The following is an excerpt from our Accelerated Microsoft TCP/IP PRE-Seminar Guide. |
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Accelerated Microsoft® TCP/IP
Practice Activities and Preparation
TCP/IP Address Classes and Ranges
The Internetworking Microsoft® Microsoft TCP/IP certification exam measures your ability to implement, administer, and troubleshoot information systems that incorporate Microsoft TCP/IP.
The TCP/IP exam applies as elective credit for the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer certification and toward as credit for the Microsoft Certified Product Specialist certification.
Microsoft expects that -- in addition to your knowledge of network terms and TCP/IP – you will have significant real world experience deploying and administering network software and hardware.
Subnet masking
There are many questions involving subnet masking either directly or indirectly. Almost all of them use complicated masks that do not divide on even octet (byte) boundaries. The Practice Activities and Preparation section below and the accelerated seminar will prepare you for handling these problems.
Accelerated Seminar Outline
(for TCP/IP on WinNT 4.0)
- Preparing for the Microsoft Certified Professional Exam
- Taking the exam
- Understanding TCP/IP: An Overview
- How is Microsoft TCP/IP different?
- Installing and Configuring Microsoft TCP/IP
- IP Addressing
- Subnet Addressing
- IP Address Resolution
- The purpose of Address Resolution Protocol
- Understanding DNS and NetBIOS names
- Host Name Resolution
- DNS
- H-Node
- Installing a DHCP server
- Installing and configuring a WINS server
- Distinguishing DHCP, WINS, and DNS services
- Implementing the SNMP Service
- Windows in NT Heterogeneous Environments
- TCP/IP Performance Tuning and Optimization
- Troubleshooting TCP/IP
Practice Activities and Preparation
Required Preparation
Take the Microsoft Roadmap Assessment Exam. Call 800 755 3926 (800 755 EXAM) to ask for a copy of the Roadmap. This step is required for all participants, no matter their experience level.
Install Microsoft TCP/IP on Windows NT. Although the test covers TCP/IP on Windows NT 3.51, you can complete these exercises under Windows NT 4.0. In most cases, the steps are similar and we will cover the important differences during the seminar.
Install Windows NT DHCP and WIN. Configure a scope for DHCP and investigating setting up WINS replication partners.
Use each of the following command line utilities. Jot down the purpose of each of these.
ipconfig ping
arp
route
tracert
netstat nbtstat
finger
hostname
Use ftp to both upload and download a file to either your local network or the Internet.
Use telnet to run commands on a remote (UNIX or other) host.
Go through the preceding outline of the Accelerated TCP/IP seminar and highlight the activities with which you are unfamiliar.
Suggested
Investigate or carry-out as many of the activities with which you are unfamiliar as time permits. We will cover the essentials, but the more experience that you have the easier it will be for you to rapidly learn this material.
If you have access to the Internet, use ping and tracert to test a well known remote location such as ftp.microsoft.com.
Material to Memorize
(Before attending the Accelerated Class)
If you memorize this material and complete the exercises which follow you will be able to learn the TCP/IP material much faster and more thoroughly.
Memorize this TCP/IP mantra In TCP/IP networking, IP addresses are really 32-bit binary numbers.
Even though they are usually written as 4 dotted decimal octets, they are really just 32 binary bits.
TCP/IP Address Classes and Ranges
Class
Valid Network IDs Number of networks Number of hosts Default Subnet Mask A
1 – 126 126 256 ´ 256 ´ 256 – 2 = 16,721,214 255.0.0.0 B
128 – 191
(128.0 – 191.255)64 ´ 256 = 16,384 256 ´ 256 – 2
= 65,534255.255.0.0 C
192 – 223
(192.0.0 – 223.255.255)32 ´ 256 ´ 256 = 2,097,152 256 – 2 = 254 255.255.255.0
In the second column, Valid Network IDs, you do not have to memorize the ranges in parentheses. You do need to know that Class A addresses start with 1 through 126, and look like, 123.65.34.23. This is a Class A address because that first octet contains a number from 1 to 126.
Similarly, B address start with 128 through 191 and C address start with 192 through 223.
You don’t need to memorize the exact numbers in the third or fourth columns, except for the last entry in the fourth column. Know that there are about 16 million hosts addresses on a Class A, 65 thousand on a Class B, and exactly 254 host addresses on a class C network.
Know that there 126 Class A networks, and that there are about 16 thousand Class B, and 2 million Class C networks.
Memorize the default subnet masks, 255 in the first octet for Class A, 255.255 in the first two octets for Class B, and 255.255.255 in the first three octets for class C.
But please remember,
In TCP/IP networking, IP addresses are really 32-bit binary numbers.
Even though they are usually written as 4 dotted decimal octets, they are really just 32 binary bits.
IMPORTANT WARNING
The following Memorization sections contain math.
The math is really basic, but unfortunately our school systems allow many otherwise highly educated students to leave high school without knowing this math, or perhaps worse, never explaining the things they could accomplish by using this math they have already learned.
Of course, if you do not know the value of any technique, you are not likely to remember the technique permanently, will you?
The reason that you memorize this math now, is that the TCP/IP exam contains many questions about complex network subnet masking. Very few of these are of the easy or obvious type that many people use to subnet their real networks.
In fact, because most people really only understand the easy variety there are many networks in the world which are squandering their precious address resources.
Once you learn how to create and check subnet masks quickly and easily you will probably find many opportunities to be a TCP/IP hero(ine). You will resolve subnet masking problems, and be able to teach other administrators how to efficiently use these valuable resources.
But, the real reason that you want to learn this little bit of math and this technique right now, is that you want to pass the Microsoft Certified Professional exam in Internetworking with TCP/IP.
Subnet masking allows the network administrator to take full advantage of the IP address obtained from the Internet NIC authority.
Subnet masking and the related routing issues contribute to nearly half the questions on the exam. These questions keep many people from passing the TCP/IP exam and are the reason that most people consider the TCP/IP test to be the most difficult one offered by Microsoft.
Even if you can work them out the old fashioned way this takes valuable time that you cannot afford to waste during the exam. Microsoft lets you use the Windows calculator on this test; the trick is that using the calculator is too slow and is no real advantage.
At first, our students felt that this might not be too easy for them to learn, but then they began to get a feel for how easy the technique is to apply. Using this memorized material and the technique that you will learn during the seminar, they found that these problems became easy and that the TCP/IP exam might even be the easiest test, when you are prepared for it.
This is why we want you to learn it now!
A suggestion: You might want to put the tables in the next few sections on index cards and keep them with you for review until the test.
Binary and operation
1 AND 1 = 1 1 AND 0 = 0
0 AND 1 = 0 0 AND 0 = 0
(Hint: Only 1 AND 1 EQUALS 1, the other combinations all EQUAL 0.) Powers of 2
Memorize the powers of 2 forwards and backwards, e.g.,
KNOW that 23 = 8,
and KNOW that 8 = 23.
1 = 202 = 214 = 228 = 2316 = 2432 = 2564 = 26128 = 27256 = 28512 = 291024 = 210
Bit values in a byte or octet
A byte (IP addresses call them octets) contains 8 bits. The most significant bit’s (the one that we humans like to write over on the left side) value is 128. The next most significant is 64, and so one down to the last whose value is 1.
Memorize the Bit values:
Do not just read this picture, get to know that left-most bit as ‘The 128-bit’, think of the fourth bit from the left as ‘The 16-bit’, etc..
High-Bit Sums
High-bit sum or just Bit sum are terms that we created just to teach you this concept. A high-bit sum is the sum of one or more of the leftmost bits in an octet. The bit sums are referred to as the 1-bit sum, the 2-bit sum, etc.. Since the leftmost bit is the 128-bit, the 1-bit sum equals 128, while the 2-bit sum equals 128 + 64 or 190. You probably already know the 8-bit sum. It is just 255, the largest number that you can make with all 8 bits set.
Memorize this table of high-bit sums:
| 1-bit sum | 128 | (128 alone) |
| 2-bit sum | 192 | (128+64) |
| 3-bit sum | 224 | (128+64+32) |
| 4-bit sum | 240 | (128+64+32+16) |
| 5-bit sum | 248 | (128+64+32+16+8) |
| 6-bit sum | 252 | (128+64+32+16+8+4) |
| 7-bit sum | 254 | (128+64+32+16+8+4+2) |
| 8-bit sum | 255 | (128+64+32+16+8+4+2+1) |
Multiplying a base number raised to a power by the same base number
When multiplying 2x x 2y, you can take a short cut when both base numbers are the same. Since 2, is the same in both multipliers: 2x x 2y = 2x+y. So
23 x 25 = 23+5 = 28 = 256.
Of course, subtraction of exponents works for division, but once again, only if the base numbers are the same (like 2 for instance).
So what, you might ask? If you memorized the powers of 2 in the previous item, then you can do math based on binary numbers (which are always combinations of the powers of two) really easily, and quickly, too.
Microsoft lists these exam objectives:
Installation and Configuration
Identify valid network configurations for devices on a TCP/IP network.
Install Microsoft TCP/IP on a Windows NT Server computer.
Install Microsoft TCP/IP on a Windows NT Server computer to support multiple network adapters.
Configure a Windows NT Server computer to support TCP/IP printing.
Install a DHCP server.
Create and manage scopes by using DHCP Manager.
Install and configure a WINS server.
Configure multiple WINS servers to support replication.
Configure static mappings for clients that are not WINS-enabled.
IP Addressing
Describe how the individual IP address classes are configured to support different combinations of networks and hosts on an IP network.
Configure a network by assigning appropriate IP addresses to devices on the network.
Subnet Addressing
Configure a network that comprises multiple subnets by using subnet masks.
Implementing IP Routing
Describe how packets are routed between networks by using IP routers.
Compare and contrast static and dynamic IP routing.
Configure routes within a static routing table.
Configure a Windows NT Server computer to function as an IP router.
IP Address Resolution
Explain the purpose of the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP).
Explain how ARP maps an IP address to a hardware address on a local network.
Use the arp diagnostic command to add, modify, or delete entries in a translation table used by ARP.
Host Name Resolution
Explain how a host name is resolved to an IP address by using the Domain Name System (DNS).
Configure a Windows NT Server computer to use DNS.
Modify the HOSTS file so that host names are resolved correctly.
NetBIOS Name Resolution
Explain how NetBIOS names on a local area network are resolved by using broadcasts.
Explain how NetBIOS names are resolved to IP addresses on remote networks by using the LMHOSTS file.
Configure local and centralized LMHOSTS files.
Configure an LMHOST file across domains.
Explain how WINS can be used to resolve a NetBIOS name to an IP address.
Connecting to Heterogeneous Environments
Install and configure an FTP server on a Windows NT Server computer.
Connect to and exchange files with a TCP/IP-based UNIX® host by using the ftp command.
Connect to a TCP/IP-based UNIX host by using the telnet command.
Implementing the SNMP Service
Configure the SNMP service to be monitored by an SNMP manager application.
Configure SNMP security and agents.
Performance, Tuning, and Optimization
List and describe characteristics in a network environment that affect performance.
Identify and explain the TCP/IP parameters that affect performance.
Identify and explain the meaning of specific TCP performance counters.
Troubleshooting
Diagnose IP address resolution problems.
Diagnose IP configuration problems by using Microsoft TCP/IP utilities.
Diagnose problems that commonly occur with host name resolution.
Diagnose address resolution problems by using Microsoft TCP/IP utilities.
Diagnose name resolution problems by using Microsoft TCP/IP utilities.
Diagnose problems that occur with a DHCP Server.
