Chapter 1: Reviewing the Enterprise LAN
In This Chapter
Checking out features that make up the enterprise LAN
Looking at Cisco hardware options for your LAN
Reviewing standard features of switches
Evaluating Cisco service options
Most organizations have a LAN, but what makes a LAN an enterprise LAN is the level of reliance that the organization has on that network. When an organization has a high reliance on the LAN, high-quality equipment with redundant features is used on the network to reduce the chance of interruption to the services provided to the organization’s users. Cisco has an Enterprise category in their product catalog that provides numerous products supporting enterprise LAN.
In this chapter, I introduce you to the features that make up an enterprise LAN, which include such features as Spanning Tree Protocol (STP), VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP), and EtherChannel. In addition, I show you some basics about how this technology works and the standards that relate to these technologies.
If your network is small, you may be interested in only a few of these features, but ...
