Cisco Networking For Dummies

This authoritative guide is a great tool for beginning network administrators, covering basic terminology, router and switch fundamentals, and explanations of more advanced configuration concepts and procedures.

Contents

Introduction

Why Use This Book?

Learning about the market leader

Using a . . .For Dummies reference

Using This Book

Part I: Networking Basics

Part II: Network Operations

Part III: Cisco Networking

Part IV: Managing a Cisco Network

Part V: LANs and WANs

Part VI: The Part of Tens

Part VII: Appendixes

Icons Used in This Book

Feedback

Part I: Networking Basics

Chapter 1: Networking No Longer Means Passing Out Your Business Card

Hardware, Software, and the Magic

Stringing along with the cable

Workstations and nodes

Starting at the Beginning

Building Networks at Home and Away

Keeping it local

Taking it wide

Please Accept My Topologies

Riding the bus

Won't you wear my ring around your net?

I want to see stars!

Mixed topologies

Applying LAN Technologies

Working with an Ethernet network

Ring around the token ring network

FDDI is a double-ring ceremony

Chapter 2: The ISO OSI and Other Weird Groups of Letters

OSI: The Supermodel of Networking

Betting on the lucky 7

A model of efficiency

Five reasons a layered model is used

Down one side and up the other

First, the Hard Stuff

Getting physical

A bridge over troubled layers

Routing over the internetwork

Transport me to the gateway

And Now for the Soft Stuff

Listing the Functions of Layer 2

Connecting on the LLC sublayer

Communicating on the MAC sublayer

Controlling access to the network

Segmenting a network for fun and profit

Following the Protocol Rules

Ain't it suite?

Network protocols

Transport protocols

Application protocols

How TCP/IP stacks up

Chapter 3: Putting the Network Together

Sharing and Sharing Alike

Understanding Network Politics

Hello, I'll be your server

Maxing out on network workstations

Building up peer-to-peer relationships

You can never be too thin, be too rich, or have too many clients

Gilster's Law of Network Cost Estimation

Dealing with Security Issues

Who's the peer-to-peer network's gatekeeper?

Providing security on server-based networks

Is It a LAN or a WAN, Man?

Hardware, Software, and Other Doo-Dads

The hard parts of networking

Stringing it all together

Routers, bridges, and hubs! Oh my!

Connecting to the network with a NIC

Operating Systems of the Network Kind

Chapter 4: Network Media: A Primer

The Fascinating World of Cables

The big three of cabling

The technical stuff about cables

Coaxial Cables through Thick and Thin

What's this 10Base stuff?

Does this cable make me look fat?

The thinner side of things

The Twisted Pair

Unshielded is not unheralded

Leading a shielded life

You Need Your Fiber

The Ethernet Cable Standards

A Word about Wireless Networks

The technical stuff about wireless networks

How a wireless LAN works

Getting Some Backbone (And Segments)

Part II: Network Operations

Chapter 5: Transporting Data: TCP/IP, Datagrams, Packets, and Frames

How Suite It Is

Stacking up the TCP/IP protocols

Applying the application protocols

Moving Packets and Datagrams

Controlling the transmission

Socketing it to me

Connecting ways

Making a three-way handshake

Checking for errors and closing the window

Staying connected

Getting noticed in all the well-known ports

Formatting the TCP segment

Flying Fast with UDP

Transmitting on the Network Layer

Letting you see some IP

Sending notes with ICMP

Unraveling the Mysterious World of Encapsulation

Chapter 6: Working With Those Weird Numbers

Feeling Ambivalent about Binary Numbers

Assigning power to the places

Turning numbers on and off to create value

Hexing the Numbers

Hexing decimal numbers

Converting hexadecimal numbers

Just a nybble more on hexadecimal

Chapter 7: The Curse of the Subnet Mask and Other Boolean Tales

How May We Address You?

Dissecting the network address

Getting physical with MAC addressing

What a Novell idea!

The Wondrous World of IP Addressing

Bringing on the binary

Separating the IP Classes

Class A IP addresses

Class B IP addresses

Class C IP addresses

Class D and Class E IP addresses

Using Special Network Addresses

Subnetting a Network

May we borrow a couple of bits until Tuesday?

Subnetting a Class A network

Subnetting a Class B network

Subnetting a Class C network

Examining your subnet options

Applying Your New Knowledge

Developing valid subnets, hosts, and broadcasts

Avoiding the subnet mask trap

Planning a subnet: An exercise

Who Was That Subnet Masked Man?

Taking the boo out of Boolean algebra

Using the magic of the mask to find subnets

Subnet masks for Class B and Class C networks

Donning the Subnet Mask

A number for everything, and everything is numbered

Configuring the router for IP

Routing IP Addresses

Configuring an IP address

Verifying an IP address

Expanding the IP Horizon

Chapter 8: Operating the Network

What You Need to Know about an NOS

Network operating systems 101

NOS core services

Listing their attributes

Networking with NetWare

Making it up in volumes

Queuing up to print

It's in the directory

Keeping it secure

Leave it with my messaging service

Routing around NetWare

Checking Out Windows NT Server

Yippee, yippee, it's a GUI

Does this system make the network look FAT?

It's a hard (copy) world

Exploring Windows directory services

Securing the Windows NT world

Messaging in and around Windows with protocols

Routing around a Windows network

Cross-Platform Connectivity: Windows Support for NetWare

Giving UNIX the Once Over

SLIPping into the Internet

Getting straight to the point

UNIX and its TCP/IP alternatives

Presenting the ever-popular NFS and the lovely NIS

Workstation Welfare: For the Good of the Client

Part III: Cisco Networking

Chapter 9: Installing Routing and Switching on the LAN

Preparing to Install Cisco Equipment

Readying the installation site

Safeguarding your system from ESD and EMI

Racking it up

Connecting to power

Following the power requirements

Installing the System

Installing a router by the book

Keeping an installation log

Connecting a router to the network

Installing a router in a WAN

Switching Your LAN

Hubbing Your Network

Filling in Those Ugly Gaps

Chapter 10: Working with Routers

A Layered Approach to Networks

Moving traffic over the core layer

Distributing data around the network

Providing access to the network

Segmenting a Network with a Router

Segmenting a LAN with a Router

Deciding on segmenting your network

Picking your router spot

Remembering the Router's Memory

RAM/DRAM a ding dong

NVRAM for static storage

ROM with a vie

Flashing the EPROM

Discovering CDP

Working with All the Best Connections

Taking command of the console

Making the router feel at home

Providing a powerful plethora of ports

And a remarkable range of routers

Protecting the Router from the Environment

Chapter 11: Setting Up and Saving the Router

Setting Up and Configuring a Router

Watch out, it's a setup!

Setting up the interface

If You Start It Up, It Never Stops

POST it up

Is your IOS registered?

Changing your boots

Finding and loading the configuration

It's not a trivial matter

Backing up the flash

Saving your work

A command performance

Approaching Configuration Manually

Chapter 12: Going the Full Route

Getting There Is All the Fun!

Keeping it static and simple

Dynamically speaking

Choosing the best route

Are You Routing or Merely Routed?

The Dynamics of Routing

Routing to the Algorithm

Adding up the metrics

Determining the distance vector

Neverending Hops on Distance Vector Protocols

Solving the infinite loop problem

Removing the restraint

Be careful with that trigger, please

Hopping to the RIP

RIPing up the router

Showing off your RIP

Using IGRP for Advanced Routing

When the timer goes off, take the poison and split

Setting up IGRP

Checking out the IGRP status

Putting the Router into a Link-State

Getting to know the internetwork

Living in the link-state world

IS-IS spelled backwards is SI-SI

Routing in the NetWare world with NLSP

Finding the shortest path, first

Striking a Balance with Hybrid Protocols

Part IV: Managing a Cisco Network

Chapter 13: Working at the Command Line

Oh Phooey, There's No GUI

Spelling and syntax: Getting it right

Accessing the router

Logging into the router

Working with the Exec command interpreter

Running into other command modes

Getting By with a Little Help

What's a four-letter word beginning with an h?

Choosing from a list

Helping the terminally lazy

Okay, now show me the rest

Controlling the Present through the Past

Editing history

Living the good life with enhanced editing

Changing history

Let's Play Password

Don't be so sensitive

Getting into Configuration mode

Changing the locks

Giving the Router an Identity

Waving the Banner

Naming Names

Chapter 14: Making It Do What You Want

Configuring the Router and Its Protocols

Setting up the routing protocol

Building the router's configuration

Configuring Interface Parameters

Moving to the mode

Ethernet interface

Fast Ethernet interface

Token ring interface

Serial interface

Asynchronous/synchronous serial interface

ISDN BRI interface

E1/T1/ISDN PRI interface

1-port, 4-wire 56kbps DSU/CSU interface

Setting up the SNMP Network Management

Chapter 15: Guarding the Doors

Making Up the Guest List

Configuring an IP Access List

Examining the packet and its port

Access list rules and conditions

Knowing The Better-Known Ports

Applying the Access List

Standard access lists

Extended access lists

Named access lists

Verifying the access list

Removing an access list

Wildcard Masking

Moving in a different direction

Discerning wildcard word meanings

Working with IPX Access Lists

Applying the standard model

Using the extended form

Using SAP filters

Part V: LANs and WANs

Chapter 16: Switching Around the LAN

Switching Around the Network

Talking about switches

Switches and LANs

Segmenting a LAN

Segmenting a LAN with a bridge

Segmenting the LAN with a router

Segmenting a LAN with a switch

Applying Three Methods to Switching Success

Virtually Segmenting the LAN

Building workgroups

Broadcasting to smaller domains

Improving security

Configuring the VLAN one way or another

Trunking together VLANs

Picking the Right Switch for the Job

Chapter 17: Making a WAN Work

Differentiating WAN Services

Deciphering WAN services

Learning the lingo

Connecting with the Mysterious X.25

Addressing the X.25 world

Working with virtual circuits

Routers and X.25

The layers of the X.25 cake

Connecting Up with Frame-Relay

Framing the frame

Framing the DLCI

Handling Frame-Relay traffic jams

Throwing out everything over the limit

Switching Frame-Relay around on a router

Routing Frame-Relay

Mapping IPs to DLCIs

So what is the LMI?

Connecting to subinterfaces

Keeping watch on the Frame-Relay

Communicating on a High-Level

Getting from Point-to-Point

Passwords are part of PPP

Connecting to the WAN with PPP

Presenting the ISDN Twins

Parading along with PRI

Bringing on the BRI

Defining some ISDN basics

Sneaking In Some ATM

Chapter 18: Implementing Firewalls, Proxies, and Safety Measures

Reviewing the Arsenal

Keeping the fire from spreading

Providing a proxy

Caching in on a good thing

Looking Over the Cisco Catalog

Firing up the firewall

Firing up the caching engine

Building Up an E-Commerce Network

Explaining e-commerce

Considering the e-security issues

Transacting e-commerce

Creating a Virtually Private Network

Tunneling for gold

Tunneling over the Internet

For more information on VPNs

Chapter 19: Designing Your Network

Gathering the Tools

Analyzing the analysis tools

Checking out the drawing tools

Gathering the Facts

Profiling the Network

Taking inventory of the network applications

Making a list of the network protocols

Recording the network design

Accounting for network availability

Auditing the network's reliability

Noting the network's utilization

Evaluating the router

Creating a scorecard

Classifying the Network

Building a redundant, redundant network

Securing the secure internetwork

Part VI: The Part of Tens

Chapter 20: Ten Really Great Sites for More Information

Cisco Systems, Inc.

Cisco Faxback Server

Cisco World Magazine

Cisco Small Business Resource Center

The Information Technology Professional's Resource Center

File Watch

MentorLabs

The Network Analysis Institute

Planet IT Networking

Network Magazine

The TechWeb Encyclopedia

Whatis.com

Online Booksellers

A Few More Good Sites to Visit

Chapter 21: Ten Things You Should Remember When Designing Your Network

Ten Steps to Include When Designing a Network

Determine the users' needs

Document the existing network

Determine the appropriate structure

Create a network drawing

Choose the hardware and media

Select routing and switching protocols

Choose the operating system

Document the new design

Verify the network's design

Test the network

Designing around Network Congestion

A Checklist of Network Must-Haves

Don't forget these in a small LAN

You'll need these to connect offices

Chapter 22: Ten Network Installation Tips

Using a Site Preparation Checklist

Checking out the Preinstallation Checklist

Studying the Site Preparation and Safety Guide

Preparing the Site's Environment

Racking It Up

Flooring the Load

Powering the System

Clearing the Cable Path

Sweeping the Cable Path

Tooling Up for the Job

Scheduling Downtime to Test

Training, Training, Training

Chapter 23: Ten Things to Check When Configuring a Cisco Router

Your Equipment

The Configuration Methodologies

Network Management

LAN Addressing Scheme

LAN Protocols

WAN Addressing Scheme

WAN Protocols

Router Security

Access List Verification

The Configuration Archive

Part VII: Appendixes

Appendix A: Cisco IOS Commands

Appendix B: A Glossary of Networking Terms

Index

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