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CompTIA Network+ practice labs

27 guided labs that cover the hands-on topics of the Network+ N10-009 exam, from subnetting and VLANs to monitoring, VPNs, security and performance. They run on Cisco IOSv routers and IOSvL2 switches, Linux hosts and a pfSense firewall.

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Lite for a month, £45.00, runs every lab here, with nothing extra to pay for the guided labs. Every lab here also runs in the free demo.

Guided labs
27
Follows
CompTIA Network+ (N10-009)
Runs every lab
Lite
Devices
IOSv, Alpine Linux, IOSvL2, EVE-NG GUI server, Alpine WAN emulator, pfSense CE and VPCS

Who these labs are for

For anyone preparing for CompTIA Network+ N10-009, and for junior network and support technicians who want real command-line practice.

No Cisco experience is needed: every command is introduced before you use it. The course ends with three troubleshooting labs and a branch-office capstone built from a work order.

The 27 labs

Every lab in the folder, as the workspace lists them, with what each runs and the smallest plan that fits. Read on 2 November 2026.

Network+ N10-009 course 27 labs

Shared folderCompTIA Network Plus N10-009 guided labs

One topic per lab across the exam’s domains, then three troubleshooting labs and a capstone.

  1. 01Your network toolkit - device CLI and host commands

    Find your way around a small office network with the commands Network+ expects you to know: router and switch show commands, CDP, and the Linux and PC tools for addressing, ARP, ping and traceroute. You document what you find and save the configuration.

    2× IOSv, 1× Alpine Linux, 1× IOSvL2, 1× VPCS

    5 vCPU, 3,328 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

  2. 02Packets on the wire - OSI layers and traffic types

    Capture real traffic with tcpdump and take it apart layer by layer: ARP broadcasts, ICMP, a TCP three-way handshake carrying HTTP, a UDP datagram and OSPF multicast. You see encapsulation change at each router hop and learn the ports the exam lists.

    2× Alpine Linux, 1× IOSv, 1× IOSvL2, 1× VPCS

    5 vCPU, 3,328 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

  3. 03IPv4 addressing and VLSM subnetting

    Carve one /23 into right-sized subnets with VLSM, configure a router and three hosts from your own plan, and fix a head-office route by summarising the block with CIDR. You check your maths with ipcalc and classify addresses the way the exam asks.

    2× IOSv, 1× Alpine Linux, 2× VPCS

    5 vCPU, 3,584 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

  4. 04IPv6 - SLAAC and dual stack with a 6in4 tunnel

    Add IPv6 to a working IPv4 network. Hosts configure themselves with SLAAC, a server gets a static address, and two sites are joined across an IPv4-only provider with a 6in4 tunnel. You read link-local, global and EUI-64 addresses and see how NDP replaces ARP.

    3× IOSv, 1× Alpine Linux, 2× VPCS

    6 vCPU, 4,096 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

  5. 05VLANs and trunking between switches

    Split an office into department VLANs across two switches. You build the VLAN database, assign data and voice VLANs to access ports, join the switches with an 802.1Q trunk on an unused native VLAN, and manage both switches through a management SVI.

    2× IOSvL2, 4× VPCS

    6 vCPU, 5,632 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

  6. 06Inter-VLAN routing - router-on-a-stick and SVIs

    Route between VLANs two ways in one design: switched virtual interfaces on a layer 3 switch for the staff VLANs, and router-on-a-stick subinterfaces on the edge router for the guest VLAN. You join them with a transit VLAN and static routes and trace the paths.

    1× IOSv, 1× IOSvL2, 3× VPCS

    5 vCPU, 4,352 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

  7. 07Spanning tree - choosing the root and protecting edge ports

    Three switches in a triangle give redundancy and a loop. You find out why the wrong switch became root, move to Rapid PVST+, place the root per VLAN so both uplinks carry traffic, protect edge ports with PortFast and BPDU guard, and watch a port go err-disabled.

    3× IOSvL2, 2× VPCS

    5 vCPU, 4,352 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

  8. 08Link aggregation and interface states

    Two cables between two switches, and spanning tree blocks one of them. You bundle them into one LACP port channel so both carry traffic, break and repair a bundle on purpose to see suspended members, and read interface speed, duplex, MTU, counters and status like a technician.

    2× IOSvL2, 2× VPCS

    4 vCPU, 3,584 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

  9. 09Static and default routes and route selection

    Route a branch, head office and an internet provider by hand. You add network, default and host routes, prove that the longest prefix wins, and build a floating static route that takes over when the main link fails.

    3× IOSv, 2× VPCS

    5 vCPU, 3,584 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

  10. 10Dynamic routing with OSPF and a first look at BGP

    Replace static routes with OSPF across three sites, steer traffic with interface costs, keep user LANs passive, and inject a default route. Then peer with the internet provider using eBGP and compare how link-state and path-vector protocols choose routes.

    4× IOSv, 2× VPCS

    6 vCPU, 4,096 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

  11. 11Gateway redundancy with VRRP and a virtual IP

    Give an office two routers that share a virtual gateway address with VRRP. You set priorities and preemption, track the uplink so a dead path hands over the gateway, measure failover, and finish with an active-active design where both routers carry traffic.

    3× IOSv, 2× VPCS

    5 vCPU, 3,584 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

  12. 12NAT and PAT with port forwarding at the edge

    Connect a private office to the internet. You see why private addresses don't route, share one public address among all hosts with PAT, publish an inside web server with a port forward, and read the NAT table in inside/outside local/global terms.

    2× Alpine Linux, 2× IOSv, 1× VPCS

    5 vCPU, 3,072 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

  13. 13DHCP - scopes and options with reservations and relay

    Run DHCP for head office and a branch from one server. You relay requests across a router, find and fix an exhausted scope, add options such as DNS and lease time, reserve an address for a printer, and capture the four DORA messages.

    2× IOSv, 1× Alpine Linux, 3× VPCS

    6 vCPU, 4,608 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

  14. 14DNS - records and lookups with forwarding and the hosts file

    Run name resolution for an office. You publish A, AAAA, MX and NS records, look them up forwards and backwards with nslookup and dig, forward unknown names to an upstream server, and see how the hosts file overrides DNS and quietly causes faults.

    2× IOSv, 1× Alpine Linux, 1× EVE-NG GUI server

    4 vCPU, 2,560 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

  15. 15Time and logs - NTP and syslog

    Logs are useless if every device keeps different time. You build an NTP hierarchy with authentication, set the UK time zone and summer time, then send every device's logs to a central collector with the right severity, timestamps and origin, and use them to reconstruct an incident.

    2× IOSv, 1× Alpine Linux, 1× IOSvL2

    4 vCPU, 2,304 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

  16. 16Network monitoring - SNMP and flow data with port mirroring

    Set up the three classic ways to watch a network. You poll a router with SNMPv2c and secure SNMPv3, receive traps, export NetFlow records of who talks to whom, and mirror a switch port to a capture host, where you see why SNMPv2c's community string is no secret.

    2× Alpine Linux, 1× IOSv, 1× IOSvL2, 1× EVE-NG GUI server

    5 vCPU, 3,328 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

  17. 17Network documentation and configuration management

    Inherit an undocumented network and bring it under control. You build an asset inventory, discover the cabling with CDP and LLDP, document it on the devices, find a duplicate IP address with your address list, then back up configurations to a server, archive every save automatically and roll back an unapproved change.

    2× IOSv, 2× IOSvL2, 1× Alpine Linux

    5 vCPU, 3,072 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

  18. 18Secure remote management with SSH and a jump host

    Take a router and a switch from Telnet with default passwords to hardened SSH management. You capture a Telnet password in clear text, enable SSH v2 with local accounts at two privilege levels, allow management only from an out-of-band jump host, and switch off services nobody uses.

    2× Alpine Linux, 1× IOSv, 1× IOSvL2

    4 vCPU, 2,304 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

  19. 19Site-to-site VPN - GRE tunnel protected by IPsec

    Join head office and a branch across the internet. You build a GRE tunnel and run OSPF over it, prove from the provider's router that GRE is readable by anyone in the path, then protect the tunnel with IPsec and watch the same traffic turn into ESP.

    2× Alpine Linux, 2× IOSv, 1× VPCS

    5 vCPU, 3,072 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

  20. 20ACLs and security rules between zones

    Turn a written security policy into router ACLs. Guests get the internet but nothing internal, servers accept only web and SSH from staff, and the internet gets nothing but replies. You read hit counters and logs, and see where stateless filtering stops.

    3× Alpine Linux, 2× IOSv

    5 vCPU, 2,560 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

  21. 21Switch security - stopping rogue DHCP and ARP spoofing

    Attack a small office LAN from a Linux host, then defend it. A rogue DHCP server hijacks a client's gateway until DHCP snooping stops it, ARP spoofing is blocked by dynamic ARP inspection, MAC spoofing trips port security, and user ports stop negotiating trunks.

    2× Alpine Linux, 1× IOSv, 1× IOSvL2, 1× VPCS

    5 vCPU, 3,328 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

  22. 22Edge firewall and DMZ screened subnet with pfSense

    Build a stateful firewall with three zones on pfSense. You set it up from the console, manage it through its web GUI, add a screened subnet for a public web server, publish the server with a port forward, and write the rules that keep the DMZ from ever reaching the inside network.

    2× Alpine Linux, 1× IOSv, 1× pfSense CE, 1× EVE-NG GUI server

    5 vCPU, 4,608 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

  23. 23Infrastructure as code with Ansible and Git

    Manage three routers as code from a NetOps workstation. You bootstrap SSH, keep an Ansible project in Git with a central repository, apply device standards with a playbook, make a change on a branch, catch and fix configuration drift, and back up the configurations.

    3× IOSv, 1× EVE-NG GUI server

    4 vCPU, 3,584 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

  24. 24Troubleshooting 1 - switching faults

    Four help-desk tickets, four real faults in a two-switch office: a port in the wrong VLAN, an uplink shut by BPDU guard, a VLAN missing from a trunk and a port left administratively down. You work each one through the CompTIA troubleshooting method, from symptoms to documented fix.

    2× IOSvL2, 1× IOSv, 3× VPCS

    6 vCPU, 5,120 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

  25. 25Troubleshooting 2 - IP addressing and DHCP faults

    A branch has just been moved onto a new address plan, and almost nothing works. Five layered faults hide behind each other: a relay pointing at the wrong server, a mistyped static route that also breaks DHCP, a scope and a host using the old gateway, and a PC with the wrong subnet mask. You isolate each one with the right tool.

    3× IOSv, 1× Alpine Linux, 2× VPCS

    6 vCPU, 4,096 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

  26. 26Troubleshooting 3 - network performance

    The branch link is 'slow', and the users can't say more. You measure it properly with ping and iperf, separate latency, jitter, loss and throughput, find a forgotten traffic shaper on the router and a faulty provider circuit (a WAN emulator), fix both and prove it with a new baseline.

    2× Alpine Linux, 2× IOSv, 1× Alpine WAN emulator

    5 vCPU, 2,560 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

  27. 27Capstone - build a secure branch office from a work order

    Build a complete branch network from a written work order, with no step-by-step instructions: VLANs and a hardened trunk, router-on-a-stick, DHCP, PAT to the internet, guest isolation, SSH management, time and logging, and switch port security. Checkpoints tell you when each part works.

    2× IOSv, 1× Alpine Linux, 1× IOSvL2, 2× VPCS

    6 vCPU, 4,352 MBFits LiteRuns in the free demo

Devices and images

The exact Add Node images the labs use, and the vCPU and RAM their nodes are set to. Your plan counts what each running node is set to.

Devices and images in the Network+ practice labs, as read on 2 November 2026
DeviceImage in Add NodeSet toLabsNodes
Cisco IOSvvios-adventerprisek9-m.SPA.159-3.M61 vCPU, 512 MB2448
Alpine Linuxclbalpinebase-alpine-base-3-20-31 vCPU, 512 MB1828
Cisco IOSvL2viosl2-adventerprisek9-m.ssa.high_iron_202009291 vCPU, 768 MB1319
EVE-NG GUI server (Docker)eve-gui-server:latest1 vCPU, 1,024 MB; 1 vCPU, 2,048 MB44
Alpine WAN emulatorclbalpinewanem-alpine-wanem-3-20-31 vCPU, 512 MB11
Netgate pfSense CEpfsense-CE-2.5.2-RELEASE1 vCPU, 1,024 MB11
VPCS hostBuilt in to EVE-NGcounted as 1 vCPU, 1,024 MB1836

Browse every image in the Add Node list

How to open the labs

  1. Sign in to your workspace at lab.cloudlabbox.com.

  2. In File Manager, open Shared, then the folder CompTIA Network Plus N10-009 guided labs.

  3. Open a lab and start its nodes, then open Lab Tasks for the steps.

The labs are read-only. You can start the nodes and configure the devices, but changes to the topology can’t be saved. To change a lab, rebuild it in your own folder.

The Shared folder in the EVE-NG File Manager, recorded on 2 November 2026 with a test account.
The EVE-NG File Manager open on the read-only Shared folder: one folder per guided course, including Arista EOS, BGP in depth, CCIE Enterprise Infrastructure, CCNA, CCNP ENARSI and ENCOR, Check Point, Cisco ASA, Cisco Nexus NX-OS, CompTIA Network Plus and FortiGate
A guided CCNA lab with its Lab Tasks pane, recorded on 1 November 2026 with a test account.
A guided CCNA lab open in EVE-NG with its nodes running: four routers and two PCs on the canvas, and the Lab Tasks pane beside them with the scenario, the addressing plan and the first task

Questions about the Network+ labs

Are these Network+ labs free?

They’re included with every lab plan, with nothing extra to pay, rather than free. Plans start at £3 a day or £0.50 an hour. To try one first, the free demo gives you 30 minutes with 6 vCPU and 8 GB, enough to run every one of these labs.

Which plan do I need for these labs?

Lite, with 6 vCPU and 8 GB, runs every lab here. EVE-NG admits a node by the vCPU and RAM configured on it, so a lab needs the total its running nodes are set to. The biggest here, “VLANs and trunking between switches”, needs 6 vCPU and 5,632 MB. Each lab’s Lab Tasks pane names the plan it needs.

Can I change these labs?

You can start the nodes and configure the devices, but the labs are read-only: changes to the topology can’t be saved. To change one, rebuild it in your own folder.

Are these labs from CompTIA?

No. CloudLabBox wrote them to follow the topics of CompTIA’s Network+ exam (N10-009). They aren’t training material from CompTIA, and CloudLabBox is independent of CompTIA, Cisco and Netgate.

Do I need Cisco experience for the Network+ labs?

No. Most devices are Cisco IOSv routers and IOSvL2 switches, but every command is introduced before you use it, and the Linux hosts and the pfSense firewall are explained the same way.

Try a lab before you choose

The free demo is a real workspace for 30 minutes, with 6 vCPU and 8 GB: enough to run every one of these labs. No card and no email.

Try it free for 30 minutesStart this course

Plans from £3 a day or £0.50 an hour, each with every guided lab.

More practice labs

CloudLabBox is independent of CompTIA, Cisco and Netgate. The labs follow exam topics and aren’t vendor training material; vendor names identify the exams and the images in the workspace.