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

Virtual LANs

While switches allowed us to make our networks more efficient through segmentation, they can allow us to segment the network down even further through the use of VLANs. Before we discuss the use of VLANs, I would like to introduce you to the idea of broadcast domains so that you have a better understanding of one of the benefits of implementing VLANs.

When a device sends out a broadcast transmission, it is sent to every device on the local network. All of the devices receiving that broadcast transmission are said to be on the same broadcast domain. Routers aren't designed to forward broadcast transmissions, thereby limiting them to your local network. You may be thinking that broadcasts don't happen that frequently, but if you look at the Wireshark capture in the following screenshot, you will see that a number of them are being used for ARP requests on...