How do switches do what they do?
When we send a ping request, the whole process with the OSI model starts. So we have the destination ip address but now we have to find the the desination mac address with only a…
Cisco Packet Tracer
Cisco Packet Tracer is a network simulation tool we are going to use to get familiar to simulate our first network. The essentials First of all the workspace has to work with you. For me…
Cable types
Ethernet cables Inside the outer jacket are for twisted pairs, eight copper wires total, and those twists are not there for decoration. They help fight two major enemies, electromagnetic interference (or EMI) and crosstalk, which…
Cisco IOS
Good to know With the “?”, you see what is expected next for each command. The tab key is another lifesaver. It completes the command, if the IOS knows exactly what you want to enter,…
Network Design Model – Three-tiered architecture
The three-tiered architecture was built by Cisco and it still holds up. The basic thing is, you have three layers and that every time. Two tiers vs. three tiers There is another architecture model which…
Creating a network diagram
What a network diagram does A network diagram is a visual map of your environment. It shows at least the devices and how they connect, eventually the details that make those connections meaningful. So if…
Understanding MAC Addresses and Frames
Before we dive into VLANs, routers, IP addresses and all that stuff, we have to understand how a network works, and which language a switch speaks. A MAC address (Media Access Control address) is a…
Determine Speed with Bits and Bytes
A bit is the smallest unit of data. Just a 0 or a 1. That’s a bit. A byte is 8 bits grouped together and that is where data starts becoming more human-friendly. So the…
Switching & Wireless
A switch is a silent worker. It sits in the rack connects wired devices with each other and just works. Now lets talk about the Aps (Access Points). At the end of the day they…
Router & Firewall
To explain the difference between those two devices, especially in our time is not always easy to answer. A router can do some security work and a firewall can do some routing work. But if…