RIP (Routing Information Protocol)
RIP is an Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) that uses hop count as a metric. RIP comes in versions 1, 2, and RIPng (RIP next generation) an extension of RIPv2 for support of IPv6. More ...
Network Switches
A bridge or router may be referred to as a switch because it uses information in the data packet to choose a path from one network segment to another. A bridge may be referred to as a layer 2 switch because it uses information from layer 2, the Data Link layer of the OSI model. More ...
IPv4 Datagram Fields
If you are pursuing CompTIA Network+ certification, of if you're involved in network troubleshooting, it's important to understand the construction of an IP datagram. More ...
Wireless Standards - 802.11a 802.11b 802.11g 802.11n 802.11i Explained
The IEEE 802.11 family of standards which provides for Wireless Ethernet or (Wi-Fi) has evolved over the years. This article explains the differences between 802.11a 802.11b 802.11g 802.11n and 802.11i. More ...
Protocol Suites
Network protocols define rules for handling data and communicating in a particular networking environment. Individual protocols operate at specific layers in the OSI reference model. A protocol suite is a group of protocols designed to work together. 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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
TCP Windowing
It would be inefficient to return an ACK message as each segment is received. The number of segments received before an ACK message is returned is called the TCP receive window size. More ...
A Simple Description of the IPv6 Header and Datagram
This article provides a simple description of the IPv6 header and datagram without a lot referring back to IPv4. 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 ...
IEEE 802.11.x Wireless Standards
The 802.11 standard, approved in 1997, applies to wireless LANs with a 1 or 2 Mbps transmission rate in the 2.4 GHz band. Sometimes the term 802.11 is used to refer to the 802.11x family of specifications. More ...
Internet Security and VPN Network Design
This article discusses some essential technical concepts associated with a VPN. A Virtual Private Network (VPN) integrates remote employees, company offices, and business partners using the Internet and secures encrypted tunnels between locations. 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 ...
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 ...
