CCNA 4E Chapter 1 Introduction to WANs V 4.

0 March 2008
How does a WAN differ from a LAN? When an enterprise grows to include branch offices, e-commerce services, or global operations, a single LAN network is no longer sufficient to meet its business requirements. Wide area network (WAN) access has become essential for larger businesses today. There are a variety of WAN technologies to meet the different needs of businesses and many ways to scale the network. Adding WAN access introduces other considerations, such as network security and address management. Consequently, designing a WAN and choosing the correct carrier network services is not a simple matter. WANs generally connect devices that are separated by a broader geographical area than can be served by a LAN. WANs use the services of carriers, such as telephone companies, cable companies, satellite systems, and network providers. WANs use serial connections of various types to provide access to bandwidth over large geographic areas. Small Office (Single LAN) Span Engineering, an environmental consulting firm, has developed a special process for converting household waste into electricity and is developing a small pilot project for a municipal government in its local area. The company, which has been in business for four years, has grown to include 15 employees: six engineers, four computer-aided drawing (CAD) designers, a receptionist, two senior partners, and two office assistants. Span Engineering's management is hoping that they will have full scale projects after the pilot project successfully demonstrates the feasibility of their process. Until then, the company must manage its costs carefully. For their small office, Span Engineering uses a single LAN to share information between computers, and to share peripherals, such as a printer, a large-scale plotter (to print engineering drawings), and fax equipment. They have recently upgraded their LAN to provide inexpensive Voice over IP (VoIP) service to save on the costs of separate phone lines for their employees. Connection to the Internet is through a common
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What are the three characteristics of a WAN network?

List and describe the four stages of a developing/evolving enterprise:

CCNA 4E Chapter 1 Introduction to WANs V 4.0 March 2008

broadband service called Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), which is supplied by their local telephone service provider. With so few employees, bandwidth is not a significant problem. The company cannot afford in-house information technology (IT) support staff, and uses support services purchased from the same service provider. The company also uses a hosting service rather than purchasing and operating its own FTP and e-mail servers. The figure shows an example of a small office and its network. Campus (Multiple LANs) Five years later, Span Engineering has grown rapidly. As the owners had hoped, the company was contracted to design and implement a fullsized waste conversion facility soon after the successful implementation of their first pilot plant. Since then, other projects have also been won in neighboring municipalities and in other parts of the country. To handle the additional workload, the business has hired more staff and leased more office space. It is now a small to medium-sized business with several hundred employees. Many projects are being developed at the same time, and each requires a project manager and support staff. The company has organized itself into functional departments, with each department having its own organizational team. To meet its growing needs, the company has moved into several floors of a larger office building. As the business has expanded, the network has also grown. Instead of a single small LAN, the network now consists of several subnetworks, each devoted to a different department. For example, all the engineering staff are on one LAN, while the marketing staff is on another LAN. These multiple LANs are joined to create a company-wide network, or campus, which spans several floors of the building. The business now has in-house IT staff to support and maintain the network. The network includes servers for e-mail, data transfer and file storage, web-based productivity tools and applications, as well as for the company intranet to provide in-house documents and information to employees. In addition, the company has an extranet that provides project information only
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CCNA 4E Chapter 1 Introduction to WANs V 4.0 March 2008

to designated customers. Branch (WAN) Another five years later, Span Engineering has been so successful with its patented process that demand for its services has skyrocketed, and new projects are now being built in other cities. To manage those projects, the company has opened small branch offices closer to the project sites. This situation presents new challenges to the IT team. To manage the delivery of information and services throughout the company, Span Engineering now has a data center, which houses the various databases and servers of the company. To ensure that all parts of the business are able to access the same services and applications regardless of where the offices are located, the company now needs to implement a WAN. For its branch offices that are in nearby cities, the company decides to use private dedicated lines through their local service provider. However, for those offices that are located in other countries, the Internet is now an attractive WAN connection option. Although connecting offices through the Internet is economical, it introduces security and privacy issues that the IT team must address. Distributed (Global) Span Engineering has now been in business for 20 years and has grown to thousands of employees distributed in offices worldwide. The cost of the network and its related services is now a significant expense. The company is now looking to provide its employees with the best network services at the lowest cost. Optimized network services would allow each employee to work at high efficiency. To increase profitability, Span Engineering needs to reduce its operating expenses. It has relocated some of its office facilities to less expensive areas. The company is also encouraging teleworking and virtual teams. Web-based applications, including webconferencing, e-learning, and online collaboration tools, are being used to increase productivity and reduce costs. Site-to-site and remote access Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) enable the company to use the Internet to
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CCNA 4E Chapter 1 Introduction to WANs V 4.0 March 2008

connect easily and securely with employees and facilities around the world. To meet these requirements, the network must provide the necessary converged services and secure Internet WAN connectivity to remote offices and individuals. As we have seen from this example, the network requirements of a company can change dramatically as the company grows over time. Distributing employees saves costs in many ways, but it puts increased demands on the network. Not only must a network meet the dayto-day operational needs of the business, but it needs to be able to adapt and grow as the company changes. Network designers and administrators meet these challenges by carefully choosing network technologies, protocols, and service providers, and by optimizing their networks using many of the techniques we teach in this series of courses. The next topic describes a network model for designing networks that can accommodate the changing needs of today's evolving businesses. Describe and Diagram a scenario involving an organization with a central corp. office/campus with remote offices and telecommuters. How would all of these networks be interconnected? List the three layers of the Hierarchal Design Model and their main mission:

What are the primary two layers of the OSI model at which the WAN operates?

Access layer-Grants user access to network devices. In a network campus, the access layer generally incorporates switched LAN devices with ports that provide connectivity to workstations and servers. In the WAN environment, it may provide teleworkers or remote sites access to the corporate network across WAN technology. Distribution layer-Aggregates the wiring closets, using switches to segment workgroups and isolate network problems in a campus environment. Similarly, the distribution layer aggregates WAN connections at the edge of the campus and provides policy-based connectivity. Core layer (also referred to as the backbone) - A high-speed backbone that is designed to switch packets as fast as possible. Because the core is critical for connectivity, it must provide a high level of availability and adapt to changes very quickly. It also provides scalability and fast convergence. The physical layer (OSI Layer 1) protocols describe how to provide electrical, mechanical, operational, and functional connections to the services of a communications service provider.

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CCNA 4E Chapter 1 Introduction to WANs V 4.0 March 2008

The data link layer (OSI Layer 2) protocols define how data is encapsulated for transmission toward a remote location and the mechanisms for transferring the resulting frames. A variety of different technologies are used, such as Frame Relay and ATM. Some of these protocols use the same basic framing mechanism, High-Level Data Link Control (HDLC), an ISO standard, or one of its subsets or variants. What is the reference point in the network at which the service provider and the customer define their responsibility for the network and networking equipment? Equipment on the customer side of this reference point is referred to as? The customers router is referred to as a DTE or DCE device? To the ISP your csu/dsu (modem) is considered a DTE or DCE? To you, your csu/dsu (modem) is considered a DTE or DCE? What device is responsible for timing of putting data on the link DTE or DCE? The POP/DEMARC is where your home or business connects to the? Which connects you to a ____ of the ISP. An Access Server performs what function? What is the function of a Core Router and where in the network does it reside? What is the function of a WAN Switch and what type of transport technologies do they normally use? What are the two encapsulation protocols used on a point-to-point serial link? When are the two used? What three technologies are considered packet switched? Describe how packet switching works: Which of the three packet switch technologies is also referred to as cell switched using 48 byte cells? What two technologies are referred to as circuit switched?

PSTN and ISDN are two types of circuitswitching technology that may be used to implement a WAN in an enterprise setting.

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CCNA 4E Chapter 1 Introduction to WANs V 4.0 March 2008

List and describe the five fields in a WAN Frame: Describe the two types of virtual circuits: Though packet switching provides satisfactory transport of voice and even video communications on these networks, what are two issues with using packet switching for these two services? What type of WAN connections are considered public? What are three advantages for using PSTN/POTS analog dial-up connection for SOHO/Small Business WAN connection? Describe the channels for ISDN BRI: Describe the channels for ISDN PRI: Give an example of where the two different dial-up connections would be used: Describe DSL services:

1.3.3.1

In order for an ISP to provide DSL service to your neighborhood the CO must contain what device? Describe Broadband/Cable services:

Is the Broadband/Cable service to your house dedicated or shared? Describe Broadband Wireless:

Describe a Virtual Private Network (VPN):

List 4 benefits of companies using VPNs: What is the type of VPN used by JNN/WIN-T not listed in Cisco material? Describe Metro-Ethernet/Metro-Area-Network (MAN):

What is TDM?

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