Networking for Small Businesses

Students completing this course should be able to:

• Explain the importance of data networks and the Internet in supporting business communications and everyday activities
• Examine human versus network communication and see the parallels between them Explain how communication works in data networks and the Internet
• Describe and understand the use of the devices and services used to support communications in data networks and the Internet.
• Explain the role of protocols in data networks
• Discover the types of media used to carry data across the network, and select which media type should be used in various small business network scenarios
• Employ basic cabling and network designs to connect devices in accordance with stated objectives
• Understand, compare and contrast the two major models used to plan and implement networks: OSI and TCP/IP
• Gain an understanding of the "layered" approach to networks and how it is applied
• Understand, describe and evaluate the importance of addressing and naming schemes at various layers of data networks in IPv4 environments
• Understand and implement basic IPv4 addressing.
• Explain the fundamental concepts of routing
• Explain fundamental Ethernet concepts such as media, addressing, and operations
• Identify and define common application layer protocols such as HTTP, Domain Name System (DNS), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), and FTP and peer-to-peer file sharing services and analyze and explain their operations and features and purposes.
• Verify network status and switch operation using basic utilities such as ping, traceroute, Telnet, Secure Shell (SSH), Address Resolution Protocol (ARP), and ipconfig, as well as the show and debug commands.
• Identify, prescribe, and resolve common switched network media issues, configuration issues, auto negotiation, and switch hardware failures
• Manage Cisco IOS® Software
• Manage Cisco IOS configuration files (save, edit, upgrade, and restore)
• Describe standards associated with wireless media, such as IEEE WI-FI Alliance and ITU/FCC
• Identify and describe the purpose of the components in a small wireless network, such as Service Set Identification (SSID), Basic Service Set (BSS), and Extended Service Set (ESS)
• Identify basic configuration parameters on a wireless network to ensure that devices connect to the correct access points
• Compare and contrast Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) security features and capabilities of open, Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP), and WPA-1/2 networks
• Describe common wireless-network implementation issues such as interference and misconfiguration