Network Components

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 1
Network Components
Host Roles
Every computer on a network is
called a host or end device.
Servers are computers that provide
information to end devices:
• email servers
• web servers Server Description
Type
• file server
Email Email server runs email server software.
Clients are computers that send Clients use client software to access email.
requests to the servers to retrieve
Web Web server runs web server software.
information: Clients use browser software to access web pages.
• web page from a web server
• email from an email server File File server stores corporate and user files.
The client devices access these files.
© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 2
Network Components
Peer-to-Peer
It is possible to have a device be a client and a server in a Peer-to-Peer Network. This type of
network design is only recommended for very small networks.

Advantages Disadvantages
Easy to set up No centralized administration
Less complex Not as secure
Lower cost Not scalable

Used for simple tasks: transferring files and Slower performance

sharing printers
© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 3
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 4
Network Components
Intermediary Network Devices
An intermediary device interconnects end devices. Examples include switches, wireless
access points, routers, and firewalls.
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 in the network.
• Notify other devices of errors and communication failures.

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 5
Network Components
Network Media
Communication across a network is carried through a medium which allows a message to
travel from source to destination.

Media Types Description

Metal wires within cables Uses electrical impulses

Glass or plastic fibers Uses pulses of light.

within cables (fiber-optic
cable)

Wireless transmission Uses modulation of

specific frequencies of
electromagnetic waves.

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 6
Network Representations and Topologies
Network Representations

Network diagrams, often called topology

diagrams, use symbols to represent
devices within the network.
Important terms to know include:
• Network Interface Card (NIC)
• Physical Port
• Interface

Note: Often, the terms port and

interface are used interchangeably

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 7
Network Representations and Topologies
Topology Diagrams
Physical topology diagrams illustrate the Logical topology diagrams illustrate devices,
physical location of intermediary devices and ports, and the addressing scheme of the
cable installation. network.

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 8
Common Types of Networks
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
Small Home SOHO • 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

Medium/Large World Wide

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 9
Common Types of Networks
LANs and WANs
Network infrastructures vary greatly in
terms of:
• Size of the area covered
• Number of users connected
• Number and types of services
available
• Area of responsibility

Two most common types of networks:

• Local Area Network (LAN)
• Wide Area Network (WAN).

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 10
Common Types of Networks
LANs and WANs (cont.)
A LAN is a network infrastructure that spans A WAN is a network infrastructure that spans
a small geographical area. a wide geographical area.

LAN WAN
Interconnect end devices in a limited area. Interconnect LANs over wide geographical areas.
Administered by a single organization or Typically administered by one or more service
individual. providers.
Provide high-speed bandwidth to internal Typically provide slower speed links between LANs.
devices.

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 11
Common Types of Networks
Intranets and Extranets

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 12
Reliable Networks

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 13
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 14
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 15
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 16
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 17
Reliable Network There are two main types of network
Network Security security that must be addressed:
• Network infrastructure security
• Physical security of network devices
• Preventing unauthorized access to
the 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 18
Network Security

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 19
Network Security
Security Threats • Network security is an integral
part of networking regardless of
the size of the network.
• The network security that is
implemented must take into
account the environment while
securing the data, but still
allowing for quality of service that
is expected of the network.
• Securing a network involves
many protocols, technologies,
devices, tools, and techniques in
order to secure data and mitigate
threats.
• Threat vectors might be external
or internal.
© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 20
Network Security
External Threats:
Security Threats (Cont.)
• Viruses, worms, and Trojan
horses
• Spyware and adware
• Zero-day attacks
• Threat Actor attacks
• Denial of service attacks
• Data interception and theft
• Identity theft

Internal Threats:
• lost or stolen devices
• accidental misuse by employees
• malicious employees
© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 21
Network Security
Security Solutions
Security must be implemented in multiple
layers using more than one security solution.
Network security components for home or
small office network:
• Antivirus and antispyware software
should be installed on end devices.
• Firewall filtering used to block
unauthorized access to the network.

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 22
Network Security
Security Solutions (Cont.)

Larger networks have additional security

requirements:
• Dedicated firewall system
• Access control lists (ACL)
• Intrusion prevention systems (IPS)
• Virtual private networks (VPN)
The study of network security starts with a clear
understanding of the underlying switching and
routing infrastructure.

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 23
Module 1
New Terms and Commands
• Peer-to-Peer File Sharing • Logical topology diagram • Network bandwidth
• Small Office/Home Office or • Local Area Network (LAN) • Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)
SOHO • Wide Area Network (WAN) • Collaboration
• Medium to large network • Internet • Cloud computing
• Server • Intranet • Private clouds
• Client • Extranet • Hybrid clouds
• Peer-to-Peer network • Internet Service Provider (ISP) • Public clouds
• End device • Converged networks • Custom clouds
• Intermediary device • Network architecture • Data center
• Medium • Fault tolerant network • Smart home technology
• Network Interface Card (NIC) • Packet-switched network • Powerline networking
• Physical Port • Circuit-switched network • Wireless Internet Service
• Interface • Scalable network Provider (WISP)
• Physical topology diagram • Quality of Service (Qos) • Network architecture

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 24