Network Fundamentals: Top Picks
Network Broadcast
The term "Broadcast" is used very frequently in the networking world . You will see it in most networking books and articles, or see it happening on…
Introduction to Content Switching - Application &…
Content switches (also sometimes called application switches) is a class of network device that is becoming increasingly common in medium to large si…
Need for Speed – The Data Tsunami & Advancements…
A long-long time ago (not long ago in earth time) 100 Mbps was THE technology. 100 Mbps uplinks bundled with ether-channel was the ultimate uplink te…
The Importance of a Network Analyzer – Packet Sni…
Network Analyzers, also known as Packet Sniffers, are amongst the most popular network tools found inside any Network Engineer’s toolkit. A Network A…
Featured Subcategories:
Netflow Articles:
NetFlow Analyzer: Free Download, Step-by-Step Ins…
In our previous article we explained how a Netflow Analyzer can help you gain visibility into your user traffic, application traffic and data flows w…
Netflow vs SNMP. Two Different Approaches to Netw…
SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) and Netflow are both popular protocols with admins, prized for their ability to give visibility over the ne…
Complete Guide to Netflow: How Netflow & its Comp…
This article will cover the basics of Netflow, including its use cases, Netflow supported devices, Netflow history, and variants. We’ll also dive int…
Netflow: Monitor Bandwidth & Network Utilization…
Monitoring network traffic & bandwidth usage via Netflow is mandatory for any type and size network. Gaining visibility into user traffic, applic…
Network Protocols:
IP Subnetting - Part 3: Subnet Mask Bits & Analys…
So we have covered to some depth the subnetting topic, but there is still much to learn ! We are going to explain here the available subnet masks and…
IP Protocol - Part 2: The Internet Protocol (IP)…
This article examines the Internet Protocol (IP) and its position within the OSI Model. We take a look at the IP Header and all fields contained with…
What is Supernetting (Route Summarization) & How…
Supernetting is the opposite of of subnetting, and is also known as route aggregation or CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing). Supernetting is a tec…
IP Subnetting - Part 4: Routing Between Subnets
Routing and Communication between subnets is the main topic here. This article analyses communications between subnets. We provide examples on differ…
TCP Header Anaylsis - Section 5: TCP Window Size…
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 tr…
TCP Header Anaylsis - Section 6: TCP Options
The TCP Options (MSS, Window Scaling, Selective Acknowledgements, Timestamps, Nop) are located at the end of the TCP Header which is also why they ar…
Transmission Control Protocol - Part 4: In-Depth…
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 move…
TCP Header Anaylsis - Section 4: TCP Flag Options
As we have seen in the previous pages, some TCP segments carry data while others are simple acknowledgements for previously received data. The popula…
STP/ICMP Protocols:
ICMP Protocol - Part 2: Echo / Echo Reply (Ping)…
As mentioned in the previous page, an Echo is simply what we networking engineers call a 'ping'. The Echo Reply is, as most would guess, the 'p…
Spanning Tree Protocol – Part 3: Bridge ID, Prior…
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 P…
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 (be…
Spanning Tree Protocol – Part 1: Understand STP P…
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, stu…
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VLANs - IEEE 802.1q Trunk Link Protocol Analysis
While the VLAN Tagging article briefly covered the IEEE 802.1q protocol this article will continue building upon it by further analyzing the IEEE 802.1q T…
The VLAN Concept - Introduction to VLANs
We hear about them everywhere, vendors around the world are constantly trying to push them into every type of network and as a result, the Local Area Netw…
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 overhe…
VLAN InterSwitch Link (ISL) Protocol Analysis
Deciding whether to use ISL or IEEE 802.1q to power your trunk links can be quite confusing if you cannot identify the advantages and disadvantages of eac…
The IP Routing Process - Step-by-Step Analysis
We are going to analyse what happens when routing occurs on a network (IP routing process). When I was new to the networking area, I thought that all you…
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 o…
OSPF - Part 1: Introduction, OSPF Packet Structure, OS…
Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) is a popular routing protocol developed for Internet Protocol (IP) networks by the Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) working…
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 and…