Enterprise Networking at Parul University: Hands-on Learning in Subnetting, Routing, GRE, DMVPN & IPsec

What happens when networking goes beyond simply connecting two machines?

That was the journey explored during “Mastering Enterprise Networking: Hands-on Subnetting, Routing, GRE, DMVPN & IPsec,” a two-day hands-on networking workshop conducted on 8th and 9th July 2026 at Parul University. The workshop was conducted by Mr. Ankit Bilwankar, Founder & Network Consultant at Eximius Solutions, and organized by The Hackers’ Meetup (THM) — Parul University Chapter.

The workshop focused on the practical side of enterprise networking, taking participants from IPv4 addressing, subnetting, and routing to technologies such as GRE tunnelling, DMVPN, and IPsec. Rather than treating these topics as isolated concepts, the sessions demonstrated how they fit together when designing, connecting, troubleshooting, as well as securing enterprise networks.

Mr. Ankit Bilwankar

With extensive experience in enterprise networking and professional Cisco certifications, including Cisco Certified Internetwork Professional (CCIP), Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) Enterprise, CCNP Routing and Switching, CCNA Security, and CCNA Data Center, Mr. Ankit Bilwankar brought an industry-oriented perspective to the sessions.

Day 1: Subnetting, Routing and GRE Tunnelling

The first day started on a light, interactive note with a quick quiz where chocolates were up for grabs. It was a simple way to get everyone involved and set the tone for two days of active learning.

The session then moved into the foundations of enterprise networking. Participants explored IPv4 addressing, subnetting, and routing, learning how networks are divided, addressed, and connected to one another.

Rather than limiting these concepts to theory, participants worked through practical configurations, tested connectivity, and observed how changes to a network affected communication between devices. This helped turn concepts that can often feel abstract in a classroom into something participants could actually see and troubleshoot.

As the day progressed, the sessions moved towards GRE (Generic Routing Encapsulation) tunnelling. GRE can be used to create logical tunnels between networks, allowing traffic to be carried between different network locations across an underlying IP infrastructure. In enterprise environments, tunnelling technologies can be useful when organizations need to connect geographically separated networks or carry specific traffic between sites.

And, of course, things didn’t always work on the first attempt.

That was intentional.

Participants were given networking problems to troubleshoot, encouraging them to look beyond simply following instructions and instead understand what went wrong, how to diagnose the issue, and what needed to change to restore connectivity.

This introduced an important part of real-world networking: configuration testing, network diagnostics, failure analysis, and systematic problem-solving.

Day 2: DMVPN, IPsec and Secure Enterprise Networks

The second day built upon everything covered on Day 1 and introduced participants to more advanced ways of connecting and securing distributed networks.

The focus shifted towards DMVPN and IPsec, giving participants an idea of how organizations can connect offices, branches and systems located in different places while maintaining secure communication.

DMVPN (Dynamic Multipoint VPN) is commonly used to simplify connectivity between multiple sites by allowing network locations to communicate dynamically over a shared infrastructure. This makes it particularly relevant to enterprise environments with multiple branch offices.

Through guided practical exercises, participants worked through different network setups and observed how the individual components came together.

The IPsec session brought another important dimension into the discussion: security.

Participants explored how authentication, encryption, confidentiality and integrity help protect communication across networks. IPsec can be used to secure IP traffic between network endpoints, making it an important technology for protecting communications across untrusted networks such as the public internet.

Instead of simply configuring a working tunnel, participants were encouraged to understand what each component was doing and troubleshoot configurations when the expected connectivity or security behaviour did not occur.

Learning Through Problems, Not Just Presentations

One of the most valuable parts of the workshop was its emphasis on learning through experimentation.

Participants weren’t just given working configurations. They had opportunities to encounter problems, investigate them, test possible solutions and figure out what needed to change.

This approach helped develop skills that extend beyond the specific technologies covered during the workshop: network diagnostics, configuration testing, logical troubleshooting, failure analysis and problem-solving.

In real enterprise environments, knowing a configuration is only part of the job. Networks can fail because of incorrect addressing, routing issues, tunnel configurations, security parameters or seemingly small configuration changes. Learning how to systematically identify the cause of a problem is therefore just as important as learning how to configure the technology in the first place.

With students from Computer Science, Information Technology, AI & ML, Cyber Security and related disciplines taking part, the workshop brought together participants with different academic interests but a common curiosity about networking.

Students Interacting With Mr. Bilwankar

For students studying computing and cybersecurity, understanding networking provides an important foundation for areas such as network security, penetration testing, cloud infrastructure, system administration and security operations. The hands-on format gave participants an opportunity to connect concepts encountered in their academic programmes with practical network configurations and troubleshooting scenarios.

More Than Just a Workshop

By the end of the two days, participants had moved from the fundamentals of IPv4 addressing, subnetting and routing to gaining hands-on exposure to GRE, DMVPN and IPsec — technologies that play an important role in connecting and securing distributed enterprise networks.

But perhaps the biggest takeaway wasn’t any single command or configuration.

It was the experience of building something, seeing it work, watching it fail, and then figuring out why.

The workshop created an environment where students could move beyond classroom theory, experiment with real network configurations, troubleshoot failures and interact directly with an industry professional. The conversations also extended beyond networking into certifications, cybersecurity careers, cloud networking and automation, giving participants a broader view of the skills and opportunities available in the industry.

The workshop also set the stage for what’s next. Based on participant feedback, future sessions are planned around network security, penetration testing and network automation, taking the learning from understanding networks to testing, protecting and automating them.

Two days of hands-on networking.

New skills, new questions, and a deeper understanding of what happens when networking goes beyond simply connecting two machines.

The Hackers’ Meetup — Parul University Chapter, with Mr. Ankit Bilwankar.