Chapter 1: Introduction to Networks

Sections & Objectives

 Globally Connected  The Network as a Platform

• Explain how multiple networks are used • Explain the basic characteristics of a network
in every day life. that supports communication in a small to
• Explain how networks affect the way we medium-sized business.
interact, learn, work and play. • Explain the concept of a converged network.
• Explain how host devices can be used as • Describe the four basic requirements of a reliable
clients, servers, or both. network.
 LANs, WANs, and the Internet

• Explain how topologies and devices are

connected in a small to medium-sized
business network.
• Explain the use of network devices..
• Compare the devices and topologies of a LAN
to the devices and topologies of a WAN.
• Describe the basic structure of the Internet.
• Explain how LANs and WANs interconnect to
the Internet. © 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 2
Sections & Objectives (Cont.)
 The Changing Network Environment

• Explain trends in networking that will

affect the use of networks in small to
medium-sized businesses.
• Explain how trends such as BYOD, online
collaboration, video, and cloud computing are
changing the way we interact .
• Explain how networking technologies are
changing the home environment .
• Identify some basic security threats and
solutions for both small and large networks.
• Explain why it is important to understand the
switching and routing infrastructure of a
network.

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 3
Globally Connected

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 4
Networking Today
Networks in Our Daily Lives
 Welcome to a world where we are more powerful together, than we ever could be apart.

 Welcome to the human network.

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 5
Networking Today
Technology Then and Now
 We live in a world we barely imagined 20 years ago.

 What wouldn’t we have without the Internet?

 What will be possible in the future using the network as the platform?

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 6
Networking Today
No Boundaries
 Advancements in networking technologies are helping create a world without boundaries.

 The immediate nature of communications over the Internet encourages global communities.

 Cisco refers to the impact of the Internet and networks on people the “human network”.

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 7
Networking Today
Networks Support the Way We Learn
 Do you remember sitting in a classroom, like this?

 You don't have to be in school anymore to take a class. You don't have to be in a classroom to
have a teacher.

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 8
Networking Today
Networks Support the Way We Work
 The globalization of the Internet
has empowered individuals to
create information that can be
accessed globally.
 Forms of communication:
• Texting
• Social Media
• Collaboration Tools
• Blogs
• Wikis
• Podcasting

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 9
Networking Today
Networks Support the Way We Work

 Data networks have evolved into

helping support the way we work.
 Online learning opportunities decrease
costly and time consuming travel.
 Employee training is becoming more
cost effective.

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 10
Networking Today
Networks Support the Way We Play
 We listen to music, watch movies,
read books, and download material
for future offline access.
 Networks allow online gaming in
ways that were not possible 20
years ago.
 Offline activities have also been
enhanced by networks including
global communities for a wide
range of hobbies and interests.
 How do you play on the Internet?

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 11
Providing Resources in a Network
Networks of Many Sizes
 Small Home Networks – connect a few
computers to each other and the Internet
 Small Office/Home Office – enables
computer within a home or remote office
to connect to a corporate network
 Medium to Large Networks – many
locations with hundreds or thousands of
interconnected computers
 World Wide Networks – connects
hundreds of millions of computers world-
wide – such as the Internet

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 12
Providing Resources in a Network
Clients and Servers

 Every computer connected to a network

is called a host or end device.
 Servers are computers that provide
information to end devices on the network.
For example, email servers, web servers, or
file server
 Clients are computers that send requests to
the servers to retrieve information such as a
web page from a web server or email from
an email server.

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 13
Providing Resources in a Network
Peer-to-Peer

 Client and server software usually run on separate computers.

 However, in small businesses or homes, it is typical for a client to also function as the server.
These networks are called peer-to-peer networks.
 Peer-to-peer networking advantages: easy to set up, less complex, and lower cost.

 Disadvantages: no centralized administration, not as secure, not scalable, and slower

performance.

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 14
LANs, WANs, and the Internet

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 15
Network Components
Overview of Network Components

 A network can be as simple as a single

cable connecting two computers or as
complex as a collection of networks that
span the globe.
 Network infrastructure contains three broad
categories of network components:
• Devices
• Media
• Services

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 16
LANs, WANs, and the Internet
Network Components

 End Devices

• An end device is where a

message originates from or
where it is received.
• Data originates with an end
device, flows through the
network, and arrives at an
end device

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 17
Network Components
Intermediary Network Devices
 An intermediary device interconnects end devices in a network. Examples include:
switches, wireless access points, routers, and firewalls.
 The management of data as it flows through a network is also the role of an
intermediary device including:
• Regenerate and retransmit data signals.
• Maintain information about what pathways exist through the network and internetwork.
• Notify other devices of errors and communication failures.

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 18
Network Components
Network Media

 Communication across a network is

carried through a medium which
allows a message to travel from
source to destination.
 Networks typically use three types of
media:
• Metallic wires within cables, such as
copper
• Glass, such as fiber optic cables
• Wireless transmission

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 19
Network Components
Network Representations

 Network diagrams, often called topology

diagrams, use symbols to represent
devices within the network.
 In addition to the device representations
on the right, it is important to remember
and understand the following terms:
• Network Interface Card (NIC)
• Physical Port
• Interface

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 20
Network Components
Topology Diagrams
 Note the key differences between the two topology diagrams (physical location of devices vs.
ports and network addressing schemes)

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 21
LANs and WANs
Types of Networks

 Two most common types of networks:

• Local Area Network (LAN) – spans a

small geographic area owned or
operated by an individual or IT
department.
• Wide Area Network (WAN) – spans a
large geographic area typically
involving a telecommunications service
provider.
• Other types of networks:
• Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)
• Wireless LAN (WLAN)
• Storage Area Network (SAN)

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 22
LANs and WANs
Local Area Networks

 Three characteristics of LANs:

• Spans a small geographic area

such as a home, school, office
building, or campus.
• Usually administered by a
single organization or
individual.
• Provides high speed bandwidth
to end and intermediary
devices within the network.

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 23
LANs and WANs
Wide Area Networks

 Three characteristics of WANs:

• WANs interconnect LANs over wide geographical areas such as between cities, states, or countries.
• Usually administered by multiple service providers.
• WANs typically provide slower speed links between LANs.

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 24
The Internet, Intranets, and Extranets
The Internet
 The Internet is a worldwide collection
of interconnected LANs and WANs.
 LANs are connected to each other
using WANs.
 WANs are then connected to each
other using copper wires, fiber optic
cables, and wireless transmissions.
 The Internet is not owned by any
individual or group, however, the
following groups were developed to
help maintain structure:
• IETF
• ICANN
• IAB
© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 25
The Internet, Intranets, and Extranets
Intranets and Extranets

 Unlike the Internet, an intranet is a

private collection of LANs and WANs
internal to an organization that is meant
to be accessible only to the
organizations members or others with
authorization.
 An organization might use an extranet
to provide secure access to their
network for individuals who work for a
different organization that need access
to their data on their network.

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 26
Internet Connections
Internet Access Technologies
 There are many ways to connect users
and organizations to the Internet:
• Popular services for home users and
small offices include broadband cable,
broadband digital subscriber line (DSL),
wireless WANs, and mobile services.
• Organizations need faster connections
to support IP phones, video
conferencing and data center storage.
• Business-class interconnections are
usually provided by service providers
(SP) and may include: business DSL,
leased lines, and Metro Ethernet.

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 27
Internet Connections
Home and Small Office Internet Connections
 Cable – high bandwidth, always on,
Internet connection offered by cable
television service providers.
 DSL – high bandwidth, always on,
Internet connection that runs over a
telephone line.
 Cellular – uses a cell phone network
to connect to the Internet; only
available where you can get a cellular
signal.
 Satellite – major benefit to rural areas
without Internet Service Providers.
 Dial-up telephone – an inexpensive,
low bandwidth option using a modem.
© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 28
Internet Connections
Businesses Internet Connections  Corporate business connections may
require higher bandwidth, dedicated
connections, or managed services.
Typical connection options for
businesses:
• Dedicated Leased Line – reserved
circuits within the service provider’s
network that connect distant offices with
private voice and/or data networking.
• Ethernet WAN – extends LAN access
technology into the WAN.
• DSL – Business DSL is available in
various formats including Symmetric
Digital Subscriber Lines (SDSL).
• Satellite – can provide a connection
when a wired solution is not available.

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 29
The Network as a Platform

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 30
Converged Networks
Traditional Separate Networks
 An example of multiple networks
might be a school 30 years ago.
Some classrooms were cabled
for data networks. Those same
classrooms were cabled for
telephone networks, and also
cabled separately for video.
 Each of these networks used
different technologies to carry the
communication signals using a
different set of rules and
standards.

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 31
Converged Networks
The Converging Network
 Converged data networks carry
multiple services on one link
including data, voice, and video.
 Unlike dedicated networks,
converged networks can deliver
data, voice, and video between
different types of devices over the
same network infrastructure.
 The network infrastructure uses the
same set of rules and standards.

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 32
Reliable Network
Network Architecture
 Network Architecture refers to the
technologies that support the infrastructure
that moves data across the network.
 There are four basic characteristics that the
underlying architectures need to address to
meet user expectations:
• Fault Tolerance
• Scalability
• Quality of Service (QoS)
• Security

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 33
Reliable Network
Fault Tolerance  A fault tolerant network limits the
impact of a failure by limiting the
number of affected devices.
 Multiple paths are required for fault
tolerance.
 Reliable networks provide
redundancy by implementing a
packet switched network. Packet
switching splits traffic into packets
that are routed over a network.
Each packet could theoretically take
a different path to the destination.
 This is not possible with circuit-
switched networks which establish
dedicated circuits.
© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 34
Reliable Network
Scalability

 A scalable network can expand

quickly and easily to support new
users and applications without
impacting the performance of
services to existing users.
 Network designers follow accepted
standards and protocols in order to
make the networks scalable.

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 35
Reliable Network
Quality of Service  Voice and live video transmissions
require higher expectations for
those services being delivered.
 Have you ever watched a live video
with constant breaks and pauses?
This is caused when there is a
higher demand for bandwidth than
available – and QoS isn’t
configured.
 Quality of Service (QoS) is the
primary mechanism used to ensure
reliable delivery of content for all
users.
 With a QoS policy in place, the
router can more easily manage the
flow of data and voice traffic.
© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 36
Reliable Network  There are two main types of
Security network security that must be
addressed:
• Network infrastructure security
• Physical security of network devices
• Preventing unauthorized access to the
management software on those devices
• Information Security
• Protection of the information or data
transmitted over the network
 Three goals of network security:

• Confidentiality – only intended

recipients can read the data
• Integrity – assurance that the data
has not be altered with during
transmission
• Availability – assurance of timely
and reliable access to data for
authorized users
© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 37
The Changing Network
Environment

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 38
Network Trends
New Trends
 The role of the network must adjust
and continually transform in order to
be able to keep up with new
technologies and end user devices
as they constantly come to the
market.
 Several new networking trends that
effect organizations and consumers:
• Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)
• Online collaboration
• Video communications
• Cloud computing

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 39
Network Trends
Bring Your Own Device
 Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is a
major global trend that allows users
to use their own devices giving
them more opportunities and
greater flexibility.
 BYOD allows end users to have the
freedom to use personal tools to
access information and
communicate using their:
• Laptops
• Netbooks
• Tablets
• Smartphones
• E-readers
© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 40
Network Trends
Online Collaboration
 Individuals want to collaborate and
work with others over the network
on joint projects.
 Collaboration tools including Cisco
WebEx (shown in the figure) gives
users a way to instantly connect,
interact and achieve their
objectives.
 Collaboration is a very high priority
for businesses and in education.

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 41
Network Trends
Video Communication
 Cisco TelePresence powers the new way of working where everyone, everywhere, can be more
productive through face to face collaboration.
 Around the world each day, we transform organizations by transforming our customer
experiences.

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 42
Network Trends
Cloud Computing  Cloud computing is a global trend that
allows us to store personal files or backup
our data on servers over the Internet.
 Applications such as word processing and
photo editing can also be accessed using
the Cloud.
 Cloud computing also allows businesses to
extend their capabilities on demand and
delivered automatically to any device
anywhere in the world.
 Cloud computing is made possible by data
centers. Smaller companies that can’t
afford their own data centers, lease server
and storage services from larger data
center organizations in the Cloud.

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 43
Network Trends
Cloud Computing (Cont.)  Four types of Clouds:

• Public Clouds
• Services and applications are made available to
the general public through a pay-per-use model or
for free.
• Private Clouds
• Applications and services are intended for a
specific organization or entity such as the
government.
• Hybrid Clouds
• Made up of two or more Cloud types – for
example, part custom and part public. Each part
remains a distinctive object but both are connected
using the same architecture.
• Custom Clouds

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 44