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Network Fundamentals: Top Picks

Network Fundamentals

Network Switches & Bridges

Network Switches are the evolution of Hubs and Repeaters, and enable the creation of networks by connecting multiple devices together. They are cri...
Network Fundamentals

Controlling Broadcasts and Multicasts

The first step in controlling broadcast and multicast traffic is to identify which devices are involved in a broadcast or multicast storm. The foll...
Network Fundamentals

Network Data Transmission

Network data transmission refers to the process of sending and receiving information between two or more devices connected to a network. It is a cr...
Network Fundamentals

DoS & DDoS Attacks

A Denial of Service (DoS) attack is a malicious attempt to disrupt the normal functioning of a website, server or network by flooding it with traff...

Featured Subcategories:

Netflow Articles:

Netflow

Netflow: Monitor Bandwidth & Network Utilizatio...

Monitoring network traffic & bandwidth usage via Netflow is mandatory for any type and size network. Gaining visibility into user traffic, appl...
Netflow

Complete Guide to Netflow: How Netflow & its Co...

This article will cover the basics of Netflow, including its use cases, Netflow supported devices, Netflow history, and variants. We’ll also dive i...
Netflow

NetFlow Analyzer: Free Download, Step-by-Step I...

In our previous article we explained how a Netflow Analyzer can help you gain visibility into your user traffic, application traffic and data flows...
Netflow

Netflow vs SNMP. Two Different Approaches to Ne...

SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) and Netflow are both popular protocols with admins, prized for their ability to give visibility over the ...

Network Protocols:

TCP - UDP Protocol Analysis

TCP Header Anaylsis - Section 7: TCP Data Paylo...

Finally, the last page of our incredible TCP Analysis. As most of you would expect, this section is dedicated to the DATA section that follows the ...
TCP - UDP Protocol Analysis

Transmission Control Protocol - Part 2: Quick O...

As previously mentioned on a number of occasions, TCP is one of the two protocols that lives at the Transport layer and is used to carry data from ...
TCP - UDP Protocol Analysis

UDP Protocol - Header

This article covers the UDP protocol. We examine the structure of the UDP header, the protocols that use UDP as a transport plus a lot more. Some ...
TCP - UDP Protocol Analysis

TCP Header Anaylsis - Section 5: TCP Window Siz...

Our fifth section contains some very interesting fields that are used by the TCP transport protocol. We see how TCP helps control how much data is ...
Supernetting & CIDR

What is Supernetting (Route Summarization) & Ho...

Supernetting is the opposite of of subnetting, and is also known as route aggregation or CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing). Supernetting is a t...
Subnetting

IP Subnetting - Part 5: Subnetting Guidelines

There is always that day when you are called upon to provide a solution to a network problem. The number of problems that can occur in a network ar...
TCP - UDP Protocol Analysis

Transmission Control Protocol - Part 4: In-Dept...

This article is an introduction to the 7-page TCP Header analysis section that follows. We briefly view each section of the TCP Header and then mov...
Supernetting & CIDR

Supernetting In-Depth Analysis - Learn to Ident...

Our previous article served as an introduction to Supernetting, also known as Route Summarization. We covered the concept of Supernetting, how it w...

STP/ICMP Protocols:

Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)

Spanning Tree Protocol – Part 1: Understand STP...

One of the most used terms in network is LAN (Local Area Network). It’s a form of network that we encounter in our daily lives, at home, at work, s...
Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)

Spanning Tree Protocol – Part 3: Bridge ID, Pri...

In this article we will examine the Spanning Tree Bridge ID structure, explain why it has increments of 4096, how VLAN information is embedded (for...
Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)

Spanning Tree Protocol – Part 2: Rapid STP Port...

Spanning Tree Protocol, Rapid STP port costs and port states are an essential part of the STP algorithm that affect how STP decides to forward or b...
ICMP Protocol

ICMP Protocol - Part 6: Redirect Messages

The ICMP - Redirect Message is always sent from a gateway to the host and the example below will illustrate when this is used. Putting it simply (...

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VLAN Networks

VLAN Security - Making the Most of VLANs

It's easy to see why virtual LANs have become extremely popular on networks of all sizes. In practical terms, multiple VLANs are pretty much the same as...
VLAN Networks

Comparing Traditional Flat & VLAN Networks

Designing and building a network is not a simple job. VLANs are no exception to this rule, in fact they require a more sophisticated approach because of...
VLAN Networks

VLANs - Access & Trunk Links

If you've read our previous article The VLAN Concept - Introduction to VLANs  then you should feel comfortable with terms such as 'VLAN', 'Sta...
VLAN Networks

VTP Protocol - In-Depth Analysis

The previous article introduced the VTP protocol, we examined how it can be used within a network, to help manage VLANs and ease the administrative over...

Routing

Link State Routing Protocols

Link State routing protocols do not view networks in terms of adjacent routers and hop counts, but they build a comprehensive view of the overall networ...
Routing

Routed Protocols

We all understand that TCP/IP, IPX-SPX are protocols which are used in a Local Area Network (LAN) so computers can communicate between with each other a...
Routing

OSPF - Part 3: OSPF Adjacency & Neighbor Forming Pro...

This is the thrid article of our 6-part OSPF series (see below) that describes how OSPF routers perform neighbor relationship and adjacency. We’ll exami...
Routing

Routing Information Protocol - RIP

Routing Information Protocol (RIP) is a distance-vector routing protocol that is commonly used in small to medium-sized networks. It is one of the...

Network Address Translation - NAT

Network Address Translation (NAT) Overload - Part 2

In our previous article, Network Address Translation (NAT) Overload - Part 1, we explained what NAT Overload is and how it works. This page deals with t...
Network Address Translation - NAT

Network Address Translation (NAT) Concepts

Before we dive into the deep waters of NAT, we need to make sure we understand exactly what NAT does. So let me give you the background of NAT, why it's...
Network Address Translation - NAT

Static NAT - Part 2

The previous page (Static NAT - Part 1) helped us understand what exactly happens with Static NAT and how it works, and we saw a few examples of how to ...
Network Address Translation - NAT

Static NAT - Part 1

Static NAT (also called inbound mapping) is the first mode we're going to talk about and also happens to be the most uncommon between smaller networks. ...