CompTIA Network+ Certification Guide

CompTIA Network+ Certification Guide

by Glen D. Singh, Rishi Latchmepersad
Released December 2018
Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
ISBN: 9781789340501

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Book description

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.

Publisher resources

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Table of contents

  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright and Credits
    1. CompTIA Network+ Certification Guide
  3. About Packt
    1. Why subscribe?
    2. Packt.com
  4. Contributors
    1. About the authors
    2. About the reviewer
    3. Packt is searching for authors like you
  5. Preface
    1. Who this book is for
    2. What this book covers
    3. To get the most out of this book
      1. Download the color images
      2. Conventions used
    4. Get in touch
      1. Reviews
  6. The OSI Reference Model and the TCP/IP Stack
    1. The OSI reference model
      1. Relationship between the Protocol Data Unit (PDU) and Service Data Unit (SDU)
      2. The seven layers of the OSI model
        1. Application Layer
        2. Presentation Layer
        3. Session Layer
        4. Transport Layer
        5. Network Layer
        6. Data Link Layer
        7. Physical Layer
      3. Communication using the relay system
    2. The TCP/IP protocol suite
      1. The four layers of the TCP/IP protocol suite
      2. Communication using the TCP/IP protocol suite
    3. Summary
    4. Questions
  7. Network Ports, Protocols, and Topologies
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Network port numbers
    3. Network protocols
    4. Protocol types
      1. ICMP
        1. ICMP message types
          1. ICMP Type 0 – Echo Reply
          2. ICMP Type 3 – Destination Unreachable
          3. ICMP Type 5 – Redirect
          4. ICMP Type 8 – Echo Request
          5. ICMP Type 11 – Time Exceeded
        2. TCP
        3. User Datagram Protocol (UDP)
          1. Comparison of TCP and UDP
        4. IP
    5. Protocols and ports
      1. File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
      2. Secure Shell (SSH), Secure Copy (SCP), and Secure FTP (SFTP)
      3. Telnet
      4. Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)
      5. Domain Name System (DNS)
      6. Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)
      7. Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP)
      8. Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
      9. Post Office Protocol (POP)
      10. Network Time Protocol (NTP)
      11. Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP)
      12. Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)
      13. Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)
      14. HTTP Secure (HTTPS)
      15. Server Message Block (SMB)
      16. Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP)
    6. Network topologies
      1. Star
      2. Ring
      3. Bus
      4. Hub and spoke
      5. Mesh
      6. Hybrid
      7. Tree
    7. Types of networks
    8. Introducing Ethernet and its evolution
    9. Summary
    10. Questions
    11. Further reading
  8. Ethernet
    1. What is Ethernet?
    2. The sublayers of Ethernet
      1. The Data Link Layer
        1. The LLC sublayer
        2. The MAC sublayer
    3. Fields in an Ethernet frame
    4. MAC addresses
    5. Transmission types at the Data Link Layer
    6. The CAM table
    7. Summary
    8. Questions
  9. Understanding IPv4 and IPv6
    1. IPv4 concepts
      1. Converting binary into decimal
      2. Converting decimal into binary
      3. The format of an IPv4 packet
      4. Public IPv4 addresses
      5. Private IPv4 addresses
    2. Subnet mask
    3. Determining the Network ID
      1. The laws of ANDing
    4. Special IPv4 addresses
      1. Loopback addresses
      2. Link-local
      3. TestNet
    5. IPv4 transmission types
    6. Subnetting
      1. Step 1 – determining an appropriate class of address and why
      2. Step 2 – creating subnets (subnetworks)
      3. Step 3 – assigning each network an appropriate subnet and calculating the ranges
      4. Step 4 – VLSM and subnetting a subnet
    7. IP version 6 concepts
      1. The format of an IPv6 packet
      2. IPv6 coexistence on a network
      3. IPv6 address representation
        1. Prefix length
      4. Types of IPv6 addresses
    8. IPv6 transmission types
    9. Configuring an IP address on a Windows system
    10. Configuring an IP address on a Linux system
    11. Configuring an IP address on a Cisco IOS router
    12. Summary
    13. Questions
    14. Further reading
  10. Routing and Switching Concepts
    1. Properties of network traffic
      1. Collision domain
      2. Broadcast domain
      3. Contention-based communication
        1. Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Detection (CSMA/CD)
        2. Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA)
      4. Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU)
    2. Network segmentation
      1. Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN)
        1. Types of VLANs
      2. Trunks
      3. Port mirroring
    3. Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)
      1. Port roles
    4. Routing protocols
      1. Routing types
        1. Static routing
        2. Dynamic routing
        3. Default route
      2. Distance-vector routing protocols
        1. Routing Information Protocol (RIP)
        2. Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP)
      3. Link-state routing protocols
        1. Open Shortest Path First (OSPF)
      4. Path vector routing protocol
        1. Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)
    5. Network Address Translation (NAT)
      1. Static NAT
      2. Dynamic NAT
      3. PAT
    6. Summary
    7. Questions
  11. Wireless and Cloud Technologies
    1. Wireless technologies
      1. Z-Wave
      2. ANT+
      3. Bluetooth
        1. IEEE 802.15
      4. Near Field Communication (NFC)
      5. Infrared
      6. Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID)
      7. IEEE 802.16
    2. 802.11 wireless standards
      1. 802.11a
      2. 802.11b
      3. 802.11g
      4. 802.11n
      5. 802.11ac
      6. 802.11 comparison table
    3. Frequencies
      1. 2.4 GHz
      2. 5 GHz
    4. Cellular technologies
      1. GSM
      2. TDMA
      3. CDMA
      4. 4G and LTE
    5. Antenna and power requirements
      1. Site surveys
    6. Types of wireless LAN topologies
    7. Wireless router configurations
    8. Cloud computing
      1. Types of cloud services
        1. Software as a Service (SaaS)
        2. Platform as a Service (PaaS)
        3.  Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
      2. Cloud delivery models
        1. Private
        2. Public
        3. Hybrid
        4. Community
    9. Summary
    10. Questions
    11. Further reading
  12. Network Components
    1. Networking cables and connector types
      1. Copper cables
        1. Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) copper cables
        2. Shielded Twisted Pair (STP) copper cables
        3. Coaxial copper cables
        4. Copper cable and termination standards
      2. Fiber cables
        1. Single-mode fiber (SMF) cables
        2. MMF cables
      3. Plenum-rated cables
      4. Connector types
        1. Copper cable connector types
          1. Registered Jack (RJ)-45
          2. RJ-11
          3. Bayonet Neill-Concelman (BNC)
          4. F-type
          5. DB-9 and DB-25
        2. Fiber cable connector types
          1. Little Connector (LC)
          2. Straight Tip (ST)
          3. Subscriber Connector (SC)
          4. Mechanical Transfer Registered Jack (MT-RJ)
          5. Angled Physical Connector (APC) versus Ultra Polished Connector (UPC)
        3. Transceivers
          1. Gigabit Interface Converter (GBIC)
          2. Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP), Enhanced Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP+), and Quad Small Form-Factor Pluggable (QSFP)
          3. Duplex and bidirectional transceivers
        4. Termination points
          1. 66 and 110 blocks
          2. Patch panels
        5. Copper termination standards
          1. TIA/EIA 568A versus TIA/EIA 568B
          2. Crossover versus straight-through
    2. Networking devices and their deployment
      1. Layer 1 devices
        1. Hubs
        2. Modulators/Demodulators (Modems)
        3. Media converters
        4. Wireless Access Points (WAPs) and Wireless Repeaters
      2. Layer 2 devices
        1. Bridges and switches
      3. Layer 3 and higher devices
        1. Routers
        2. Security appliances
        3. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) devices
        4. Servers
    3. Summary
    4. Questions
    5. Further reading
  13. Network Virtualization and WAN Technologies
    1. Virtualization with networking concepts
      1. Hypervisors
        1. Type 1 hypervisor
        2. Type 2 hypervisor
    2. Virtual networking components
      1. Virtual Switch (vSwitch)
      2. Virtual firewall
      3. Virtual routers
    3. Storage technologies
      1. NAS
      2. SAN
      3. Connection type
        1. FC
        2. Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE)
        3. Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP)
        4. Jumbo Frame
    4. WAN technologies
      1. WAN topologies
        1. P2P
        2. Hub and spoke
        3. Full mesh
        4. Dual-homed
      2. WAN service types
        1. Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN)
        2. Leased lines
          1. T1/T3
          2. E1/E3
        3. Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)
        4. Metropolitan Ethernet
        5. Cable broadband
        6. Dial-up
        7. MPLS
        8. ATM
        9. Frame Relay
        10. Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP)
        11. Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet (PPPoE)
        12. Dynamic Multipoint VPN (DMVPN)
      3. Transmission mediums
        1. Satellite
        2. Wireless
        3. Copper cable
        4. Fiber optic
      4. WAN termination
    5. Summary
    6. Questions
    7. Further reading
  14. Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Concepts
    1. The role of documentation and diagrams
      1. General documentation and diagramming concepts
      2. Physical infrastructure documentation
      3. Operational documentation
    2. Business continuity and disaster recovery
      1. Designing high-availability networks
      2. Redundancy in power delivery
      3. Recovery processes
      4. Availability metrics
    3. Common operational processes
      1. Scanning and patching processes
      2. Continuous monitoring
    4. Summary
    5. Questions
    6. Further reading
  15. Network Identity Management and Policies
    1. Remote access methodologies
      1. VPN
      2. IPsec
        1. Confidentiality
        2. Encryption
          1. Symmetric algorithm
          2. Asymmetric algorithm
        3. Integrity
        4. Authentication
        5. Anti-replay
        6. Diffie-Hellman
        7. IPsec protocols
          1. Authentication Header (AH)
          2. Encapsulation Security Payload (ESP)
      3. SSL
        1. Transport Layer Security (TLS)
      4. VPN topologies
        1. Site-to-site VPN
        2. Remote access VPN
      5. Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP)
      6. Secure Shell (SSH)
      7. Telnet
      8. HTTPS
    2. Identity policies and best practices
      1. AUP
      2. BYOD policy
      3. Internet access policy
      4. Password policy
      5. Remote access policy
      6. User account policy
      7. Wireless network policy
    3. Summary
    4. Questions
  16. Network Security Concepts
    1. Wireless security
      1. Wireless encryption standards
        1. Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)
        2. Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA)
          1. Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2)
      2. Authentication and security on a wireless network
        1. Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP)
        2. EAP Flexible Authentication via Secure Tunneling (EAP-FAST)
        3. EAP Transport Layer Security (EAP-TLS)
        4. EAP Tunneled Transport Layer Security (EAP-TTLS)
        5. Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol (PEAP)
        6. MAC filtering
        7. Geofencing
    2. Network attacks and threats
      1. Denial-of-Service (DoS)
        1. Reflective
        2. Amplified
        3. Distributed
      2. Social engineering
      3. Insider threat
      4. Logic bomb
      5. Rogue Access Point (AP)
      6. Evil twin
      7. War-driving
      8. Ransomware
      9. DNS poisoning
      10. ARP poisoning
      11. Deauthentication
      12. Brute force
      13. Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) hopping
      14. Exploits versus vulnerabilities
    3. Securing networking devices
      1.  Changing default credentials
        1. Microsoft Windows
        2. Linux
        3. Other devices
      2. Avoiding common passwords
      3. Device hardening
      4. Disabling unnecessary services
        1. Disabling services in Windows
        2. Linux
        3. Cisco
        4. Network scanning
      5. Disabling physical ports
    4. Mitigation techniques
      1. Network segmentation – Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)
      2. Network segmentation – VLANs
      3. Changing the native VLAN
      4. Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) threat mitigation techniques
        1. Bridge Protocol Data Unit (BPDU) guard
        2. Root guard
      5. DHCP snooping
      6. Honeypot and honeynet
      7. Penetration testing
    5. Summary
    6. Questions
    7. Further reading
  17. TCP/IP Security
    1. Vulnerabilities at the Application Layer
      1. Cross Site Scripting (XSS)
      2. SQL injection (SQLi)
      3. Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) injection
      4. Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
      5. Session hijacking
      6. Cookie poisoning
      7. DNS
        1. Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS)
        2. Registrar hijacking
        3. Cache poisoning
        4. Typosquatting
    2. Vulnerabilities at the Transport Layer
      1. Fingerprinting
      2. Enumeration
        1. DNS enumeration
        2. DNS zone transfer
        3. Microsoft RPC Endpoint Mapper
        4. SMTP
      3. SYN flooding
      4. TCP reassembly and sequencing
    3. Vulnerabilities at the Internet Layer
      1. Route spoofing
      2. IP address spoofing
      3. Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP)
        1. DoS vulnerability in ICMP
        2. Smurf attack
        3. Teardrop attack
        4. Ping of Death (PoD)
    4. Vulnerabilities at the Network Access/Link Layer
      1. Data Link Layer
        1. Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) poisoning
        2. Sniffing
        3. Broadcast storms
        4. VLAN hopping
      2. Physical Layer
        1. Wiretapping
        2. Other physical issues
    5. Securing TCP/IP using a DiD approach
      1. Mitigating security threats
        1. Implement a next-generation firewall
        2. Implement an IPS
        3. Implement Web Security Appliance (WSA)
        4. Implementing Email Security Appliance
        5. Implement layer 2 security on switches
        6. Implement Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)
        7. Other important security checks
    6. Summary
    7. Questions
  18. Organizational Security
    1. Physical security
      1. Video surveillance
      2. Asset-tracking tags
      3. Tamper detection
    2. Prevention techniques
      1. Badges
      2. Biometrics
      3. Security tokens
      4. Locks
    3. Authentication concepts
      1. Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS)
      2. Terminal Access Controller Access Control System (TACACS)
      3. Kerberos
    4. Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
    5. Summary
    6. Questions
  19. Troubleshooting a Network
    1. Proper network troubleshooting methodology
    2. Utilizing appropriate troubleshooting tools
      1. Hardware-based troubleshooting tools
      2. Software-based troubleshooting tools
    3. Common issues on wired networks
    4. Common issues on wireless networks
    5. Common network service issues
    6. Summary
    7. Questions
    8. Further reading
  20. Assessment
    1. Chapter 1: The OSI Reference Model and the TCP/IP Stack
    2. Chapter 2: Network Ports, Protocols, and Topologies
    3. Chapter 3: Ethernet
    4. Chapter 4: Understanding IPv4 and IPv6
    5. Chapter 5: Routing and Switching Concepts
    6. Chapter 6: Wireless and Cloud Technologies
    7. Chapter 7: Network Components
    8. Chapter 8: Network Virtualization and WAN Technologies
    9. Chapter 9: Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Concepts
    10. Chapter 10: Network Identity Management and Policies
    11. Chapter 11: Network Security Concepts
    12. Chapter 12: TCP/IP Security
    13. Chapter 13: Organizational Security
    14. Chapter 14: Troubleshooting a Network
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Product information

  • Title: CompTIA Network+ Certification Guide
  • Author(s): Glen D. Singh, Rishi Latchmepersad
  • Release date: December 2018
  • Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
  • ISBN: 9781789340501