CompTIA a+ Essential 220-601

CompTIA A+ Essentials 220-601: Networks

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CompTIA A+ Essentials220-601: Networks

CompTIA A+ Essentials 220-601: Networks

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Lesson 1. Course Introduction

In this course, you will learn about basic networking concepts and networking modelssuch as peer-to-peer and client/server. You will become more familiar with such things asLocal Area Network (LAN) and Bluetooth as you learn more about network technologies. Finally, you will look at different network architectures, such as Ethernetand Token Ring.

Lesson 2. Network Protocols and Hardware

A network is an interconnection of two or more computers used to share resources suchas printers and files. Networks use different architectures, protocols, models, cables, andconnectors for interconnections.After completing this lesson, you should be able to:

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Identify the fundamental principles of networksBefore we discuss networking protocols and hardware, let's examine a few criticalconcepts.

Addressing

Addressing is the assignment of IP addresses to hosts on a network. There are twocategories of IP addresses: public and private. An Internet Service Provider (ISP) provides public IP addresses used over the Internet. You have to purchase public IPaddresses from an ISP. Private IP addresses are available free of charge and are used on aLAN. You cannot use private IP addresses over the Internet.

Bandwidth

Bandwidth is the rate at which information travels from one location to another over achannel. Bandwidth is typically measured in Megabits per second (Mbps), Kilobits per second (Kbps), or bits per second (bps). The amount of information that can be sent atany time depends on the available bandwidth at that time — the higher the bandwidth, thegreater the amount of information that can be passed from one location to another.

Status Indicators

Status indicators are used to determine whether a network device such as a Network Interface Card (NIC) or a switch is working properly. You can diagnose network device problems with status indicators. A NIC has two indicator lights: a link indicator and anactivity indicator that provide information on the status of the link and on network activity, respectively. A switch has indicator lights that show whether the device isworking properly.

Full- and Half-Duplex

A full-duplex connection can send and receive data over two separate circuits at the sametime. A half-duplex connection has a single circuit; it can either send data or receive data, but cannot perform both actions at the same time. If an application requires two-waycommunication, you should use a full-duplex connection. A full-duplex connection willlet the application perform more efficiently.

Network Architectures

Network architecture is a collective term that denotes a collection of protocols,topologies, and access methods. Examples of network architectures include the Ethernetand Token Ring topologies. The pages that follow provide more detail about thesearchitectures.

Ethernet

Ethernet is a group of standards used in a LAN. The naming standard is the same for different Ethernet types. The first number of each standard indicates the transmissionspeed in Mbps, the middle section indicates the signaling type, and the last sectionindicates the transmission medium.

CompTIA A+ Essentials 220-601: Networks

3For example, in a 100BaseTX model, the "100" indicates that the network can transmitdata at 100 Mbps. "Base" indicates that the network uses the baseband transmissionmethod — meaning only one signal is sent over the network medium at a time. "TX"indicates that a twisted-pair cable is used as the network medium. T can also indicatetwisted-pair cable, and F, FL, FX, LX, and SX indicate fiber optic cable. In the Ethernetstandards 10Base2 and 10Base5, the "2" indicates thinnet coaxial cable and "5" indicatesthicknet coaxial cable.Standard Ethernet implementations include 10Base2, 10Base5, 10BaseT, and 10BaseF.Fast Ethernet runs at a maximum of 100 Mbps; its implementations include 100BaseT,100BaseTX, and 100BaseFX. Gigabit Ethernet runs at a maximum of 1000 Mbps; itsimplementations include 1000BaseT, 1000BaseCX, and 1000BaseFX.

Token Ring

Token Ring networks can be of Type 1 or Type 3. Type 1 networks normally use STPcables and operate at 4 or 16 Mbps. Type 3 networks use UTP cables; they also operate at4 or 16 Mbps.

Network Protocols

A network is an interconnection of computers that use the same or different network protocols. A protocol is a set of rules that determine how computers communicate over anetwork. Protocols are grouped according to their functions.Some commonly-used protocols include:

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TCP/IP

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NWLINK IPX/SPX (Internetwork Packet Exchange/Sequence Packet Exchange)

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NETBEUI/NetBIOS (NetBIOS Extended User Interface/Network BasicInput/Output System)

TCP/IP

TCP/IP is a standard set of rules used for communication in large networks. TCP/IP ismanaged through two different hierarchical structures. First is the IP address hierarchy,which uniquely identifies a host such as a computer, printer, or router in a network.Second is the TCP hierarchy, a transport-level protocol responsible for providing reliabledata delivery over the network.TCP/IP is included with Windows 9

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, Windows ME, Windows NT, Windows 2000, andWindows XP. Communication over the Internet requires TCP/IP.Three major fields have to be configured for TCP/IP: the IP address, the subnet mask,and the default gateway. These are described on the pages that follow.

IP Addresses

An IP address is a 32-bit number that is a combination of four 8-bit numbers known asoctets. This 32-bit number is in the

abc.abc.abc.abc

format, where

abc

is a decimalnumber in the range of 0 to 255. An example of an IP address is

202.10.100.1

.A network administrator can assign an IP address manually, or a computer can beconfigured to attain its IP address automatically from a server on the network by usingthe Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP).The subnet mask divides a large TCP/IP network into smaller networks. A subnet definesall computers that have a common network prefix. IP addresses have a network sectionthat identifies the network to which the computer belongs and a node section thatidentifies the network address of the computer. A network can be categorized intoclasses, with each class being allowed to use a defined set of IP addresses.