Networking Fundamentals

Networking Fundamentals

by Gordon Davies
Released December 2019
Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
ISBN: 9781838643508

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Book description

Become well-versed with basic networking concepts such as routing, switching, and subnetting, and prepare for the Microsoft 98-366 exam

Key Features

  • Build a strong foundation in networking concepts
  • Explore both the hardware and software aspects of networking
  • Prepare by taking mock tests with up-to-date exam questions

Book Description

A network is a collection of computers, servers, mobile devices, or other computing devices connected for sharing data. This book will help you become well versed in basic networking concepts and prepare to pass Microsoft's MTA Networking Fundamentals Exam 98-366.

Following Microsoft's official syllabus, the book starts by covering network infrastructures to help you differentiate intranets, internets, and extranets, and learn about network topologies. You'll then get up to date with common network hardware devices such as routers and switches and the media types used to connect them together. As you advance, the book will take you through different protocols and services and the requirements to follow a standardized approach to networking. You'll get to grips with the OSI and TCP/IP models as well as IPv4 and IPv6. The book also shows you how to recall IP addresses through name resolution. Finally, you'll be able to practice everything you've learned and take the exam confidently with the help of mock tests.

By the end of this networking book, you'll have developed a strong foundation in the essential networking concepts needed to pass Exam 98-366.

What you will learn

Things you will learn:

  • Become well versed in networking topologies and concepts
  • Understand network infrastructures such as intranets, extranets, and more
  • Explore network switches, routers, and other network hardware devices
  • Get to grips with different network protocols and models such as OSI and TCP/IP
  • Work with a variety of network services such as DHCP, NAT, firewalls, and remote access
  • Apply networking concepts in different real-world scenarios

Who this book is for

If you're new to the IT industry or simply want to gain a thorough understanding of networking, this book is for you. A basic understanding of the Windows operating system and your network environment will be helpful.

Table of contents

  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright and Credits
    1. Networking Fundamentals
  3. About Packt
    1. Why subscribe?
  4. Contributors
    1. About the author
    2. About the reviewer
    3. Packt is searching for authors like you
  5. Preface
    1. Who this book is for
    2. What this book covers
    3. To get the most out of this book
      1. Download the color images
      2. Conventions used
    4. Get in touch
      1. Reviews
  6. Section 1: Network Infrastructure
  7. Differentiating between Internets, Intranets, and Extranets
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Understanding a network
      1. Understanding internet
      2. Understanding intranets
      3. Understanding the extranets
    3. Introduction to basic security features
      1. Firewalls
      2. DMZ
      3. VPNs
    4. Microsoft security zones
      1. Internet
      2. Local intranet zone
      3. Trusted sites
      4. Restricted sites
      5. Local machine zone
    5. Summary
    6. Questions
    7. Further reading
  8. Understanding Local Area Networks
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Scales of networks
    3. Introduction to LANs
    4. Local addressing
      1. Hostnames
      2. IP addresses
      3. MAC addresses
    5. Wired and wireless LANs
      1. Considerations
      2. Network models
        1. Peer-to-peer networks
        2. Client-server networks
      3. Wired networks
        1. LANs using a hub
        2. LANs using a bridge
        3. LANs using switches
      4. Wireless networks
    6. Virtual LANs
    7. Metropolitan area networks
    8. Campus area networks
    9. Personal Area Networks
    10. Summary
    11. Questions
    12. Further reading
  9. Understanding Wide Area Networks
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Introducing WANs
    3. Setting up a broadband connection
      1. Setting up a broadband connection
      2. Configuring connection properties
      3. Circuit switching
      4. Packet switching
        1. X.25 packet switching
        2. Frame relay
    4. Leased lines
    5. Dial-up connectivity
    6. Understanding carrier standards
      1. Integrated Services Digital Network
      2. Asynchronous Transfer Mode
      3. Digital Subscriber Line
      4. Synchronous Optical Network
      5. T-carriers
      6. Broadband cable
      7. Fiber to the X
      8. Satellite
      9. Cellular
    7. Summary
    8. Questions
    9. Further reading
  10. Understanding Wireless Networking
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Understanding wireless standards
      1. CSMA/CA
      2. Radio waves
      3. Frequency
      4. Modulation
      5. IEEE 802.11a
      6. IEEE 802.11b
      7. IEEE 802.11g
      8. IEEE 802.11n
      9. IEEE 802.11ac
      10. Summarizing the standards
    3. Implementing wireless topologies
      1. Ad hoc mode
      2. Infrastructure mode
        1. Point-to-point wireless including wireless bridge
        2. Wireless Distribution System
    4. Understanding wireless security
      1. Encryption
        1. Wired Equivalent Privacy
        2. Wireless Protected Access
        3. WPA2
        4. WPA3
      2. Other wireless security techniques
        1. Disabling SSID broadcast
        2. MAC filtering
        3. Disabling Wi-Fi Protected Setup
        4. Reducing transmission power
        5. Changing defaults
        6. Network segmentation
        7. Faraday cage
        8. Scanning for rogue access points
    5. Summary
    6. Questions
    7. Further reading
  11. Network Topologies - Mapping It All Out
    1. Logical versus physical topology
    2. Bus topology
      1. Advantages
      2. Disadvantages
    3. Ring topology
      1. Advantages
      2. Disadvantages
    4. Star topology
      1. Advantages
      2. Disadvantages
      3. Token ring
    5. Mesh topology
      1. Advantages
      2. Disadvantages
    6. Hybrid topology
    7. Summary
    8. Questions
    9. Further reading
  12. Section 2: Network Hardware
  13. Switches and Switching - Forwarding Traffic on a Local Network
    1. Technical requirements
    2. The purpose of switches and switching
    3. Understanding frame forwarding
      1. Methods of frame forwarding
        1. Cut-through switching
        2. Store and forward
      2. Frame forwarding process
      3. Spanning Tree Protocol
    4. Understanding switch characteristics
      1. Managed and unmanaged switches
      2. Connectivity to the network
      3. Ports
      4. Layer 3 switches and VLANs
      5. Security
    5. Summary
    6. Questions
    7. Further reading
  14. Routers and Routing - Beyond a Single Network
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Making routing decisions
      1. Windows OS routing table
      2. Routers
      3. Decision making
      4. TTL
    3. Understanding static and default routes
    4. Understanding routing protocols
      1. Routing devices
      2. Distance vector protocols
      3. Link state protocols
      4. Hybrid protocols
      5. Path vector protocol
      6. IGP versus EGP
    5. Implementing routing using Windows Server
      1. Installing roles and features
      2. Configuring the routing and remote access component
      3. Configuring a static IPv4 route
    6. Understanding NAT
      1. Static NAT
      2. Dynamic NAT
      3. Port Address Translation
    7. Understanding QoS
    8. Summary
    9. Questions
    10. Further reading
  15. Media Types - Connecting Everything Together
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Understanding coaxial cables and their types
      1. 10base5 coaxial cable
      2. 10base2 coaxial cable
    3. Understanding twisted pair cables and their types
      1. Unshielded twisted pair
      2. STP
      3. Screened twisted pair
      4. Understanding the plenum coating
      5. Power over Ethernet
      6. Following wiring standards
        1. Straight-through cable
        2. Crossover cable
        3. Rollover cable
    4. Understanding fiber optic cables and their types
      1. SMF
      2. MMF
    5. Summary
    6. Questions
    7. Further reading
  16. Section 3: Protocols and Services
  17. Understanding the OSI Model
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Understanding the purpose of network models
      1. Layer 7 – the application layer
      2. Layer 6 – the presentation layer
      3. Layer 5 – the session layer
      4. Layer 4 – the transport layer
        1. Logical ports
        2. TCP
        3. UDP
      5. Layer 3 – the network layer
      6. Layer 2 – the data-link layer
      7. Layer 1 – the physical layer
    3. Summary
    4. Questions
    5. Further reading
  18. Understanding TCP/IP
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Overview of the TCP/IP layers
    3. Understanding the application layer
      1. User protocols
        1. Telnet
        2. FTP
        3. Trivial FTP
        4. Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
      2. Support services
        1. Host initialization
        2. Remote management
        3. Domain Name System
    4. Understanding the transport layer
    5. Understanding the internet layer
    6. Understanding the network layer
    7. Summary
    8. Questions
    9. Further reading
  19. Understanding IPv4
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Overview of IPv4
      1. Structure of an IPv4 address
      2. Need for unique IP addresses
      3. Binary math
    3. Understanding classful networks
    4. Understanding subnet masks
      1. Classful/default subnet masks
      2. Identifying network elements using binary
    5. Understanding CIDR
      1. Identifying a network address using CIDR
    6. Assigning IP addresses to hosts
    7. Summary
    8. Questions
    9. Further reading
  20. Understanding IPv6
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Overview of IPv6
      1. Hexadecimal numbering
        1. Converting hexadecimal into binary
      2. The format of an IPv6 address
        1. Dropping leading zeroes
        2. Dropping contiguous zeroes once
      3. Subnets and prefixes
      4. Transmission types
    3. Understanding address types
      1. Global unicast address
      2. Link-local addresses
      3. Unique local addresses
      4. Multicast addresses
      5. Loopback address
    4. Assigning IPv6 addresses
      1. Manual configuration
      2. Stateless Address Auto-Configuration (SLAAC)
      3. Stateful configuration using DHCPv6
      4. ICMPv6
    5. Understanding interoperability with IPv4
      1. Dual stack
      2. Intra-Site Automatic Tunnel Addressing Protocol
      3. 6to4
      4. Teredo tunneling
    6. Summary
    7. Questions
    8. Further reading
  21. Understanding Name Resolution
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Exploring DNS
      1. FQDN
        1. Host
        2. Domain
        3. Top-level domain (TLD)
        4. Root domain
        5. Hierarchical view
      2. DNS records
        1. Configuring client DNS settings
        2. Registering a DNS from the command line
        3. DNS record types
        4. Manually creating a DNS record
      3. Performing DNS queries
        1. Iterative DNS queries
        2. Recursive DNS queries
        3. Example DNS query
      4. nslookup
        1. Non-interactive mode
        2. Interactive mode
    3. The hosts file
    4. WINS
      1. Registering a client's IP address in DNS
      2. WINS query
      3. LMHOSTS
    5. Summary
    6. Questions
    7. Further reading
  22. Network Services
    1. Technical requirements
    2. DHCP
      1. Configuring a DHCP server
      2. DHCP exclusions
      3. DHCP leases
      4. DHCP reservations
    3. Firewalls
      1. Packet-filtering firewalls
      2. Circuit-level gateways
      3. Application-level gateways
    4. Proxy servers
      1. Whitelisting and blacklisting
    5. Remote desktop
    6. FTP
      1. Active FTP
      2. Passive FTP
    7. File server
      1. Share permissions
      2. NTFS permissions
      3. Combining share and NTFS permissions
    8. Print server
    9. Domain controllers
    10. Summary
    11. Questions
    12. Further reading
  23. Section 4: Mock Exams
  24. Mock Exam 1
  25. Mock Exam 2
  26. Assessments
    1. Answers to end of chapter questions
      1. Chapter 1, Differentiating between Internets, Intranets, and Extranets
      2. Chapter 2, Understanding Local Area Networks
      3. Chapter 3, Understanding Wide Area Networks
      4. Chapter 4, Understanding Wireless Networking
      5. Chapter 5, Network Topologies - Mapping It All Out
      6. Chapter 6, Switches and Switching - Forwarding Traffic on a Local Network
      7. Chapter 7, Routers and Routing - Beyond a Single Network
      8. Chapter 8, Media Types - Connecting Everything Together
      9. Chapter 9, Understanding the OSI Model
      10. Chapter 10, Understanding TCP/IP
      11. Chapter 11, Understanding IPv4
      12. Chapter 12, Understanding IPv6
      13. Chapter 13, Understanding Name Resolution
      14. Chapter 14, Network Services
    2. Answers to mock exam questions
      1. Chapter 15, Mock Exam 1
      2. Chapter 16, Mock Exam 2
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Product information

  • Title: Networking Fundamentals
  • Author(s): Gordon Davies
  • Release date: December 2019
  • Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
  • ISBN: 9781838643508