Fundamentals of Networking and the Internet

At the end of this course you will be able to:

• Describe the origins of the Internet and the key bodies and individuals responsible for its creation and upkeep
• Describe how machines communicate and exchange data
• Describe different networking technologies, such as Ethernet, Routers, Switches, Hubs, NAT, ARP, DHCP
• Understand the major networking protocols such as TCP, IP, SMTP, POP3, HTTP and more
• Describe Internet topology including IP Transit, Peering, Tiered networking, Autonomous Systems

There are no prerequisites for this course.

The course is split into a number of key sections, each one focusing on a topic relating to networking and the Internet.

Part 1 - Background on the Internet

The first section examines the development of Networking and the Internet and some of the key people involved. This section also looks at the organisational bodies responsible for the running of the Internet.

Part 2 - Network Communications: The Basics

The second section concentrates on the basics of network communications with a brief overview of the 7-layer OSI networking model before examining how devices communicate.

Technologies discussed here include Ethernet, NICs, MAC addresses, IP addresses (both IPv4 & IPv6), NAT, DNS, Hubs, Switches and Routers. Delegates will get hands-on experience of networking by using command-line utilities such as IPCONFIG, TRACERT, NSLOOKUP and NETSTAT along with other tools such as WHOIS.

Part 3 - Introduction to networking protocols

The third section is dedicated to higher-level networking protocols such as SMTP, POP3, IMAP, FTP, HTTP and VoIP.

Part 4 - How the internet is connected

The fourth section examines how the Internet is connected - it's topology - and includes the differences between IP Transit and Peering and looks at the tiered structure of Network providers, Autonomous Systems, and Internet Exchanges.

Delegates will get a chance to examine some network data via the peeringdb.com website