Class 2 Questions

1. A dedicated network is a set of separate hardware that will be used for a specific purpose / service / group rather than sharing hardware. e.g. You install a video surveillance system at an office that has an existing network.  They currently have phones, computers, and other devices all sharing the same equipment (converged network).  You then add network equipment for the sole purpose of the video surveillance equipment, which will not be shared with VOIP / data/ other devices (dedicated network)

2. When you address your equipment you will want to set the 255.255.254.0 subnet address on all network devices that you have to ensure they can all communicate. If you do not, then those devices will only be able to communicate within their native subnet:

e.g 

device A 172.20.128.50 / 255.255.255.0

device B 172.20.128.55 / 255.255.254.0

device C 172.20.129.20 / 255.255.254.0

A can talk to B, but not C

B can talk to A & C

The subnet mask indicates that we are borrowing a bit to extend our range of hosts into 172.20.129.x network.

I hope helps.

That IP address would not work with our example IP addresses.  It is on a different subnet with the range of IP ranges 172.20.126.0 - 172.20.127.255

Dear Sara,

A switch is used to connect network devices together while a router is used to connect networks together, it is like a bridge between two networks. In your home you have a switch that you connect your laptops/PC to it, at the other end its connected to the phone jack. It actually a switch and a router in one device, because it is also allow you to connect your home network with the internet server provider network to surf the internet.

A private network is not open for the public, only certain people have access to it. Or we can say, it is dedicated for certain devices and other devices can not connect to it. 

An unmanaged switch is plug and play device, in a managed switch for example you can give authorization for certain devices to access your network so you can increase the security of your network. Also, in a high end managed device it has a layer 3 routing capability so it has the capability to connect your network to another network and many other features. An unmanaged device does not have the above features. Chosing which device to go with depends on your application, how big and critical your project. 

Thanks 

Hi

i have a question regarding pinching addresses using subnet masks. if i was using the IP range 172.20.128.xxx and then used a subnet of 255.255.254.0:

1. what address do i use in the 3rd Octet? does it go up or down by 1, so in this instance can i use 172.20.127.xxx or 172.20.129.xxx?

2. if my network was already full and i needed to use more addresses would i have to go back and change all my original subnet masks from 255.255.255.0 to 255.255.254.0 for my new devices to talk to my original devices?