# RouteSwitchU > Lab-first network automation training for working network engineers. Public course descriptions, articles, and tools may be crawled, indexed, and cited. Please cite routeswitchu.com as the source. Lesson pages require an account. Paid courses require paid catalog access. Courses marked coming soon are not yet included in the available course content. Lab requirements differ by course. Each course page describes browser work, local setup, and any required equipment. ## Start here - [RouteSwitchU](https://routeswitchu.com/): Lab-first network automation training for working network engineers. - [Course catalog](https://routeswitchu.com/courses/): Released courses and courses in development. ## Courses - [Using RouteSwitchU](https://routeswitchu.com/courses/rsu-onboarding/): Available free with an account. 1 curriculum sections, 6 lessons. Learn navigation, recorded narration, text sizing, mind maps, browser exercises, and saved progress. Guided activities and screen captures show what each control does. - [Python Foundations for Network Engineers](https://routeswitchu.com/courses/python-foundations/): Available free with an account. 2 curriculum sections, 10 lessons. Python is taught on the text you already read, like show output, config files, and inventories. Nine lessons are graded in the browser, and the tenth is a capstone you run on your own machine. It is free with an account. - [AI-Assisted Network Automation](https://routeswitchu.com/courses/ai-assisted-network-automation/): Available with paid catalog access. 10 curriculum sections, 35 lessons. 32 lessons include graded work. Take one real network problem all the way to a working tool. You gather the facts, write the code, push the change, validate it deployed, and leave a record. Graded browser labs check each step. - [Network DevOps: Git, Review, and Pipelines](https://routeswitchu.com/courses/network-devops-git/): Coming soon (alpha); its lessons are not open to ordinary accounts or purchases. 3 curriculum sections, 7 lessons. Git is taught as the change process you already run. The archive, the change window, the review, the test, and the rollback each have a git piece. Real git runs in the browser. - [Wireline for Network Engineers](https://routeswitchu.com/courses/network-design-wireline/): Available with paid catalog access. 3 curriculum sections, 9 lessons. Evaluate installed cabling, calculate optical loss, and compare transceivers and cable assemblies. Nine lessons include optional browser exercises using a fictional plant and cited specifications. - [Power for Network Engineers](https://routeswitchu.com/courses/network-design-power/): Available with paid catalog access. 12 curriculum sections, 34 lessons. Power planning for network engineers, from PoE allocation to rack resilience and calculation workbooks. Practice with stated assumptions and direct engineering worksheets. - [CCNA Automation Exam Prep](https://routeswitchu.com/courses/ccna-automation/): Available with paid catalog access. 9 curriculum sections, 45 lessons. Prep for the Cisco CCNA Automation exam (200-901), which used to be called DevNet Associate. The course includes three capstones and five decks for retrieval practice. Exercises use fixed example data and run in your browser. - [Cisco Wireless Advanced Technologies Class](https://routeswitchu.com/courses/catalyst-9800-config/): Available with paid catalog access. 10 curriculum sections, 20 lessons. Study the Cisco Catalyst 9800 configuration model through controller labs, captured output, and design exercises. Configure tags, profiles, WLANs, AAA, and mobility, with explicit limits on what the virtual lab can demonstrate. - [802.1X Deep Dive](https://routeswitchu.com/courses/network-802-1x/): Coming Soon; planned course. Lessons and enrollment are not yet available. A planned course on 802.1X authentication, EAP and RADIUS exchanges, certificate requirements, and access policy. Examine how a connection is accepted or rejected. - [CCNA v 2.0](https://routeswitchu.com/courses/ccna-v2/): Coming Soon; planned course. Lessons and enrollment are not yet available. A planned course for the CCNA 200-301 v2.0 exam, covering network fundamentals, access, routing, services, security, and automation. This is separate from the CCNA Automation course. - [WiFi 7](https://routeswitchu.com/courses/wifi-7/): Coming Soon; planned course. Lessons and enrollment are not yet available. A planned course on Wi-Fi 7 radio operation, multi-link operation, client support, and deployment design. Relate new capabilities to the constraints of an actual wireless environment. - [Network FDE 101](https://routeswitchu.com/courses/fde-intro/): Available free with an account. 1 curriculum sections, 4 lessons. Practice customer delivery through a branch-network case. Define the pilot, review route evidence, measure the complete workflow, and assign operational follow-up. - [The Cost of the Problem Calculator](https://routeswitchu.com/courses/fde-cost-of-problem/): Coming soon (alpha); its lessons are not open to ordinary accounts or purchases. 1 curriculum sections, 4 lessons. Work out what the customer's problem costs them today. The numbers are theirs, pulled from systems they already own, with no vendor math in it. - [The Network TCO Calculator](https://routeswitchu.com/courses/fde-tco-calculator/): Coming soon (alpha); its lessons are not open to ordinary accounts or purchases. 1 curriculum sections, 4 lessons. TCO is what the fix costs to own, not just to buy. You count your own side as carefully as the customer's, and you set the total against doing nothing. - [The ROI Business Case](https://routeswitchu.com/courses/fde-roi-business-case/): Coming soon (alpha); its lessons are not open to ordinary accounts or purchases. 1 curriculum sections, 4 lessons. You build an ROI case only on savings you can point at a document for. Risk claims stay out of the base case, and payback is given in months. - [The Outcome Tracker](https://routeswitchu.com/courses/fde-outcome-tracker/): Coming soon (alpha); its lessons are not open to ordinary accounts or purchases. 1 curriculum sections, 4 lessons. Take the baseline in week one, then measure the same way every quarter. You walk into the renewal with proof instead of memory. - [Champion Conversations](https://routeswitchu.com/courses/fde-champion-conversations/): Coming soon (alpha); its lessons are not open to ordinary accounts or purchases. 1 curriculum sections, 4 lessons. Your champion presents your numbers in a room you are not in. Build the work with them, let them attack it, and hand it over so it holds up without you. ## Tools - [Tools](https://routeswitchu.com/tools/): Free tools that run in your browser without an account. - [CCNA Automation Knowledge Matrix](https://routeswitchu.com/tools/ccna-automation-knowledge-matrix/): Map 200-901 topics to lessons, review coverage limits, assess your knowledge, and export a study plan. Free, with no account required. - [Network diagram generator](https://routeswitchu.com/tools/network-diagram-generator/): Paste LLDP or CDP neighbor output and get a Mermaid network topology diagram. It runs in your browser without an account. - [Config to YAML](https://routeswitchu.com/tools/config-to-yaml/): Paste a Cisco IOS running-config and get structured YAML for interfaces, addressing, VLANs, routing, and services. It runs in your browser without an account. - [Config sanitizer](https://routeswitchu.com/tools/config-sanitizer/): Replace credentials and identifying values in network configurations with stable placeholders. It runs in your browser without an account. ## Articles and course updates - [Field Notes](https://routeswitchu.com/field-notes/): Public articles for network engineers. - [200-901 labs without a sandbox reservation](https://routeswitchu.com/field-notes/200-901-labs-without-sandbox/): Compare browser exercises, local Python, and Cisco sandbox practice, and try a graded example using fixed data. - [CCNA Automation exam guide: 200-901 topics and preparation](https://routeswitchu.com/field-notes/ccna-automation-exam-guide/): Understand the 200-901 exam, the DevNet Associate rename, practice options, and the coverage limits of RouteSwitchU exam prep. - [Inside the 6 GHz power mode toolkit: decide, configure, verify, monitor](https://routeswitchu.com/field-notes/6ghz-power-mode-toolkit/): A public repo that walks the whole 6 GHz Low Power Indoor versus Standard Power decision on a Cisco Catalyst 9800: a questionnaire that refuses to recommend Standard Power over a missing prerequisite, NETCONF scripts for the one configuration bit, and a pyATS precheck that reports controller-side readiness as pass or fail. Lab-verified on a live controller, then audited three times before publishing. - [Meraki is deprecating SNMPv1: what to do before your next firmware upgrade](https://routeswitchu.com/field-notes/meraki-snmpv1-deprecation/): Cisco Meraki is dropping SNMPv1 from upcoming MR, MX, and MS firmware, and the two copies of the announcement we received disagree about which MR release does it. Here is what breaks if you ignore the email, why SNMPv2c only postpones the work, and the order to do the migration in. - [Short or long spanning tree path costs: which one to run and what mixing them does](https://routeswitchu.com/field-notes/spanning-tree-short-or-long-path-cost/): Short path costs come from a 1998 table that runs out of room at 10 Gbps and gives every faster link the same cost of 1, so a single gigabit link can beat three 10 Gbps hops. Long costs fix the arithmetic. Nothing in the protocol notices a network running both methods, because the number on the wire is only a number. - [A transcript of AI writing broken network automation, and the check that caught it](https://routeswitchu.com/field-notes/ai-broken-automation-transcript/): We asked a coding assistant to turn LLDP neighbor output into a topology diagram. The script exited 0 and produced valid Mermaid, but it drew every cable twice. This transcript includes the returned code, its output, the twelve-line check that reported the duplicate links, and the one-line fix. - [What eight forward deployed engineer postings require from network engineers](https://routeswitchu.com/field-notes/fde-postings-mapped-to-network-engineering/): We compared eight live forward deployed engineer postings with a senior network engineering resume. Network engineers can usually show the customer delivery, travel, troubleshooting, and operational experience these roles require. The missing proof is production software and, for AI roles, LLM systems that were built and evaluated. - [Turn LLDP or CDP output into a network diagram, in the browser, free](https://routeswitchu.com/field-notes/turn-lldp-output-into-a-network-diagram/): We built a free browser tool that turns show lldp neighbors or show cdp neighbors output into a rendered Mermaid topology diagram. It handles the brief tables and the detail forms, merges duplicate links, and nothing you paste leaves the page. Here is how it handles inconsistent neighbor output, what the diagram cannot show, and what to keep after the first run. - [Forward deployed engineering for network engineers: role, requirements, and a practical path](https://routeswitchu.com/field-notes/forward-deployed-engineer-network-engineer/): Forward deployed engineers build inside customer environments and stay responsible through production. Network engineers already bring useful production experience, but they still need to prove they can write, test, and operate software. Here is what current postings ask for and how to build the missing evidence. - [Can AI draw my network diagram?](https://routeswitchu.com/field-notes/can-ai-draw-my-network-diagram/): It drafts well and it invents links. The fix is structural. Never ask a model for the picture; ask it for the code that builds the picture from your data, then check the rendered result against the data with a script rather than with your eyes. - [Diagrams as code or a drawing tool: when each one wins](https://routeswitchu.com/field-notes/diagrams-as-code-vs-drawing-tools/): Generated text diagrams stay accurate when the network underneath keeps changing. Drawing tools matter when position on the page carries meaning, or when the diagram only needs to be drawn once for an audience. Most teams need both, and the split is predictable. - [How do I generate a network diagram from LLDP output?](https://routeswitchu.com/field-notes/generate-network-diagram-from-lldp/): Collect neighbors with the detail command, normalize each link into a four-field record, deduplicate the two reports of every cable, then print Mermaid. Parsing is where this goes wrong, and it gets most of the space below. - [How do I keep network diagrams from going stale?](https://routeswitchu.com/field-notes/keep-network-diagrams-from-going-stale/): Diagrams go stale because updating them is a separate task from making the change. Generate the diagram from collected state, commit it, and have CI regenerate and compare it, so a drifted diagram fails a check instead of waiting for someone to notice. - [Mermaid syntax for network topology: the full reference](https://routeswitchu.com/field-notes/mermaid-syntax-for-network-topology/): Every piece of Mermaid flowchart syntax a network engineer needs, with the escaping rules, the styling that separates tiers, the renderer differences between GitHub and Obsidian, and the version bug that draws an arrowhead on a link you wrote as undirected. - [Network diagrams as code: Mermaid for network engineers](https://routeswitchu.com/field-notes/network-diagrams-as-code/): A working reference for documenting a network in text instead of a drawing tool. The flowchart grammar, the patterns for campus topology, the sequence and state diagrams worth knowing, and the Python that generates the whole thing from LLDP neighbor data. - [From CLI to NetDevOps: a 90-day plan for a CCNP-level engineer](https://routeswitchu.com/field-notes/ccnp-to-netdevops-90-day-plan/): For a CCNP-level engineer, this is the bridge from CLI fluency to code: Python through network data, Netmiko, device APIs, Git and CI, and AI you verify. Here is the plan, with a checkpoint you can grade at day 30, 60, and 90. - [Graded labs vs. video courses: how network engineers actually learn automation](https://routeswitchu.com/field-notes/graded-labs-vs-video-courses/): A video shows someone else configure a device. A graded lab checks your own work and tells you when it fails. Here is a real grading run from one of our labs, the failure included, plus an honest look at where video courses still fit. - [You don't need a home lab to learn network automation](https://routeswitchu.com/field-notes/network-automation-labs-without-a-home-lab/): We priced five ways to practice network automation, timed our own browser labs with a stopwatch, and wrote down where a home lab still wins. The setup-tax table and the grading transcript are in this note. - [What $250 buys in network automation training (subscription math included)](https://routeswitchu.com/field-notes/what-250-buys-in-network-automation-training/): Every price in this note was checked against the vendor's public pricing page on 2026-08-13. The table includes what each option costs at a realistic six-month pace, not the pace the marketing assumes. - [An AI agent fixed a broken OSPF adjacency in a four-router lab](https://routeswitchu.com/field-notes/ospf-break-fix/): Three classic OSPF breaks in a four-router lab. An AI agent with CLI access had to find and fix each one. Here is the transcript and the score. - [Hello, world!](https://routeswitchu.com/field-notes/hello-world/): This first note explains what Field Notes is, how every note gets tested before it publishes, and includes one small program that holds us to that standard. - [AI-Assisted Network Automation course updates](https://routeswitchu.com/courses/ai-assisted-network-automation/updates/): The public record of course corrections and additions. ## Policies and help - [Privacy](https://routeswitchu.com/privacy/): How RouteSwitchU handles personal data. - [Terms](https://routeswitchu.com/terms/): Terms for using RouteSwitchU. - [Terms of sale](https://routeswitchu.com/terms-of-sale/): Purchase terms, access, and refunds. - [AI disclosure](https://routeswitchu.com/ai-disclosure/): How AI is used in the course material. - [Support](https://routeswitchu.com/support/): Contact RouteSwitchU for account, course, or purchase help. - [Trademarks](https://routeswitchu.com/trademarks/): Product-name attribution and RouteSwitchU independence. - [Cancel a purchase](https://routeswitchu.com/withdraw/): How to request cancellation and a refund.