Network Components

ROUTERS, SWITCHES, FIREWALLS

OSI Model
• Communication function model for OSI protocol suite
• Network engineers generally care about 1-4 then 7
• Good to be comfortable with conceptualizing the layers
for troubleshooting
Protocol Data Units
Protocols Protocol Data Units

TCP, UDP Segment or Datagram

IP, ICMP, OSPF Packet
Ethernet Frame
RJ45, 802.11 Bit
Layer 2 Switches
• Separate collision domain per port
• Primary job what port MACs live on
• Only interact with traffic up to layer 2
• Used for end-devices to connect into the network

Catalyst 2960

Images courtesy of study-ccna.com

Layer 3 Switches
• Same as layer 2 switches, but include IP routing
• Interact with traffic up to layer 3
• Typically not as full featured as routers
• Typically used as upstream switches for inter-vlan routing and policies

Catalyst 3550
Routers
• Generally better interacting with traffic at layers 3 and 4
• Usually fewer ports than switches
• Typically an edge device that provides more CPU intensive services

ISR 4431
Firewalls & IPS
• Firewall primary job is to allow some trusted network to access some untrusted network
• IPS in NGFW can inspect application layer information and take action
• Generally either signature-based or anomaly-based detection
• Is an edge device, but can be placed anywhere there is a difference in security level
• IPS inspects application layer data after it’s filtered by firewall

ASA 5506-X
Q&A
Which of these are a protocol data unit in layer 4 of the OSI model?

A. Page
B. Segment
C. Packet
D. Frame
Q&A
Which of these devices cannot move traffic between broadcast domains?

A. Router
B. Firewall
C. Layer 2 Switch
D. Layer 3 Switch