IPv4 Address Classes
Originally, IP network numbers were defined with rigid boundaries and grouped into address classes. Even though address classes was created to facilitate efficient use of the IPv4 address space, because of its rigidity it has been abandoned for more flexible classless addressing. More ...
SYN-ACK Handshake to Establish a TCP Connection
TCP uses a SYN-ACK handshake to establish a connection. Three messages are required to establish a TCP connection between two hosts. More ...
What Is Fabric Networking?
The networking industry came up with the term 'Fabric' to describe networking technologies that allow switches to connect in a way to achieve a mesh topology. More ...
The OSI Session Layer
The Session layer, layer seven of the OSI model, establishes, synchronizes, maintains and terminates sessions between computers on a network. It establishes a connection ID and authenticates security. More ...
IPv6 Anycast Addresses
An IPv6 anycast address can be assigned to more than one interface. In other words, multiple devices can have the same anycast address. A packet sent to an anycast address is routed to the nearest interface having that address, according to the routers routing table. More ...
14 Common Network Ports You Should Know
Ports are virtual software-based and are managed by a computer's operating system. Different types of data flow to and from a computer over the same network connection. The use of ports informs computers what to do with the data they receive. Each port is assigned a number, and each is associated with a specific process or service. Port numbers are standardized, most reserved for certain protocols, for example, all HTTP messages go to port 80. 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 Global Unicast Addresses
Global unicast addresses (GUAs) are globally routable and reachable in the IPv6 Internet; they are equivalent to public IPv4 addresses. GUA addresses are also known as aggregatable global unicast addresses. More ...
IPv6 Address Auto Configuration
When an IPv6 device first connects to a network, it can configure its own IPv6 address. It does this using a mechanism called MAC-to-EU164. More ...
The OSI Data Link Layer
The Data Link layer uses MAC addresses is to pass data frames from the Physical layer to the Network layer and vice versa. The use of MAC addresses permits the direction of data within the same network, but not across routers. More ...
DSL (Digital Subscriber Line)
DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) is a technology used to transmit digital data over telephone lines. DSL service can be transmitted simultaneously with voice band telephone service on the same line because DSL uses a much higher frequency that rides on top of the low 3400 Hz voiceband. More ...
Basic TCP/IP Networking
In this article, I'm going to describe how a network works. I am NOT not going to load you down with details. Instead, I'm just going to describe what happens when you start your client computer. How it gets access to the network. More ...
What Are Private IP Addresses?
Normally you have to be assigned an IP address, or a group of IP addresses by a Regional Internet Registry. However, if you just need IP addresses for an internal network that will not be routed to the Internet, you can select from blocks of IP addresses reserved as Private IP addresses. 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 ...
WAN Network Protocols - DSL, SONET, HDLC, DWDM, DLSW+
This article discusses some of the most implemented Wide Area Networking (WAN) protocols in enterprise networking environments today including HDLC, DSL, SONET, DWDM, and DLSW+. HDLC is a Cisco proprietary protocol for designed for sending data across serial links. More ...
