Networking Cheat sheet
Network Protocols:
 TCP/IP
 NetBEUI
 IPX/SPX
 NWLink
Specialized Servers:
 Application servers
 Communication servers
 Domain controllers/directory
servers
 Fax servers
 File and print servers
 Mail servers
 Web servers
Selecting the Right Type of Network:
 Budget
 Number of users
 Types of applications or
network services
 Requirements for centralized
administration and control
Analyze Network Requirement:
 Analyze network requirements
 Select a network topology and
equipment to fit that topology
 Map out your design
Types of Topologies:
 Bus Topology
 Star Topology
 ring
Variations of the Major Topologies:
 Mesh
 Star bus
 Star ring
Constructing a Network Layout:
 Evaluate underlying
requirements
• Number of client
computers to be attached
• Number of servers to be
attached
• Kind of applications that
will run
• Peer-to-peer or server-
based network?
• Amount of fault tolerance
required by applications
 • Budget  Installation costs
 Sketch the network layout
(third party tools are available)
Types of Coaxial Cable for Ethernet:
 Put your network map into a
 Thin Ethernet (thinnet,
computer
thinwire, cheapernet, 10Base2)
 Thick Ethernet (thicknet,
Primary Cable Types: thickwire, 10Base5)
 Coaxial cable
 Twisted-pair (TP) cable Fiber-optic Media Connectors:
• Unshielded (UTP)  ST (straight tip)
• Shielded (STP)  SC (straight connection)
 Fiber-optic  MIC (medium interface
connector)
 SMA (subminiature type A)
General Cable Characteristics:
 Bandwidth rating
Cable Selection Criteria:
 Maximum segment length
 Bandwidth
 Maximum number of segments
per internetwork  Budget
 Maximum number of devices  Capacity
per segment
 Environmental considerations
 Interference susceptibility
 Placement
 Connection hardware
 Scope
 Cable grade
 Span
 Plenum rating
 Bend radius
Types of Wireless Networks:
 Material costs
  Local area networks (LANs)  Satellite
 Extended LANs
 Mobile computing Kinds of Infrared LANs:
 Line-of-sight networks
Wireless LAN Transmission:  Reflective wireless networks
 Most common frequencies  Scatter infrared networks
used
 Broadband optical telepoint
• Radio: 10 KHz to 1 GHz networks
• Microwave: 1 GHz to
500 GHz
High-speed Wireless Networking
• Infrared: 500 GHz to 1 Technologies:
THz
 IEEE 802.11 Wireless
 Primary technologies used Networking Standard
• Infrared  Cellular packet radio
networking
• Laser
 Cellular Digital Packet Data
• Narrowband, single-
(CDPD)
frequency radio
 Narrow-band sockets
• Spread-spec trum radio:
Two main kinds
Parallel transmission: Spreads
 Frequency-
individual bits of data across multiple,
hopping
parallel data lines to transmit them
 Direct-sequence simultaneously, rather than according
modulation to an ordinal and temporal sequence
• Microwave: Serial transmission: Sends each bit’s
Two types worth of data (or its analog
equivalent) one at a time, one after
 Terrestrial another, in sequence

Primary bus architectures:
 ISA (Industry Standard
Architecture)
 EISA (Extended ISA)
 MCA (Micro Channel
Architecture)
 PCI (Peripheral Component
Interface)
 AGP (Accelerated Graphics
Port)
 USB (Universal Serial Bus)
 FireWire (also known as IEEE
1394)
Principles of NIC Configuration:
 Plug and Play architecture
 Manual configuration involves
working with three types of PC
settings:
• Interrupt request line
(IRQ)
• Base I/O port
• Base memory address
 Two ways of setting hardware
configurations
• Jumper blocks
• DIP (dual inline package)
switches
Hardware-enhancement Options:
 Direct Memory Access (DMA)
 Shared adapter memory
 Shared system memory
 Bus mastering
 RAM buffering
 On-board co-processors
 Security features
 Traffic management or
grooming
 Improved fault tolerance
Considerations when Purchasing a
Network Adapter:
 Bus width
 Bus type
 Memory transfer
 Special features required
 Bus mastering
 Vendor factors
Most Common Protocol Stacks:
  Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol
(TCP/IP)

7 layers of OSI Reference Model:

 Tasks required for network
communication combine to form
PDU = Protocol Data Units
three major protocol types:
Packet Structure:
 Application
 Packet header
 Transport
• Source and destination
 Network
addresses
• Alert signal
Popular Network Protocols:
• Clocking information
 IP (Internet Protocol)
 Data section (payload)
 IPX (Internetwork Packet
• Actual data being sent
eXchange) and NWLink (or
• 512 bytes to 16 kilobytes Novell IPX ODI Protocol)
 Packet trailer  NetBEUI
• Error-checking  DDP (Delivery Datagram
information Protocol)

• Verifies validity of  DLC (Data Link Control)

packet’s contents

Widely used transport protocols:

  TCP (Transmission Control Major Access Methods:
Protocol)
 Contention
 SPX (Sequenced Packet
 Carrier Sense Multiple
eXchange) and NWLink
Access with Collision
 ATP (AppleTalk Transaction Detection (CSMA/CD)
Protocol) and NBP (Name
 Carrier Sense Multiple
Binding Protocol)
Access with Collision
 NetBIOS/NetBEUI Avoidance (CSMA/CA)
 Token passing
Application Protocols:  Demand priority
 Prevalent application protocols  Polling
• SMTP (Simple Mail  Switching
Transport Protocol)
• FTP (File Transfer
Popular Network Architectures:
Protocol)
 Ethernet
• SNMP (Simple Network
Management Protocol)  Token ring

• NCP (NetWare Core  AppleTalk

Protocol)  ARCnet (Attached Resource
• AFP (AppleTalk File Computer Network)
Protocol)  FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data
Interface)

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol  ATM (Asynchronous Transfer

(DHCP): Mode)

A TCP/IP protocol that allows

automatic IP addresses and subnet The 5-4-3 Rule:
mask assignment
five cable segments with four  Client network software
repeaters, with three of those
 Server network software
segments being populated

Client Network Software:

Overview of Ethernet:
• Redirector: Routes resource
 Three categories based on
requests to computers or
transmission speed and media
directly to a peripheral device
• 10 Mbps IEEE standards
• Designator: locally mapped
• 100 Mbps IEEE standards drive letter with the correct
network address.
• 1 Gbps IEEE 802.3z
standards
Beaconing: Installation Preparation
Considerations:
 inform networked computers
that token passing has stopped  Type of network (topology)
due to an error
 Size of network
Segmentation: insertion of a bridge
 Job requirements of the server
or router between two cable
segments  File systems to be used
 Identification of naming
convention
Types of Multitasking:
 Types of OSs found on servers
 Preemptive multitasking
and clients
 Cooperative multitasking
 Organization of storage devices

Software Components of
TCP/IP Requirements Prior to NOS
Networking:
Installation:
 Naming services
 IP address
 Directory services
 Subnet mask
  Default gateway • File-system sharing
 DNS (Domain Name Server) • True client/server
 WINS (Windows Internet
Naming Service)
Common E-mail Communication
 DHCP (Dynamic Host Protocols:
Configuration Protocol)
 X.400
 IMAP (Internet Message Access
Major steps In Installing Microsoft Protocol)
Windows:
 MHS (Message Handling
 Beginning the installation System)
 Text-based portion  POP3 (Post Office Protocol,
version 3)
 Graphical user interface
portion  SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer
Protocol)
 Networking portion
 X.500

Network Applications:
Scheduling or Calendaring:
 Enhanced software programs
made possible through the  Multiple users share a single
communication system of a appointment book, address
network book, and calendar
 Most common network  Provides easy coordination of
applications meetings, appointments, and
contact details
• E-mail
Groupware:
• Scheduling
 Enables multiple users to
• Groupware
interact with a single file,
 Types of architectures document, or project
• Centralized simultaneously
  On an Ethernet network, the
number of collisions per
Implementing Multivendor
second
Solutions:
 Security errors (errors
 Client-based solutions
accessing data)
 Server-based solutions
 Connections currently
maintained to other servers
The four major networking product (server sessions)
vendors and organizations support
connectivity to each other’s NOSs
 Microsoft
 Novell
 Linux
 Apple

Network administration decisions

relate to:
 Passwords
 Logon hours
 Auditing

Managing Network Performance:

 Data read from and written to
the server each second
 Queued commands
  Network performance Ways to view gathered information
for performance monitor:
Windows NT and Windows 2000
Server have three tools for network  Chart
performance:
 Alert
 Event Viewer
 Log
 Performance Monitor
 Report
 Network Monitor

Most Important System Objects to

Event Viewer Logs: Monitor:
 Security information  Logical or physical disk on the
server
 System information
 Network interface
 Events generated by
applications  Any of the protocol counters
 Redirector
  Server work queues • Disk striping with parity

Planning for Network Security:  Two types of Modems:

 Identify the threat • Asynchronous
 Physical security (hardware) • Synchronous
 Data security (software)
 Share-oriented security Digital Modems:
 Based on the  ISDN (Integrated Services
object being Digital Network) link
shared
 Cable modem
 User-oriented security
 DSL (Digital Subscriber Line)
 Focuses on rights
and permissions of
each user General considerations when
deciding on the type of telephone
line to use:
Types of backups recognized by
 Throughput
Microsoft:
 Distance
 Full
 Cost
 Incremental
 Differential
Devices Used to Expand Network
 Copy
Capabilities:
 Daily
 Repeaters
Fault-tolerant Systems:
 Bridges
 Most popular
 Routers
• Disk mirroring
 Brouters
(duplexing)
 Gateways
  Switches  ISDN
 T1
Routable versus Nonroutable  T3
Protocols:
 Switched 56K
 Routable protocols
• Have Network layer
Advanced WAN Technologies:
information
 X.25
 Nonroutable protocols
 ISDN (Integrated Services
• Have no Network layer
Digital Network)
information
 Frame relay
 ATM (Asynchronous Transfer
Technologies used to establish long-
Mode)
distance connections:
 FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data
 Packet-switching networks
Interface)
 Fiber-optic cable
 Synchronous Optical Network
 Microwave transmitters (SONET)
 Satellite links  Switched Multi-megabit Data
Service (SMDS)
 Cable television coax systems

Components of a Network Plan:

WAN Primary Communication
Technologies:
 Analog WAN connections
 Digital WAN connections
 Packet switching networks
 Cable diagrams
 Cable layouts
 Network capacity information
 List of all protocols and
network standards in use

DDS Line Types:

  Documentation on computer  Software licensing
and network device
 User administration
configuration, software, and
important files
Five-step Structured
Troubleshooting Approach:
Components of Network Policies and
Procedures: 1. Set the problem’s priority

 Back-up methods 2. Collect information about the

problem
 Security
3. Develop a list of possible
 Hardware and software
causes
standards
4. Test each hypothesis to isolate
 Upgrade guidelines
the actual cause
 Documentation
5. For each potential cause,
attempt at least one solution
Maintaining Documentation:
 Address list Using Special Tools:
 Cable map 1. Five-step Structured
Troubleshooting ApproachSet
 Contact list
the problem’s priority
 Equipment list
2. Collect information about the
 Network history problem
 Network map 3. Develop a list of possible
 Networking hardware causes
configuration 4. Test each hypothesis to isolate
 Policies and procedures the actual cause

 Server configuration 5. For each potential cause,

attempt at least one solution
 Software configuration
Using Special Tools:  Cabling and related
components
 Digital voltmeter (DVM) or
volt-ohm meter (VOM)  Power fluctuations
 Time-domain reflectometer  Upgrades
(TDR)
 Poor network performance
 Advanced cable testers
 Oscilloscopes
Majority of networking problems
 Network monitors occur at the Physical layer of the OSI
model and include problems with:
 Protocol analyzers
 Cables
 Connectors
Network Support Resources:
 NICs
 Software products
 Online services
Preventing problems with network
 Subscription services
management:
 Printed material
 Proper planning
 Documentation
Common Troubleshooting
 Backing up network data
Situations:
 Monitoring the network
 Cabling and related
components
 Power fluctuations Dealing with network management
problems:
 Upgrades
 Methodology for
 Poor network performance
troubleshooting networks
 Network support tools and
Common Troubleshooting Situations resources
  Common troubleshooting
situations

What’s on the Internet?

 Chat and instant messaging
with ICQ and IRC
 Electronic mail
 File Transfer Protocol (FTP) for
file transfer
 Newsgroups
 Telnet for remote access
 World Wide Web (with HTTP)
What is kibitzing

Common ways to connect to an ISP:

 Dial-up lines using modems
 Integrated Services Digital
Network (ISDN), cable modem,
or digital subscriber line (DSL)
connections