This is the complete study hub for the CCIE Enterprise Infrastructure v1.1 lab, mapped to the official blueprint and built on real Cisco IOS XE output. Every topic below links to a PingLabz article grounded in a live Cisco Modeling Labs capture - not theory, not vendor slides, but the actual show output an expert reader can trust. Where a technology genuinely cannot be labbed without a controller (SD-Access needs Catalyst Center; SD-WAN needs the full Manager stack), we say so plainly and ground the explanation in the real component protocols instead.
This hub assumes you have the CCNP-level foundations. If your fundamentals are rusty, start with the Start Here onboarding hub and the CCNA lab library first. The CCIE tier is about the layer that separates professional depth from expert depth: edge cases, design trade-offs, policy at scale, failure modes, and integration.
The CCIE EI v1.1 blueprint, at a glance
1.0 Network Infrastructure - 30%
The largest domain and the site's deepest coverage - the old CCIE R&S long tail, closed. BGP policy and scale, OSPF pathologies, EIGRP integration, and switched-campus closure, all on real Cisco output.
Expert BGP: policy, scale, and IPv6 transport
Expert OSPF: timers, suppression, and pathologies
Expert EIGRP and IGP integration
Switched campus closure: expert Layer 2
2.0 Software-Defined Infrastructure - 25%
SD-Access and Catalyst SD-WAN. SD-Access needs Catalyst Center and cannot be fully labbed, so that series is an honest concept-and-components treatment grounded in the real LISP/VXLAN/TrustSec captures on the site. SD-WAN is presented against Cisco's current 20.x documentation.
SD-Access deep series
Advanced Catalyst SD-WAN
3.0 Transport Technologies - 15%
MPLS L3VPN and DMVPN, closed in full - VPNv6/6VPE, BGP PE-CE edge cases, dual-hub DMVPN, and IKEv1 vs IKEv2, all on real Cisco output.
MPLS and DMVPN expert
4.0 Infrastructure Security and Services - 15%
Switch access security and IOS services, closed. The L2 security stack (from domain 1's switching articles) plus VRF-aware NAT, the IOS DHCP server, SNMPv3, EPC, and IPv6 services - including a real SHA/AES-encrypted SNMPv3 trap decrypted on Linux.
Layer 2 access security
IOS services and IPv6 services
5.0 Automation and Programmability - 15%
The programmability domain. A fully-captured YAML-to-Jinja-to-Netmiko pipeline and a real EEM applet, plus the on-box and model-driven features (Guest Shell, telemetry) presented against real IOS XE syntax with honest platform notes.
Automation closure
The CCIE Super Labs (member content)
Reading closes the knowledge gap; the Super Labs close the integration gap - the thing the CCIE lab actually tests. These are full-scale, multi-technology topologies that combine everything above into the kind of converged network the exam hands you, plus a ticket gauntlet modelled on the troubleshooting section. They are the membership flagship. See the CCIE Super Lab Library.
How to use this hub
Work each domain in order - they build on each other, and the troubleshooting article at the end of each series is where the theory becomes muscle memory. Run every configuration in a lab; every article on this site is built on real Cisco Modeling Labs output precisely so you can reproduce it. When you can name the cause of each troubleshooting scenario from show output alone, you are ready for that domain.
Prerequisite path: Start Here → CCNA labs → the CCNP clusters (BGP, OSPF, EIGRP, MPLS and the rest, linked from each pillar) → this CCIE hub → the Super Labs. That is the full CCNA → CCNP → CCIE Enterprise ladder, every rung on real output.
Key takeaways
The CCIE EI v1.1 lab is 30% infrastructure, 25% software-defined, and 15% each of transport, security/services, and automation. This hub maps all 58 free articles to those five domains, every one grounded in a real Cisco capture. Bookmark this page, work the domains in order, and finish with the Super Labs. By the time you complete it you will have seen, on real output, every EI topic a CCIE lab or a 3 a.m. ticket can throw at you.