$19
This is a new course being tested before incorporation in a Certification Package. Feel free to take this course at the "testing" price, and please let us know of any typos or glitches you might find.
In this comprehensive course, you’ll build a solid base of knowledge in networking fundamentals. We'll begin with serial and parallel point-to-point circuits, then identify the need for link addressing and access control on circuits with multiple stations, LANs and how the stations on a LAN form a broadcast domain. We'll understand the need for framing and error control to transmit data, and how this is implemented with MAC frames and MAC addresses. Then we'll define a network, and how it is implemented with WAN circuits, routers and IP network addresses as the basis of routing decisions. Then we'll understand how carrier packet networks are used to implement WAN circuits, the relationship between packets and frames, the IP address on the packet and how the MAC address changes as the packet is forwarded across a network. We'll finish with an overview of IPv4 and IPv6 packet formats, the need for a transport protocol and how TCP is used for reliability, and UDP is used for streaming, and what port numbers are and how they are used. The course is completed with an introduction to MPLS, the traffic management system used on the core of big networks.
Course Lessons
1. Point-to-Point Circuits: Serial and Parallel
2. Multidrop Circuits: Point to Multipoint
3. LANs and Broadcast Domains
4. Framing and Error Control Requirements
5. Frames & MAC Addresses
6. Networks, Routers and IP Addresses
7. Carrier Packet Network Services
8. Packets vs. Frames
9. IP Address vs. MAC Address: SFO-NYC via AT&T
10. IP Packets
11. TCP, UDP and Port Numbers
12. MPLS Labels
Based on Teracom’s famous Course 101, tuned and refined over the course of 20 years of instructor-led training, we’ll cut through the jargon to demystify network fundamentals, explaining the jargon and buzzwords, the underlying ideas, and how it all works together… in plain English.
A course completion certificate is awarded upon passing the course exam.
Course Outline
1. Point-to-Point Circuits: Serial and Parallel
How serial is a type of Time-Division Multiplexing, and implemented in parallel to increase capacity.
2. Multidrop Circuits: Point to Multipoint
Master-slave or "unbalanced" communication links, and the need for link addressing and access control when there are multiple stations on a circuit.
3. LANs and Broadcast Domains
"Balanced" communication links, where all stations are equal. How the computers connected by a LAN form a broadcast domain. How serial is a type of Time-Division Multiplexing, and implemented in parallel to increase capacity.
4. Framing and Error Control Requirements
Why framing and error control are needed to transmit data. We'll briefly discuss the old "asynchronous" start-stop-parity method, what asynchronous really means, and areas for improvement.
5. Frames & MAC Addresses
The method used for framing, link addressing and error control on the customer premise LAN, on the access circuit, and in the carrier network core.
6. Networks, Routers and IP Addresses
The definition of a network: the need to make route decisions, by a router, using IP addresses as the basis of making route decisions. Identification of WAN services as the expensive part of the story.
7. Carrier Packet Network Services
Using a carrier packet network, whether it is the Internet or carefully-controlled carrier circuits, as the most cost-effective and flexible way of implementing WAN circuits.
8. Packets vs. Frames
How packets are carried in frames. The relationship between the MAC address on a frame and the IP address on a packet. Does one packet fit exactly inside one frame? What protocol segments a big file into small packets?
9. IP Address vs. MAC Address: SFO-NYC via AT&T
Understanding the IP address on a packet vs. the MAC address on a frame, and how it changes from one hop to the next across a network.
10. IP Packets
An overview of the structure of IP packets, and both the IPv4 and IPv6 packet headers.
11. TCP, UDP and Port Numbers
Why a transport protocol is required for communication across an unreliable IP packet network. How TCP works, and why UDP is used for live phone calls. What port numbers are and how they are used.
12. MPLS Labels
A brief introduction to MPLS, and how it is used to label packets as belonging to a traffic class for management of traffic in the network core.
Teracom is the leader in telecommunications training. In business since 1992, we supply this training to the US government under our GSA schedule contract, which means pre-approved quality and pricing. We're so confident of the quality of this training, it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
