CompTIA Network+ Certification Guide

The ultimate guide to passing the N10-007 exam

Glen D. Singh, Rishi Latchmepersad

• Publisher: Packt Publishing
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781789349719
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Certification Guides in Computer Science
• Index: Computer Science

This is a practical certification guide covering all the exam topics in an easy-to-follow manner backed with self-assessment scenarios for better preparation.

Key Features

• A step-by-step guide to give you a clear understanding of the Network+ Certification
• Learn about network architecture, protocols, security, and network troubleshooting
• Confidently ace the N10-007 exam with the help of practice tests

Book Description

CompTIA certified professionals have always had the upper hand in the information technology industry. This book will be your ideal guide to efficiently passing and achieving this certification. Learn from industry experts and implement their practices to resolve complex IT issues.

This book revolves around networking concepts where readers will learn topics like network architecture, security, network monitoring, and troubleshooting. This book will not only prepare the readers conceptually but will also help them pass the N10-007 exam. This guide will also provide practice exercise after every chapter where readers can ensure their concepts are clear.

By the end of this book, readers will leverage this guide and the included practice questions to boost their confidence in appearing for the actual certificate.

What you will learn

• Explain the purpose of a variety of networking concepts and implement them appropriately
• Understand physical security and common attacks while securing wired and wireless networks
• Understand the fundamentals of IPv4 and IPv6
• Determine and explain the appropriate cabling, device, and storage technologies
• Understand network troubleshooting methodology and appropriate tools to support connectivity and performance
• Use best practices to manage the network, determine policies, and ensure business continuity

Who this book is for

This book is ideal for readers wanting to pass the CompTIA Network+ certificate. Rookie network engineers and system administrators interested in enhancing their networking skills would also benefit from this book. No Prior knowledge on networking would be needed.

Understanding IPv4 and IPv6

In any network, Internet Protocol (IP) addressing is needed to ensure that data is sent to the correct recipient or device. Imagine you're writing a letter (data) to a friend. When you've finished writing, you decide to enclose it in an envelope (encapsulation) with your friend's mailing address (addressing information). This is the typical procedure for sending a letter before dropping it off at the local postal office (network). Most importantly, the addressing information you've written on the envelope must be put into a particular format to ensure that the postal service company (network devices) are able to deliver it to the appropriate destination.

On a TCP/IP network, the process is similar. Each device on a network has a unique IP address (compared to a mailing address). In this chapter, we will be covering the following topics:

• Converting binary to decimal and vice versa
• Understanding IPv4 and IPv6 protocol structure
• Classes of IP addresses
• Types of transmissions in IPv4 and IPv6
• Special IP addresses
• Subnetting
• Configuring an IP address on various devices

Let's begin!

One of the many questions you may have is, who created the IP addressing scheme and how is it regulated? To provide a better insight and help you understand this, we will discuss a few governing bodies with their functions and responsibilities on the internet.

Both IP versions 4 and 6 address schemes are managed by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). They governed the uses of the Domain Name System (DNS) root directory services, IP versions 4 and 6, and many other internet protocols (some of which were mentioned in Chapter 2, Network Ports, Protocols, and Topologies). The IPv4 scheme was deployed on January 1, 1983. Most of the internet that we know today is based on the IPv4 addressing scheme and is still the predominant method of communication on both the internet and private networks. IPv6 was deployed not too long after; this occurred in 1999.

IANA has developed two separate address spaces for IPv4, and these are known as the public and the private address spaces. The public IPv4 address space, defined as RFC 1466, has approximately 4 billion public IPv4 addresses. At the time of development, 4 billion was a huge number, but with the advancement of technology, networks are growing exponentially to accommodate smart devices and other appliances that require internet access. It soon exhausted the IPv4 public address space in almost every region globally.

Whenever an Internet Service Provider (ISP) needs to obtain an address block, the ISP goes to a Regional Internet Registry (RIR). There are five RIRs globally, and each manages the IP address schemes for a different region of the world. The following are the five RIR of the world:

• African Network Information Centre (AFRINIC): Covers the continent of Africa
• Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC): Covers the regions of Asia and the Pacific
• American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN): Covers Canada, USA, and part of the Caribbean
• Latin American and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry (LACNIC): Covers Latin America and part of the Caribbean
• Réseaux IP Européens Network Coordination Centre (RIPE NCC): Covers Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia

Each RIR is assigned blocks of IP addresses for distribution to ISPs or other large organizations.

To get further information on the assignments of IPv4 address allocation, you can visit https://www.iana.org/assignments/ipv4-address-space/ipv4-address-space.xhtml.

Later in this chapter, we'll dive further into the characteristics and features of IP version 6, such as its structure in comparison to an IPv4 packet, and the types of IPv6 transmissions and addresses with its subnet masks.

IPv4 concepts

In this section, we will focus on IP version 4. As mentioned earlier, electronic devices are able to send and receive electrical signals. The operating systems on network devices and components are able to interrupt these signals, whether it's a high voltage such as a 1 or a low voltage such as a 0. So, why do we need to understand this piece of information? We need to understand how devices communicate on the physical layer. As we've already mentioned, it does this in the form of electrical signals. Computers and other network-related components reassemble these electrical signals into data and process them so that they create information. This information is represented as ones (1s) and zeros (0s) to the computer system, but to we humans, we may see a file such as a document, music file, video file, and so on.

These electrical signals can further be represented as an IP address. As defined by the IANA, an IPv4 address is made of 32-bits. These bits are either a 1 or a 0. For every 8-bits of numbers, there is a period or dot (.) to separate it. These 8-bits are known as an octet. Therefore, there are four octets in a single IPv4 address.

Converting binary into decimal

Let's take a further ...