Tech

Local Area Networking—NETWORKING ESSENTIALS—CompTIA A+ (220-1001) A-PLUS Certification Prep Course Notes

LOCAL AREA NETWORKING

  • Intro to TCP/IP
    • ARPANET formed (basis for Internet)
    • TCP/IP adopted as protocol for ARPANET/the Internet
    • IP addresses have four octets between 0-255 (a total of 256 options)
    • Classful address scheme for locations & sublocations.
    • Class A—6.x.x.x
      • Only 1st number is locked
      • millions of hosts
    • Class B—172.16.x.x
      • First 2 numbers are locked/set
      • 65,534 hosts
    • Class C—210.11.12.x
      • First 3 numbers are locked/set)
      • 254 hosts
  • Network IDs and Subnet Masks
    • Use Network & Sharing Center for setting up network information
    • Set IP address, subnet mask, and gateway in Ethernet Properties
    • Manual settings = static IP address
    • Private IP Addresses:
      • Class A—10.x.x.x
      • Class B—172.16.x.x, 172.31.x.x
      • Class C—192.168.x.x
  • Special IP Addresses
    • Class D addresses for multicast (224.x.x.x)
    • Class E addresses are reserved (240.x.x.x)
    • Three sets of private IP addresses (10, 172.16-172.31, 192.168.x.x)
    • Loopback addresses for self-reference (127.x.x.x)
      • Loopback IP Address—refers to your own system
      • ex: 127.0.0.1
  • NAT (Network Address Translation)
    • Network Address Translation (NAT) saves IP addresses.
    • With NAT, internal networks use private IP addresses and share a public address.
    • All gateway routers are NAT-enabled by default
    • Networks that use NAT are invisible to the public internet
  • Dynamic IP Addressing
    • Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) automatically assigns IP information to hosts
    • Gateway routers commonly are DHCP servers for their internal LANs
    • If a DHCP client can’t find the DHCP server, it will use an APIPA address (ex: 169.254.x.x)
    • Use the ipconfig/renew command to force a new connection to the DHCP server
  • IPv6 (8 groups, of 4 hexadecimal values, separated by 7 colons)
    • IPv6 uses a 128-bit addressing scheme
    • IPv6 addresses use a hexadecimal notation
    • Link local addresses are used for local connections
    • Global addresses are used to connect to the internet
    • IPv6 addresses can be shortened by removing leading zeros, but be familiar with the rules.
    • IPv6 addresses have two IP addresses: a link-local address and an Internet address.
    • The second part of the IPv6 address using EUI-64 is generated from the MAC address.
  • Port Numbers
    • Port numbers get data to the correct application.
    • There is always a source and destination port number.
    • Servers listen for well-known port numbers (0-1023)
    • Resource Monitor shows the connections on a system.
    • Memorize all ports numbers listed on the A+ exam.
  • Common Port Numbers
    • 21–FTP
    • 22–SSH
    • 23–TELNET
    • 25–SMTP
    • 53–DNS
    • 80–HTTP
    • 110–POP3
    • 143–IMAP
    • 443–HTTPS
    • 3389–ROP
    • 137-139–NETBIOS/NETBT
    • 445–SMB/CIFS
    • 427–SLP
    • 548–AFP
  • TCP, UDP, and ICMP
    • Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is connection-oriented and sends multiple packets.
    • User Datagram Protocol (UDP) is connectionless, but also sends multiple packets.
    • Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) is connectionless and always sends a single packet.
    • We organize packets by practical data units (PDUs).
  • Understanding DNS
    • Domain Name System (DNS) resolves fully-qualified domain names (FQDN) to IP addresses.
    • DNS replaced hosts files
    • DNS uses a hierarchical organization to resolve FQDNs to IP addresses.
    • All Internet-connected hosts have a DNS server.
  • Working with DNS
    • Use ipconfig /all to see a system’s DNS servers
    • You can statically configure DNS and still use DHCP for IP addressing.
    • Have an alternative public DNS server in case your DNS server is down
    • Use nslookup to verify a DNS server is running
  • Working with Workgroups
    • Server Message Blocks is the common way Windows file and folder sharing is handled over TCP/IP
    • All Windows computers on a single LAN will automatically see each other if they are in the same workgroup.
    • You must have an account on a remote system to access shared folders.
    • We set share permissions when we share a folder.
  • Routers
    • Routers filter and forward traffic based on IP addresses
    • A routing table determines where to filter or forward IP packets
    • Every routing table has a default gateway that sends all data unless otherwise specified.
    • A SOHO (Small Office/Home Office) router is usually far more than just a router
    • Some routers use web connections, some use console ports.
    • The “default gateway” is your router!
  • Basic Router Configuration
    • Configure both the WAN and the LAN connections on your router.
    • Avoid default settings for basic configurations (IP, SSID, password, etc.)
    • Don’t create too large of a DHCP pool.
    • DHCP reservations set aside IP addresses in the DHCP pool.
  • Advanced Router Configuration
    • QoS (Quality of Service)
    • Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP)
    • SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol)
    • QoS gives control on network bandwidth by many different criteria.
    • Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) and Universal Plug and Play (uPnP) help with network device identification.
    • Simple Network Management Protocol enables querying of network devices.
  • VLANs
    • VLANs enable network segmentation without adding hardware.
    • Configure VLAN-capable switches via IP addresses & Web browser.
    • Use firmware interface for managing VLANs
    • Firmware interface also enable features such as port security
  • Network Troubleshooting
    • Connectivity problems caused by physical or software faults
    • External interference can create network problems
    • Lack of and/or slow access to resources point to problems as well.