What is a computer Network?

A netw ork is an y c ollect ion of i ndependent comput ers t hat commun icate w ith one anothe r ov er a s hared netw ork medium. A comput er netw ork is a colle ction o f tw o or m ore conn ected comput ers . W hen thes e computers ar e jo ined i n a n etw ork, people can s hare fil es and periphe rals s uch as modems , printe rs , tape b ackup drives , or C D -RO M drives . W hen n etw orks at m ultiple l ocations ar e c onne cted us ing s er vic es availab le from phone compani es , people can s end e-ma il, s hare links to the glob al In tern et, or condu ct video confe renc es in real t ime w ith other re mote us ers . W hen a n etw ork b ecom es open s our ced it can b e managed properly w ith onl ine collab orat ion s oftw are. As companies r ely on applicat ions like ele ctron ic mail and datab as e management fo r co re b us ines s oper ations , computer netw orking b e comes increas ingly mor e impo rtant. E very n etw ork in cludes :

At leas t tw o comput ers Se rve r o r C lient w orks tation. N etw orking Interface C ard's (N IC ) A conn ecti on med ium, us ually a w ire o r cab le, althoug h w ireles s commun icatio n b etw een netw orked computers and p eriphe rals is als o pos s ib le. N etw ork O perating s ys tem s oftw are, s uch as Micros oft W indow s NT or 2000, N ovell N etW are, Unix and Linux.

Types of Networks: LANs (Local Area Networks)

A netw ork is an y c ollect ion of i ndependent comput ers t hat commun icate w ith one anothe r ov er a s hared netw ork medium. LAN s are n etw orks us ually con fined t o a geographic area, s uch as a s ingle b uilding o r a college campus . LAN s can b e s mall, linking as few as three compute rs , b ut often link hu ndreds of computers us ed b y thous ands of people. T he d evelopm e nt of s tandard netw orki ng proto cols and media has res ulted in w orldw ide p rolife ration of LAN s throug hout b us ines s and educational organizati ons .

WANs (Wide Area Networks)

W ide area n etw orking comb i nes multipl e LAN s that ar e geographicall y s eparate. T his is acc omplis hed b y connec ting the diffe rent LAN s us ing s ervices s uch a s de dicated leas ed phone lin es , dial-up phone l ines (b oth s ynchron ous and as ynchro nous ), s atellite l inks , and data packet car rie r s er vices . W ide a rea netw orking can b e as s imple as a modem and rem ote a cces s s erver for emplo yees to d ial int o, or it can b e as complex as hundr eds of b ranch offi ces glob ally l i nked us ing s pecial routing p rotoc ols and filt ers to minimize the expens e of s ending data s ent o ver vas t di s tances .

Internet
T he Inter net is a s ys tem of l inked netw orks that a re w orldw ide in s cope and fac ilitate data communi cation s ervi ces s uch as re mote l ogin, fil e tran s fer, elect roni c mail, th e W orld W ide W eb and new s groups .

W ith the m eteor ic ris e i n demand f or conne cti vity, th e Interne t has b ecome a co mmuni cations highw ay for mil lions of us ers . T he Inte rnet w as initially res tri ct ed to mil itary and academi c i ns titutions , b ut now

it is a ful l-fledged c onduit f or an y and all for ms of in fo rmation and comme rce. Inter net w eb s ites now provide p ers onal, educati onal, politi cal and econo mic res ources to ev ery co rne r of the plan et.

Intranet
W ith the advan cements made in b r ow s er-b as ed s oftw are fo r the Inte rnet, man y pr ivate organizatio ns are imple menti ng int ranets . An i ntranet is a pr ivate ne tw ork utilizi ng Inte rnet-t ype to ols , b ut availab le only w ithin that o rganization. Fo r large organizati ons , an intran et pro vides an eas y acc es s mode to corporate inf ormatio n fo r emplo yees .

MANs (Metropolitan area Networks)

T he refe rs to a n etw ork of compute rs w ith in a C ity.

VPN (Virtual Private Network)

V PN us es a techniq ue know n as tunneling to t rans fer data s ecurely on the I ntern et to a remote acces s s erve r on yo ur w orkplace netw ork. Us ing a V PN helps you s ave money b y us ing the pub lic Inte rnet ins tead of making long dis tance phone calls to co nnect s ecur ely w ith your p rivat e netw ork. T her e ar e tw o w ays to create a V PN connec tion, b y dialing an Interne t s erv ice prov ider (ISP), or co nnect ing dir ectl y to Interne t.

Categories of Network:
Network can be divided in to two main categories:
Peer-to-pe er. Serve r b as ed.

In peer -to-pee r ne tw orking the re are no dedicated s er vers o r hierar chy amo ng the compute rs . All of th e c omputers a re eq ual and therefo re kn ow n as peers . N ormally each comput er s er ves as C lient/ Server and the re is no one as s igned to b e an adminis trator res pons ib le for

the ent ire netw ork. Peer-to-pe er netw orks are good choi ces for needs of s mall organizatio ns w here the us ers are allocat ed in the s ame general area, s ecu rity is not an is s ue and t he organizati on and th e netw ork w ill have lim ited grow th w ithin the fores eeab le futur e. T he term C lie nt/ s erver re fers to the conc ept of s haring the w ork i nvol ved i n pro ces s ing data b etw een the client comput er and the m os t pow erful s er ver comput e r.

The client/server network is the most efficient way to provide:

D atab as es and management of applicati ons s uch as Sp reads heets , Accounti ng, C ommunicatio ns and D ocument managemen t. N etw ork management. C entralized fil e s torage. T he clie nt/ s erver model is b as ically an implemen tation of dis trib uted or coope rative pro ces s ing. At the heart of the mod el is the co ncept of s plitting appli cati on fun ctions b etw een a cl ient and a s erv er proces s or. T he divis ion of lab or b etw een t he diff eren t proces s ors enab les the applicat ion des igne r to place an appli cation funct ion on the pro ces s or that is mos t appropriate f or that fun ction. T his lets th e s oftw are des igner optimiz e the us e of proc es s ors --providing the gr eates t pos s ib le retu rn o n in ves tment for the hardw are. C lient/ s erver appli cation des ign als o lets the applicati on prov ider mas k the actual locati on of application f uncti on. T he us er often does not know w here a s pecific ope ration is exec uting. T he e ntir e functio n may exec ute in e ither the PC or s er ver, o r the functio n may b e s plit b etw een them. T his mas king of application fun ction locat ions enab les s ys tem impl e menters to upgrade por tions of a s ys tem ov er t ime w ith a minimu m dis ruptio n of application operat ions , w hile prote cting th e in ves tment in exis ting hardw are and s oftw are.

The OSI Model:

O pen Sys tem Int erco nnec tion (O SI) ref ere nce model has b ecome an Int ernati onal s tandard and s erves as a guide fo r ne tw orking. T his model is the b es t know n and mos t w idely us ed guide t o des crib e netw orking en viro nments . V endors des ign netw ork products b as ed on the s pec ificat ions of th e O SI model. It pro vides a des cr iption of how ne tw ork hardw are and s oftw are w ork together in a laye red fas hion to make commun ications pos s ib le. It als o helps w ith troub le s hooti ng b y pr oviding a frame of ref eren ce that des crib es how co mponents ar e s uppos ed to function. T here are s even to get familia r w ith and th es e are the phys ical layer, data l ink lay er, netw ork laye r, trans port laye r, s es s ion layer, p res entation laye r, and the applicati on lay er.

Phys ical Layer, is jus t that the phys ical par ts of the ne tw ork s uch as w ires , cab les , and there med ia along w ith the l ength. Als o this lay er takes no te of the electr ical s ignals that t rans mit data thro ughout s ys tem. D ata Link Layer, this laye r is w here w e actuall y as s ign meaning t o the ele ctri cal s ignals in th e n etw ork. T he layer als o determ ines the s ize and fo rmat of data s ent to p rint ers , and other devi ces . Als o I don't w ant to forget that thes e a re als o cal led nodes i n the n etw ork. Another thing to co ns ider i n this lay er is w ill als o allow and define the err or det ecti on and cor r ection s chemes that ins ure data w as s ent and rece ived. N etw ork Layer, this layer pro vides the de finit ion f or th e con necti on of tw o dis s imilar n etw orks . T rans port Layer, this lay er al low s data to b e b roken in to s maller packages for data to b e d is trib uted and addres s ed to other nodes (w orks tations ). Ses s ion Layer, this lay er h elps out w ith t he tas k to car ry i nformat ion f rom o ne n ode (w orks tation) to another n ode (w orks tation). A s es s ion has to b e made b efore w e can trans port info rmation to an other computer. Pres entation Lay er, this la yer is res pons ib le to code an d decode data s ent t o the node. Application Layer, th is layer allow s you to us e an appl i cation that w ill co mmuni cate w ith s ay th e operation s ys tem of a s e rve r. A good exampl e w ould b e us ing you r w eb b row s er to inte ract w ith th e operating s ys tem on a s er ver s uch as W indow s N T, w hich in turn gets the data you req ues ted.

Network Architectures:
Et he rn et
E th ern et is the mos t pop ula r phy s ica l lay er LA N tec hno log

y in us e today. O ther LAN types inc lude T oken Ring, Fa s t E thernet, Fib er D is trib uted D ata Interfac e (FD D I), As ynchronous T rans fer Mode (AT M) and Local T alk. E thernet is popular b e caus e it s tr ikes a good b alance b etw een s peed, cos t and eas e of i ns tallation. T hes e b enefits , comb in ed w ith w ide ac ceptance in the comput er marketplace and the ab ility to s upport vi rtually al l popular netw ork p rotoco ls , make E thernet an ideal n etw orking te chnology for mos t com puter us ers today. T he Ins titute for E lectr ical and E lectroni c E nginee rs (IE E E ) defines the E therne t s tandard as IE EE Standard 802.3. T his s tandard defines rules for con figuri ng an E thern et n etw ork as w ell as s pecify ing how el ements in an E ther net n etw ork interact w ith on e anothe r. B y adher ing to the IE E E s tandard, netw ork eq uipment and netw ork proto cols can comm unicat e eff ici ently.

Fast Ethernet
For E thernet netw orks that n eed highe r t rans mis s ion s peeds , the Fas t E thernet s tandard (IE E E 802.3u) has b een es tab lis hed. T his s tandard rais es the E therne t s peed limit from 10 Megab its per s ec ond (Mb ps ) to 100 Mb ps w ith only m inimal changes to th e ex is ting cab le s tructu re. T her e are thr ee t ypes of Fas t E thernet: 100B ASE -T X for us e w ith le vel 5 UT P cab le, 1 00B ASE -FX for us e w ith fib er-opt ic cab le, and 100B ASE -T 4 w hich utilizes an ext ra tw o w ires fo r us e w ith level 3 UT P cab le. T he 100B ASE -T X s tandard has b ecome the mos t popular du e to its clos e compatib ility w ith the 10B ASE -T E thernet s tandard. For the netw ork manage r, the inco rporatio n of Fas t E thern et into an ex is ting con figuratio n pr es ents a hos t of decis ions . Managers mus t dete rmine the numb er of us ers in each s ite o n the netw ork that need the higher th roughput, decide w hich s egments of the b ack b one need to b e rec onfigur ed s pecifi cally for 100B ASE -T and then choos e the nec es s ary hardw are to conn ect th e 100B ASE -T s egments w ith exis ting 10B ASE -T s egments. Gigab it E thernet is a f utur e te chn ology that pr omis es a migrati on path b e yond Fas t E thernet s o the next generat ion o f netw orks w ill s uppo rt ev en h igher data t rans fer s peeds .

Token Ring
T oken Ring is ano ther form of n etw ork con figuratio n w hich differs from E thern et i n that all mes s ages are trans fer red i n a unidire ctional manne r along the ring at al l tim es . D ata is trans mitted in tokens , w hich are pas s ed along the r ing and view ed b y each de vic e. W hen a de vic e s ees a mes s age addres s ed to it, that device copi es the mes s age and then marks that mes s age as b eing read. As the mes s age makes its w ay along the ring, it e ventuall y gets b ack to the s ender w ho now not es that the mes s age w as rece ived b y the intended devi ce. T he s ende r can then r emove the mes s age and free that t oken fo r us e b y othe rs . V arious PC vendors have b een propone nts of T oken Rin g netw orks at differe nt ti mes and thus thes e t ypes of n etw orks hav e b een implemented in many o rganizations .

FDDI
FD D I (Fib er-D is trib uted D ata Interface) is a s tandard f or data trans mis s ion on fib e r opti c li nes in a local area netw or k that can extend in range up to 200 km (124 m iles ). T he FD D I protocol is b as ed on the t oken ring pr otocol. I n addition to b e ing large geographically, an FD D I local area n etw ork can s upport thous ands of us ers .

Protocols:

N etw ork protocols are s tandards that allow computers to co mmuni cate. A p rotoco l defi nes how computers ide ntify one anothe r on a ne tw ork, the fo rm that the data s hould take in trans it, and how this informatio n is pr oces s ed once it reach es its final des tination. Proto cols als o defin e pro cedur es for handling los t or damaged trans mis s ions or "packets ." T C P/ IP (for UN IX, W indow s N T , W indows 95 and other platfo rms ), IPX (for N ove ll N etW are), D E C net (for netw orking D igital E q uipment C orp. comput ers ), AppleT alk (for Maci ntos h comput ers ), and N etB IO S/N etB E UI (for LAN Manager and W indow s N T netw orks ) are the main types of netw ork pro tocols i n u s e today. Although each netw ork p rotocol is diffe rent, th ey a ll s hare the s ame phys ical cab ling. T his common method of ac ces s ing the ph ys ical netw ork allow s multi ple proto cols to pea cefull y c oexis t o ver the netw ork media, and allow s the b uilde r of a ne tw ork to us e common hardw are fo r a va riet y of proto cols . T his concept is know n as "protocol independe nce," Some Impo rtant P rotocols and their job : Protocol Point-T o-Point Acron ym T C P/ IP Its Job T he b ackb one protoc ol of the inte rnet. Popular als o for int ranets us ing the int ernet T he b ackb one protoc ol of the inte rnet. Popular als o for int ranets us ing the int ernet T his is a s tandard protocol for N ovell N etw ork O perating Sys tem T his is a Micros oft protocol that does n't s upport routi ng to other n etw orks Us ed to s end and rece ive files f rom a remote hos t Us ed for the w eb to s end documents that are en coded in HT ML. Allow s netw ork nodes or w orks tations to acces s files and dri ves as if they w ere th eir

T rans mis s ion C ontrol T C P/ IP Protocol/ int ern et Prot ocol

Interne tw ork Package E xchange/ Seq uenced Packet E xchange

IPX / SPX

N etB IO S E xtended Us er Interfac e

N etB EUI

File T rans fer Proto col

FT P

Hyper T ext T rans fer Protocol

HT T P

N etw ork File Ser vic es

N FS

ow n. Simple Mail T rans fer Protocol T elnet SMT P Us ed to s end E mail ove r a netw ork Us ed to conne ct to a hos t and emulate a terminal that the remote s erve r can recogniz e

Introduction to TCP/IP Networks:

T C P/ IP-b as ed netw orks play an incr eas ingly impo rtant role in compute r n etw orks . Perhaps one r eas on for the ir appeal is that the y ar e b as ed on an open s pec ificatio n that is not contro lled b y a ny vendor.

What Is TCP/IP?
T C P s tands for T rans mis s ion C ontrol Prot ocol and IP s t ands for Inte rnet Proto col. T he te rm T C P/ IP is not lim ited jus t to thes e tw o pr otocols , how eve r. Freq u ently, the term T C P/ IP is us ed to ref er t o a gro up of proto cols relat ed to th e T C P and IP prot ocols s uch a s the Us er D atagram Protoc ol (UD P), File T rans fer Protocol (FT P), T erminal E mulati on Pr otocol (T E LNE T), and s o on.

The Origins of TCP/IP

In the late 1960s , D ARPA (the D efens e Advanc ed Res ea rch Pr oject Agenc y), in the Un ited Stat es , noticed that there w as a rapid prolif eratio n of comput ers in m ilitary comm unicat ions . C omputers , b ecaus e they can b e eas ily programm ed, provide flexib i lity in a chie v ing netw ork fu nctio ns that is not availab le w ith other t ypes of commun ications eq uipment. T he comput ers then us ed in m ilitar y c ommuni cations w ere manufactur ed b y diff erent ve ndors and w ere des igned to inte roperat e w ith c omputers f rom that ve ndor only. V endors us ed prop rieta ry p rotoco ls in th eir com municatio ns eq uipment. T he milita ry had a multi vendor netw ork b ut no c ommon p rotoc ol to s upport th e hete rogeneo us eq uipment from diffe rent vendo rs

Net work Cables and Stuff:

In the netw ork y ou w ill commonl y f ind thr ee t ypes of c ab les us ed thes e are the, coaxial cab le, fib er optic and tw is ted pair.

Thick Coaxial Cable

T his type cab le is us ually y ellow in colo r and us ed in w hat is called th icknets , and has tw o condu ctors . T his coax can b e us ed in 500-m eter lengths . T he cab le i ts elf is made up of a s olid cente r w ire w ith a b raided metal s hield and plas tic s heathing pr otect ing the res t of the w ire.

Thin Coaxial Cable

As w ith the thi ck coaxial cab le is us ed in th icknets the thin v ers ion is us ed in th innets . T his type cab le is als o us ed called or ref er red to as RG -58. T he cab le is r eally jus t a cheape r v ers ion o f the thick cab le.

Fiber Optic Cable

As w e all know fib er optics are pret ty darn coo l and no t cheap. T his cab le is s malle r and can car ry a vas t amount of info rmation fas t and ove r lo ng dis tances .

Twisted Pair Cables

T hes e come i n tw o flav ors of uns hielded and s hielded.

Shielded Twisted Pair (STP)

Is more common in h igh-s peed netw orks . T he b igges t differen ce you w ill s ee in the UT P and ST P is that the ST P us e's metallic s hield w rapping to prot ect th e w ire from interf eren ce. -Something els e to note ab out thes e cab les is that they are de fined in n umb ers als o. T he b igger the numb er the b ett er th e protecti on f rom i nter fere nce. Mos t ne tw orks s hould go w ith no les s than a C AT 3 and C AT 5 is mos t re commended. -N ow you know ab out cab les w e need to know ab out conne ctors . T his is prett y important and you w ill mos t like ly n eed the RJ-45 co nnect or. T his is the cous in of the phone jack conne ctor and looks r eal s imilar w ith the exc eption that the RJ-45 is b igger. Mos t commonly you r c onne ctor are in tw o flavors and this is B N C (B ayonet N aur C onnector) us ed in th icknets and th e R J-45 us ed in s maller netw orks us ing UT P/ ST P.

Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP)

T his is the mos t popular form of cab les in the netw ork and the ch eapes t form that yo u can go w ith. T he UT P has four pairs of w i res and all ins ide plas tic s heat hing. T he b igges t reas on that w e call it T w is ted Pair is to prote ct the w ires fr om in terf eren ce from the ms elves . E ach w ire is onl y prot ected w ith a thin plas tic s heath.

Ethernet Cabling
N ow to familiarize you w ith mor e on the E the rnet and it's cab ling w e need to lo ok at the 10's . 10B as e2, is cons idered th e thi n E thern et, thinn et, and thinw i re w hich us es light coaxial cab le to c reate a 10 M b ps netw ork. T he cab le s egments in this netw ork can't b e o ver 185 mete rs in l ength. T hes e cab les con nect w ith the B N C connector. Als o as a note thes e un us ed co nnectio n mus t hav e a t ermi nator, w hich w ill b e a 50-ohm term inator. 10B as e5, this is cons idered a thickne t and is us ed w ith coaxial cab le arrangem ent s uch as the B N C connec tor. T he good s ide to th e coaxial cab le is the h igh-s peed trans fer and cab le s egments can b e up to 500 meters b etw een nodes / w orks tations . Y ou w ill typically s ee the s ame s peed as the 10B as e2 b ut larger cab le lengths for mor e v ers atilit y.

10B as eT, the T s tands for tw is ted as in UT P (Uns hielded T w is ted Pair) and us es this for 10Mb ps of trans fer. T he dow n s ide to this is yo u can only have ca b le lengths of 100 m eters b etw een nodes / w orks tations . T he good s ide to this netw ork is t hey ar e eas y to s et up and cheap! T his is w hy the y are s o comm on an ideal fo r s mall of fices o r hom es . 100B as eT , is cons idered Fas t E thernet us es ST P (Shield ed T w is ted Pair) reach ing data trans fe r of 100Mb ps. T his s ys tem is a little mo re exp ens ive b ut s til l remai ns popular as the 10B as eT and cheaper than mos t other type netw orks . T his on of cou rs e w ould b e the cheap fas t ve rs ion. 10B as eF, this little gu y has the advantage of f ib er opt i cs and the F s tands for jus t that. T his arrangement is a litt le mo re compli cated and us es s pecial co nnec tors and N IC 's along w ith hub s to create its netw ork. Pr etty dar n neat and not to cheap on the w allet. An impo rtant part of des igning and ins talling an E ther net is s elec ting the appropriat e E thern et medi um. T here are fou r majo r types o f media in us e today: T hic kw ire for 10B ASE 5 netw orks , thin coax fo r 10B ASE 2 netw orks , uns hielded tw is ted pair (UT P) for 10B ASE -T netw orks and fib er optic for 10B ASE -FL or Fib er-O ptic Int er-R epeater Link (FO IRL) netw orks . T his w ide variety of m edia r efle cts the e volut ion of E thernet and als o poi nts to the te chnology's flex ib ility. T hickw ire w as one of the firs t cab ling s ys tems us ed in E thern et b ut w as expens ive and diffi cult to us e. T his evolv ed to th in coax, w hich is eas ie r to w ork w ith and les s expens ive.

Network Topologies:
What is a Network topology?
A netw ork topol ogy is th e geomet ric arrange ment of n odes and cab le links in a LAN , T here are thr ee topo logy's to thi nk ab out w hen you get into netw orks . T hes e are the s tar, rind, and the b us . Star, in a s tar topology each node has a dedicat ed s et of w ires con nect ing it to a cent ral n etw ork hub . Since all t raffic pas s es through the hub , the h ub b ecom es a cent ral point for is olating n etw ork prob lems and gathering ne tw ork s tatis tics . Ring, a ri ng topology featur es a logicall y c los ed loop. D ata packets travel in a s ingle di rec tion around the ri ng from one netw ork de vic e to the n ext. E ach net w ork device acts as a rep eater, mean ing it regenerat es the s ignal B us , the b us topology, each node (comput er, s erv er, pe ripheral etc.) attach es dire ctly to a common cab le. T his topology mos t often s erv es as the b ackb one fo r a netw ork. In s ome i ns tances , s uch as in c las s rooms or lab s , a b us w ill conne ct s mall w orkgroups

Collisions:
E thernet is a s hared media, s o ther e ar e ru les for s endi ng packets of data to a void c onfli cts and prote ct data integrit y. N odes determine w hen the netw ork is availab le for s ending packets . It is pos s ib le that tw o nodes at differ ent lo cations attempt to s end data at the s ame tim e. W hen b oth PC s are trans fer ring a packet to th e n etw ork at the s ame time, a coll is ion w ill r es ult. Minimizing coll is ions is a cr ucial elem ent in the des ign and operati on of netw orks . Incr eas ed collis ions are ofte n the res ult of too many us ers on the n etw ork, w hich res ults in a lot of c ontent ion f or netw ork b andw idth. T his can s low the perfo rmanc e of the n etw ork from the us er's point of v iew . Segmenti ng the

netw ork, w here a n etw ork is div ided into diffe rent piec es joined togeth er logicall y w ith a b r idge or s w itch, is one w ay of reduci ng an o ver crow ded netw or k.

Ethernet Products:
T he s tandards and technology that have jus t b een d is cus s ed help define th e s pecif ic p roducts that netw ork managers us e to b uild E thern et ne tw orks . T he follow ing text dis cus s es the key pr oducts ne eded to b uild an E the rnet LAN .

Transceivers
T rans ceivers ar e us ed to con nect nodes to the various E thernet media. Mos t c omputers and netw ork interfac e ca rds contain a b uilt- in 10B ASE -T or 10B ASE 2 trans cei ver, allow ing th em to b e c onne cted directl y to E thernet w ithout req uir ing an exter nal tran s ceiver. Man y E thern et dev ices pr ovide an AUI connec tor to allow the us er t o co nnec t to any m edia ty pe via an exte rnal t rans cei ver. T he AUI co nnec tor cons is ts of a 15-pin D -s hell typ e co nnec tor, femal e on t he comput er s ide, male on the t rans ceiv er s ide. T hickw ire (10B ASE 5) cab les als o us e trans cei vers to al low conne ctions . For Fas t E thernet netw orks , a new inte rface called the MII (Media Indepe ndent I nterfa ce) w as developed to offe r a fl exib le w ay to s upport 100 Mb ps conn ecti on s . T he MII is a popular w ay t o co nnect 100B ASE FX links to copper b as ed Fas t E thernet dev ices .

Network Interface Cards:

N etw ork interface cards , commonly refer red to as N ICs , and are us ed to conn ect a PC to a netw ork. T he N IC provides a phys ical connec tion b etw een the netw orking cab le and the computer's internal b us . D ifferent compute rs have di ffer ent b us ar chitect ures ; PC I b us mas ter s lots are m os t commonly found on 486/ Penti um PC s and ISA expans io n s lots are c ommonly found on 386 a nd older PC s . N ICs come in thre e b as ic va riet ies : 8-b it, 16-b it, and 32-b it. T he larger th e nu mb er of b its that can b e trans ferred to the N IC , the fas ter the N IC can t rans fer data to the n etw ork cab le. Many N IC adapters comply w ith Plug-n-Pla y s pecif icati ons . O n thes e s ys tems , N ICs are automati cally configur ed w ithout us e r in ter ventio n, w hile on non-Pl u g-n-Play s ys tems , configuratio n is done manuall y through a s etup p rogram and/ or D IP s w itches . C ards are availab le to s upport almos t all n etw orking s tandards , including the lates t Fas t E thernet

envir onment. Fas t E thern et N IC s are often 10/ 100 ca pab le, and w ill automaticall y s et to the appr opriate s peed. Full duplex netw orki ng is anothe r optio n, w here a dedicated conn ectio n to a s w itch allow s a N IC to operate at tw ice the s peed.

Hubs/Repeaters:
Hub s / repeaters are us ed to con nect togethe r tw o or m ore E ther net s egments of any media typ e. In larger des igns , s ignal q uality b egins to deter iorate as s egments exceed the ir maximum length. Hub s provide the s ignal amplif icatio n r eq uired to allow a s e gment to b e extended a greate r dis tance. A hub takes any inc oming s ignal and repeats it out all ports . E thernet hub s are nec es s ary in s tar topologies s uch as 10B ASE -T. A multi-po rt tw is ted pair hub allow s s everal poi nt-to-poin t s egments to b e join ed into one n etw ork. O ne end of the poi nt-to-poi nt li nk is attached to th e hub and th e othe r is attached to the co mputer. If the hub is attached to a b ackb one, then all compute rs at the end of the tw is ted pair s egments c an commun icate w ith all th e hos ts on the b ackb one. T he numb er and type of hub s in any o ne-co ll is ion domain is limit ed b y the E therne t r ules . T hes e repeater rul es are dis cus s ed in more detail later . Max N odes Per Segme nt 2 30 100 2 Max D is tance Per Segme nt 100m 185m 500m 2000m

N etw ork T ype

10B ASE -T 10B ASE 2 10B ASE 5 10B ASE -FL

Adding Speed:
W hile rep eaters allow LAN s to extend b e yond n ormal d is tance lim itations , they s till l imit th e numb e r of nodes that can b e s upported. B ridges and s w itches , how ever, allow LAN s to grow s ignificantl y large r b y virtu e of thei r ab ilit y to s upport full E thernet s egment s on each po rt. Additional ly, b ridges and s w itches s elective ly f ilte r netw ork traffi c to only thos e packets needed on each s egment - th is s ignificantl y increas es thro ughput on each s egment and on the ove r all netw ork. B y pro viding b ett er pe rfo rmance and more fl exib ilit y fo r n etw ork topologies , b ridges and s w itches w ill c ontin ue to gain popula rity among netw ork managers .

Bridges:
T he functi on of a b ridge is to conne ct s eparate netw or ks together. B ridges conne ct diff eren t netw orks types (s uch as E thernet and Fas t E thernet) or netw ork s of the s ame t ype. B ridges map the E ther net addres s es of the nodes res iding o n each netw ork s eg me nt and allow onl y ne ces s ary traff ic to pas s through the b ridge. W hen a pa cket is rece ived b y the b ridge, the b ridge determ ines the des tination and s ource s egments . If th e s egments are the s ame, the pac ket is dropped ("filt ered"); if the s egments are different, th en th e packet is "forw arded" to the co rre ct s egment. Additionally, b ridges do not forw ard b ad or mis aligned packets . B ridges are als o called "s tore-and-f orw ard" devic es b ecaus e they look at th e w hole E the rnet pa cket b efore making filte ring o r fo rw arding decis ions . Filte ri ng packets , and regene rating fo rw arded packets enab le b ridging te chnology to s plit a netw ork into s ep arate col lis ion domai ns . T his allow s for greater dis tances and more repeate rs to b e us ed in th e total ne tw ork des ign.

Ethernet Switches:
E thernet s w itches are an expans ion of th e co ncept in E thernet b ridging. LAN s w itches can link f our, s ix, ten or mor e ne tw orks together, and hav e tw o b as ic ar c hitectu res : cut-th rough and s tor e-and-forw ard. In the pas t, cut-through s w itches w ere fas ter b e caus e the y examin ed the pa cket des tinatio n addres s only b efore fo rw arding it on to its des tination s egment. A s t ore-and-forw ard s w itch, on th e oth er hand, accepts and analyzes th e ent ire packet b efo re forw ardi ng it to its des tination. It takes more time to exam ine the e ntir e packet, b ut it allow s the s w itch to catch ce rtain pa cket e rro rs and keep them from propagating thro ugh the netw ork. B oth cut-th rough and s tor e-and-forw ard s w itches s eparate a netw ork i nto collis ion domains , allow ing ne tw ork des ign rules to b e exte nded. E ach of the s egments attached to an E the rnet s w itch has a f ull 10 Mb ps of b andw idth s hared b y few er us ers , w hich res ults in b ette r pe rforman ce (as oppos ed to hub s that only allow b andw idth s haring from a s ingle E thernet). N ew er s w itches today offe r h igh-s peed links , FD D I, Fas t E thernet or AT M. T hes e are us ed to link s w itches together or give added b andw idth to high-traffic s erve rs . A netw ork compos ed of a numb er of s w itches linked togeth er via upl inks is term ed a "col laps ed b ackb one" netw ork.

Routers:
Routers fi lter out netw ork t raffic b y s pecif ic p rotoco l r ather than b y packet addres s . Route rs als o divide netw orks logically ins tead of ph ys ically. An IP route r c an divide a netw ork into vario us s ub nets s o that only t raffic des tined fo r part icular IP addres s es can pa s s b etw een s egments . N etw ork s peed often decreas es due to this type of intell igent fo rw arding. Su ch filt ering takes more time than that exer cis ed in a s w itch o r b ridge, w hich only looks at the E thernet addres s . How ever, in mor e co mplex n etw orks , overall effi cien cy is impro ved b y us ing ro uters .

What is a network firewall?

A fir ew all is a s ys tem or group of s ys tems that enf orc e s an acces s contr ol pol icy b etw een tw o n etw orks . T he actual means b y w hich this is accomplis hed varies w idely, b ut in p rinc iple, the fir ew all can b e thought of as a pair of mechanis ms : one w hich ex is ts to b lock traff ic, and th e othe r w hich exis ts to permit t raffic. Some fir ew alls place a greate r e mphas is on b locki ng traffi c, w hile oth ers emphas ize permitti ng traffi c. Prob ab ly th e mos t impo rtant th ing to re cognize ab out a fi rew all is that it impl ements an acces s cont rol pol icy. If y ou don't have a good idea of w hat kind of ac ces s you w ant t o allow or to deny, a fi rew all reall y w on't h elp yo u. It's als o importa nt to recogn ize that the f irew all's conf iguration, b ecaus e it is a mechanis m f or enfor cing pol ic y, impos e s its policy on e ve rything b ehind it. Adminis trators fo r fi rew alls managing the conne ctiv it y for a large numb er of h os ts therefor e hav e a heavy res pons ib ility.

Network Design Criteria:

E thernets and Fas t E thernets have des ign rul es that m us t b e follow ed in orde r to funct ion cor rect ly. Maximum numb er of nodes , numb er o f r epeaters and m aximum s egment dis tances ar e def ined b y the electr ical and mechan ical des ign p ropert ies of each t y pe of E thern et and Fas t E thern et media. A netw ork us ing repeate rs , for i ns tance, fun ctions w ith the ti ming c ons traints of E the rnet. Al though electr ical s ignals on the E ther net m edia tra vel near th e s peed of l ight, it s till takes a finit e ti me fo r the s ignal to trave l fr om on e end of a large E ther net to an other. T he E thern et s tandard as s umes it w ill take roughly 50 mic ros econds for a s ignal to reach its d es ti nation. E thernet is s ub ject to th e "5-4-3" rul e of repeat er pla c ement: the netw ork can on ly ha ve f ive s egments connec ted; it can o nly us e fou r r epeaters ; and of the fi ve s egments , only thre e can have us ers attached t o

them; the o ther tw o mus t b e in ter- repeate r li nks . If the des ign o f the netw ork violates thes e repeat er an d placement rul es , then tim ing guideli nes w ill not b e met and th e s ending s tation w ill r es end that packet. T his can lead to los t packets and ex ces s ive res ent packets , w hich can s low netw ork perf ormanc e and cre ate troub le for applicatio ns . Fas t E thernet has modified r epeater rul es , s ince the min imum packe t s ize takes les s time to t rans mit than regula r E thernet. T he le ngth of th e ne tw ork links allow s for a f ew er numb er of repeate rs . In Fas t E thernet netw orks , there are tw o clas s es of rep eaters . C las s I repeaters have a latenc y of 0.7 mic ros econds or les s and are li mited to one rep eater per netw ork. C las s II repeaters have a laten cy of 0.46 mi cros econds o r les s and are limi ted to tw o repeate rs per netw ork. T he follow ing are the dis tance (diamete r) characte ris tics for thes e t ypes of Fas t E therne t r epeat er c omb inations : Fas t E thernet N o Repeaters O ne C lass I Repeate r O ne C lass II Repeater T w o C las s II Repeaters * Full D uplex Mode 2 km C opper Fib er

100m 200m 200m 205m

412m* 272m 272m 228m

W hen condit ions req u ire greate r dis tances o r an inc re as e in the numb er of n odes / repeaters , then a b ridge, router or s w itch can b e us ed to conn ect m ultipl e netw orks togethe r. T hes e devi ces join tw o or more s eparate netw orks , allow ing netw ork des ign c rite ria to b e res tor ed. Sw itches allow netw ork des igners to b uild large netw orks that f uncti on w ell. T he redu ction in cos ts of b ridges and s w itches reduces the impact of repeate r r ules on netw ork des ig n. E ach netw ork conn ected via one of thes e de vic es is ref erred to as a s eparate collis ion domain in th e overall netw ork.

Types of Servers:
Device Servers
A devi ce s er ver is defin ed as a s pecialized, n etw ork-b as ed hardw are device des igned to p erfo rm a s ingle or s pecializ ed s et of s erve r fun ctio ns . It is charac teriz e d b y a min imal ope rating ar chite ctur e that req uires n o pe r s eat netw ork operati ng s ys tem lic ens e, and cli ent ac ces s that is indepe ndent o f any operating s ys tem o r prop rieta ry p rotoco l. In additio n t he devi ce s er ver is a "clos ed b ox," deli ver ing extreme eas e of ins tallation, mi nimal mai ntenan ce, an d can b e managed b y the clie nt r emotel y via a W eb b row s er. Print s er vers , te rminal s e rve rs , remote acces s s erve rs and netw ork tim e s erv ers are examples of devi ce s ervers w hich a re s pecial ized fo r part icula r fun ctions . E ach of thes e typ es of s er vers has uniq ue configurat ion att rib utes in hardw are o r s oftw are that help them to pe rform b es t in th eir parti cular arena.

Print Servers

Print s er vers allow pr inte rs to b e s hared b y othe r us er s on the n etw ork. Supporti ng eith er paral lel and/ or s erial in terfa ces , a print s erve r ac cepts prin t jo b s from any pe rs on on the netw ork us ing s upported protoco ls and manages thos e job s on ea ch a ppropriate p rinte r. Print s er vers gen erally do no t co ntain a large amo unt of memo ry; pr inte rs s imply s tore info rmation in a q ueue. W hen the des ired p rinte r b e comes availab le, th ey allow the hos t to t rans mit the data to th e appropriate p rinte r por t on the s er ver. T he prin t s erv e r can then s impl y q ueu e and pr int each job in th e order in w hich print req u es ts are re cei ved, regardl es s of proto col us ed o r the s ize of the job .

Multiport Device Servers

D evices that ar e attached to a netw ork thr ough a mul t iport de vice s erv er can b e s hared b etw ee n terminals and hos ts at b oth th e lo cal s ite and through out the netw ork. A s ingle term inal ma y b e connec ted to s everal hos ts at the s ame ti me ( in mul tipl e con cur rent s es s ions ), and can s w itch b etw een them. Multiport devi ce s e rve rs are als o us ed to netw or k devices that have only s erial outputs . A connec tion b etw een s erial ports on diffe rent s erve rs is opened, allow ing data to mo ve b etw een the tw o devices . Given its natural trans lation ab ility, a multi-p rotoco l multiport devi ce s er ver can perfo rm conve rs ions b etw een the pr otocols it know s , like LAT and T C P/ IP. W hile s erv er b andw idth is not adeq uate for large file t rans fers , it can eas ily handl e hos t-to-hos t i nq uiry / res pons e applications , elect roni c mailb ox checking, et c. And it is far mor e e conomi cal than the al ternativ es of acq u iring expens ive hos t s oftw are and s pecial-purpos e co nve rters . Multipo rt de vice and p rint s er vers gi ve th eir us ers greate r fl exib ilit y in configur ing and managing th eir netw orks . W hether it is mo ving pr inte rs and other per ipherals fr om one netw ork to anothe r, expanding the dimens ions of i nterop erab ilit y or prepar ing fo r grow th , multiport devi ce s er vers can fulf ill your ne ed s , all w ithout majo r r ew iring.

Access Servers
W hile E thernet is lim ited to a geographi c area, remote us ers s uch as trave ling s ales people need a cces s to netw ork-b as ed res ourc es . Remote LAN ac ces s , or re mote acc es s , is a popular w ay to p rovide this connec tiv ity. Ac ces s s ervers us e telephon e s er vices t o li nk a us er o r off ice w ith an of fice netw ork. D ial-up remote acces s s olutions s uch as ISD N or as yn chrono us dial introdu ce more flexib il ity. D ial-up remote acces s offers b oth the re mote offic e and th e r emote us er the econ omy and flexib il ity of "pay as yo u go" telephone s ervi ces . ISD N is a s pecial telephon e s er vic e that offers th ree channels , tw o 64 Kb ps "B " channels for us er data and a "D " channel f or s etti ng u p the co nnec tion. W ith ISD N , the B channels can b e comb ined fo r doub le b andw idth or s eparated fo r diff er ent applicati ons or us ers . W ith as ynchro nous remote acces s , regular telephon e l ines are comb in ed w ith modems and r emote acces s s erve rs to allow us ers and netw orks to dial an yw here in th e w orld and have data acc es s . Remote acc es s s ervers pro vide connec tion points fo r b oth dial- in and dial- out appli cations on th e netw ork to w hich they are atta ched . T hes e hyb rid dev ices r oute and filte r pr otocols and off er othe r s er vic es s uch as modem pool ing and terminal/ pri nter s ervi ces . For th e r emote PC us er, one can con nect from any availab le t elephone jack (RJ45), inc luding thos e in a h otel rooms or on mos t air planes .

Network Time Servers

A netw ork t ime s er ver is a s er ver s pecialized in th e ha ndling of t iming informat ion f rom s ou rces s uch as s atellites or radio b roadcas ts and is capab le of prov idi ng this timing data t o its attach ed netw ork. Specialized proto cols s uch as N T P or udp/ time all ow a time s er ver to communi cate t o othe r n etw ork nodes ens uring that acti vities that mus t b e c oordinate d according to the ir time of ex ecut ion a re

s ynchroniz ed co rre ctly. GPS s atellites ar e one s ourc e o f info rmation that can allow glob al ins tallations to achie ve cons tant tim ing.

IP Addressing:
An IP (I nter net P rotocol ) addres s is a uniq ue ident ifie r for a node o r hos t conne ction on a n IP netw ork. An IP addres s is a 32 b it b i nary numb er us ually repr es ented as 4 dec imal val ues , each r epres enti ng 8 b its , in the range 0 to 255 (know n as octe ts ) s eparated b y deci mal points . T his is know n as "dotted decimal" notati on. E xample: 140.179.220.200 It is s ometimes us eful to view the valu es in th eir b inar y form. 140 .179 .220 .200 10001100.10110011.11011100.11001000 E very IP addres s cons is ts of tw o parts , one ident ifyi ng the netw ork and one identif ying th e node. T he C lass of the addres s and the s ub net mas k dete rmine w hich part b elongs to the netw ork addres s and w hich part b elongs to the n ode addres s .

Address Classes:
T here are 5 diff eren t addres s clas s es . Y ou can determi ne w hich clas s any IP addres s is in b y examin ing the firs t 4 b its of the IP addres s . C lass A addres s es b egin w ith 0xxx, or 1 to 126 decimal. C lass B address es b egin w ith 10xx, or 128 to 191 decim al. C lass C address es b egin w ith 110x, or 192 to 223 decim al. C lass D address es b egin w ith 1110, or 224 to 239 deci mal. C lass E address es b egin w ith 1111, or 240 to 254 deci mal. Addres s es b eginning w ith 01111111, or 127 dec imal, are r es erved for loopb ack and fo r in ternal tes ting on a lo cal machi ne. [Y ou can tes t this : y ou s hould alw ays b e ab le to pi ng 127.0.0.1, w hich points to yours elf] C las s D address es are res er ved fo r mult icas ti ng. C lass E address es are res erv ed for futu re us e. T hey s hould not b e us ed for hos t addres s es . N ow w e can s ee how the C las s determines , b y default, w hich part of the IP addres s b elongs to the netw ork (N ) and w hich part b elongs to the node (n). C lass A -- N N NNNN NN .nnnnnnnn.nnnnnnn.nnnnn nn C lass B -- N NNNN NNN .NN NNNN NN .nnnnnnnn.nnnnnnn n C lass C -- NN NNN NNN .NN NNNN NN .NNN NNNN N.nnnnnnnn In the example, 140.179.220.200 is a C las s B addres s so b y default the N etw ork part of th e addres s (als o

know n as the N etw ork Addres s ) is defined b y th e fi rs t t w o octets (140.179.x.x) and the node part is defined b y th e las t 2 o ctets (x.x.220.200). In orde r to s pecify the netw ork addres s for a gi ven IP addres s , the node s ection is s et to all "0"s . In our example, 140.179.0.0 s pecifies the netw ork addres s for 140.179.220.200. W hen the node s ect ion is s et to all "1"s , it s pecifies a b roadcas t that is s ent to all hos ts on the n etw ork. 140.179.255.255 s pecifies the example b roadcas t addres s . N ote that this is true rega rdles s of the l ength of the nod e s ectio n.

Private Subnets:
T here are thr ee IP netw ork addres s es res erv ed for pri v ate netw orks . T he addres s es are 10.0.0.0/ 8, 172.16.0.0/ 12, and 192.168.0.0/ 16. T hey can b e us ed b y anyon e s etting up in ternal IP n etw orks , s uch as a lab or hom e LAN b ehind a N AT or proxy s erv er o r a r outer. It is alw ays s afe to us e thes e b e caus e routers o n the Inte rnet w ill ne ver forw ard packets com ing from thes e addres s es Sub netting an IP N etw ork can b e done for a var iety of reas ons , including o rganization, us e of diff erent phys ical media (s uch as E thernet, FD D I, W AN , etc.), pres ervation of addres s s pace, and s ecurit y. T he mos t common reas on is to con trol netw ork t raffic. I n a n E thernet netw ork, all n odes on a s egment s ee all the packets trans mitted b y all t he oth er nodes on that s egment. Performan ce can b e adv ers ely affect ed under hea vy t raffi c loads , due to collis ions and the res ulting r etrans mis s ions . A route r is us ed t o co nnect IP netw orks to mi nimiz e the amount of t raffic each s eg ment mus t rece ive.

Subnet Masking
Applying a s ub net mas k to a n IP addres s allow s you to identify the netw ork and n ode parts of the addres s . T he netw ork b its are repr es ented b y the 1s in the mas k, and the node b its a re repres ent ed b y the 0s . Perform ing a b itw is e logi cal AN D operation b et w een the IP addres s and the s ub net mas k res ults in the N etw ork Addres s or N umb er. For example, us ing o ur tes t IP addres s and the defau lt C lass B s ub net mas k, w e get: 10001100.10110011.11110000.11001000 140.179.240.200 C lass B IP Addres s 11111111.11111111.00000000.00000000 255.255.000.000 D efault C las s B Sub net Mas k 10001100.10110011.00000000.00000000 140.179.000.000 N etw ork Addres s

Default subnet masks:

C lass A - 255.0.0.0 - 11111111.00000000.00000000.00000000 C lass B - 255.255.0.0 - 11111111.11111111.00000000.00000000 C lass C - 255.255.255.0 - 11111111.11111111.11111111.00000000 C ID R -- C lass less InterD omain R outing. C ID R w as invented s ev eral years ago to keep th e in tern et from ru nning o ut of IP addres s es . T he "clas s ful" s ys tem of allocating IP addres s es can b e ve ry w as teful; anyone w ho could reas onab ly s how a need for mor e that 254 hos t addres s es w as given a C las s B address b lock of 65533 hos t addres s es . E ven more w as teful w ere compani es and organizati ons that w ere allocated C las s A addres s b locks, w hich contain ove r 16 Mil lion hos t addres s es ! O nly a tiny pe r centage of the all ocated C las s A and C las s B

addres s s pace has ever b een actually as s igned to a hos t compute r o n the Inte rnet. People r ealized that addres s es could b e co ns erved if th e clas s s ys tem w as eliminated. B y accu ratel y allocating onl y th e amount of addres s s pace that w as actually needed, the addres s s pace cris is cou ld b e avoided for many yea rs . T his w as firs t propos ed in 1992 as a s cheme call ed Supe rnett ing. T he us e of a C ID R notated addres s is the s ame as for a C lass ful addres s. C lass ful addres s es can eas ily b e w ritten i n C ID R notation (C las s A = / 8, C las s B = / 16, and C las s C = / 24) It is cu rren tly alm os t impos s ib le for an indi vidual o r c ompany to b e allocated thei r ow n IP addres s b locks . Y ou w ill s imply b e told to get them f rom your I SP. T he reas on fo r this is th e e ver-gr ow ing s ize of the int ernet ro uting tab le. J us t 5 yea rs ago, there w ere les s than 5000 netw ork routes i n the enti re Interne t. T oday, there are ove r 90,000. Us ing C ID R, the b igges t ISPs are allocat ed large chunks of addres s s pace (us ually w ith a s ub net mas k of / 19 or ev en s maller); th e ISP's c us tomers (ofte n othe r, s maller ISPs ) are then allocated netw orks from the b ig ISP's pool. T hat w ay, all the b ig I SP's cus tomers (and their cus tome rs , and s o on) are acc es s ib le via 1 n etw ork route on the I ntern et. It is expect ed that C ID R w ill keep the I nter net happil y in IP addres s es for th e nex t few y ears at leas t. After that, IP v6, w ith 128 b it addres s es , w ill b e needed . Under IPv6, e ven s loppy addres s allocation w ould comfortab ly allow a b illio n un iq ue IP addres s es for e ver y pe rs on on earth

Examining your network with commands:

Ping PIN G is us ed to che ck for a r es pons e from ano ther com puter on the netw ork. It can te ll y ou a gr eat deal of info rmation ab out the s tatus of the netw ork and the compute rs you are commu nicati ng w ith. Ping retu rns diffe rent res pons es depending on the com puter i n q ues tion. T he res pons es are s imila r depending on th e opti ons us ed. Ping us es IP to req ues t a res pons e from the hos t. It doe s not us e T C P .It takes its name fro m a s ub marine s onar s ear ch - you s end a s hort s ound b urs t and l is ten for an echo a ping - c oming b ack. In an IP netw ork, `ping' s ends a s hort data b urs t - a s i ngle packet - and lis tens fo r a s ingle packet in reply. Si nce this tes ts the mos t b as ic f uncti on of an IP netw ork (deliv ery of s ingle packet), it's eas y to s ee how you can lear n a lot fro m s ome `p ings '. T o s top ping, type c ontrol -c. T his term inates the progr am and prints ou t a n ice s ummary o f the numb er of packets trans mitted, the numb e r r ecei ved, and the p ercen tage of packe ts los t, plus the min imum, average, and maximum rou nd-trip times of the packets . Sample ping s es s ion PIN G localhos t (127.0.0.1): 56 data b ytes 64 b ytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_s eq =0 ttl=255 64 b ytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_s eq =1 ttl=255 64 b ytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_s eq =2 ttl=255 64 b ytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_s eq =3 ttl=255 64 b ytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_s eq =4 ttl=255 64 b ytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_s eq =5 ttl=255

time=2 time=2 time=2 time=2 time=2 time=2

ms ms ms ms ms ms

64 64 64 64

b ytes b ytes b ytes b ytes

from from from from

127.0.0.1: 127.0.0.1: 127.0.0.1: 127.0.0.1:

icmp_s eq =6 icmp_s eq =7 icmp_s eq =8 icmp_s eq =9

ttl=255 ttl=255 ttl=255 ttl=255

time=2 time=2 time=2 time=2

ms ms ms ms

localhos t ping s tatis tics 10 packets trans mitted, 10 packets r ecei ved, 0% packe t los s round-trip min/ avg/ max = 2/ 2/ 2 ms meikro$ T he T ime T o Liv e (T T L) field can b e inte res ting. T he m ain purpos e of this is s o that a packet does n't live forev er o n the netw ork and w ill ev entuall y die w hen it is deemed "los t." B ut for us , it p rov ides additional informatio n. W e can us e the T T L to dete rmine approxi mately how man y ro uter hops the packet has gone through. In th is cas e it's 255 min us N hops , w here N is the T T L of the retu rning E cho Repl ies . If the T T L field va ries in s ucces s ive pings , it cou ld indi cate that t he s ucces s ive reply packets are going via diff erent routes , w hich is n't a g reat thi ng. T he time f ield is an indi cation of th e ro und-trip time t o get a packet to th e r emote hos t. T he reply is meas ured in millis ec onds . In general, it's b es t if r ound- trip tim es are under 200 mill is econds . T he time it takes a packet to reach its des tination is called latenc y. If yo u s ee a large varian ce in the ro und-trip times (w hich is cal led "jitte r"), you are going to s ee po or per forman ce talking to the hos t

NSLOOKUP
N SLOO KUP is an application that fac ilitates lo oking up hos tnames on the netw ork. It can reveal the IP addres s of a hos t or, us ing the IP addres s , return the h os t name. It is ve ry important w hen tr oub les hooting pr ob lems on a netw ork that you can ver ify the componen ts of the netw orking p roc es s . Ns lookup allow s this b y reveal ing details w ithin th e i nfras truct ure.

NETSTAT
N ET ST AT is us ed to look up the var ious acti ve conn ecti ons w ithin a co mputer. I t is helpf ul to unders tand w hat computers or netw orks you are con nect ed to. T hi s allow s you to fu rther in ves tigate prob lems . O ne hos t may b e r es ponding w ell b ut anoth er may b e les s res pons ive.

IPconfig
T his is a Micros oft w indow s N T , 2000 command. It is v ery us eful i n dete rmin ing w hat could b e w rong w ith a netw ork. T his command w hen us ed w ith the / all s w itch, rev eal e normous amounts of tro ub les hooting in formatio n w ithin the s ys tem. W indow s 2000 IP C onfiguration Hos t N ame . . . . . . . . . . . . : cow der Primary D N S Suffix . . . . . . . : N ode T ype . . . . . . . . . . . . : B roadcas t IP Routi ng E nab led. . . . . . . . : N o W IN S Proxy E nab led. . . . . . . . : N o W IN S Proxy E nab led. . . . . . . . : N o

C onnection-s peci fic D N S Suffix .: D es cription . . . . . . . . . . . : W AN (PPP/ SLIP) Interface Phys ical Addres s . . . . . . . . . : 00-53-45-00-00-00 D HC P E nab led. . . . . . . . . . . : N o IP Addres s . . . . . . . . . . . . : 12.90.108.123 Sub net Mas k . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255 D efault Gatew ay . . . . . . . . . : 12.90.108.125 D N S Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 12.102.244.2 204.127.129.2

Traceroute
T racerout e on Unix and Li nux (o r t racer t in the M icros oft w orld) attempts to trac e the cu rrent netw ork path to a des tinatio n. Her e is an example o f a t racer ou te run to w w w .b erkeley.edu: $ tracerou te w w w .b erkeley.edu tracero ute t o amb er.B erkele y.E D U (128.32.25.12), 30 hops max, 40 b yte packets 1 s f1-e3.w ired.net (206.221.193.1) 3.135 ms 3.021 m s 3.616 ms 2 s f0-e2s 2.w ired.net (205.227.206.33) 1.829 ms 3.88 6 ms 2.772 ms 3 paloalto-cr10.b b nplanet.net (131.119.26.105) 5.327 ms 4.597 ms 5.729 ms 4 paloalto-b r1.b b nplanet.net (131.119.0.193) 4.842 ms 4.615 ms 3.425 ms 5 s l-s j-2.sprintlink.net (4.0.1.66) 7.488 ms 38.804 ms 7.708 ms 6 144.232.8.81 (144.232.8.81) 6.560 ms 6.631 ms 6.5 65 ms 7 144.232.4.97 (144.232.4.97) 7.638 ms 7.948 ms 8.1 29 ms 8 144.228.146.50 (144.228.146.50) 9.504 ms 12.684 m s 16.648 ms 9 f5-0.inr-666-eva.b erkel ey.edu (198.128.16.21) 9.7 62 ms 10.611 ms 10.403 ms 10 f0-0.inr-107-eva.B erkele y.E D U (128.32.2.1) 11.47 8 ms 10.868 ms 9.367 ms 11 f8-0.inr-100-eva.B erkele y.E D U (128.32.235.100) 1 0.738 ms 11.693 ms 12.520 ms