CCNA

WHAT

I'm trying to study to get my CCNA (640-802) degree :D I'm using my wiki to note what I'm trying to learn ! Much of the stuff here are from SYBEX CCNA Study guide (6th edition). Hope it'll help other people.

Software

I'm using GNS3 to emulate a Cisco environment. Get it from GNS3 Homepage

Internetworking Devices

Switches

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They work at Layer 2

They break up "collision domains" only.

Routers (Layer 3 switches)

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They work at Layer 3

Cisco calls them multiport bridges.

• Use the logical address in a Network Layer header to determine the next hop router to forward the packet to.

• Can use access lists to control security on types of packets that are allowed to enter or exit an interface.

• Can provide connections between virtual LANs

• Can provide QoS ( Quality of Service ) for specific types of network traffic.

• Can provide layer 2 bridging functions if needed and can simultaneously route through the same interface.

• They don't care where a particular host is located. They're only concerned about ehere networks are located and the best way to reach them, including remote ones !

Advantages:

• They break up "broadcast domains" by default ( 1 broadcast domain per interface ).

• They break up "collision domains".

• Can filter network based on Layer 3 ( Network Layer ) information ( e.g., IP Address )

• They don't forward any broadcast or multicast packets.

Useful at:

• Packet switching

• Packet filtering

• Internetwork communication

• Path selection

Bridges

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They break up collision domains.

Hubs

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They keep all hosts in the same collision domain.

They often cause traffic congestion if on a busy network.

Traffic Congestion

Can be caused by:

• Too many hosts in a broadcast domain

• Broadcast storms

• Multicasting

TEST

Test 1

Do you _SEE_ the "collision domains" and "broadcast domains" here :

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9 collision domains

- All hub network - 1 collision domain

- The bridge network - 3 collision domains

- The switch network - 5 collision domains

3 broadcast domains

- Only the router breaks up broadcast domains ! It has 3 connections.

Test 2

Do you _SEE_ the "collision domains" here:

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10 "collision domains"

OSI Layered Reference Model

L1-L4 Define how data is transmitted end to end

L5-L7 Define how applications within the end stations will communicate with each other and with users.

Physical Layer (L1)

Function: Physical topology

• Moves bits between devices

• Specifies voltage, wire speed and pin-out of cables

Data Link Layer (L2)

Function: Framing

• Combines packets into bytes and bytes into frames

• Provides access to media using MAC address

• Performs error detection not correction

It provides the physical transmission of the data and handles error notification, network topology and flow control.

It ensures that the messages are delivered to the proper device on a LAN using hardware addresses and will translate messages from the Network layer into bits for the Physical layer to transmit.

It formats the messages into pieces - data frames - and ads a customized header containing the hardware destination and source address.

Network Layer (L3)

Function: Routing

• Provides logical addressing, which routers use for path determination

• Routers, by default, will not forward any broadcast or multicast packets

• Routers use the logical address in a Network Layer header to determine the next hop router to forward the packet to.

• Routers can use access lists, created by an administrator, to control security on the types of packets that are allowed to enter or exit an interface.

• Routers can provide layer 2 bridging functions if needed and can simultaneously route through the same interface

• Layer 3 devices ( routers in this case ) provide connections between virtual LANs ( VLANs )

• Routers can provide quality of service (QoS) for specific types of network traffic

The Network Layer manages device addressing, tracks the location of the devices on the network and determines the best way to move data which means that the Network layer must transport traffic between devices that aren't locally attached.

It happens like this: When a packet is received on a router interface, the destination IP address is checked. If the packet isn't destined for that particular router, it will look up the destination network address in the routing table. Once the router chooses an exit interface, the packet will be sent to that interface to be framed and sent out on the local network. If the router can't find an entry for the packets destination network in the routing table the router drops the packet.

Two types of packets are used at the Network Layer: data and route updates.

Data packets Used to transport user data through the internetwork. Protocols used to support data traffic are called routed protocols. Examples of routed protocols are IP and IPv6.

Route update packets Used to update neighboring routers about the networks connected to all routers within the internetwork. Protocols that send route update packets are called routing protocols. Examples: RIP, RIPv2, EIGRP and OSPF. Route update packets are used to help build and maintain routing tables and each router.

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Network addresses Protocol-specific network addresses. A router must maintain a routing table for individual routing protocols because each routing protocol keeps track of a network with a different addressing scheme (IP, IPv6, and IPX, for example).

Interface The exit interface a packet will take when destined for a specific network.

Metric The distance to the remote network. Different routing protocols use different ways of computing this distance. Know that some routing protocols (namely RIP) use something called a hop count (the number of routers a packet passes through en route to a remote network), while others use bandwidth, delay of the line, or even tick count (1/18 of a second).

Transport Layer (L4)

Function: End-to-end connection

• Provides reliable or unreliable delivery

• Performs error correction before retransmit

The Transport layer segments and reassembles data into a data stream.

UDP and TCP protocols work at this layer. UDP is a unreliable service. Reliable means that acknowledgments, sequencing and flow control will be used.

The Transport layer is responsible for providing mechanisms for multiplexing upper-layer applications, establishing sessions and tearing down virtual circuits.

It hides details of any network-dependent information from the higher layers by providing transparent data transfer.

Can be connectionless or connection-oriented.

Flow Control

Ensures Data integrity.

Prevents a sending host on one side of the connection from overflowing the buffers on the receiving host.

The purpose is to provides the means for the receiver to govern the amount of data sent by the sender.

Connection-Oriented Communication

In reliable transport operation, a device that wants to transmit sets up a connection-oriented communication with a remote device by creating a session. This is the only concerned with the connection-oriented portion of the Transport layer.

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• The first "connection agreement" segment is a request for synchronization.

• The second and third segments acknowledge the request and establish connection parameters—the rules—between hosts. These segments request that the receiver's sequencing is synchronized here as well so that a bidirectional connection is formed.

• The final segment is also an acknowledgment. It notifies the destination host that the connection agreement has been accepted and that the actual connection has been established. Data transfer can now begin.

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A service is considered connection-oriented if it has the following characteristics:

• A virtual circuit is set up ( e.g., a three-way handshake )

• It uses sequencing.

• It uses acknowledgements.

• It uses flow control.

The types of flow control are buffering, windowing and congestion avoidance.

Windowing

The quantity of data segments ( measured in bytes) that the transmitting machine is allowed to send without receiving an acknowledgement for them is called a window

Windows are used to control the amount of outstanding, unacknowledged data segments.

If a receiving host fails to receive all the segments that it should acknowledge, the host can improve the communication session by decreasing the window size

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Acknowledgements

Positive acknowledgement with retransmission ensures the integrity of a stream of data, it ensures the data won't be duplicated or lost.

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Session Layer (L5)

Function: Dialog control

• Keeps different applications' data separate

The Session Layer is responsible for setting up, managing and then tearing down sessions between Presentation layer entities.

It serves to organize the communication between systems in different modes: simplex, half duplex and full duplex

The Session Layer basically keeps different applications' data separate from other applications' data.

Presentation Layer (L6)

Function: Data encryption, compression and translation services

• Presents data

• Handles processing such as encryption

The Presentation layer presents data to the Application layer and is responsible for data translation and code formating.

Application Layer (L7)

Function: File, print, message, database and application services

• Provides a user interface

Applications residing in the Application Layer: FTP, TFTP

The Application layer is acting as an interface between the actual application programs