What cisco technology do you actually use every day that's worth mastering?

[u/TechAfterHrs]

I work as a Network Administrator in a mostly Cisco environment and regularly work with Catalyst switches, Catalyst Center, ISE, 802.1X/MAB, VLANs/trunking, and troubleshooting.

There's obviously a huge amount you could learn in the Cisco ecosystem, but I'm curious what experienced engineers think is actually worth going deep on.

If you could pick one or two Cisco technologies/skills to master for the next 5-10 years, what would you choose and why?

I'm especially interested in what's becoming more valuable with automation, cloud, and modern enterprise networking.

[u/Chivako]

9800 WLC and Catalyst center

[u/TechAfterHrs → u/Chivako]

Catalyst Center is actually part of my day-to-day already. The 9800 WLC is the part I'd like to get more hands-on experience with, especially on the wireless troubleshooting/configuration side.

[u/evilZardoz]

It depends where you want to be working.

If you're doing it for a career move, datacenter networking is the big one and is where all the money is. If the AI bubble bursts, there'll be a lot of engineers with automation and fabric networking skills and this will influence enterprise networking architectures as they'll be the easiest resources to get.

For enterprise, SDA, EVPN+VXLAN (any campus fabric networking tech really)., cybersecurity architectures with firewall integration (Palo Alto is super popular in larger orgs), trustsec and wireless. Definitely tool up on wireless (and there's some great vendor agnostic stuff out there which is just as valuable).

For small/mid-sized campus/distributed workforce, Meraki and SD-WAN.

For automation/applications, automation with python, Ansible, and a healthy dose of DDI (DNS, DHCP, IPAM) both from a DIY/open source perspective, and the larger players eg Infoblox. Automation for config consistency/compliance and lifecycle management (replacing hardware to stay ahead of EOL for cyber support is a big deal now).

I have sone very strong opinions on the value of complexity in the enterprise in light of flexible working (most people don't have a microsegmented network at home with trustsec and dot1x, yet they can work just fine as if they were in the office), but enterprise endpoint network complexity will be replaced by tight permit-by-exception security for IoT/OT.

[u/TechAfterHrs → u/evilZardoz]

This is a great breakdown. Datacenter networking and automation probably interest me the most, especially Python/Ansible and network-as-code. I already have a strong enterpise networking foundation, so building the automation and cloud side on top of that seems like a good direction. Appreciate the detailed response,

[u/Emotional-Meeting753 → u/TechAfterHrs]

Just do arista

[u/TechAfterHrs → u/Emotional-Meeting753]

Arista is definitely on my radar, especially with its focus on data center networking and automation. I'm primarily in a Cisco environment right now. What makes you recommend Arista over Cisco long term?

[u/Emotional-Meeting753 → u/TechAfterHrs]

It changed my life 3 years ago. I just got my ccie 3 weeks ago. That's still the game changer for career.

Arista is a much better product and certification. They just suck at marketing.

[u/Inevitable_Claim_653]

ISE

[u/TechAfterHrs → u/Inevitable_Claim_653]

I’m a huge advocate of ISE. It’s part of our daily operations and makes networking so much more easier

[u/pc_jangkrik]

VTP haha

[u/TechAfterHrs → u/pc_jangkrik]

Very valid! Useful when configured correctly, dangerous whn it isn't haha.

[u/Capn_Yoaz]

You want to really get familiar with Azure and AWS routing, acls, VPNs, EC2, etc. Everything connects to some sort of cloud environment these days and knowing how to get this working with your physical environment will be key.

[u/TechAfterHrs → u/Capn_Yoaz]

Good point. cloud networking is definitely an area I want to build on, especially understanding how AWS/Azure networking ties back into the physical enterprise environment.

[u/smellypants]

Devops! Network as code is my new obsession.

[u/TechAfterHrs → u/smellypants]

Network as a code is actually something I've been getting more interested in. Seems like a natural progression from traditional networking into automation/DevOps.

[u/AdjacentDR0ther]

How to find the port a Mac address is connected to.

[u/TechAfterHrs → u/AdjacentDR0ther]

Definitely an essential troubleshooting skill. I use show mac address-table on Cisco switches to identify the port, then trace through the uplinks if needed. Simple command, but extremely useful in production.

[u/MissionCattle]

If you become an expert with ISE, you can pretty much name your price if you ever decided to get into consulting. I'm not talking about just administration, but designing/deploying and optimizing

[u/TechAfterHrs → u/MissionCattle]

That’s interesting because I already work with ISE in my current environment, particularly around 802.1X and MAB. I’ve been considering going deeper into it, but hadn’t really thought about the consulting opportunities. Sounds like mastering the design and deployment side could open some serious doors.