Speaker 1: Ready to dive into the world of networking. Today, we're
Speaker 1: tackling Mike Myers Comtia Network Plus Guide to Managing and
Speaker 1: Troubleshooting Networks, sixth edition.
Speaker 2: Oh a classic and for good reason.
Speaker 1: It really is. And you know what makes it even better,
Speaker 1: the author, Jonathan S. Weisman, talk about a legend forty
Speaker 1: four certifications.
Speaker 2: Wow, forty four that's impressive.
Speaker 1: Right, We're talking Cisco's CCMP Enterprise, Comtia Network Plus, Ya,
Speaker 1: you name it.
Speaker 2: He's even in the IPv six Forms Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2: That's how good he is.
Speaker 1: Exactly, so you know this book is the real deal.
Speaker 1: Imagine this, You've just finished your IT training and land
Speaker 1: a job as a desktop support specialist nice at JSW,
Speaker 1: a mid size IT consulting firm.
Speaker 2: Great place to get your hands dirty with all sorts
Speaker 2: of network setups. You'd learn a lot there.
Speaker 1: For sure, diverse clients, real world problems, you'd experience it all, and.
Speaker 2: We're better to start than with the OSI model. Sounds scary,
Speaker 2: but it's just a roadmap for how networks talk to
Speaker 2: each other.
Speaker 1: It's like sending letter. Actually, each layer of the OSI
Speaker 1: model is like a step in the postal system.
Speaker 2: Okay, I see where you're going with this.
Speaker 1: So you write the letter. That's the application layer, like
Speaker 1: your email, you format it and put it in an
Speaker 1: envelope that is like the presentation layer, and so on
Speaker 1: until the physical layer, where those bits are actually flying
Speaker 1: across the wires, just like your mail carrier driving to
Speaker 1: the destination.
Speaker 2: And the book gives some good real world examples for
Speaker 2: each layer, like m mass addresses. Those are on the
Speaker 2: data link layer. They're like return addresses for your devices.
Speaker 1: Oh, that's a good way to put it. And then
Speaker 1: there's the network layer with the IP addresses, right, those
Speaker 1: are essential.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, like the street address for your data packets.
Speaker 1: So everything works together to make sure that data gets
Speaker 1: where it needs to go precisely. Speaking of the Internet,
Speaker 1: the book mentions a documentary NERDS two point zero point one,
Speaker 1: a Brief History of the Internet.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I think I've heard of that one from
Speaker 2: the nineties.
Speaker 1: Right, nineteen ninety eight to be exact. You can find
Speaker 1: it on the Internet Archive.
Speaker 2: Nice, might have to check that out.
Speaker 1: It's supposed to be a fascinating look at the early
Speaker 1: days of the Internet.
Speaker 2: Definitely worth a watch.
Speaker 1: Then now let's talk speed Ethernet speed.
Speaker 2: It's gone crazy fast, right, it's mind blowing. We've gone
Speaker 2: from ten melvps to eight hundred gbps. It's incredible.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and they're even talking about a one point six
Speaker 1: tvps standard soon.
Speaker 2: It's insane. But for now, let's stick with what's common.
Speaker 2: Gigabit ethernet. That's what you're likely to be working with.
Speaker 1: Right. Let's say you need to design a network for
Speaker 1: a new office building. Gigabit ethernet is the way to go.
Speaker 1: But it's not as straightforward as it sounds.
Speaker 2: No, not at all. You've got options, different tips of
Speaker 2: gigabit ethernet, each with its own use case. Like what, well,
Speaker 2: there's a thousand base T your standard copper cable setup,
Speaker 2: good for most offices.
Speaker 1: Okay, it makes sense.
Speaker 2: Then you've got a thousand base LX that's your long
Speaker 2: distance runner fiber optic cables, perfect for connecting buildings across
Speaker 2: a campus.
Speaker 1: So fiber for longer distances.
Speaker 2: Exactly, and for shorter distances often used in data centers,
Speaker 2: there's one thousand base SX also fiber.
Speaker 1: Got it. So it's about choosing the right tool for
Speaker 1: the job basically.
Speaker 2: Exactly distance, number of devices budget for those network interface
Speaker 2: cards and ICs. Yeah, they're what let your computers connect
Speaker 2: to the network.
Speaker 1: Right, of course, so many factors to consider. It's like a.
Speaker 2: Puzzle, it is, and that's part of what makes networking
Speaker 2: so interesting. But let's move on to the glue that
Speaker 2: holds it all together. The TCPIP protocol suite.
Speaker 1: The language of the Internet. Right. It's been around forever,
Speaker 1: it seems. Why is it still so important?
Speaker 2: Because it's what makes the Internet work. Email streaming, everything
Speaker 2: online relies on TCPIP.
Speaker 1: Wow, I hadn't thought of it that way.
Speaker 2: And at the heart of it all IP addresses your
Speaker 2: data's home address, like.
Speaker 1: How the postal service needs an address to deliver mail,
Speaker 1: makes sense exactly.
Speaker 2: And understanding these addresses, how they're structured, the different classes
Speaker 2: and subnetting that's key.
Speaker 1: Subnetting that sounds a little intimidating.
Speaker 2: It's not as bad as it sounds. Think of it
Speaker 2: like this. You've got a big office building and you
Speaker 2: need to divide it into departments, each with its own
Speaker 2: set of office numbers. Subnetting's kind of like that. You're
Speaker 2: taking a network and dividing it into smaller subnetworks, each
Speaker 2: with its own IP address range.
Speaker 1: So it's about managing those addresses more.
Speaker 2: Efficiently, exactly. And to make things even more efficient, we
Speaker 2: have private IP addresses.
Speaker 1: Private IP addresses.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like having a separate set of addresses you
Speaker 2: use inside your home, but you still have a public
Speaker 2: address for mail. It's all about conserving those public IP
Speaker 2: addresses that everyone shares. Those are defined in a document
Speaker 2: called RFC nineteen eighteen, by the way, if you want
Speaker 2: to look it up.
Speaker 1: Interesting. So it's like an internal address system exactly.
Speaker 2: Pretty clever, right.
Speaker 1: Okay, so we've got these sub networks. They're all organized,
Speaker 1: but how do we actually see what's happening on them.
Speaker 1: It's like a highway system. You need a way to
Speaker 1: monitor the traffic.
Speaker 2: Right, you're spot on, and that's where packet sniffing comes in.
Speaker 1: Packet sniffing sounds kind of sneaky.
Speaker 2: It is a little bit like listening in on the
Speaker 2: conversations your network devices are having. But it's not about gossip.
Speaker 2: It's about data. You're seeing how your network is performing.
Speaker 1: I'm listening. Tell me more about how this packet sniffing works.
Speaker 2: So imagine a device that can see all the data
Speaker 2: packets flowing through a specific point on your network. You
Speaker 2: see where they're coming from, where they're going, even what's inside.
Speaker 2: That's packet sniffing.
Speaker 1: Wow, that's pretty powerful. Yeah, so what do you use
Speaker 1: like a special tool.
Speaker 2: There's a great tool called wire shark. It's open source,
Speaker 2: so it's free, and it's like the Swiss Army Knife
Speaker 2: of network analysis.
Speaker 1: Super versatile, Free is always good. So what can you
Speaker 1: actually do with it?
Speaker 2: Just about anything, troubleshooting problems, analyzing traffic, even detecting security threats.
Speaker 1: It's like having x ray vision into your network exactly,
Speaker 1: so we can see what's happening. But what about the
Speaker 1: protocols that make it all work? The book mentions ARP
Speaker 1: and ICMP. What are those all about?
Speaker 2: Those are the unsung heroes working behind the scenes.
Speaker 1: ARP.
Speaker 2: That's Address Resolution Protocol. It's like a directory service for
Speaker 2: your network.
Speaker 1: Like a phone book for devices.
Speaker 2: Exactly. Every device has an IP address, right, but also
Speaker 2: has a physical address m mass address tied to its
Speaker 2: network card. ARP helps devices find each other's MC addresses
Speaker 2: when they only know the IP ah.
Speaker 1: So if my computer wants to send data to another computer,
Speaker 1: it uses ARP to look up the m healz address.
Speaker 1: That's clever and ICMP.
Speaker 2: ICMP is the Internet Control Message Protocol. It's how devices
Speaker 2: send control messages and error messages to each other.
Speaker 1: So like, if there's a problem, ICMP raises the flag.
Speaker 1: You got it?
Speaker 2: Ever, use the ping command. That's ICMP in action. It
Speaker 2: uses ICMP echo requests to see if a device is
Speaker 2: responding ping.
Speaker 1: Right. I use that all the time. It's good to
Speaker 1: know what's actually happening under the hood. Speaking of things
Speaker 1: I use all the time, Thank goodness for DNS. Imagine
Speaker 1: having to remember those long, complicated IP addresses.
Speaker 2: It would be a nightmare. That's where DNS comes in
Speaker 2: the Domain Name system. It's the Internet's phone book, translating
Speaker 2: those IP addresses into nice, easy to remote domain names.
Speaker 1: So when I type in say Google dot com, DNS
Speaker 1: is what finds the actual IP address exactly.
Speaker 2: Computer sends a request to a DNS server, The server
Speaker 2: looks up the IP address for that domain name, sends
Speaker 2: it back to your computer, and boom, you're on Google.
Speaker 2: The book actually shows you how to set up a
Speaker 2: basic DNS server.
Speaker 1: Yourself, no way, your own little corner of the Internet.
Speaker 1: That's really neat. But okay, we've talked a lot about
Speaker 1: how networks work, But what about security? How do we
Speaker 1: actually keep all this data safe?
Speaker 2: That's the million dollar question these days. One thing's for sure.
Speaker 2: Passwords alone aren't.
Speaker 1: Cutting it, definitely not. You hear about data breaches all
Speaker 1: the time. So what's the next level up?
Speaker 2: Multi factor authentication MFA. It's like a second lock on
Speaker 2: your door. You need your password and something else, like
Speaker 2: a code from your phone or a security token.
Speaker 1: So even if someone gets your password, they still can't
Speaker 1: get in without that extra factor exactly.
Speaker 2: It's a simple but effective way to really boost security.
Speaker 1: Makes sense. So we've covered a lot of ground here.
Speaker 1: The osimodel ethernet IP addresses subnetting security. We even dipped
Speaker 1: our toes into virtualization and cloud computing. That's a lot.
Speaker 2: It's a lot to take in, for sure, But the
Speaker 2: key takeaway is that networking is the backbone of well
Speaker 2: pretty much everything these.
Speaker 1: Days, and like any backbone, it's made up of all
Speaker 1: these interconnected parts, each with its own important job.
Speaker 2: And the cool thing is it's always evolving.
Speaker 1: That's true, there's always something new to learn in the
Speaker 1: world of networking.
Speaker 2: This deep dive was really just the beginning. We've given
Speaker 2: you a foundation but there's a whole universe of knowledge
Speaker 2: out there to explore.
Speaker 1: The book has a ton of hands on labs that's
Speaker 1: a great way to really solidify what you've learned.
Speaker 2: Absolutely think of it like a networking playground, safe to
Speaker 2: experiment and try things out exactly.
Speaker 1: And don't forget all those online resources we mentioned. There's
Speaker 1: so much information available.
Speaker 2: It's all about staying curious and never stop learning.
Speaker 1: Well said, So for all you listeners out there, consider
Speaker 1: this your official invitation to the exciting world of networking.
Speaker 2: Whether you're just starting out or you're a season pro,
Speaker 2: there's always something new to discover.
Speaker 1: And with that, until next time, happy networking,