Introduction to Routing over WAN’s

Since I am a recent graduate with my Associates Degree in Computer Network Systems and I love computers and technology, I wanted to start a blog with information from what I learned and the classes that I completed.
I am going to start with my first Cisco class, which is Routing and Routing Basics.
The most important function of a router is simply put that Routers route packets. From the perspective of the OSI network layer-Layer 3-hosts (computers) and routers work together to deliver packets from one host to another. To do that, the host that creates the packet sends the packet to a nearby router. That router might send the packet to a second router, with that second router forwarding the packet to a third router and so on until the packet is delivered to a router that is connected to the same LAN as the destination computer.

Figure 1-1 shows three main steps, all from the perspective of Internet Protocol:

1. The web server needs to send a packet to the computer on the right (172.16.3.3), so the web server sends the packet to its default gateway router-namely router 1 (R1)
2. R1 decides to forward the packets to R2 next based on R1’s routing table.
3. R2’s routing table shows that 172.16.3.3 should be on a subnet directly connected to R2, so R2 knows to send the packet directly to the destination (172.16.3.3).

 

Figure 1-2 focuses on how the hosts and routers need to encapsulate the packet before sending anything over the LAN and WAN links.  Hosts and routers must use data-link protocols, such as Ethernet on the LAN and Point-to-Point Protocol on WAN links, to forward the packets over the physical links. 

Below is an example of the OSI layers and what they represent.
• (7) Application Layer- This layer is where the end-user (computer user) begins the communication process. At this layer user authentication is identified and protocols like FTP, TELNET, E-MAIL, and other file transfer protocols begin with the user starting the process.
• (6) Presentation Layer - This layer is where encryption occurs. This layer converts the file and/or information into a language (format) that the remaining layers can read and handle without any compatibility problems.
• (5) Session Layer - This layer is where the communication is coordinated. Applications are managed in this layer. This layer manages the exchange of information by creating and terminating all communication between the application layer at both ends.
• (4) Transport Layer - This layer is responsible for ensuring the data completes it's transmission to the other user. It's also responsible for flow control and error recovery.
• (3) Network Layer - This layer is where the routing and switching takes place. Packet sequencing, addressing, congestion control, and internetworking happen at this layer. Logical paths are created at this level to allow users to communicate to each other. This layer utilizes IP addresses.
• (2) Data Link Layer - This layer is where packets (information) is broken into bits through encoding and decoding. At this layer you have two sections; Media Access Control (MAC), and Logical Link Control (LLC). The MAC section is where packets (information) is gathered and gets permission to transmit the data. The MAC section is where your computer's MAC address is located to allow proper delivery to a specific system (computer). The LLC section controls synchronization, flow control, and error checking.
• (1) Physical Layer - This layer is where your hardware such as ethernet cable, Network Interface Cards, etc., provide the transmission through electrical impulse, light, and radio waves. This layer is the hardware means of sending and receiving data (information).

Some ways to remember the seven layers are:

All People Seem To Need Data Processing.
The above example is how I remember the 7 layers of the OSI mode.

There is much more to come. Stay tuned in later days for more.

PC Evalution from my class Intro to Personal PC

Picture of PC Evalution

This is a timeline that I created of PC Evalution

Favorite Holiday Essay from Composition 1

I don't blog alot, but I thought this would be a fun way for me to expose my writing and creativity to the world.  This is actually an essay that I wrote for my composition 1 class when I first started college in 2009.

The assignment was to write an essay about our favorite holiday and why you chose that one.  Well, here it goes.  My favorite holiday is Christmas and was the Christmas of 2004 because that was the first holiday with my son.

Since my son was born in May of 2004, I was really excited for Christmas to come. I was still active duty Navy, stationed on the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) and we were heading to our homeport of San Diego, Ca.  After not seeing my wife and son for about 5 months, I knew it was going to be a new beginning as far as holidays.  The rest of 2004 flew by and before I knew it, I was packing my bags and ready to fly home to see my wife and baby boy.

My wife and I didn't have any family in Virginia at the time, but my mother-in-law lived only a few hours away in North Carolina.  We packed a couple of bags for us, enough baby clothes for a couple of days and we were off to North Carolina.  Oh yeah, I almost forgot the best part which is the presents for the baby.  We left from our little humble home in Hampton, Va on our first little road trip to Wilmington, NC to see the family and arrived at our destination by dinner time.

I remember waking up Christmas morning with my son, so you can imagine that it was quite early in the morning.  I looked out the back window of the house towards the golf course and didn't see a lot of snow. As long as the ground was white with a little snow, then it felt like Christmas because a brown Christmas is just not the same.  As everyone else started to wake up, my stepfather-in-law and I went outside to get some fresh air.  When we went back into the house, it was time to cook some homemade breakfast and when i mean homemade, I mean eggs, bacon, hash browns, toast, sausage and orange juice.

The morning went very quickly and we hadn't opened any presents yet, but that was because we were waiting until the evening.  Later that night we all walked to my stepbrother-in-laws house where we all met, had dinner and exchanged gifts.

This is one of my favorite holidays because it was my sons first Christmas and there are many more to come and now he has a little sister to share the holidays with which is so wonderful.  So this is short and swe