Introduction
Network Basics Companion Guide is the official supplemental textbook for the CCNA Routing and Switching Network Basics course in the Cisco Networking Academy Program.
As a textbook, this book provides a ready reference to explain the same networking concepts, technologies, protocols, and devices that are covered in the online course. This book emphasizes key topics, terms, and activities and provides some alternate explanations and examples as compared with the online course. You can use the online curriculum as directed by your instructor and then use this Companion Guide’s study tools to help solidify your understanding of all the topics.
Who Should Read This Book
This book is intended for students in the Cisco Networking Academy CCNA Routing and Switching Network Basics course. The goal of this book is to introduce you to fundamental networking concepts and technologies. In conjunction with the online course materials, this book will assist you in developing the skills necessary to plan and implement small networks across a range of applications. The specific skills covered in each chapter are described at the start of each chapter.
Book Features
The educational features of this book focus on supporting topic coverage, readability, and practice of the course material to facilitate your full understanding of the course material.
Topic Coverage
The following features give you a thorough overview of the topics covered in each chapter so that you can make constructive use of your study time:
Objectives: Listed at the beginning of each chapter, the objectives reference the core concepts covered in the chapter. The objectives match the objectives stated in the corresponding chapters of the online curriculum; however, the question format in the Companion Guide encourages you to think about finding the answers as you read the chapter.
“How-to” feature: When this book covers a set of steps that you need to perform for certain tasks, the text lists the steps as a how-to list. When you are studying, the icon helps you easily refer to this feature as you skim through the book.
Chapter summaries: Each chapter includes a summary of the chapter’s key concepts. It provides a synopsis of the chapter and serves as a study aid.
“Practice” section: The end of each chapter includes a full list of all the Labs, Class Activities, and Packet Tracer Activities covered in that chapter.
Readability
The following features have been updated to assist your understanding of the networking vocabulary:
Key terms: Each chapter begins with a list of key terms, along with a page-number reference for each key term. The key terms are listed in the order in which they are explained in the chapter. This handy reference allows you to find a term, flip to the page where the term appears, and see the term used in context. The Glossary defines all the key terms.
Glossary: This book contains an all-new Glossary with more than 250 terms.
Practice
Practice makes perfect. This new Companion Guide offers you ample opportunities to put what you learn to practice. You will find the following features valuable and effective in reinforcing the instruction that you receive:
Check Your Understanding questions and answer key: Updated review questions are presented at the end of each chapter as a self-assessment tool. These questions match the style of questions that you see in the online course. Appendix A, “Check Your Understanding Answer Key,” provides an answer key to all the questions and includes an explanation of each answer.
Labs and Activities: Throughout each chapter you will be directed to the online course to take advantage of the activities created to reinforce concepts. In addition, the end of each chapter includes a “Practice” section that collects a list of all the labs and activities to provide practice with the topics introduced in the chapter. The Labs and Class Activities are available in the companion Network Basics Lab Manual (978-158713-313-8). The Packet Tracer Activities PKA files are found in the online course.
Page references to online course: After each heading you will see, for example, (1.1.2.3). This number refers to the page number in the online course so that you can easily jump to that spot online to view a video, practice an activity, perform a lab, or review a topic.
Lab Manual
The supplementary book Network Basics Lab Manual (978-158713-313-8), contains all the Labs and Class Activities from the course.
Practice and Study Guide
Additional study exercises, activities, and scenarios are available in the new CCENT Practice and Study Guide (978-158713-345-9) and CCNA Routing and Switching Practice and Study Guide (978-158713-344-2) books by Allan Johnson. Each Practice and Study Guide coordinates with the recommended curriculum sequence—one focusing on courses 1 and 2 (ICND1/CCENT topics) and the second focusing on courses 3 and 4 (ICND2/CCNA topics).
About Packet Tracer Software and Activities
Interspersed throughout the chapters you’ll find many activities to work with the Cisco Packet Tracer tool. Packet Tracer enables you to create networks, visualize how packets flow in the network, and use basic testing tools to determine whether the network would work. When you see the Packet Tracer Activity icon, you can use Packet Tracer with the listed file to perform a task suggested in this book. The activity files are available in the course. Packet Tracer software is available only through the Cisco Networking Academy website. Ask your instructor for access to Packet Tracer.
How This Book Is Organized
This book corresponds closely to the Cisco Networking Academy Network Basics course and is divided into 11 chapters, one appendix, and a glossary of key terms:
Chapter 1, “Exploring the Network”: This chapter introduces the platform of data networks upon which our social and business relationships increasingly depend. The material lays the groundwork for exploring the services, technologies, and issues encountered by network professionals as they design, build, and maintain the modern network.
Chapter 2, “Configuring a Network Operating System”: This chapter references a basic network topology, consisting of two switches and two PCs, to demonstrate the use of Cisco IOS.
Chapter 3, “Network Protocols and Communications”: In this chapter you will learn about two layered models that describe network rules and functions. These models, as well as the standards that make the networks work, are discussed here to give context to detailed study of the model layers in the following chapters.
Chapter 4, “Application Layer”: This chapter explores the role of the application layer and how the applications, services, and protocols within the application layer make robust communication across data networks possible.
Chapter 5, “Transport Layer”: This chapter examines the role of the transport layer in encapsulating application data for use by the network layer. The concepts of reliable data delivery and multiple application conversations are also introduced.
Chapter 6, “Network Layer”: This chapter focuses on the role of the network layer. It examines how it divides networks into groups of hosts to manage the flow of data packets within a network. It also covers how communication between networks is facilitated through routing processes.
Chapter 7, “IP Addressing”: This chapter describes the structure of IP addresses and their application to the construction and testing of IP networks and subnetworks.
Chapter 8, “Subnetting IP Networks”: This chapter examines the creation and assignment of IP network and subnetwork addresses through the use of the subnet mask.
Chapter 9, “Network Access”: This chapter introduces the general functions of the data link layer and the protocols associated with it. It also covers the general functions of the physical layer and the standards and protocols that manage the transmission of data across local media.
Chapter 10, “Ethernet”: This chapter examines the characteristics and operation of Ethernet as it has evolved from a shared-media, contention-based data communications technology to today’s high-bandwidth, full-duplex technology.
Chapter 11, “It’s A Network”: Having considered the services that a data network can provide to the human network, examined the features of each layer of the OSI model and the operations of TCP/IP protocols, and looked in detail at Ethernet, a universal LAN technology, this chapter discusses how to assemble these elements together in a functioning network that can be maintained
Appendix A, “Check Your Understanding Answer Key”: This appendix lists the answers to the “Check Your Understanding” review questions included at the end of each chapter.
Glossary: The Glossary provides you with definitions for all the key terms identified in each chapter.