 Identify the functions of LAN connectivity hardware  Install, configure, and differentiate between network devices such as NICs, hubs, switches, routers, and gateways  Explain the advanced features of a switch and understand popular switching techniques, including VLAN management  Explain the purposes and properties of routing  Describe common IPv4 and IPv6 routing protocols

◦ Allows nodes to transmit and receive data over a network connection ◦ Common to every network device and every network ◦ NIC properties that need to be considered  Access method  Transmission speed  Connector interfaces  Type of motherboard or device  Manufacture ◦ Types  On-Board  Wireless

◦ ACT – When blinking – means that the NIC is transmitting or receiving data ◦ LNK – Indicates the NIC is functional ◦ TX – Indicates NIC is transmitting frames to the network ◦ RX – Indicates NIC is receiving frames from the network

◦ The circuit or pathway that the motherboard uses to transmit data to the computers components ◦ The capacity of a bus is the width of its data path (bits) and clock speed (MHz) ◦ PCI bus  Shorter connector length  Faster data transmission capacity  Works with PC or Macintosh computers ◦ PCIe – newer faster version of the PCI standard

◦ Attaches components externally to the computer’s bus  PCMCIA  USB  Compact Flash  Firewire

◦ Tells computer to stop what it is doing and pay attention elsewhere ◦ IRQ number is the way that the bust understands which device to give the attention to

 The area that the NIC and CPU use for exchanging and buffering data  Expressed in hexadecimal notation  Base I/O Port  The area of memory that will act as a channel for moving data between the NICC and CPU  Settings must be change in the computer’s CMOS utility

 Repeaters – simplest type of connectivity device that regenerates a digital signal  Operates at Layer 1  Contains only one input and one output port – very limited in scope  Hubs – repeater with more than one output port  Operates at Layer 1  Typically has multiple output ports  Normally had an uplink port to connect to other hubs  Passive Hubs – does nothing but repeat signal  Intelligent hubs – manageable hubs  Stand-alone hubs – isolated and only service a closed network of computers

 Operate at layer 2 of the OSI model  Connects 2 segments of the LAN together  Extends networks without extending collision domains  Uses MAC address to filter and forward frames

 Used to segment the network  Typically operates at layer 2, but can operate at layer 3 or 4 of the OSI model  Creates smaller collision domains – each port on a switch can be its own collision domain  Provides better performance and security ◦ Switching Methods  Cut-through mode – reads frame header then forwards the frame  Store-and-forward – reads the entire frame into memory then forwards the frame

 Logically separates networks – breaks up broadcast domains  Separates groups of users for security or network functions  Isolates connections with heavy unpredictable traffic patterns  Identifies groups that need priority handling  Must have a layer 3 device to switch between VLANs

 Allows one switch to carry multiple VLAN traffic  Uses VLAN tags or identifiers added to frame header to keep VLANs separated  A port designated for VLAN 1 cannot share information with a port on VLAN 2

 A protocol that stops loops in a switched network  Does not let information go out on the same port it was received on  Loops occur when information travels back and forth between switches and never ends  Defined in IEEE standard 802.1D

◦ STP selects a root bridge ◦ STP examines all possible paths and chooses the shortest path ◦ STP only allows one port and an intermediate bridge to forward information ◦ STP disables paths that are not part of the shortest path ◦ RSTP – newer faster version of STP  Old instance of STP took up to 2 minutes for the network to converge once an outage was discovered  RSTP does the same thing only in milliseconds

 Layer 3 switches – able to process layer 3 information  Layer 4 switches – able to process layer 4 information  Switches that process layer 4-7 information are called content switches or application switches

 Operate at Layer 3 of the OSI model  Primary function is path determination and packet switching  Can connect dissimilar networks  Router characteristics  Interprets Layer 3 addressing and other information  Determines best path from one destination to the other  Routes traffic down alternate paths when primary path is unavailable  Filters out broadcast transmissions  Customized segregation and security  Supports simultaneous local and remote connectivity

 Interior Router  Directs information on an autonomous systems  Normally owned by that organization  Exterior routers  Directs traffic in and out of the autonomous system  Internet backbone routers are exterior routers  Border or gateway routers  These routers connects LANs with WANs  Example is company connecting to ISP

 The best path is determined by  Number of hops between nodes (hops)  Current networks activity (load)  Link status (reliability)  Link speed (delay)  Link capacity (bandwidth)  Also characterized by convergence time – the time it takes for a router to determine that a primary link has failed, find a new or next best path, and propagate that information to the rest of the network

◦ Distant Vector  Best path determined by distance (hops)  Exchanges complete and entire routing table with neighboring routers – also known as “routing by hearsay” it must believe what its neighbor tells it  Distant Vector Routing Protocols  Routing Information Protocol (RIP)  Routing Information Protocol version 2 (RIPv2)  Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) ◦ Link-state  Allows each router to independently share information with all routers on the network  Link-State Routing Protocols  Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) – used on interior or border routers  Intermediate System-to-Intermediate System (IS-IS) – used on interior routers only ◦ Hybrid  Uses characteristics of both Distant Vector and Link-State routing protocols  Hybrid Routing Protocol – Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP)

 Connects two dissimilar kinds of networks  Resides on servers, routers, micro- computers or mainframes  Types of gateways  gateway  Internet gateway  LAN gateway  Voice/data gateway  Firewall

For more information on this lesson, See Chapter 6 in the text book or the Professor **All Slides and graphics were produced by Professor Patrick Hughes**