Chris Bryant

Network+ Exam Certification Tutorial: The Bus Topology

The Physical layer of the OSI model isn't the most exciting or interesting to work with, but it's the foundation for everything we do in networking. The same goes for the physical side of networking - whether it's cable types, network topologies, or netw... Read >

Network+ Certification Exam Tutorial: Address Resolution Protocol (ARP)

When you're studying for the Network+ exam, you've got to master the fundamentals of networking, because the Network+ is a hard exam to pass due to the range of information covered. One such fundamental is the Address Resolution Protocol, commonly referr... Read >

Cisco CCNA Certification Exam Training: What Is Packet Switching?

Cisco CCNA certification exam training means you've got to learn a lot of new terms, and some of them can be a little confusing at first. To pass this tough certification exam, one term you definitely need to understand is packet switching. The first qu... Read >

CompTIA Network+ Certification Exam Tutorial: Virus Attacks And Antivirus Programs

Whether you're preparing to pass the Network+ or Cisco CCNA certification exam or not, you must not underestimate the importance of antivirus programs and virus definition updates. With all the attention we pay to viruses and their prevention, I feel a l... Read >

Network+ / CCNA Certification Exam Tutorial: Port Numbers And Troubleshooting

Passing the Network+ and CCNA exams demands that you know quite a few port numbers, but they're important to know when working with real-world networks as well. Before we discuss why, here's a partial list of important port numbers to know for these cert... Read >

CompTIA Network+ Certification Exam Tutorial: Hot Sites, Warm Sites, and Disaster Recovery

Part of passing the Network+ exam and being an outstanding network administrator is being prepared for disaster. Sometimes that's a disaster on a relatively small scale, such as a drive failure. If you're running data backups on a regular basis (and you... Read >

CCNA Exam Tutorial: MAC Addressing Formats And Broadcasts

Your CCNA exam success depends on your mastery of networking, routing, and switching fundamentals. Those fundamentals have to include knowledge of MAC addresses, so let's take a close look at Media Access Control addressing. A typical MAC address look... Read >

Network+ Exam Tutorial: Network Interface Cards (NICs)

Part of the challenge of passing the Network+ exam is learning about all the different types of hardware a network requires. Today we'll take a look at a vital part of network connectivity, the Network Interface Card (NIC, pronounced "nick"). The NIC ... Read >

How To Start A Career In The Computer Field

If you're considering a career working in Information Technology - a fancy way of saying "working with computers" - congratulations! I can tell you from personal experience that it's one of the best decisions you'll ever make. I can also tell you from p... Read >

Network+ Exam Tutorial: Ports, Port Numbers, and Sockets

If there's one thing that can be a bit confusing to many Network+ certification exam candidates, it's the concept of ports and sockets. Well, it was confusing to me when I got started with computer certifications! Let's take a look at ports and sockets,... Read >

Cisco CCNP Certification Exam Tutorial: Making The Most Of Cisco's CCNP Program Changes

As you probably know by now, Cisco's making some sweeping changes in their Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) program. Two longtime exams are being retired at the end of the year, two are being revised, and two new exams will be making their deb... Read >

Network+ Certification Exam Tutorial: ARP and Proxy ARP Explained

In yesterday's Network+ tutorial, we talked about the importance of Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) in today's networks. A host PC must have the MAC and IP addresses of a remote host in order to send data to that remote host, and it's ARP that allows th... Read >

CCNA / Network+ Certification Exam Tutorial: Collision Domains And Switches

In the previous Network+ exam tutorial, we talked about how collisions occur when data sent by two hosts on a shared Ethernet segment transmit data at the exact same time. Collisions result in the colliding data being unusable, which means the hosts must... Read >

Cisco CCNA / CCNP Home Lab Tutorial: The 2520 Router

I hear from CCNA and CCNP candidates every day, and the most common question is "What routers and switches should I buy for my home lab?" There is no one right answer to this question, since every test candidate has a different budget. There are also CC... Read >

Network+ Certification Exam Tutorial: Ethernet CSMA/CD Explained

When you're studying for the Network+ exam, you've got a lot of new acronyms to learn! One of the basics is CSMA/CD, which stands for Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection. That's quite a mouthful, but it's an important term to know for... Read >