Network Fundamentals: Top Picks
Network Fundamentals
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…
Network Fundamentals
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…
Network Fundamentals
Measuring Network Performance: Test Network Throu…
Measuring network performance has always been a difficult and unclear task, mainly because most engineers and administrators are unsure which approac…
Network Fundamentals
Introduction To Networking
A network is simply a group of two or more Personal Computers linked together. Many types of networks exist, but the most common types of networks ar…
Featured Subcategories:
Netflow Articles:
Netflow
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
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
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…
Netflow
Bandwidth Detective: Uncover Hidden Traffic and E…
In this article, we explore the core principles of bandwidth management and examine how modern network monitoring technologies can assist in maintain…
Network Protocols:
Subnetting
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…
TCP - UDP Protocol Analysis
TCP Header Anaylsis - Section 2: TCP Sequence & A…
This page will closely examine the Sequence and Acknowledgement numbers. The very purpose of their existence is related directly to the fact that the…
TCP - UDP Protocol Analysis
TCP Header Anaylsis - Section 1: TCP Source & Des…
This section contains one of the most well-known fields in the TCP header, the Source and Destination port numbers. These fields are used to specify…
TCP - UDP Protocol Analysis
TCP Header Anaylsis - Section 3: TCP Header Lengt…
The third field under close examination is the TCP Header length. There really isn't that much to say about the Header length other than to explain w…
Domain Name System (DNS)
The DNS Protocol - Part 4: DNS Response Message F…
The previous article covered the DNS Query message formats. In the article we analysed them in great detail and showed how various options are select…
Supernetting & CIDR
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…
Supernetting & CIDR
Supernetting In-Depth Analysis - Learn to Identif…
Our previous article served as an introduction to Supernetting, also known as Route Summarization. We covered the concept of Supernetting, how it wor…
TCP - UDP Protocol Analysis
TCP Header Anaylsis - Section 7: TCP Data Payload…
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 TC…
STP/ICMP Protocols:
ICMP Protocol
ICMP Protocol - Part 5: Source Quench Message Ana…
The ICMP - Source Quench message is one that can be generated by either a gateway or host. You won't see any such message pop up on your workstation…
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 (be…
Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)
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
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…
Wi-Fi Key Generator
Follow Firewall.cx
Recommended Downloads
Cisco Password Crack
Decrypt Cisco Type-7 Passwords on the fly!
VLAN Networks
VLAN Tagging - Understanding VLANs Ethernet Frames
We mentioned that Trunk Links are designed to pass frames (packets) from all VLANs, allowing us to connect multiple switches together and independently co…
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 overhe…
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 t…
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', 'Stati…
Routing
Hybrid Routing Protocols - Advantages and Disadvantage…
Hybrid routing protocols are a combination of distance-vector and link-state routing protocols, and are used to provide a more efficient and scalabl…
Routing
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
Distance Vector Routing Protocols
Distance Vector routing protocols use frequent broadcasts (255.255.255.255 or FF:FF:FF:FF) of their entire routing table every 30 sec. on all their interf…
Routing
OSPF - Part 5: Analysis of OSPF Link State Update (LSU…
This article explains how OSPF uses Link State Advertisement (LSA) to exchange information about the network topology between routers. When a router recei…
Network Address Translation - NAT
Dynamic NAT - Part 1
Dynamic NAT is the second NAT mode we're going to talk about. Dynamic NAT, like Static NAT, is not that common in smaller networks but you'll find it used…
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 us…
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 the…
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 h…





