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Introduction
This means that you should be knowledgeable and conversant in the following topics:
OSI Model The OSI model defines seven different OSI layers—Physical, Data Link, Network,
Transport, Session, Presentation, and Application. This model allows vendors and engineers to
develop products designed for a specific OSI level. The segmentation this provides splits the
overall “problem” of networking into smaller, more manageable pieces. Each layer of the model
has certain responsibilities assigned to it and interacts with its neighboring levels in a predefined
manner.
Switches Ethernet, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), and Frame Relay switches all oper-
ate at the Data Link layer (Layer 2) of the OSI model. You should understand the concept of a
logical address and know how the local significance of those addresses plays a part in the scal-
ability of the network.
Routers Routers operate at the Network layer (Layer 3) of the OSI model. They connect sep-
arate IP subnets together and route packets across a network in a hop-by-hop manner.
Ethernet Networks Ethernet networks are commonly referred to as a broadcast domain. This
means that all connected hosts receive all transmissions on the physical media. Each host uses
the destination Media Access Control (MAC) address of the Ethernet frame to determine which
frame it should process. The MAC addresses on a segment are learned through the Address Res-
olution Protocol (ARP).
Point-to-Point Links Point-to-point links in a network are often referred to as wide area net-
work (WAN) links. This generalized term is used to describe the nature of a point-to-point link—
it contains no end IP hosts. In a core network, point-to-point links connect two network devices.
These devices can be ATM switches, Frame Relay switches, or network routers. These network
links have the ability to use one of many Layer 2 encapsulations, including ATM, Frame Relay,
the Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP), and High-Level Data Link Control (HDLC).
IP Addressing and Subnetting IP hosts and routers use a common packet format for all data
transmissions. This includes the destination and source IP address fields, which use a 32-bit
address space. Humans often use a dotted decimal format to represent an IP address. The address
contains a host portion and a network portion. For example, 192.168.1.1 /24 defines a network
address of 192.168.1.0 and a host address of 1 on that subnet.
TCP The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) operates at the Transport layer (Layer 4) of the
OSI model. It defines a common header format, which includes destination and source port num-
bers. TCP provides a connection-oriented session between two end hosts that is established using
a three-way handshake. TCP also uses a sliding window for flow control between the hosts.
UDP The User Datagram Protocol (UDP) also operates at the Transport layer (Layer 4) of the
OSI model. Like TCP, it defines a common header format and uses destination and source port
numbers. Unlike TCP, however, UDP provides a connectionless session between two end hosts
that resembles a flowing packet stream. No reliability or flow control is provided to the hosts.
ICMP The Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) uses the IP packet format to perform
its functions. Therefore, we often describe it as operating at the Network layer of the OSI model.