Chapter 1. Network Building Essentials

"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much."

- Helen Keller

Information technology (IT) has become an integral part of any modern business. This reliance on the use of technology has led to a lot of successful new businesses, and even a small delay in adopting new technology, not to mention a lack of willingness to adopt new technologies, has led to the elimination of so many businesses around the world.

Networks are the foundation for IT, as they help connect multiple elements in the technological landscape of any organization. In this chapter, we will discuss the basic concepts that the reader will find useful in their goal of learning how to build IT networks. We will cover the following topics in this chapter:

• The need for networking and an introduction to IT networks
• A standard reference model for a network called the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model
• The TCP/IP protocol stack
• The various stages in building a network