Updated in May 2025.

This course now features Coursera Coach! A smarter way to learn with interactive, real-time conversations that help you test your knowledge, challenge assumptions, and deepen your understanding as you progress through the course. This comprehensive course on IP Connectivity and IP Services provides a deep dive into the concepts and technologies essential for configuring and managing modern networking environments. By the end of this course, learners will be equipped with the skills needed to configure and troubleshoot network devices, configure routing protocols, and understand the key services that support network operations. The journey begins with foundational concepts such as identifying routing components, interpreting routing table information, and understanding packet forwarding. Learners will explore routing decisions in detail, including static and dynamic routing configurations for both IPv4 and IPv6. The course also delves into the OSPFv2 protocol and how it can be configured for efficient routing in single-area networks. The course moves into critical network services such as Network Address Translation (NAT), DHCP, and DNS. Learners will gain hands-on experience configuring and verifying NAT in various forms, as well as securing remote access with protocols like SSH. A key focus is on mastering dynamic IP address allocation through DHCP and ensuring that network time synchronization is managed effectively through NTP. Designed for individuals looking to gain a robust understanding of IP networking, this course is ideal for network administrators, system engineers, and those pursuing networking certifications. Basic understanding of networking concepts is recommended, with the difficulty level aimed at intermediate learners.