Networking Fundamentals

Wired networks

With the introduction of the OSI and TCP/IP models as network standards, as discussed in Chapter 9, Understanding the OSI Model, and Chapter 10, Understanding TCP/IP, the implementation of wired networks has become such a simple process that they have become prevalent in both home and business environments. In this section and the section after, we will focus on their implementation in a business environment, but will briefly talk about home networks at the end.

As we mentioned in the previous chapter, the minimum number of devices we need to form a network is two, and we also need some form of medium to connect them. Therefore, we could connect two PCs together using, for example, a crossover cable or a Firewire cable, but ...