The world of IT is always evolving, but in every area there are stable, core concepts that anyone just setting out needed to know last year, needs to know this year, and will still need to know next year. The purpose of the Foundations series is to identify these concepts and present them in a way that gives you the strongest possible starting-point, no matter what your endeavor.

Networking Foundations provides essential knowledge about designing, building, and maintaining a network. What you learn here will benefit you in the short term, as you acquire and practice your skills, and in the long term, as you use them. Topics covered include:

• Networking fundamentals
• The OSI networking model
• Network architectures
• File servers and network clients
• Physical and logical topologies
• Electrical issues in networking
• Network media and cabling devices
• Network standards and protocols
• LAN installation
• WAN basics
• Internet access