CCIE Routing and Switching v5.1 Foundations: Bridging the Gap Between CCNP and CCIE

Chapter 2 Physical and Logical Topologies

The ability of CCIE candidates to read physical and logical topologies and perform a transition from one to the other is a crucial skill to be mastered because it is an everyday task in a networker’s life. Unfortunately, the common CCENT–CCNA–CCNP progression does not focus on sharpening this skill, and even CCNP holders often struggle with it. This chapter strives to cover this particular gap.

Topology Types

Often, the difficulty lies in a vague understanding of what constitutes a physical topology versus a logical topology. Therefore, let’s spend some time clarifying these two terms, including the rationale behind them.

The term physical topology denotes all the physical devices (repeaters, transceivers, ...