I am currently working toward achieving the CCNP Enterprise certification. I thought it might be fun and interesting (relatively speaking) to create blog posts around some of the topics I am covering throughout my preparation. I recently spent some time going over virtual routing and forwarding (VRF). Up until now, I haven’t had a lot of direct exposure to VRF. I had somewhat of an idea of the purpose, but it was mostly magic and unicorns as far as I was concerned. As I dug into the technology, I quickly realized that it’s a really simple concept with fairly simple configuration (the high level basics, of course). We virtualize everything these days, why not routing tables? Maintaining route separation with being able to use overlapping networks in separate VRFs can be very useful. My advice to anyone else learning about VRF (along with practically every other networking technology) is to find a way to lab it up, play, and test. This isn’t new advice by any means, but I find it really helpful. Being able to apply learned concepts in practical examples is really powerful. Plus, having “ah-ha” moments while going through practical application can do wonders for your confidence.
Happy learning, and remember to help each other out there.
Netication 