What is PPP, PPPoA and PPPoE?
PPP was designed to provide a connection between two devices. PPP comes with options including encryption, authentication and data compression. PPPoA is the standard for connection over an ADSL network. PPPoE is the standard for connection over an Ethernet network. More ...
Classless IP Addressing
In the beginning, classful addressing was a great idea for keeping IP addresses organized. But as the Internet grew, and IP addresses became scarce, classful addressing was found to be too limiting. Classless IP addressing, known as Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) was released in September 1993. More ...
IPv6 Dynamic Address Allocation
As with IPv4, IPv6 addresses can be statically assigned. However, when it comes to dynamic addressing, IPv6 has a different approach. IPv6 uses the ICMPv6 Router Advertisement message to suggest to devices how to obtain their IPv6 addressing information. More ...
Kerberos Authentication Protocol
Kerberos is an authentication protocol which allows computers communicating over a non-secure network to prove their identity to one another. Windows 2000 and later use Kerberos as their default authentication method. More ...
The OSI Network Layer
The Network layer (OSI layer 3) uses routable protocols to deliver data packets to networks connected through routers. Routing is the process of moving data packets from one network or network segment to another. More ...
OSI Transport Layer
The Transport layer (OSI layer 4) uses connection-oriented protocols to provide a reliable end-to-end connection between the source computer and the destination computer. Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is a transport layer protocol. More ...
Major Protocols in the TCP/IP Suite
This is a chart of the layers of the TCP/IP Suite and the major protocols in each layer. As you move your mouse pointer over each protocol acronym, a brief description of the protocol appears. This is not a comprehensive list. More ...
IEEE 802 Standards Specify the Basics of Physical and Logical Networking
The (IEEE) Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is an organization that defines standards for networking. The 802 Standards Specify the Basics of physical and logical networking. More ...
Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs)
A Virtual LAN (VLAN) is a subgroup within a local network. VLANs make it easy for network administrators to separate a single switched network into subnetworks to match the functional and security requirements of their network without having to make major changes in the existing network infrastructure. More ...
TCP/IP Protocol Suite
A good portion of the knowledge required to be a network technician relates to the TCP/IP protocol suite. This article describes the most important protocols in the TCP/IP protocol suite. Many other less frequently used protocols exist. More ...
IPv6 Neighbor Discovery Protocol (NDP)
Neighbor Discovery Protocol (NDP) is used by IPv6 hosts for Router Discovery, Neighbor Discovery and Duplicate Address Discovery. More ...
The TCP/IP protocol Datagram Format
A datagram is the packet format defined by the Internet Protocol. A pictorial representation of an IP datagram shows the first five or six 32-bit words of the datagram are control information called the header. More ...
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) Explained
In the early days of TCP/IP each device on a network had stored on its hard disk a configuration file that an administrator used to manually assign a static IP address. Today a network administrator is no longer required to maintain an IP and MAC address configuration file a server. Every device on a network is automatically assigned a unique IP address by Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). More ...
T-Carrier
T-carrier is a time-division multiplexed (TDM) digital signal that has been used by the telephone companies for many decades. 24 8-bit signals are time-division multiplexed into a 1.544 Mbps t-carrier signal. More ...
IPv6 Unicast Addresses
The 3 categories of IPv6 addresses are:Unicast identifies a single interface. A packet sent to a unicast address is delivered to the interface identified by that address. Multicast identifies a group of interfaces. A packet sent to a multicast address is delivered to all interfaces identified by that address. Anycast identifies a group of interfaces. A packet sent to an anycast address is delivered to the closest member of a group. More ...
