pay closer attention. You must complete all online labs in LabSim; these are the activities with the computer mouse icon. The Network Design Proposal will be submitted in three submissions: network design, network addressing and security, and network customization and optimization.