In this lesson, we'll understand what is meant by the term "protocol", and how that relates to the concept of a standard. We will also start considering how many functions have to be performed to interoperate systems, and how these functions might be organized.
This free online network training course lesson is in both the CTNS Certification Package and the CTA Certification Package.
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These are the words that are displayed and spoken during the lesson. Get these notes for the whole course in the Certification Study Guide, available in print or eBook. Many people tell us a printed companion book enhances their learning!
What is a protocol?
We use the term protocol in the data communications business the same way it is used in the diplomacy business: it is a plan for how two different systems will interact.
In diplomacy, protocol officers get together in advance and hammer out the plan: it says who is going to greet whom at the bottom of the steps of the aircraft, what color the carpet is going to be, what music the band will be playing, are you allowed to be sitting down while the president of the United States is in the room… the plan on how two countries will interact.
To communicate, we need to have a set of conventions that specifies how we are going to communicate. This is the definition of a protocol.
Mutual adherence to an agreed protocol or set of protocols makes communication possible.
In an open system, the protocols are published standards: everyone agrees on the protocols to be used.
Quite a number of areas and functions must be covered in a communication protocol.
Taking e-mail as an example, first, we have to agree what the format of the message will be.
How will the message be coded into 1s and 0s? Will it then be encrypted? We'd better have an agreed plan for that, or we won't be doing much communications...
Most communications today is client-server… and e-mail is an easy example. When checking Outlook-type email, it is necessary to log on to your mail server with a username and password and be authenticated… so part of the protocol has to be how to transmit usernames and passwords to the server.
One could imagine the mind-numbing complexities created if it is desired that the password not be transmitted as clear text, but encrypted as a measure against eavesdropping… how to transmit the decryption key for the password without encrypting it?
Once authenticated, then it is necessary to transport the message from the server to the client, and there are a number of things that have to be figured out.
We have to be able to perform segmentation and reassembly, breaking up the message into manageable pieces for transmission and putting it back together at the receiver… in the correct order.
We have to be able to encapsulate control information on the segment. An example of control information encapsulated on a segment of data is a network address.
Once we make a packet with a network address, how are routers going to make routing decisions based on those network addresses?
Probably the most important aspect is error control: sending data with errors and not knowing about it is probably worse than not sending any data at all.
Sometimes error control is performed on each link. Sometimes not. We always have to check errors end-to-end.
How do we do flow control: when one system can't process information as fast as the other, and has to have a way of temporarily interrupting the flow of data.
How do we do access control – when there is more than one station on the link, which gets to talk next?
At the bit level there are things that have to be resolved: what physical medium to use and how to represent the bits on the physical medium. How to do conversions between different media and different bit rates?
All this and more has to be part of the plan.
There are two basic choices to come up with a plan: monolithic or structured protocols.
A monolithic protocol would embody all of the required functions in a single standard. The problem with this approach is that it becomes unwieldy when all possible variations are included in the single package, and makes maintenance impossible.
A structured approach, where we divide the totality of functions into easy pieces, then write protocols covering each of the pieces, is more workable.
This allows us to mix and match: for example, we could keep everything the same on all systems, but allow different locations to employ any type of local cabling and framing system they wished.
It would be possible for an individual to develop a set of open, structured protocols for communications.
This would only be useful if everyone, or at least a critical mass of users, agreed to use that particular set of protocols.
We are always interested in implementing standard protocols.
A protocol is a plan. A standard is when everyone agrees on a particular plan.
Diplomatic Protocol
Lesson 1 is the Introduction to the Course.
Lesson 2 Open Systems, where we will discuss open vs. proprietary methods of communications.
Lesson 3 Protocols and Standards, where we will understand what a protocol is, monolithic vs. structured protocols, and how a standard relates to a protocol.
Lesson 4 The ISO OSI 7-Layer Reference Model, where we will introduce the model and how it operates, and give an overview of each of the layers in the model. Then we'll go over that again, more slowly, one layer at a time.
Lesson 5 The Physical Layer, moving bits over Fiber, Twisted Pair, Cable and Wireless.
Lesson 6 Layer 2, the Data Link Layer, where we will discuss frames, LANs and MAC Addresses.
Lesson 7 Layer 3, the Network Layer: IP, MPLS, Packets and Routers.
Lesson 8 The Transport Layer: Reliability, Ports and Sockets.
Lesson 9 The Session Layer: SIP, POP and HTTP.
Lesson 10 The Presentation Layer, where we'll discuss ASCII, MIME, Compression, Encryption, and Codecs.
Lesson 11 The Application Layer, where we will use SMTP, HTML and English as examples.
Lesson 12 Protocol Stacks: The FedEx Analogy, where we will use an analogy of company to company communications using FedEx to better understand how the layers interoperate with each other and how a protocol stack works.
Lesson 13 How the protocol stack works from a bits point of view, and how Protocol Headers end up being nested like Babushka Dolls.
Lesson 14 Standards Organizations, a brief overview of organizations that publish what they hope will become standard protocols for communications.
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Invest in yourself with Teracom’s CTNS Certification Package, eight online courses delivering a solid foundation in telecom, datacom and networking: understanding the fundamentals, technologies, jargon and buzzwords, and most importantly, the underlying ideas and how it all fits together… plus TCO Certification to prove it:
2241 Introduction to Broadband Converged IP Telecom
2206 Wireless Telecommunications
2221 Fundamentals of Voice over IP
2201 The PSTN
2212 OSI Layers and Protocol Stacks
2211 LANs, VLANs, Wireless and Optical Ethernet
2213 IP Addresses, Packets and Routers
2214 MPLS and Carrier Networks
Benefit from decades of knowledge, insight and experience distilled into clear lessons, logically organized to build one concept on another. Get a major career-enhancing and productivity-enhancing knowledge upgrade – learning that you can't get on the job, reading magazines or talking to vendors.
Based on Teracom’s famous week-long instructor-led BOOT CAMP, the selection of material, its order, timing, and explanations are field-tested to deliver the core up-to-date knowledge set for today’s telecommunications.
The first four CTNS courses are on telecommunications, beginning with Introduction to Broadband Converged IP Telecom, an introduction and first pass through all of the topics; followed by Introduction to Voice over IP, then Wireless Telecommunications, including 5G and Wi-Fi 6, and the PSTN.
Introduction to Broadband Converged IP Telecom is a high-level wide-ranging introduction to the world of modern IP telecommunications.
This course is based on the first chapter of Teracom's famous instructor-led BOOT CAMP, getting a full week of training started with an introduction to all of the different aspects of the modern converged IP telecom network.
Designed specifically for non-engineers, It's a first pass through the topics, starting at the beginning, explaining the fundamental ideas, jargon, equipment and technologies, the services that are sold, the players, where the money is, and how it all fits together.
In subsequent courses, we'll take another pass and drill deeper into key areas like Wireless, VoIP, PSTN, Ethernet, IP and MPLS.
This is quite a range of knowledge, and can appear daunting, especially if you are new to telecom. Keep in mind that this course is the introduction, the first pass through all of these topics.
No-one is expecting anyone to be an instant expert!
In subsequent courses, we take a second and sometimes third pass through the topics and drill deeper to more fully understand the concepts and technologies.
With this course, we're getting started identifying and understanding all of the aspects of modern broadband converged IP telecommunications.
Based on Teracom's famous Course 101, tuned and refined over the course of more than 20 years of instructor-led training, we'll cut through the jargon to demystify modern IP telecommunications, explaining the jargon and buzzwords, the underlying ideas, and how it all works together… in plain English.
We begin with basic concepts and terminology involved in mobile networks, including base stations and transceivers, mobile switches and backhaul, handoffs, cellular radio concepts and digital radio concepts.
Next, we understand how phone calls are made over radio and how they connect to landlines; and how mobile internet is implemented, tethered modems and mobile Wi-Fi hotspots.
Without bogging down on details, we'll review spectrum-sharing technologies: FDMA for first generation; 2G GSM/TDMA, 3G CDMA and 4G and 5G OFDM.
We'll understand how modems represent bits on subcarriers in OFDM, and how OFDMA is used in 4G and 5G to dynamically assign subcarrier(s) to users.
This is followed with Wi-Fi, or more precisely, 802.11 wireless LANs: the system components, frequency bands, bitrates and coverage for all of the versions up to Wi-Fi 6 which is 802.11ax, the first Wi-Fi to implement full-duplex communications with multiple simultaneous devices using OFDMA and a theoretical 9.6 Gb/s.
The course is completed with communications satellites, in Geosynchronous Earth Orbit and Low Earth Orbit, including Iridium Next and Starlink.
You'll gain a solid understanding of the key principles of wireless and mobile networks:
Jargon & Buzzwords • VoIP Phone System Components and Operation • Voice Packetization • LANs and WANs • VoIP Phones: MAC Address, DHCP, IP, UDP, RTP, QoS • SIP, Softswitches & SIP Trunking • Cloud • The Future
Fundamentals of Voice over IP is a complete introduction to everything Voice over IP. You'll learn the fundamental ideas and principles of a VoIP telephone system, VoIP, SIP & all the other jargon - what it actually means and how it all works together.
At each step, we'll also cover supporting and related technologies like Ethernet MAC frames and codecs and video over IP.
The objective of this course is to put in place a solid, structured base of knowledge in the technology and implementation of communicating thoughts from one person's brain to another via a telephone conversation carried in IP packets.
In particular, on completion of this course, you will be able to explain:
One cornerstone of a full, rounded base of knowledge of telecommunications is the structure and operation of the Public Switched Telephone Network, built over the past 135 years, still in operation in every country on earth – knowledge necessary for connecting the PSTN to, and steadily replacing the PSTN with IP telecom technologies.
In this course, you'll build a solid understanding of the fundamentals of the telephone system: Customer Premise and Central Office, loops, trunks, remotes, circuit switching and how a telephone call is connected end-to-end. We'll cover LECs, CLECs and IXCs, sound, analog and the voiceband, twisted pair, DTMF and SS7. Updated for the 2020s.
On completion of this course, you will be able to draw a model of the Public Switched Telephone Network, identify and explain its components and technologies including:
The second half of CTNS is four courses on networking, delivering a practical understanding of Ethernet and its MAC frames, IP packets with IP addresses and routers, and the traffic management system MPLS. We begin with the OSI Reference Model and its Layers as a framework to organize the discussions.
This course establishes a framework for all of the subsequent discussions: the OSI 7-Layer Reference Model, which identifies and divides the functions to be performed into groups called layers.
This framework is required to sort out the many functions that need to be performed, and to be able to discuss separate issues separately.
First, we'll define the term "protocol" and compare that to a standard. Then we'll define "layer" and how a layered architecture operates, and provide an overview of the name, purpose and function of each of the seven layers in the OSI model.
Then, we'll go back through the story more slowly, with one lesson for each of the layers, examining in greater detail the functions that have to be performed and giving examples of protocols and how and where they are used to implement particular layers.
The result is a protocol stack, one protocol on top of another on top of another to fulfill all of the required functions. To make this more understandable, this course ends with the famous FedEx Analogy illustrating the concepts using company-to-company communications, and an analogy of Babushka dolls to illustrate how the protocol headers are nested at the bits level.
On completion of this course, you will be able to:
This course is all about Ethernet: the fundamentals, equipment and implementations including twisted-pair copper cables, wireless and fiber, in-building, in the network core, MANs and PONs.
You'll understand the jargon and buzzwords, the underlying ideas, and how it all works together to form the physical basis of the telecom network.
On completion of this course, you will be able to explain:
On completion of this course, you will be able to explain:
MPLS and Carrier Networks is a comprehensive, up-to-date course on the networks companies like AT&T build and operate, how they are implemented, the services they offer, and how customers connect to the network.
The IP packets and routing of the previous course is one part of the story. Performance guarantees, and methods for quality of service, traffic management, aggregation and integration is another big part of the story, particularly once we leave the lab and venture into the real world and the business of telecommunications services.
We'll begin by establishing a basic model for a customer obtaining service from a provider, defining Customer Edge, Provider Edge, access and core, and a Service Level Agreement: traffic profile vs. transmission characteristics.
Next, we'll understand virtual circuits, a powerful tool used for traffic management and how they are implemented with MPLS, explaining the equipment, jargon and principles of operation.
Without bogging down on details, we’ll cut through buzzwords and marketing to demystify:
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FAQsTeracom is an Accredited Training Partner of the Telecommunications Certification Organization, authorized to administer exams for TCO certifications on the myTeracom Learning Management System and award TCO Certifications.
TCO Certification is proof of your knowledge of telecom, datacom and networking fundamentals, jargon, buzzwords, technologies and solutions.
It's backed up with a Certificate suitable for framing - plus a personalized Letter of Reference / Letter of Introduction detailing the knowledge your TCO Certification represents and inviting the recipient to contact Teracom for verification.
You may list Teracom Training Institute as a reference on your résumé if desired.
Each course has a course exam, consisting of ten multiple-choice questions chosen at random from a pool and shuffled in order. Passing the course exams proves your knowledge of these topics and results in your certification as a Certified Telecommunications Network Specialist.
Your Certificate and Letter of Reference / Letter of Introduction will be immediately available for download from your Dashboard in the myTeracom Learning Management System. You may also order a signed and sealed Certificate by airmail.
Choosing the "Unlimited Plan" at registration allows you to repeat courses and/or exams at no additional charge – which means guaranteed to pass if you're willing to learn.
Alternatively, if you like this discounted package of courses, but don't need the certification – or don't feel like writing exams – no problem! Take the Telecom, Datacom and Networking for Non‑Engineers course package, which includes the same courses as the CTNS certification package, without the certification exams.
One benefit of TCO certification is differentiating yourself from the rest of the crowd when applying for a job or angling for a promotion.
The knowledge you gain taking Teracom's Online Courses, confirmed with TCO Certification, is foundational knowledge in telecommunications, IP, networking and wireless: fundamental concepts, mainstream technologies, jargon, buzzwords, and the underlying ideas - and how it all fits together.
This type of knowledge and preparation makes you an ideal candidate to hire or promote to a task, as you will be able to build on your knowledge base to quickly get up to speed and work on a particular project - then have the versatility to work on subsequent projects.
TCO Certification will help demonstrate you have this skill... a desirable thought to have in your potential manager's mind.
Take advantage of these courses for individual learning, a team, or for an entire organization.
The scalable myTeracom Learning Management System can register and manage all of your people through their courses, lessons and exams, and generate management reports showing progress and scores with the click of a button.
For larger organizations, the courses and exams can also be licensed and deployed on an organization's internal LMS.
Teracom certification packages are an extremely cost-effective way of implementing consistent, comprehensive telecommunications and networking technology fundamentals training, ensuring that both existing resources and new hires are up to the same speed, with a common vocabulary, framework and knowledge base.
The course exams provide concrete measurements of competency in key knowledge areas. Management can view the progress and results of all team members and export the results to Excel with the click of a button.
These reports identify skills deficiencies and strengths, and provide tangible proof of return on investment and team readiness for reports to upper management.
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