Number systems and Conversion

Binary and hexadecimal numbers are a complete mystery for many of us. Often we don't find it really interesting because on the internet there are plenty of "subnet" or "binary" calculators where you can easily calculate from decimal to binary to hexadecimal or the other way around, without knowing...

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VLANs (Virtual LANs) - Part 2

Port-based VLANs In the previos post (VLANs), we simply stated that the network is split up into sets of virtual LANs. It is one thing to say this; it is quite another thing to understand how this is actually achieved. Fundamentally, the act of creating a VLAN on a switch involves defining a set...

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VLANs (Virtual LANs)

What is a VLAN? In simple terms, a VLAN (Virtual LAN) is a set of workstations within a LAN that can communicate with each other as though they were on a single, isolated LAN. Question: What does it mean to say that they "communicate with each other as though they were on a single, isolated...

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Domain Name System (DNS)

         The Domain Name System (DNS) is one of the most important components of Internet infrastructure. If DNS unavailable, you'll have difficulty finding resources on the Internet and, likewise, others will be unable to find you. That's because DNS is...

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Network Address Translation (NAT)

         This section explains Network Address Translation (NAT). NAT is also known as IP masquerading. It provides a mapping between internat IP addresses and officially assigned external addresses.        Originally, NAT...

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Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)

          Every computer or device that connects to the Internet or to an IP network needs an IP address. Most users do not have the expertise to configure an IP address, subnet mask, and gateway. In addition, whenever a computer changes its location...

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Internet Protocol (IP)

           In the good old days back when Ben Kenobi was still called Obi Wan Kenobi, there was a wonderful network routing system called The Internet Protocol Version 4, also called IPv4. It had addresses made up of four bytes (four octets),...

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