Written by networking veteran with 20 years of experience, Network Warrior provides a thorough and practical introduction to the entire network infrastructure, from cabling to the routers. What you need to learn to pass a Cisco certification exam such as CCNA and what you need to know to survive in the real world are two very different things. The strategies that this book offers weren 't on the exam, but they 're exactly what you need to do your job well.Network Warrior takes you step by step through the world of hubs, switches, firewalls, and more, including ways to troubleshoot a congested network, and when to upgrade and why. Along the way, you 'll gain an historical perspective of various networking features, such as the way Ethernet evolved. Based on the author 's own experience as well as those he worked for and with, Network Warrior is a Cisco-centric book, focused primarily on the TCP/IP protocol and Ethernet networks -- the realm that Cisco Systems now dominates. The book covers: The type of networks now in use, from LANs, WANs and MANs to CANsThe OSI Model and the layers involved in sending dataHubs, repeaters, switches, and trunks in practiceAuto negotiation and why it 's a common problem in network slowdownsRoute maps, routing protocols, and switching algorithms in Cisco routersThe resilient Ethernet -- how to make things truly redundantCisco 6500 multi-layer switches and the Catalyst 3750 switchTelecom nomenclature -- why it 's different from the data worldT1 an