Book Image

Networking Fundamentals

By : Gordon Davies
Book Image

Networking Fundamentals

By: Gordon Davies

Overview of this book

A network is a collection of computers, servers, mobile devices, or other computing devices connected for sharing data. This book will help you become well versed in basic networking concepts and prepare to pass Microsoft's MTA Networking Fundamentals Exam 98-366. Following Microsoft's official syllabus, the book starts by covering network infrastructures to help you differentiate intranets, internets, and extranets, and learn about network topologies. You’ll then get up to date with common network hardware devices such as routers and switches and the media types used to connect them together. As you advance, the book will take you through different protocols and services and the requirements to follow a standardized approach to networking. You’ll get to grips with the OSI and TCP/IP models as well as IPv4 and IPv6. The book also shows you how to recall IP addresses through name resolution. Finally, you’ll be able to practice everything you’ve learned and take the exam confidently with the help of mock tests. By the end of this networking book, you’ll have developed a strong foundation in the essential networking concepts needed to pass Exam 98-366.
Table of Contents (23 chapters)
Free Chapter
1
Section 1: Network Infrastructure
7
Section 2: Network Hardware
11
Section 3: Protocols and Services
18
Section 4: Mock Exams
19
Mock Exam 1
20
Mock Exam 2

The purpose of switches and switching

In Chapter 2, Understanding Local Area Networks, we introduced the use of switches within a LAN. Recall that a switch is a device that's used to forward traffic from one device to the next within a local network. By introducing a switch to our network, we are providing a means of segmenting the network into smaller, more manageable, and more efficient areas.

At a basic level, this segmentation leads to a reduction in collisions since each port on a switch is classed as its own collision domain. In the following diagram, each computer is connected to a port on the switch in the center and has formed its own collision domain:

Figure 6.1: Collision domains

Notice that this segmentation reduces collisions but doesn't remove them. The reason for this is that, in most modern switched networks, a switch port is only connected to one device...