Network Maintenance and Troubleshooting Guide: Field-Tested Solutions for Everyday Problems, Second Editon

Appendix B. Waveform Decoding Exercise

This appendix is a single, short, hour-long lab (if no supporting lecture is required), or it can be a series of lecture/lab modules. The lab has been shown to provide the greatest benefit if given very early in a basic networking program, such as the first day of a class that is completed in a week, or the first week of a longer course. The format of this appendix is that of lecture notes for the lab preparation.

Use of the lab early in a course is particularly effective because the process of manually working through the waveform and having to look up a new set of field definitions for each layer decoded makes the OSI Model and counting systems tangible and useful instead of apparently pointless abstract ...