Lesson 9

In this module, you learned about some basic but important considerations when designing a TCP/IP solution for your network. You saw that there are several important principles and concepts that need to be applied when architecting a TCP/IP solution.
You saw how TCP/IP design can significantly impact the performance of the network, and that a poorly designed solution can bring the network to a slow crawl. In the design, you need to consider the number of hosts, the number of subnets, private vs. public IP addresses, Internet access needs, and how many and what types of network devices you need to support your network.
Now that you have completed this module, you should be able to:

1. Define the components of TCP/IP protocol suite
2. Define decisions that influence the design of a TCP/IP solution
3. Define the features of TCP/IP and their functionality
4. Define the elements utilized in TCP/IP design
5. Define the IP addressing schemes available in private networks
6. Determine the number of hosts per subnet and number of subnets
7. Define configuration methodologies used by network hosts

Here are a few terms that might be new to you:

The TCP/IP protocol suite allows computers of all sizes, from many different computer vendors, running totally different operating systems, to communicate with each other. It is quite amazing because its use has far exceeded its original estimates. What started in the late 1960s as a government-financed research project into packet switching networks has, in the 1990s, turned into the most widely used form of networking between computerrs. It is truly an open system in that the definition of the protocol suite and many of its implementations are publicly available at little or no charge. It forms the basis for what is called the worldwide Internet, or the Internet, a wide area network (WAN) of more than one million computers that literally spans the globe.

Networking protocols are normally developed in layers, with each layer responsible for a different facet of the communications. A protocol suite, such as TCP/IP, is the combination of different protocols at various layers. TCP/IP is normally considered to be a 4-layer system, as shown in Figure 3.9.

Each layer has a different responsibility.

Open Systems Interconnection (OSI): A framework designed by the International Standards Organization for which new network protocols to based themselves. The next module examines creating a secure TCP/IP solution.

Click the Quiz link below to assess your understanding of configuring with TCP/IP.
TCP/IP-Solution - Quiz