Networking Tutorial

Networking Tutorial delivers understanding about the basic concept of networking technology to those who want to know how the computer networks communicate each other within the local network, and even internetworks communication. It also provides challenges of designing, constructing, maintaining, upgrading, and managing the network infrastructure.

What is Networking?

Networking tutorial needs to define a wide coverage of the elements of computer networking. By definition, networking means connecting computers to allow the computers on the network to share files, printers, applications, and other computer-related resources. The advantages of networking computers are fairly obvious:

The advantages of computer networking:

Important files and documents can be saved in the file server – a more secure storage with well-schedule backup strategy instead of storing documents on workstations.
A single network printer can be shared by users on the network
An enterprise resource planning (ERP) with multiple integrated modules running on application server can be accessed by users on different departments.
The job of administering and securing a company’s information assets and computer resources is simplified since they are concentrated on a few centralized servers.

Compared to non-networked system, computer networking provides increased manageability, security, cost-effectiveness, and efficiency. Basic networking tutorial needs to discuss different types of networking including:

Local area network (LAN), which can range from simple networking in home or in Small Office/Home Office (SOHO) to large scale enterprise network with thousands of workstations, dozens of servers deployed throughout dozens of buildings on a university campus or in an industrial park. See also LAN topologies.
Metropolitan area networks (MANs), which span an urban area and are generally run by telcos and other service providers to provide companies with high-speed connectivity between branch offices and with the Internet
Wide area networks (WANs), interconnecting remote sites spanning several continents with hundreds of offices and subsidiaries with the head office via the WAN services
The Internet, the global computer networking

Networking tutorial needs to cover the architectures in which various types of networks can be implemented, including:

Peer-to-peer workgroup networking which consists of some computers running Windows OS – XP, 2000, or Vista
Server-based networking based on the domain model of Windows server (2000, 2003, or 2008), domain trees and forests of Active directory.
An old terminal-based networking in mainframe environment, or in Citrix.

Networking tutorial needs to cover various networking technologies to implement the above networking architectures including:

LAN technologies such as Ethernet, Token Ring, Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI), Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet (GbE), and the emerging 10G Ethernet (10GbE.
WAN technologies such as ISDN, frame-relay, ATM and X,25, and so on.
Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) including 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, and also draft 802.11n standards.

Cellular communication systems such as Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), and the emerging 3G cellular communication standards

Networking tutorial needs to discuss hardware considerations to implement different networking technologies.

LAN devices including the Switches (including layer 3 switching), bridges, wireless access points and also networking routers
WAN devices including modems, ISDN TA, CSU/DSU, Multiplexers. See also example of Cable modem router.
Networking cable including coaxial, Cat5e UTP, fiber optic, patch panel.
Data storage technologies including network-attached storage (NAS), Storage area network (SAN), SCSI, and also fiber Channel.

Networking tutorial should also discuss various technologies to enhance the reliability, scalability, availability, security, and also manageability including:

Technologies for securing the network implementation including the secured firewalls, virtual private network, network security software, and also the management of information security.

Technologies for increasing availability and reliability of access to network resources, such as clustering, caching, load balancing, Layer 7 switching, and terminal services
Network management technologies such as Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM), Common Information Model (CIM), and Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)

The networking tutorial should also discuss various standards that underlie the different networking technologies and hardware including:

The Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) networking model from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
The G-series, H-series, I-series, T-series, V-series, and X-series standards from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
Project 802 of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
The Requests for Comment (RFC) series from the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
Various standards developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the Frame Relay Forum, the ATM Forum, the Gigabit Ethernet Alliance, and other standards organizations

Networking tutorial should also discuss networking protocols about computer networking including:

LAN protocols such as NetBEUI, Internetwork Packet Exchange/Sequenced Packet Exchange (IPX/SPX), Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and AppleTalk
WAN protocols such as Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP), Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP), Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP), and Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP)
Protocols developed within mainframe computing environments, such as Systems Network Architecture (SNA), Advanced Program-to-Program Communications (APPC), Synchronous Data Link Control (SDLC), and High-level Data Link Control (HDLC)
Routing protocols such as the Routing Information Protocol (RIP), Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (IGRP) and EIGRP protocol, Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) Protocol, and Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). See also an understanding in routing protocols.
Internet protocols such as the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP), and the Domain Name System (DNS)
Electronic messaging protocols such as X.400, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3), and Internet Mail Access Protocol version 4 (IMAPv4)
Directory protocols such as X.500′s Directory Access Protocol (DAP) and the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)
Security protocols such as Password Authentication Protocol (PAP), Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP), Windows NT LAN Manager (NTLM) Authentication, Kerberos, IP Security Protocol (IPSec), Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), and public key cryptography standards and protocols
Serial interface standards such as RS-232, RS-422/423, RS-485, V.35, and X.21

Networking tutorial need to know various software technologies including:

Network operating systems such as Windows, Novell NetWare, UNIX, and Linux
Specialized operating systems such as Cisco Systems’ Internetwork Operating System (IOS), which runs on Cisco routers, and the variant of IOS used on Cisco’s Catalyst line of Ethernet switches
Directory systems such as Active Directory, Novell Directory Services (NDS), and various implementations of X.500 and LDAP directory systems
File systems such as NTFS file system (NTFS) on Windows platforms and distributed file systems such as the Network File System (NFS) developed by Sun Microsystems for the UNIX platform

Networking tutorial need to discuss various administrations and troubleshooting tools to manage networking hardware, platforms, services and protocols, including

The Microsoft Management Console (MMC) and its various snap-ins in the Windows 2000, 2003, 2008 and Windows .NET Server platforms
Administering tools such as Telnet, terminal programs, and the universal Web browser interface
Troubleshooting command line tools such as arp, ping, ipconfig, traceroute, netstat, nbtstat, finger, and nslookup.

Networking tutorial needs to know about enterprise application widely used in networking environment including:

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platforms
Enterprise Information Portal (EIP) and Enterprise Knowledge Portal (EKP) platforms
The Microsoft .NET Enterprise Server family of applications that includes Microsoft Application Center Server, BizTalk Server, Commerce Server, Exchange Server, Host Integration Server, Internet Security and Acceleration Server, Mobile Information Server, and SQL Server

By understanding the above networking tutorial coverage, you will have a thorough knowledge about computer networking.