Network+ Hands-On Roadmap: 21 Free Labs in Order

Stage 0: Set up your lab · Before anything else · N+ —

1. Lab 00: set up your lab — An Ubuntu VM or WSL, the base for every lab below (30 min)
2. Open a command prompt on Windows — The window every Windows command runs in (5 min)
3. Network tools on a Mac — The same checks from Terminal (10 min)
4. Networking glossary — Look up any word you meet on the way (reference)

Nova: Do Lab 00 once and keep it. Every lab after this reuses it, so you set up once and spend the rest of your time learning.

Stage 1: Addresses · How every device gets a number · N+ 1

1. The OSI model — The seven layers, traced through one real web request (20 min)
2. Subnetting and DHCP — What /24 means, and how your PC gets its address (30 min)
3. DHCP explained — Leases, renewals and the 169.254 warning sign (20 min)
4. IPv6 explained — The new addresses your PC already uses (20 min)
5. What’s my public IP? — Private inside, public outside (5 min)

Subnetting is the bit everyone skips. It’s also the bit every exam asks about. Coincidence? No. — Nyx

Stage 2: Names and neighbours · Finding things on the network · N+ 1, 2

1. What happens when you type a URL — DNS, TCP and HTTPS in one walk-through (15 min)
2. The hosts file — The file your PC checks before DNS (15 min)
3. DNSSEC explained — Signed DNS answers, and what they don’t hide (20 min)
4. ARP lab — How your PC finds the MAC address next door, and duplicate IPs (25 min)

Nova: When “the internet is down” but one site works, it’s usually names, not wires. This stage is how you tell.

Stage 3: Switching and routing · Moving traffic between networks · N+ 2, 4

1. VLANs and 802.1Q — Split one switch into separate networks (30 min)
2. Spanning tree (STP) — Build a switch loop and watch STP block it (15 min)
3. Routing basics — How a packet finds a network it isn’t on (30 min)
4. NAT and firewalls — How your router shares one public address, and blocks the rest (35 min)
5. WireGuard VPN — An encrypted tunnel between two of your own machines (35 min)

Every on-path trick I know stops at a VLAN boundary. Nova made me write that down. Learn this stage. — Nyx

Stage 4: Traffic and troubleshooting · Seeing what’s actually on the wire · N+ 3, 5

1. TCP vs UDP — The handshake, refused vs filtered, and what nmap’s states mean (30 min)
2. Your first Wireshark capture — The same packets in a graphical tool (30 min)
3. Traceroute (tracert) — Find where along the path things break (15 min)
4. Latency, jitter and packet loss — Make your own lag and measure it (30 min)
5. NTP and time sync — Stratum, offset, and why logs need the right time (10 min)
6. Syslog and SNMP — How network gear reports what it’s doing (35 min)

Nova: This is the stage that turns into real tickets. If you only redo one stage before the exam, make it this one.

Exam knowledge · The fact-heavy topics, no lab needed · N+ 1, 2, 3, 4

1. Wi-Fi standards, bands and channels — 802.11 generations, channels 1/6/11, WPA2 vs WPA3 (15 min)
2. Cabling and connectors — Cat5e to Cat8, fiber, RJ45/LC/SFP, PoE (15 min)
3. Cloud networking and SDN — VPCs, security groups, SDN, SD-WAN, VXLAN, SASE (15 min)
4. Network security — AAA, 802.1X, every named attack and the control that stops it (20 min)
5. High availability, DR and documentation — RTO/RPO, VRRP, backups, change management (15 min)

Nova: Read these alongside the stages above. They cover the exam objectives that are about knowing things rather than doing them.

Stage 5: Put it together · Prove it on broken networks · N+ 5, plus all domains

1. Troubleshooting capstone — Fix five broken networks with CompTIA’s 7-step method (60 min)
2. Network+ practice test — 58 questions from these lessons, each with a memory hook, scored by exam domain (25 min)

The capstone has five faults. I planted all of them. Find them faster than I hid them. — Nyx