CCIE Routing and Switching v5.0 Official Cert Guide, Volume 1 (5th Edition)

CCIE Routing and Switching v5.0 Official Cert Guide, Volume 1 (5th Edition)

CCIE Routing and Switching v5.0 Official Cert Guide, Volume 1 (5th Edition)

Ethernet Basics

Ethernet has been the mainstay LAN protocol for years, and that is not anticipated to

change anytime soon. More often than not, most people studying network and network

fundamentals are very familiar with the protocol operations, its limitations, and its

strengths. This level of familiarity often makes us complacent when it comes to determining

a solid starting point for teaching technology. But when we consider how many technologies

owe their capacity and capabilities to Ethernet, it becomes clear that this is the

best place to start any discussion about networking. Ethernet is so established and useful

that its role is expanding constantly. In fact, today it has even found its way into the

WAN. Ethernet WAN technologies like Metro-Ethernet have changed the way we build

geographically dispersed infrastructure and have paved the way for greater throughput in

what was traditionally a slow and restrictive mode of transport.

So with the understanding that the majority of readers are probably very familiar with

Ethernet based on working with it on a day-to-day basis, we still need to ensure that we

pay proper due diligence to the technology simply because it is so fundamental to the

creation of both the most basic and the most complex network environments, and even

though we are for the most part very knowledgeable about its operation, we might have

forgotten some of the nuisances of its operation. So in this chapter, the intention is to

outline those operations as clearly and succinctly as possible.

For exam preparation, it is typically useful to use all the refresher tools: Take the “Do I

Know This Already?” quiz, complete the definitions of the terms listed at the end of the

chapter, print and complete the tables in Appendix E , “Key Tables for CCIE Study,” and

certainly answer all the CD-ROM questions concerning Ethernet.

“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz

Table 1-1 outlines the major headings in this chapter and the corresponding “Do I Know

This Already?” quiz questions.

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