 |
Cisco CCNA Certification Tutorial: Segmenting Your Network |
 |
|
When you're getting started on your CCNA studies on your
way to earning this certification, you're swamped with network
device types that you're familiar with, but not quite sure
how to use. Let's look at these networking devices and their
main purposes.
Hubs and repeaters operate at Layer One of the OSI model,
and they have one main purpose - regenerating the electrical
signal that Layer One technologies carry. This regeneration
helps to avoid attenuation, the gradual weakening of a signal.
Much like a radio signal, the electric signals that travel
at Layer One gradually weaken as they travel across the wire.
Hubs and repeaters both generate a "clean" copy
of the signal.
While hubs and repeaters can be helpful, they do nothing
as far as network segmentation is concerned. The first such
device we encounter as we move up the OSI model is the switch.
Operating at Layer 2, a switch creates multiple collision
domains by default each switch port is considered its own
little collision domain. If 12 PCs are connected to a Cisco
switch, you have 12 separate collision domains.
Switches can be used to segment the network into smaller
broadcast domains, but this is not a default behavior. Virtual
LAN (VLAN) configuration segments the network into smaller
broadcast domains, since a broadcast sent by a host in one
VLAN is heard only by other devices in the same VLAN.
Routers operate at Layer 3 of the OSI model and segment a
network into multiple broadcast domains by default. Routers
do not forward broadcasts as switches do, making the router
the only device of the four we've discussed today that create
multiple broadcast domains by default.
Knowing what each of these devices can and cannot do is essential
to passing the CCNA and becoming a great network administrator.
Good luck to you in both of these goals!
About the Author:
Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage,
home of free CCNP and CCNA tutorials, The Ultimate CCNA Study
Package, and Ultimate CCNP Study Packages. For a FREE copy
of his latest e-books, “How To Pass The CCNA” and
“How To Pass The CCNP”, just visit the website!
You can also get FREE CCNA and CCNP exam questions every day!
Pass the CCNP exam with The Bryant Advantage!
About the Author:
Article by Chris Bryant.
|
|
|
|
Relevant Resources |
|
|
|
|
|
Need Cisco Hardware for your Cert? |
|
|
| Call 813.852.6400 now for more information to find the best router or switch to best help you with your certification exam. Having "real" hands-on experience is extremely beneficial not just for testing, but also ensures you are actually familiar with the device you are working on.
|
|
|
|
|
Cisco Routers |
|
|
|
|
|
Cisco Switches |
|
|
|
|
|
