Layer 2 switches segment a network into multiple collision domains and interconnect

devices
within a workgroup, such as a group of PCs.The heart of a Layer 2 switch is its
Media Access Control (MAC) address table, also known as its
content-addressable memory (CAM). This table contains a list of the MAC addresses
that are
reachable through each switch port. (Recall that the physical MAC address uniquely
identifies a
device on a network. When a network interface card is manufactured, the card is
assigned an
address—called a burned-in address [BIA]—which doesn’t change when the network card
is
installed in a device and is moved from one network to another. Typically, this BIA
is copied to
interface memory and is used as the MAC address of the interface.) The MAC address
table can be
statically configured, or the switch can learn the MAC addresses dynamically. When
a switch is first
powered up, its MAC address table is empty
Broadcast and multicast frames are, by default, flooded to all ports of a Layer 2
switch, other than
the incoming port. The same is true for unicast frames that are destined to any
device that is not
in the MAC address table

Layer 3 Switching
A Layer 3 switch is really a router with some of the functions implemented in
hardware to
improve performance. In other words, some of the OSI model network layer routing
functions are
performed in high-performance ASICs rather than in software

functions and characteristics of routers:

■ Learning routes and keeping the best path to each destination in a routing table.
■ Determining the best path that each packet should take to get to its destination,
by comparing
the destination address to the routing table.
■ Sending the packet out of the appropriate interface, along the best path. This is
also called
switching the packet, because the packet is encapsulated in a new frame, with the
appropriate
framing header information, including MAC addresses.
■ Communicating with other routers to exchange routing information.
■ Allowing devices on different LANs to communicate with each other and with
distant
devices.
■ Blocking broadcasts. By default, a router does not forward broadcasts, thereby
helping to
control the amount of traffic on the network.
These tasks can be CPU intensive. Offloading the switching of the packet to
hardware can result in a significant increase in performance.
A Layer 3 switch performs all the previously mentioned router functions; the
differences are in the physical implementation of the device rather than in the
functions it performs. Thus, functionally,the terms router and Layer 3 switch are
synonymous

State any three guidelines for ensuring acceptable voice quality when routing Voice
traffic is sensitive to delays, jitter, and extensive packet loss.
guidelines for ensuring acceptable voice quality are as follows:
■ The one-way delay should be no more than 150 milliseconds (ms).
■ The jitter should be no more than 30 ms.
■ No more than 1 percent of the packets should be lost

Explain the FCAPS model

Network Management
Configuration management. This involves collecting information on the current
network configuration, and managing changes to the network configuration
Network management encompasses all the processes needed to keep the network up and
running at agreed-upon service levels. Network management involves the use of
various management instruments to optimize the network operation at a reasonable
cost. Network management is most effective when a single department or organization
controls it.

Performance management. This involves gathering data on the utilization of network

resources, analyzing this data, and acting on the insights provided by the data to
maintain optimal system performance
Performance monitoring deals with:
Monitoring the system and network performance
Monitoring service level agreements and how well they have been satisfied
Monitoring third-party and vendor performance
Performing optimization, modeling, and network tuning activities
Reporting usage statistics and trends to management and to users
Reporting service quality status to Finance and Billing

Fault management. This involves identifying system faults as they occur, isolating
the cause of the fault(s), and correcting the fault(s), if possible.
The principal functions of fault monitoring include:
Manual tracking of reported or monitored faults
Tracking progress on status of problem resolution and escalating the level of
intervention, if necessary
Information distribution to appropriate parties
Referral to other groups for resolution and action

Security management. This involves identifying locations of sensitive data, and

securing the network access points as appropriate to limit the potential for
unauthorized intrusions.
Security management is also a vital part of network management. It is responsible
for ensuring secure communication and protecting the network operations. It
supports the following functions:
Threat analysis
Administration (access control, partitioning, authentication)
Detection (evaluating services and solutions)
Recovery (evaluating services and solutions)
Protecting the network and network management systems

Accounting management. This involves gathering data on resource utilization.It may

also involve setting usage quotas and generating billing and usage reports

Write brief notes on the following three functions that comprise the hierarchical
network design model

Access layer—Provides user and workgroup access to the resources of the network
The access layer is where users access the network. Users can be local or remote.
Local users typically access the network through connections to a hub or a switch.
Recall that hubs operate at OSI Layer 1, and all devices connected to a hub are in
the same collision (or bandwidth) domain. Switches operate at Layer 2, and each
port on a switch is its own collision domain, meaning that multiple conversations
between devices connected through the switch can be happening simultaneously. Using
a LAN switch rather than a hub has a performance advantage: A LAN switch forwards
unicast traffic only out of the port through which the traffic’s destination is
considered reachable. However, a hub forwards all traffic out of all its ports. For
this reason, most of today’s networks have LAN switches rather than hubs.
(Switching, including Layer 3 switching, is discussed in Chapter 2, “Switching
Design.”) Remote users might access the network through the Internet, using VPN
connections, for example. Connections to the Internet can be through dial-up,
digital subscriber line (DSL), cable, and so
forth. Other access possibilities include WANs such as Frame Relay, leased lines,
and Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN). The access layer must also ensure
that only users who are authorized to access the network are admitted.

Distribution layer—Implements the organization’s policies, and provides connections

between workgroups and between the workgroups and the core
The distribution layer interfaces between the core and access layers, and between
access layer workgroups.
The distribution layer functions and characteristics include the following:
■ Implementing policies by filtering, and prioritizing and queuing traffic.
■ Routing between the access and core layers. If different routing protocols are
implemented at
these other two layers, the distribution layer is responsible for redistributing
(sharing) among
the routing protocols, and filtering if necessary (as discussed in Chapter 3, “IPv4
Routing
Design”).
■ Performing route summarization (as also discussed in Chapter 3). When routes are
summarized, routers have only summary routes in their routing tables, instead of
unnecessary
detailed routes. This results in smaller routing tables, which reduces the router
memory required. Routing updates are also smaller and therefore use less bandwidth
on the network. route summarization is only possible if the IP addressing scheme
is designed properly.
■ Providing redundant connections, both to access devices and to core devices.
■ Aggregating multiple lower-speed access connections into higher-speed core
connections and
converting between different media types (for example, between Ethernet and Frame
Relay
connections), if necessary

Core layer—Provides high-speed transport between distribution-layer devices and to

core resources
The core layer provides a high-speed backbone. Functions and attributes of the core
layer include the following:
■ Providing high-speed, low-latency links and devices for quick transport of data
across the backbone.
■ Providing a highly reliable and available backbone. This is accomplished by
implementing redundancy in both devices and links so that no single points of
failure exist.
■ Adapting to network changes quickly by implementing a quick-converging routing
protocol. The routing protocol can also be configured to load-balance over
redundant links so that the extra capacity can be used when no failures exist.
Filtering is not performed at this layer, because it would slow processing.
Filtering is done at the
distribution layer

in-band management occurs when the traffic for network management follow the same
network path as the traffic flows for users and their applications. This simplifies
the network management architecture, for the same network paths can be used for
both types of data and a seperate path is not required.

out-of-band management occurs when different paths are provided for network
management data flows and user traffic flows. It has a distinct advantage of
allowing the management system to continue to mnitor the network during most
network events, even when such event disable the network

Outline the contents(headings) of a network design document (10)

Executive Summary
Project Goal
Project Scope
Design Requirements
Current State of the Network
Current State of the Network
Physical Design
Results of Network Design Testing
Implementation Plan
Project Budget
Design Document Appendix

difference between trunk port versus and an access port

An access port can have only one VLAN configured on the interface; it can carry
traffic for only one VLAN. A trunk port can have two or more VLANs configured on
the interface; it can carry traffic for several VLANs simultaneously.