Topics Covered

Module 0 – Foundations & Lab Setup

• What is the MTCRE?
• How does the MTCRE differ from the MTCNA?
• Benefits of getting an MTCRE and what can I do with it?
• Course orientation & exam format
• EVE-NG installation & setup
• Adding MikroTik CHR images
• Building base lab topology (3 routers + 2 PCs)
• CHR basics: access, licensing, first configs

Module 1 – Static Routing

• Static route lab
• Route selection & longest-prefix match
• Administrative distance & scope/target-scope
• More specific routes
• ECMP (Equal Cost Multi-Path): per-packet vs per-connection
• Forcing gateway over specific interface
• Gateway reachability check (recursive static routes, ping targets)
• Blackhole routes
• Recursive next-hop resolution
• Routing marks & policy-based routing (PBR with mangle)
• Labs: static routing chain, ECMP failover, recursive routes, PBR dual-ISP

Module 2 – Point-to-Point Addressing

• Point-to-point addressing using /30 and /31
• Benefits of efficient IP allocation
• Labs: configure /30 vs /31 inter-router addressing, test routing

Module 3 – VPNs & VLANs

• VPN overview (site-to-site vs remote access)
• Tunnel protocols: IPIP, GRE, EoIP, L2TP, PPTP, SSTP, PPPoE
• Running routing protocols over tunnels (OSPF over GRE/IPIP)
• VLAN theory (802.1Q tagging, trunk vs access)
• QinQ (802.1ad VLAN stacking)
• VLAN configuration:
  • RouterOS bridge VLAN filtering
  • Switch-chip VLANs (hardware offload, if supported)
• Labs:
  • Site-to-site IPIP tunnel with static routes
  • GRE tunnel running OSPF
  • EoIP bridging two LANs (DHCP broadcast test)
  • VLAN trunk with multiple access ports
  • QinQ to simulate ISP delivering customer VLANs

Module 4 – OSPF (Open Shortest Path First)

• OSPF fundamentals: Hello, LSAs, neighbor states
• OSPF network types (broadcast, NBMA, P2P)
• DR/BDR elections
• Areas & router types: backbone, ABR, ASBR
• Multi-area OSPF design
• Stub & NSSA areas, totally stubby
• External route distribution: LSAs
• OSPF costs & interface types
• Route summarization with area ranges
• Virtual links (when & how to use)
• Route filtering (prefix-lists, in/out filters)
• OSPF over tunnels
• OSPF with multicast & NBMA challenges
• Labs:
  • Single-area OSPF across 4 routers
  • Multi-area OSPF with ABR
  • Stub & NSSA areas with default route injection
  • DR/BDR election on broadcast segment
  • Redistribute static routes into OSPF
  • Apply prefix filtering & summarization
  • Virtual link to connect discontiguous areas

Module 5 – Redundancy & Load Balancing

• ECMP revisited (multi-link redundancy)
• Recursive routing with failover (ISP availability check)
• Backup routes with higher administrative distance
• VRRP (Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol) for LAN gateway resilience
• Labs:
  • ECMP load balancing across 2 ISPs
  • Recursive failover using public reachability target (e.g., 8.8.8.8)
  • VRRP master/backup failover test on LAN gateway

Module 6 – Final Integrated Lab (Mock Exam)

• Build full scenario with:
  • Two ISPs
  • Recursive static routes + failover
  • ECMP load balancing
  • Point-to-point addressing
  • VLAN trunk with QinQ
  • GRE/IPIP tunnels carrying OSPF
  • Multi-area OSPF (stub, NSSA, summarization, redistribution)
  • VRRP for LAN redundancy
• Troubleshoot missing OSPF neighbors, failover routes, VLAN misconfigurations
• Verify end-to-end connectivity between all LANs