Exam Essentials

Exam Essentials
Know how to identify different network topologies. A single cable with computers attached to it is a bus. A central hub with cables radiating out to computers is a star. A crisscross, redundant
connection to all computers is a mesh. An outer loop connecting all computers is a ring. Know the operational characteristics of various cable standards. You should know the signaling rate (in Mbps), signaling method (baseband or broadband), media type (copper or fiber), and the other specifics for the various cable standards such as 10Base-T, 10Base-FL, 100Base- TX, 1000Base-T, and 10GBase-SR.

Be able to recognize different media connectors and describe their uses. You should know that RJ- 11 is used to connect a phone jack to a telephone; RJ-45 is used for 10Base-T, 100Base-TX, and
1000Base-T twisted-pair Ethernet connections; BNC is used for 10Base2 Ethernet connections; AUI, a DB-15 connector/PC game connector, is used for 10Base5 connections from vampire tap to NIC; ST, the most popular fiber-optic connector, is a barrel connector with a locking ring; and SC, another common fiber connector, is a square-ended connector with a latching mechanism. You should also understand the different types of IEEE 1394 (FireWire) connectors and their different uses. Understand the different media types and their uses. You should know the different types of commonly used network media (copper cabling and fiber-optic media) and the different applications of each. You must know the differences between Category 3, 5, 5e, and 6 UTP and what
the category ratings mean. You should also know the operational characteristics of the different types of fiber-optic cable (single mode and multimode). Be able to explain the basic purpose and function of many different network devices. You should understand how each network device—including hubs, switches, routers, bridges, firewalls, and wireless access points—functions.