| About This Book | xvii |
| Intended Audience | xvii |
| Prerequisites | xvii |
| About the CD-ROM | xviii |
| Features of This Book | xviii |
| Notes | xviii |
| Conventions | xix |
| Chapter and Appendix Overview | xx |
| Finding the Best Starting Point For You | xxii |
| Getting Started | xxviii |
| Hardware Requirements | xxviii |
| Software Requirements | xxviii |
| The Network+ Certification Program | xxix |
| Benefits of Certification | xxix |
| The Network+ Exam | xxx |
| Registering for the Network+ Exam | xxx |
| Preparing for the Network+ Exam | xxxi |
| Taking the Network+ Exam | xxxii |
| Technical Support | xxxiv |
| CHAPTER 1: NETWORKING BASICS | 1 |
| About This Chapter | 1 |
| Before You Begin | 1 |
| Lesson 1: Network Communications | 2 |
| Signals and Protocols | 2 |
| Protocol Interaction | 4 |
| Local Area Networks and Wide Area Networks | 5 |
| Broadband and Baseband | 7 |
| Half-Duplex and Full-Duplex Communications | 8 |
| Segments and Backbones | 9 |
| Client/Server and Peer-to-Peer Networking | 11 |
| Exercise 1: Networking Definitions | 12 |
| Lesson Review | 12 |
| Lesson Summary | 13 |
| Lesson 2: The OSI Reference Model | 14 |
| Data Encapsulation | 15 |
| The Physical Layer | 16 |
| The Data-Link Layer | 17 |
| The Network Layer | 19 |
| The Transport Layer | 22 |
| The Session Layer | 23 |
| The Presentation Layer | 24 |
| The Application Layer | 25 |
| Exercise 1: OSI Model Layers | 25 |
| Lesson Review | 25 |
| Lesson Summary | 26 |
| CHAPTER 2: NETWORK HARDWARE | 27 |
| About This Chapter | 27 |
| Before You Begin | 27 |
| Lesson 1: Network Cables | 28 |
| Cable Topologies | 28 |
| Cable Types | 35 |
| Exercise 1: Network Cable Types | 40 |
| Exercise 2: Cable Troubleshooting | 41 |
| Lesson Review | 41 |
| Lesson Summary | 42 |
| Lesson 2: Network Interface Adapters | 43 |
| Understanding Network Interface Adapter Functions | 45 |
| Installing a NIC | 45 |
| Configuring a Network Interface Adapter | 47 |
| Installing Network Interface Adapter Drivers | 49 |
| Troubleshooting a Network Interface Adapter | 49 |
| Exercise 1: Network Adapter Functions | 51 |
| Lesson Review | 51 |
| Lesson Summary | 52 |
| Lesson 3: Network Hubs | 53 |
| Understanding Ethernet Hubs | 53 |
| Understanding Token Ring MAUs | 56 |
| Exercise 1: Concepts | 57 |
| Lesson Review | 57 |
| Lesson Summary | 58 |
| CHAPTER 3: NETWORK CONNECTIONS | 59 |
| About This Chapter | 59 |
| Before You Begin | 59 |
| Lesson 1: Bridging | 60 |
| Connecting LANs with a Bridge | 60 |
| Bridge Types | 64 |
| Exercise 1: Bridge Functions | 65 |
| Lesson Review | 66 |
| Lesson Summary | 67 |
| Lesson 2: Switching | 68 |
| Installing Switches | 69 |
| Switch Types | 71 |
| Exercise 1: Using Switches | 72 |
| Lesson Review | 73 |
| Lesson Summary | 75 |
| Lesson 3: Routing | 76 |
| Packet Routing | 77 |
| Routing to the Internet | 80 |
| Understanding Routing Tables | 80 |
| Routing Metrics | 81 |
| Router Types | 81 |
| Exercise 1: Segmenting a Network | 82 |
| Lesson Review | 83 |
| Lesson Summary | 85 |
| CHAPTER 4: NETWORKING SOFTWARE | 87 |
| About This Chapter | 87 |
| Before You Begin | 87 |
| Lesson 1: Network Operating Systems | 88 |
| Windows NT and Windows 2000 | 88 |
| Novell NetWare | 91 |
| UNIX | 94 |
| Macintosh | 96 |
| Exercise 1: Network Operating System Products | 97 |
| Lesson Review | 97 |
| Lesson Summary | 98 |
| Lesson 2: Network Clients | 99 |
| Windows Clients | 99 |
| Installing Windows Networking Components | 101 |
| NetWare Clients | 103 |
| Macintosh Client Capabilities | 106 |
| Unix Client Capabilities | 106 |
| Exercise 1: Client Connection Troubleshooting | 107 |
| Lesson Review | 108 |
| Lesson Summary | 109 |
| Lesson 3: Directory Services | 110 |
| The NetWare Bindery | 110 |
| Novell Directory Services | 111 |
| Windows NT Domains | 112 |
| Active Directory | 114 |
| Exercise 1: Directory Service Concepts | 116 |
| Lesson Review | 116 |
| Lesson Summary | 118 |
| CHAPTER 5: DATA-LINK LAYER PROTOCOLS | 119 |
| About This Chapter | 119 |
| Before You Begin | 119 |
| Lesson 1: Ethernet | 120 |
| Ethernet Standards | 120 |
| Physical Layer Specifications | 121 |
| The Ethernet Frame | 127 |
| CSMA/CD | 130 |
| Exercise 1: CSMA/CD Procedures | 132 |
| Lesson Review | 132 |
| Lesson Summary | 134 |
| Lesson 2: Token Ring | 135 |
| Physical Layer Specifications | 135 |
| Token Passing | 137 |
| Token Ring Frames | 138 |
| Exercise 1: IEEE Standards and Technologies | 140 |
| Exercise 2: Selecting a Data-Link Layer Protocol | 141 |
| Lesson Review | 141 |
| Lesson Summary | 142 |
| Lesson 3: FDDI | 143 |
| The FDDI Physical Layer | 143 |
| The FDDI Frames | 145 |
| Exercise 1: FDDI Concepts | 146 |
| Lesson Review | 147 |
| Lesson Summary | 147 |
| Lesson 4: Wireless Networking | 148 |
| The IEEE 802.11 Physical Layer | 148 |
| The IEEE 802.11 MAC Layer | 150 |
| Exercise 1: IEEE 802.11 Concepts | 151 |
| Lesson Review | 151 |
| Lesson Summary | 151 |
| CHAPTER 6: NETWORK LAYER PROTOCOLS | 153 |
| About This Chapter | 153 |
| Before You Begin | 153 |
| Lesson 1: IP | 154 |
| The IP Standard | 155 |
| IP Functions | 155 |
| Exercise 1: IP Functions | 162 |
| Lesson Review | 162 |
| Lesson Summary | 163 |
| Lesson 2: IPX | 164 |
| The IPX Header | 164 |
| IPX Addressing | 166 |
| Exercise 1: IPX Properties | 167 |
| Lesson Review | 167 |
| Lesson Summary | 168 |
| Lesson 3: NetBEUI | 169 |
| NetBIOS Naming | 169 |
| The NetBEUI Frame | 170 |
| Exercise 1: NBF Protocols | 174 |
| Lesson Review | 174 |
| Lesson Summary | 175 |
| Lesson 4: AppleTalk | 176 |
| Exercise 1: Choosing a Network Layer Protocol | 178 |
| Lesson Review | 179 |
| Lesson Summary | 179 |
| CHAPTER 7: TRANSPORT LAYER PROTOCOLS | 181 |
| About This Chapter | 181 |
| Before You Begin | 181 |
| Lesson 1: TCP and UDP | 182 |
| TCP | 182 |
| UDP | 194 |
| Exercise 1: TCP Header Fields | 195 |
| Exercise 2: TCP and UDP Functions | 196 |
| Lesson Review | 196 |
| Lesson Summary | 198 |
| Lesson 2: SPX and NCP | 199 |
| SPX | 199 |
| NCP | 200 |
| Lesson Review | 203 |
| Lesson Summary | 203 |
| CHAPTER 8: TCP/IP FUNDAMENTALS | 205 |
| About This Chapter | 205 |
| Before You Begin | 205 |
| Lesson 1: TCP/IP Protocols | 206 |
| TCP/IP Layers | 207 |
| SLIP and PPP | 208 |
| ARP | 208 |
| IP | 211 |
| ICMP | 211 |
| TCP and UDP | 216 |
| Application Layer Protocols | 216 |
| Exercise 1: TCP/IP Layers and Protocols | 217 |
| Exercise 2: TCP/IP Protocols | 218 |
| Lesson Review | 218 |
| Lesson Summary | 219 |
| Lesson 2: IP Addressing | 220 |
| IP Address Assignments | 220 |
| IP Address Classes | 221 |
| Subnet Masking | 202 |
| Registered and Unregistered Addresses | 225 |
| IPv6 Addressing | 225 |
| Exercise 1: Variable-Length Subnetting | 226 |
| Lesson Review | 227 |
| Lesson Summary | 228 |
| CHAPTER 9: TCP/IP ROUTING | 229 |
| About This Chapter | 229 |
| Before You Begin | 229 |
| Lesson 1: Routing Principles | 230 |
| Understanding Routing | 230 |
| Router Products | 231 |
| Routing Tables | 232 |
| Exercise 1: Routing Tables | 236 |
| Lesson Review | 237 |
| Lesson Summary | 238 |
| Lesson 2: Building Routing Tables | 239 |
| Static and Dynamic Routing | 239 |
| Creating a Static Route | 240 |
| Dynamic Routing | 243 |
| Exercise 1: Static and Dynamic Routing | 248 |
| Lesson Review | 248 |
| Lesson Summary | 250 |
| CHAPTER 10: TCP/IP APPLICATIONS | 251 |
| About This Chapter | 251 |
| Before You Begin | 251 |
| Lesson 1: TCP/IP Services | 252 |
| DHCP | 252 |
| Exercise 1: DHCP Message Types | 260 |
| Host Files | 260 |
| DNS | 261 |
| WINS | 267 |
| Lesson Review | 268 |
| Lesson Summary | 269 |
| Lesson 2: TCP/IP Utilities | 270 |
| Ping | 270 |
| Traceroute | 271 |
| Ifconfig and IPCONFIG.EXE | 273 |
| ARP | 274 |
| Netstat | 276 |
| NBTSTAT.EXE | 279 |
| Nslookup | 280 |
| Telnet | 281 |
| FTP | 282 |
| Exercise 1: TCP/IP Utilities | 282 |
| Lesson Review | 283 |
| Lesson Summary | 283 |
| CHAPTER 11: TCP/IP CONFIGURATION | 285 |
| About This Chapter | 285 |
| Before You Begin | 285 |
| Lesson 1: Installing the TCP/IP Protocols | 286 |
| Exercise 1: Microsoft TCP/IP Client Components | 289 |
| Lesson Review | 290 |
| Lesson Summary | 290 |
| Lesson 2: Configuring TCP/IP | 291 |
| Configuring Basic TCP/IP Properties | 291 |
| Configuring Advanced TCP/IP Properties | 294 |
| Exercise 1: TCP/IP Configuration Requirements | 300 |
| Lesson Review | 301 |
| Lesson Summary | 302 |
| CHAPTER 12: REMOTE NETWORK ACCESS | 303 |
| About This Chapter | 303 |
| Before You Begin | 303 |
| Lesson 1: Using Remote Connections | 304 |
| Connection Types | 304 |
| Remote Connection Requirements | 315 |
| Exercise 1: Remote Connection Technologies | 315 |
| Lesson Review | 316 |
| Lesson Summary | 318 |
| Lesson 2: SLIP and PPP | 319 |
| SLIP | 319 |
| PPP | 320 |
| Exercise 1: PPP Connection Establishment | 322 |
| Lesson Review | 323 |
| Lesson Summary | 323 |
| Lesson 3: WAN Technologies | 324 |
| Leased Lines | 324 |
| Frame Relay | 325 |
| SONET/Synchronous Digital Hierarchy | 326 |
| ATM | 327 |
| FDDI | 327 |
| Exercise 1: WAN Concepts | 328 |
| Lesson Review | 328 |
| Lesson Summary | 329 |
| CHAPTER 13: NETWORK SECURITY | 331 |
| About This Chapter | 331 |
| Before You Begin | 331 |
| Lesson 1: Password Protection | 332 |
| User Account Password Settings | 333 |
| Specifying Password Lengths | 334 |
| Setting Password Change Intervals | 335 |
| Enforcing Password Complexity | 336 |
| Controlling Password Encryption | 337 |
| Setting Account Lockout Policies | 337 |
| Exercise 1: Password Policies | 339 |
| Lesson Review | 339 |
| Lesson Summary | 340 |
| Lesson 2: Security Models | 341 |
| User-Level Security | 342 |
| Share-Level Security | 343 |
| Exercise 1: Security Levels | 344 |
| Lesson Review | 345 |
| Lesson Summary | 345 |
| Lesson 3: Firewalls | 346 |
| Packet Filtering | 347 |
| NAT | 348 |
| Proxy Servers | 349 |
| Lesson Review | 350 |
| Lesson Summary | 351 |
| Lesson 4: Security Protocols | 352 |
| IPSec | 352 |
| L2TP | 354 |
| SSL | 354 |
| Kerberos | 355 |
| Exercise 1: Security Protocols | 356 |
| Lesson Review | 356 |
| Lesson Summary | 357 |
| CHAPTER 14: PLANNING THE NETWORK | 359 |
| About This Chapter | 359 |
| Before You Begin | 359 |
| Lesson 1: Determining Network Needs | 360 |
| Evaluating Business Requirements | 360 |
| Evaluating the Installation Site | 361 |
| Selecting Hardware | 364 |
| Lesson Review | 365 |
| Lesson Summary | 365 |
| Lesson 2: Providing Fault Tolerance | 366 |
| Data Availability | 366 |
| Server Availability | 369 |
| Network Redundancy | 371 |
| Exercise 1: Data Availability Technologies | 372 |
| Lesson Review | 372 |
| Lesson Summary | 373 |
| Lesson 3: Collecting Essential Information | 374 |
| Standardizing Workstation Configurations | 374 |
| Selecting TCP/IP Parameters | 375 |
| Creating Accounts | 376 |
| Lesson Review | 377 |
| Lesson Summary | 377 |
| CHAPTER 15: INSTALLING A NETWORK | 379 |
| About This Chapter | 379 |
| Before You Begin | 379 |
| Lesson 1: Pulling Cable | 380 |
| External Installations | 380 |
| Internal Installations | 388 |
| Exercise 1: Internal and External Cabling | 395 |
| Lesson Review | 396 |
| Lesson Summary | 396 |
| Lesson 2: Making Connections | 397 |
| Two-Computer Networking | 397 |
| Connecting External Cables | 400 |
| Connecting Internal Cables | 401 |
| Exercise 1: Cable Installation Tools | 409 |
| Lesson Review | 409 |
| Lesson Summary | 411 |
| CHAPTER 16: NETWORK MAINTENANCE | 413 |
| About This Chapter | 413 |
| Before You Begin | 413 |
| Lesson 1: Backups | 414 |
| Backup Hardware | 414 |
| Backup Software | 419 |
| Exercise 1: Incremental and Differential Backups | 428 |
| Lesson Review | 428 |
| Lesson Summary | 429 |
| Lesson 2: Antivirus Policies | 430 |
| Preventing Virus Infections | 433 |
| Exercise 1: Virus Types | 434 |
| Lesson Review | 434 |
| Lesson Summary | 434 |
| Lesson 3: Patches and Updates | 435 |
| Major Updates | 435 |
| Patches | 437 |
| Driver Updates | 437 |
| Software Upgrades | 437 |
| Lesson Review | 438 |
| Lesson Summary | 438 |
| CHAPTER 17: NETWORK TROUBLESHOOTING PROCEDURES | 439 |
| About This Chapter | 439 |
| Before You Begin | 439 |
| Lesson 1: Identifying Network Components | 440 |
| Recognizing Computer Ports | 440 |
| Recognizing Network Components | 449 |
| Exercise 1: Ports and Connectors | 455 |
| Lesson Review | 455 |
| Lesson Summary | 456 |
| Lesson 2: Troubleshooting a Network | 457 |
| Establishing the Symptoms | 457 |
| Identifying the Affected Area | 458 |
| Establishing What Has Changed | 460 |
| Selecting the Most Probable Cause | 460 |
| Implementing a Solution | 461 |
| Testing the Results | 461 |
| Recognizing the Potential Effects of the Solution | 461 |
| Documenting the Solution | 462 |
| Exercise 1: Network Troubleshooting | 462 |
| Lesson Review | 463 |
| Lesson Summary | 463 |
| CHAPTER 18: NETWORK TROUBLESHOOTING TOOLS | 465 |
| About This Chapter | 465 |
| Before You Begin | 465 |
| Lesson 1: Documentation and Resources | 466 |
| Product Documentation | 466 |
| Telephone Support | 469 |
| Online Resources | 470 |
| CD-ROM Resources | 476 |
| Books and Periodicals | 477 |
| Exercise 1: Technical Resources | 477 |
| Lesson Review | 477 |
| Lesson Summary | 478 |
| Lesson 2: Logs and Indicators | 479 |
| Power and Drive Lights | 479 |
| Link Pulse Lights | 480 |
| Error Displays | 482 |
| Event Logs | 483 |
| Network Management Products | 487 |
| Performance Monitors | 488 |
| Protocol Analyzers | 492 |
| Exercise 1: Network Indicators | 499 |
| Lesson Review | 500 |
| Lesson Summary | 501 |
| Lesson 3: Network Testing and Monitoring Tools | 502 |
| Crossover Cables | 502 |
| Hardware Loopback Connectors | 502 |
| Tone Generators and Tone Locators | 503 |
| Wire Map Testers | 504 |
| Multifunction Cable Testers | 505 |
| Exercise 1: Network Testing Equipment | 507 |
| Lesson Review | 508 |
| Lesson Summary | 508 |
| CHAPTER 19: NETWORK TROUBLESHOOTING SCENARIOS | 509 |
| About This Chapter | 509 |
| Before You Begin | 509 |
| Lesson 1: "I Can't Access a Web Site" | 510 |
| Incident Administration | 510 |
| Gathering Information | 511 |
| Possible Cause: Internet Router Problem | 512 |
| Possible Cause: Internet Communication Problem | 516 |
| Possible Cause: DNS Failure | 517 |
| Possible Cause: LAN Communication Problem | 522 |
| Possible Cause: Computer Configuration Problem | 528 |
| Possible Cause: User Error | 533 |
| Exercise 1: Network Hardware Problems | 534 |
| Lesson Review | 535 |
| Lesson Summary | 537 |
| APPENDIX A Questions and Answers | 539 |
| GLOSSARY | 629 |
| INDEX | 675 |
