NA Lesson - 2

 Q.Give a critical analysis of logical elements found in any network infrastructure.

(1) Network Connections

• Network connections are logical interfaces between software(such as protocols) and hardware (such as modems or network adapters).
• They are normally configured with various types of protocols, services, and client software.
•  Network Protocols : Network protocols are network languages used for computer-to-computer communication.
• Network Services : Network services are programs that provide features, such as quality of service, to hosts or protocols on a network.
• Network Clients:  Network clients are programs that allow a computer to connect to a network operating system.

(2) Network Addressing

Addressing is the practice of maintaining a coherent system of addresses within your network so that all computers can communicate.In a network, each host normally distinguishes itself by using a specific network address.

(3) Name Resolution

Name resolution is the process of translating a computer name into an address, and vice versa.Windows networks support two name resolution systems NetBIOS and DNS.

(4) Network Computer Groups

■  A workgroup is a simple grouping of resources intended to help users find such resources as printers and shared folders.

■  A domain is a collection of computers, defined by a network administrator, that share a common directory, security policies, and relationships with other domains.

(5)Active Directory

• Active Directory is a distributed database and directory service that is replicated among all domain controllers on the network. The Active Directory database stores information about network objects including domains, computers, users, and other objects.
• The term domains is used to refer both to groupings of computers in Active Directory and to hierarchical name suffixes such as microsoft.com in DNS. Remember that Active Directory domains and DNS domains are separate entities governed by separate systems.
• Domain is a logical group of computer domains.However, to simplify administration, Active Directory domains and their member computers are     normally assigned names that match DNS names. In this way, the Active Directory namespace and the DNS namespace overlap.

Overlapping of Active Directory and DNS namespaces

(6)Routing and Remote Access Services

Routing and Remote Access provides a full featured multiprotocol & router.We can include Routing and Remote Access in our infrastucture to provide routing within private networks and between locations.

(7)Network Address Translation (NAT)

NAT is a protocol found in Routing and Remote Access that provides a simple connectivity to the internet.We must include NAT in our infrastructure to provide routing within private networks and between locations.

(8)Certificate Services

Certificates are used for public key cryptography, which is an important security element in Windows Server 2003 networks. Certificates and public key cryptography are used in many Windows features, such as the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), the Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) protocol (which encrypts IP communications.