What I’ve learned in Networking

Networking and Me
Desiree Fults
Kaplan University

IT273-02: Networking Concepts
Professor Nelson Stewart

Let me start by saying this class has been very hard for me. What I have learned and what I have studied are two different things. I have studied many things. I’ve studied the basics of networking, which wasn’t so hard. I understand that a LAN is a connection meant for just a handful of computers and devices. I understand that a peer-to-peer network is something meant for a household that has a couple of computers, and maybe a printer. A WAN is a network that is used in businesses and anything that needs to connect many devices together. I know that the Internet is the largest WAN there is.
Now I’ve studied the OSI. I understand it to a degree. I know the OSI has seven layers and that it represents communication between two computers on a network. I can list the seven layers; they are the application layer, the presentation layer, the session layer, the transport layer, the data link layer and the physical layer. I know these layers work together to transfer data from one computer to another. The layers to me get confusing and I keep trying but know that without all layers the OSI would not work correctly.
Now I want to discuss IP addresses. I can turn IP addresses into binary numbers then back to decimals. I can also reverse that process. I cannot manage to do subnetting. It is very confusing and hard for me. I know that there are different types of TCP/IP addresses. There is Class A, Class B, Class C (those are the three most common). Then there is Class D and Class E which are not used very often. Class A has a beginning octet starting at 1 and ending at 126. Class B starts at 128 and ends at 191. Class C starts at 192 and ends at 223. The number 127 is reserved for a device communicating with itself. I know a subnet mask is a special 32bit number that combined with a