More and more of today’s information is transported over IP-based communication networks. Using the latest technology solutions, IP networks and internets provide benefits such as standardized functions, applications and routing that support reliable information flow over networks of any size or extent. This three-day TCP/IP Networking Essentials course logically and quickly provides a comprehensive knowledge base in this ubiquitous network environment. Discussions include all aspects of TCP/IP fundamentals, design and deployment of IP solutions, application support, testing and troubleshooting and common internetwork elements such as addressing, routing, HTTP, email, DNS, FTP, NAT and Telnet.

• Prerequisites: a basic familiarity with data communication networks
• Non-technical personnel who wish to understand the benefits, features, business case, terminology and concepts used TCP/IP networks and acquire the knowledge required for sound planning and decision making. For example: line and staff managers, contract and personnel supervisors and marketing, sales, purchasing and finance specialists
• Technical personnel will develop a detailed understanding of functions, fundamental challenges and technology implementations associated with practical TCP/IP-based networks (LANs and internetworks). For example: technical staff and managers, engineers, technicians, system administrators and analysts and help-desk personnel.

• The underlying concepts of TCP/IP networks and the protocol architecture
• The structure and importance of IP addresses, addressing, DHCP and NAT
• Design, implementation and management issues as well as the various techniques and strategies available in IP environments
• To manage realistic implementations of IP networks and internetworks
• What routers do and the mechanisms of IP routing over LANs, intranets and internets
• How TCP and UDP support common network applications and services
• Common tips and best practices for implementing and troubleshooting IP networks

After this training participants will be able to:

• Understand basic terminology and concepts and take the lead in networking discussions
• Compare and contrast the features, functions, benefits and challenges of IP-based networks with alternatives
• Match communication requirements with well-designed TCP/IP or UDP/IP solutions
• Participate in or manage all aspects of IP based networking from planning through design, installation, maintenance, upgrading and troubleshooting
• Identify when and how to test TCP/IP networks and devices
• Explain how FTP, email, DNS, telnet, HTTP provide useful functionality and service
• Stay current as IP evolves to even better application support and to IP version 6

The Business Case for TCP/IP Networking

• Where did TCP/IP come from?
• Why use TCP/IP?
• Who provides, oversees and advances TCP/IP?

• Packet-switching and circuit-switching networks
• Quality of service requirements of stream and bursty applications
• The OSI and TCP/IP layered architectures
• Networks and internetworks; hosts and routers

• Functions of the network layer: datagram service
• Packet size, the MTU and fragmentation
• Packet headers, fields and functions
• Address classes and classless addressing
• Networks, subnets and subnet masks
• ICMP control and error messaging
• Testing and troubleshooting with ping, traceroute and pathping utilities

• Point-to-point protocol: PPP and SLIP
• TCP/IP over Ethernet 
• Address resolution using ARP and RARP
• Error detection and frame discard
• Using protocol analysis and analyzers

• The functions of an IP router
• Routing tables and routes: static and dynamic
• Comparing distance vector and link-state routing 
• Network Address Translation (NAT)
• Overview of common routing protocols such as RIP, OSPF, IGRP, BGRP

• End-to-end flow control and error recovery
• Application interfaces: sockets & ports
• TCP segmentation and sequence numbers
• Connections for reliable data communication, the three-way handshake
• TCP acknowledgements, retransmissions and flow control
• TCP headers, fields and functions
• When simpler is better: benefits and functionality of UDP

• Manual vs dynamic configuration
• Benefits and operation of DHCP and BOOTP
• Microsoft TCP/IP configuration: hosts, servers and routers
• Naming services, hosts files and WINS
• The Domain Name System: servers, clients, utilities
• Overview of Internet directory services: LDAP, X.500

• Telnet
• File transfer: FTP, TFTP, NFS, RPC
• Email essentials: SMTP, POP3, IMAP4, MIME, S/MIME
• Addressing and routing of Internet mail

• The architecture of the Internet and WWW
• Domains and principles of the WWW : 
• Essentials of URLs, HTML and HTTP
• Security introduction: S-HTTP and SSL
• Web enhancements, for example ActiveX, JavaScript, Servlets, CGI, XML

• Introduction to voice over IP
• QoS and multimedia enhancements
• Introduction to IP version 6 

• Quality of Service challenges and evolving solutions such as DiffServ and MPLS
• IP telephony and video-conferencing 
• Multimedia transports: RVSP, RSTP and RTP
• Principles of multicasting 

• Overview of SNMP the protocol
• MIBs and messages dissected
• Common functions and implementations of a network management station
• Comparing SNMP versions 1, 2 and 3

• Common hacker attacks and mal-ware
• Features and functions of firewalls: simple packet filtering and NAT
• Robust firewalls: Stateful Inspection, Circuit Level Gateway, Proxy server
• Where is the De-Militarized Zone (DMZ)? 
• Overview of HTTPS, SSL and TLS
• User authentication overview: TACACS, RADIUS and Kerberos 
• Introduction to IPSEC and VPNs