Chapter 3

Networking Media and Internetworking Devices

Network Cabling
• majority of networks today are connected by some sort of wiring or
cabling that acts as a network transmission medium that carries
signals between computers.
• Though there are so many cables, only three major groups of cabling
connect the majority of networks:
• Twisted-pair (unshielded and shielded) cable
• Coaxial cable
• Fiber-optic cable
Twisted-Pair Cable
• consists of two insulated strands of copper wire twisted around each
other.
• There are two types of twisted-pair cable: unshielded twisted-pair
(UTP) and shielded twisted-pair (STP) cable.
• twisting cancels out electrical noise from adjacent pairs and from
other sources such as motors, relays, and transformers.
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 Unshielded Twisted-Pair (UTP) Cable
• using the 10BaseT specification, is the most popular type of
twisted-pair cable.
• It is the most popular LAN cabling.
• The maximum cable length segment is 100 meters, about 328
feet.
• Traditional UTP cable consists of two insulated copper wires.
• The 568A Commercial Building Wiring Standard of the
Electronic Industries Association and the Telecommunications
Industries Association (EIA/TIA) specifies the type of UTP cable

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 These standards include seven categories of UTP:
Category 1 - refers to traditional UTP telephone cable that can
carry voice but not data transmissions. Consists of two twisted
pairs of copper wires.
Category 2 - certifies UTP cable for data transmissions up to
4 megabits per second (Mbps). It consists of four twisted pairs of
copper wire.
Category 3 - certifies UTP cable for data transmissions up to 16
Mbps. It consists of four twisted pairs of copper wire with three
twists per foot.
Category 4 - certifies UTP cable for data transmissions up to 20
Mbps. It consists of four twisted pairs of copper wire.
Category 5 - certifies UTP cable for data transmissions up to 100
Mbps. It consists of four twisted pairs of copper wire.
Category 5 Enhanced (Cat 5E ) - More twists per inch than
Cat5 - supports short-run Gigabit Ethernet (1000 Mbps)
networking by utilizing all four wire pairs and is backward-
compatible with ordinary CAT5.
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 Category 6 (Cat 6) - Unlike CAT5 but like Cat5e, Cat6 utilizes all four
pairs. CAT6 supports Gigabit (1000 Mbps) Ethernet and supports
communications at more than twice the speed of CAT5e, the other
popular standard for Gigabit Ethernet cabling.
• Twisted pair cable like CAT6 comes in two main varieties, solid
and stranded. Solid CAT6 cable supports longer runs and
works best in fixed wiring configurations like office buildings.
• Stranded CAT6 cable, on the other hand, is more pliable and
better suited for shorter-distance, movable cabling such
as "patch" cables.
Category 7 (Cat 7) this category is still in the development stage
and will use a braided shield surrounding all four foil shielded
pairs to reduce noise and interference.
• Several new "Cat. 7" connectors are under Development.
(e.g.: AMP, BKS, Siemon, Telesafe, T&B)
• One potential problem with all types of cabling is crosstalk
(signals from one line interfering with signals from another
line).

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 Pros/Advantage of UTP
• It has a large installed base and is a familiar technology. (i.e.
most buildings are already wired with UTP) hence it is
available in the market
• It is relatively inexpensive and easy to install.
• It does not require grounding/bonding (process of binding
things together) no ground fault
Cons/Disadvantage UTP
• High-quality UTP systems require specialized installation
procedures.
• More susceptible to EMI, RFI, crosstalk and attenuation than
other media.
• Not recommended for LAN that requires a high level of security
because it can be tapped

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 Shielded Twisted-Pair (STP) Cable
• uses a woven copper-braid jacket that is more protective and
of a higher quality than the jacket used by UTP.
• STP also uses a foil wrap around each of the wire pairs.
• This gives STP excellent shielding to protect the transmitted
data from outside interference, which in turn allows it to
support higher transmission rates over longer distances than
UTP.

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 Pros/Advantage STP
• Provides better performance than UTP in environments with
high noise levels of unwanted electrical signals.
• Provides higher transmission rate than UTP
Cons/Disadvantage STP
• It is more labor-intensive than UTP to install.
• More expensive than UTP
• Susceptible to ground faults through the shield.
Twisted-Pair Cabling Components
Connection hardware: Twisted-pair cabling uses RJ-45 connectors
to connect to a computer.
The RJ-45 connector houses eight cable connections, while the RJ-
11 houses only four.

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 Distribution racks and rack shelves: Distribution racks and rack
shelves can create more room for cables where there isn't much
floor space. Using them is a good way to organize a network that
has a lot of connections.
Expandable patch panels: come in various versions that support
up to 96 ports and transmission speeds of up to 100 Mbps.
Jack couplers: single or double RJ-45 jacks snap into patch panels
and wall plates and support data rates of up to 100 Mbps.
Wall plates: support two or more couplers.

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 Twisted-Pair Cabling Considerations
Use twisted-pair cable if:
• Your LAN is under budget constraints.
• You want a relatively easy installation in which computer
connections are simple.
Do not use twisted-pair cable if:
• Your LAN requires a high level of security and you must be
absolutely sure of data integrity.
• You must transmit data over long distances at high speeds.

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 Types of Crimping
Crimping for creating Straight-through cables(||)
• Router to hub
• Router to switch
• Switch to PC or server
• Hub to PC or server
• Network printer to hub or switch
Crimping for creating Crossover cables (X)
• Switch to switch
• Switch to hub
• Hub to hub
• Router to router
• PC to PC
• Router to PC
Crimping for creating Rolled Cable ()
• Although rolled cable isn’t used to connect any Ethernet connections
together, you can use a rolled Ethernet cable to connect a computer
to a router for configuration.
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 Crimping standards

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 Coaxial Cable
• coaxial cable consists of a core of copper wire surrounded by
insulation, a braided metal shielding, and an outer cover.
• The term shielding refers to the woven or stranded metal
mesh (or other material) that surrounds some types of
cabling. Shielding protects transmitted data by absorbing stray
electronic signals, called noise, so that they do not get onto
the cable and distort the data.
• Cable that contains one layer of foil insulation and one layer
of braided metal shielding is referred to as dual shielded.
• Quad shielding consists of two layers of foil insulation and two
layers of braided metal shielding.

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 • The core of a coaxial cable carries the electronic signals that make
up the data. This wire core can be either solid or stranded.
• Surrounding the core is a dielectric insulating layer that separates
it from the wire mesh.
• The braided wire mesh acts as a ground and protects the core
from electrical noise and crosstalk (signal overflow from an
adjacent wire). The conducting core and the wire mesh must
always be kept separate from each other.
• If they touch, the cable will experience a short, and noise or stray
signals on the mesh will flow onto the copper wire.
• A non conducting outer shield—usually made of rubber, Teflon, or
plastic—surrounds the entire cable.
• Coaxial cable is more resistant to interference and attenuation
than twisted-pair cabling.
• Attenuation is the loss of signal strength that begins to occur as
the signal travels farther along a copper cable.
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 Types of Coaxial Cable
Thinnet Cable: is a flexible coaxial cable about 0.64 centimeters
(0.25 inches) thick.
• Because this type of coaxial cable is flexible and easy to work
with, it can be used in almost any type of network installation.
• Thinnet coaxial cable can carry a signal for a distance of up to
approximately 185 meters (about 607 feet) before the signal
starts to suffer from attenuation.
• Cable manufacturers have agreed upon specific designations
for different types of cable.
• Thinnet is included in a group referred to as the RG-58 family
and has 50ohm impedance(the resistance, measured in ohms,
to the alternating current that flows in a wire).
• The principal distinguishing feature of the RG-58 family is the
center core of copper.
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 Stranded and Solid core

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 Thicknet Cable: is a relatively rigid coaxial cable about 1.27
centimeters (0.5 inches) in diameter.
• Thicknet cable is sometimes referred to as Standard Ethernet
because it was the first type of cable used with the popular
network architecture Ethernet.
• Thicknet cable's copper core is thicker than a thinnet cable
core.
• Thicknet cable can carry a signal for 500 meters (about 1640
feet).
• because of thicknet's ability to support data transfer over
longer distances, it is sometimes used as a backbone to connect
several smaller thinnet-based networks.
• A transceiver connects the thinnet coaxial cable to the larger
thicknet coaxial cable.

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 • A transceiver designed for thicknet Ethernet includes a
connector known as a vampire tap, or a piercing tap, to make
the actual physical connection to the thicknet core.
• This connector is pierced through the insulating layer and
makes direct contact with the conducting core.
• Connection from the transceiver to the NIC is made using a
transceiver cable (drop cable) to connect to the attachment
unit interface (AUI) port connector on the card.
• An AUI port connector for thicknet is also known as a Digital
Intel Xerox (DIX) connector (named for the three companies
that developed it and its related standards) or as a DB-15
connector.

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 Thinnet vs. Thicknet Cable
• As a general rule, the thicker the cable, the more difficult it is to
work with.
• Thin cable is flexible, easy to install, and relatively inexpensive.
• Thick cable does not bend easily and is, therefore, harder to
install.
• Thick cable is more expensive than thin cable, but will carry a
signal farther.
Coaxial-Cable Connection Hardware
• Both thinnet and thicknet cable use a connection component,
known as a BNC connector, to make the connections between
the cable and the computers.
• The BNC cable connector: is either soldered or crimped to the
end of a cable.

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 Coaxial-Cabling Considerations
• Transmit voice, video, and data.
• Transmit data for greater distances than is possible with less
expensive cabling.
• Offer a familiar technology with reasonable data security.
Coax advantages
• It is less susceptible to interference than UTP (has noise-
rejection characteristics )
• Better bandwidth
• Transmit data for greater distances
• Relatively inexpensive
• Transmit voice, video, and data
Coax disadvantages
• Due to its high metallic content, coax cable is usually more
expensive than UTP
• Coaxial cable is more expensive to install than UTP
• Requires grounding/bonding (i.e. poor shield connection creates
big problem)
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 Fiber-Optic Cable
• optical fibers carry digital data signals in the form of modulated
pulses of light.
• This is a relatively safe way to send data because, unlike
copper-based cables that carry data in the form of electronic
signals, no electrical impulses are carried over the fiber-optic
cable.
• This means that fiber optic cable cannot be tapped, and its data
cannot be stolen.
• Fiber-optic cable is good for very high-speed, high-capacity
data transmission because of the purity of the signal and lack
of signal attenuation.
Fiber-Optic Cable Composition
• An optical fiber consists of an extremely thin cylinder of glass,
called the core, surrounded by a concentric layer of glass,
known as the cladding.
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 • Because each glass strand passes signals in only one direction, a
cable includes two strands in separate jackets. One strand
transmits and one receives.
• A reinforcing layer of plastic surrounds each glass strand, and
Kevlar fibers provide strength.
• The Kevlar fibers in the fiber-optic connector are placed
between the two cables. Just as their counterparts (twisted-pair
and coaxial) are, fiber-optic cables are encased in a plastic
coating for protection.
• The fibers are sometimes made of plastic. Plastic is easier to
install, but cannot carry the light pulses for as long a distance as
glass.
• Fiber-optic cable
• Fiber-optic cable transmissions are not subject to electrical
interference and are extremely fast, currently transmitting
about 100 Mbps with demonstrated rates of up to 1 gigabit per
second (Gbps). They can carry a signal—the light pulse—for
many miles. 21

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 Fiber-Optic Cabling Considerations
• Need to transmit data at very high speeds over long distances in
very secure media.
Do not use fiber-optic cable if you:
• Are under a tight budget.
• Do not have the expertise available to properly install it and connect
devices to it.
Fiber Optic Cable Connectors
• Straight Tip (ST) connector:- It is a connector that uses a mechanism
similar to the BNC connectors used by thinnet. The most popular
• Subscriber connector (SC):-are square shaped and have release
mechanisms to prevent the cable from accidentally being
unplugged

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 AWG: The Standard Cable Measurement
Cable measurements are often expressed as numbers, followed by
the initials AWG.
As the thickness of the wire increases, the AWG number
decreases.
Telephone wire has a thickness of 22 AWG. A wire of 14 AWG is
thicker than telephone wire, and wire of 26 AWG is thinner than
telephone wire.
Cabling Considerations
• Installation Logistics
• Shielding
• Crosstalk
• Transmission Rates
• Cost
• Signal Attenuation
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 Comparing the different cables

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 Wireless Networking
• Most wireless networks actually consist of wireless
components communicating with a network that uses the
cabling
Advantages of wireless networking
• Provide temporary connections to an existing cabled network.
• Help provide backup to an existing network.
• Provide some degree of portability.
• Extend networks beyond the limits of physical connectivity.
Wireless connectivity can be especially useful for networking:
• Busy locations, such as lobbies and reception areas.
• Users who are constantly on the move
• Isolated areas and buildings.
• Departments in which the physical setting changes frequently
and unpredictably.
• Structures, such as historic buildings, for which cabling presents
challenges.
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 • Although it uses radio frequencies instead of
cables, it is commonly implemented in a switched
network environment and its frame format is
similar to Ethernet.
Wireless networks can be classified broadly as:
• Wireless Personal-Area Networks (WPAN) -
Operates in the range of a few feet. Bluetooth or
Wi-Fi Direct-enabled devices are used in WPANs.
• Wireless LANs (WLANs) - Operates in the range
of a few hundred feet such as in a room, home,
office, and even campus environment.
• Wireless Wide-Area Networks (WWANs) -
Operates in the range of miles such as a
metropolitan area, cellular hierarchy, or even on
intercity links through microwave relays.

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 • Wireless technologies available to connect devices to these
wireless networks:
• Bluetooth - Originally an IEEE 802.15 WPAN standard that
uses a device-pairing process to communicate over
distances up to 100m. Supports speeds of up to 24 Mb/s.
• Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity) - An IEEE 802.11 WLAN standard
commonly deployed to provide network access to home and
corporate users, to include data, voice and video traffic, to
distances up to 300m. Variations include
802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ad. Speeds vary based on technology.
• WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access)
- An IEEE 802.16 WWAN standard that provides wireless
broadband access of up to 50 km. WiMAX is an alternative
to cable and DSL broadband connections which is used by
service providers to provide cellular broadband. Supports
speeds up to 1 Gb/s.

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 • Cellular broadband - Consists of various corporate,
national, and international organizations using service
provider cellular access to provide mobile broadband
network connectivity. Cellular broadband access
consisting of various standards supporting download
speeds up to 5 Mb/s. Variations include 2G (using
GSM, CDMA, or TDMA), 3G (using UMTS,
CDMA2000, EDGE, or HSPA+) and 4G (using WiMAX
or LTE).
• Satellite broadband - Provides network access to
remote sites through the use of a directional satellite
dish that is aligned with a specific geostationary Earth
orbit (GEO) satellite. It is usually more expensive and
requires a clear line of sight. Supports download speeds
up to 10 Mb/s and higher, depending on satellite
provider infrastructure.

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 • All wireless devices operate in the radio waves range of
the electromagnetic spectrum.
• Wireless communication occurs in the radio waves range
(i.e., 3 KHz to 300 GHz) of the electromagnetic
spectrum. The radio waves range is subdivided into a
radio frequencies section and a microwave frequencies
section. Notice that WLANs, Bluetooth, cellular, and
satellite communication all operate in the microwave
UHF, SHF, and EHF ranges.
• Wireless LAN devices have transmitters and receivers
tuned to specific frequencies of the radio waves range.
• Specifically, the following frequency bands are allocated
to 802.11 wireless LANs:
• 2.4 GHz (UHF) - 802.11b/g/n/ad
• 5 GHz (SHF) - 802.11a/n/ac/ad
• 60 GHz (EHF) - 802.11ad
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 Comparing 802.11 Standards

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 WLANs Vs LANs

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 Components of WLAN
• The simplest wireless network requires a minimum of
two devices. Each device must have a radio transmitter
and a radio receiver tuned to the same frequencies.
• However most wireless deployments require:
• End devices with wireless NICs
• Infrastructure device, such as a wireless router or wireless
AP
• To communicate wirelessly, end devices require a
wireless NIC that incorporates a radio
transmitter/receiver and the required software driver to
make it operational.
• Laptops, tablets, smart phones now all include integrated
wireless NICs. However, if a device does not have an
integrated wireless NIC, then a USB wireless adapter can
be used.
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 • The type of infrastructure device that an end device
associates and authenticates with varies on the size and
requirement of the WLAN.
• For instance, a home user typically interconnects wireless
devices using a small, integrated wireless router. These
smaller, integrated routers serve as:
• Access point - Provides 802.11a/b/g/n/ac wireless access
• Switch - Provides a four-port, full-duplex, 10/100/1000
Ethernet switch to connect wired devices
• Router - Provides a default gateway for connecting to other
network infrastructures
• The wireless router connects to the ISP DSL modem and
advertises its services by sending beacons containing its
shared service set identifier (SSID). Internal devices
wirelessly discover the router SSID and attempt to
associate and authenticate with it to access the Internet.

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 • Organizations providing wireless connectivity to
their users require a WLAN infrastructure to
provide additional connectivity options.
• IEEE 802.11 refers to a wireless client as a station
(STA). The term wireless client is used to describe
any wireless capable device.
• In 802.3 Ethernet LAN each client connects to a
switch using a network cable. The switch is the
point where the clients gain access to the network.
Notice that the wireless AP also connects to the
switch.
• Wireless clients use their wireless NIC to discover
nearby APs advertising their SSID. Clients then
attempt to associate and authenticate with an AP.
After being authenticated, wireless users have
access to network resources.
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 WLAN Topologies
• Wireless LANs can accommodate various network
topologies. The 802.11 standard identifies two main
wireless topology modes:
• Ad hoc mode - When two devices connect wirelessly
without the aid of an infrastructure device, such as a
wireless router or AP. Examples include Bluetooth and
Wi-Fi Direct. The IEEE 802.11 standard refers to an ad hoc
network as an independent basic service set (IBSS).
• A variation of the ad hoc topology is when a smart phone
or tablet with cellular data access is enabled to create a
personal hotspot. This feature is sometimes referred to
as Tethering. A hotspot is usually a temporary quick
solution that enables a smart phone to provide the
wireless services of a Wi-Fi router. Other devices can
associate and authenticate with the smart phone to use
the Internet connection

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 Ad Hoc Summary

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 • Infrastructure mode - When wireless clients interconnect
via a wireless router or AP, such as in WLANs. APs
connect to the network infrastructure using the wired
distribution system (DS), such as Ethernet. It defines two
infrastructure mode topology building blocks: a Basic
Service Set (BSS) and an Extended Service Set (ESS).
• A BSS consists of a single AP interconnecting all
associated wireless clients. The area in which the wireless
clients of the BSS may remain in communication is
known as Basic Service Area (BSA).
• When a single BSS provides insufficient RF coverage, two
or more BSSs can be joined through a common
distribution system (DS) into an ESS.
• An ESS is the union of two or more BSSs interconnected
by a wired DS.

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 Basic Service Set Summary

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 Extended Service Set Summary

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 • For wireless devices to communicate over a
network, they must first associate with an AP or
wireless router. An important part of the 802.11
process is discovering a WLAN and subsequently
connecting to it.
• Management frames are used by wireless devices
to complete the following three-stage process:
• Discover new wireless AP.
• Authenticate with AP.
• Associate with AP.
• To associate, a wireless client and an AP must agree
on specific parameters. Parameters must be
configured on the AP and subsequently on the
client to enable the negotiation of these processes.

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 Common configurable wireless parameters include:
• SSID - An SSID is a unique identifier that wireless clients use to
distinguish between multiple wireless networks in the same vicinity.
The SSID name appears in the list of available wireless network on a
client. Depending on the network configuration, several APs on a
network can share an SSID. Names are usually 2 to 32 characters long.
• Password - Required from the wireless client to authenticate to the
AP. A password is sometimes called the security key. It prevents
intruders and other unwanted users from accessing the wireless
network.
• Network mode - Refers to the 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ad WLAN standards.
APs and wireless routers can operate in a Mixed mode meaning that it
can simultaneously use multiple standards.
• Security mode - Refers to the security parameter settings, such as
WEP, WPA, or WPA2. Always enable the highest security level
supported.
• Channel settings - Refers to the frequency bands being used to
transmit wireless data. Wireless routers and AP can choose the
channel setting or it can be set manually if there is interference with
another AP or wireless device.

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 The 802.11 standard was originally developed
with two authentication mechanisms:
• Open authentication - Fundamentally a NULL
authentication where the wireless client says
“authenticate me” and the AP responds with
“yes”. Open authentication provides wireless
connectivity to any wireless device and
should only be used in situations where
security is of no concern.
• Shared key authentication - Technique is
based on a key that is pre-shared between
the client and the AP.

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 There are three shared key authentication techniques available:
• Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) - Original 802.11
specification designed to provide privacy similar to
connecting to a network using a wired connection. The data is
secured using the RC4 encryption method with a static key.
However, the key never changes when exchanging packets
making it easy to hack.
• Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) - A Wi-Fi Alliance standard that
uses WEP, but secures the data with the much stronger
Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) encryption algorithm.
TKIP changes the key for each packet making it much more
difficult to hack.
• IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 - IEEE 802.11i is the industry standard for
securing wireless networks. The Wi-Fi alliance version is
called WPA2. 802.11i and WPA2; both use the Advanced
Encryption Standard (AES) for encryption. AES is currently
considered the strongest encryption protocol.

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 CHAPTER 4
Inter-connectivity Devices
Network Interface Card (NIC)
• provide the interface between cables and computers.
• network cable is attached to the card's port to make the actual
physical connection between the computer and the rest of the
network.
The role of the NIC is to:
• Prepare data from the computer for the network cable.
• Send the data to another computer.
• Control the flow of data between the computer and the cabling
system.
• Receive incoming data from the cable and translate it into bytes
that can be understood by the computer's central processing
unit (CPU).
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 Modem
• A modem is a device that makes it possible for computers to
communicate over a telephone line.
• When computers are too far apart to be joined by a standard
computer cable, a modem can enable communication
between them.
• Computers cannot simply be connected to each other over a
telephone line, because computers communicate by sending
digital electronic pulses (electronic signals), and a telephone
line can send only analog waves (sound).
• a sending modem MOdulates digital signals into analog
signals, and a receiving modem DEModulates analog signals
back into digital signals.

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 Repeater
• As signals travel along a cable, they degrade and become
distorted in a process called "attenuation." Repeaters
regenerate/amplify the attenuated signals and resend them
out on other segments
• In short ,repeater is used for signal regeneration
Hub
• When the hub receives the incoming signal, it amplifies and
sends it out over all its ports.
• Hubs typically provide from 8 to 24 ports
• Hubs can also be connected to each other (cascaded) by
means of
BNC
AUI/daisy chain ports
Crossover cables
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 Bridge
• Like a repeater, a bridge can join segments or workgroup LANs.
• However, a bridge can also divide a network to isolate traffic or
problems.
• Listens to all traffic.
• Checks the source and destination addresses of each packet.
• Builds a MAC address table, as information becomes available.
• Forwards packets in the following manner:
• If the destination is not listed in the MAC address table, the
bridge forwards the packets to next segment.
• If the destination is listed in the MAC address table, the
bridge forwards the packets to that segment (unless it is the
same segment as the source).

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 Switch
• In modern star-topology networking, when you need
bridging functionality you often buy a switch.
• But bridging is not the only benefit of switch
implementation.
• Switches also provide the benefit of micro-LAN
segmentation, which means that every node connected to
a switched port receives its own dedicated bandwidth.
• Switches are multiport bridges. Sometimes they are called
smart hubs or switching hub.
• They filter traffic between the ports on the switch by
using the MAC address of computers transmitting through
them. Switches can be used when greater performance is
needed or when collisions need to be reduced.
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 Router
• Routers are used to connect complicated networks with many
segments
• Routers use IP addresses to handle data routing(i.e. delivery of
data packets to multiple LANS and over WAN links as shown in
the figure below)
Brouter
• A brouter, as the name implies, combines the qualities of both
a bridge and a router. A brouter can act as a router for one
protocol and as a bridge for all the others.
• Can use either MAC addresses or IP addresses to handle data
routing.
Gateway
• In general, the role of the gateway is to overcome problems
associated with protocol incompatibility.
• This is a problem, which most often occurs when totally
different systems, usually developed independently, need to be
linked.
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