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 ...
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 ...
How to Set Up FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is used to transfer computer files between a client and server on a network. This article explains how to set up FTP on IIS and that FTP is not a secure protocol and some secure file transfer alternatives. More ...
Evolution of the Microsoft NOS (Active Directory)
A Network operating system (NOS0) is a networked environment in which resources, such as users, groups, and computers are stored in a central repository. Microsoft's first integrated NOS environment became available in 1990 with the release of Windows NT 3.0. More ...
What's the Difference Between a Packet and a Frame?
When speaking of the data in a network, people often call everything a packet. A more proper generic term would be protocol data unit or PDU. The specific name for a PDU depends on at what layer the data unit is in the OSI model. More ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
IPv6 Flow Label Field
The IPv6 Flow Label field is used to help identify all the packets within the same flow to ensure that all the packets receive the same type of handling by the IPv6 routers. 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 ...
Active Directory : How Objects Are Stored and Identified
Data stored in Active Directory is presented to the user in a hierarchical fashion. There are two types of objects: containers and non-containers. The most common type of container in Active Directory is an OU (Organizational Unit). Non-container objects are also known as leaf nodes. More ...
IP Addressing and Subnetting
Today, many different kinds of devices can communicate on a network. A network device might be a computer, a router, a printer, or any number of unusual devices. Every device on a network that uses the Internet protocol (IP) needs a unique IP address. More ...
Comparison of the Layers of the OSI and TCP/IP Models
The TCP/IP protocol suite was developed by DARPA in the early 1970s. The OSI networking model was developed in Europe in 1986. This article compares the two networking standards. 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 ...
