Format

Classroom

Duration

5.0 Day(s)

Description

An understanding of the components, structure and functions of data communications networks is critical in supporting the online business environment. This course provides the essential terminology and concepts needed to understand, plan, design and install data networks to solve business problems.

Audience

Anyone who is currently involved with or plans to become involved with data communications and requires a cross-system perspective on communications environments would benefit from this course.
The course is appropriate for technical managers and personnel involved in requirements analysis, planning, design, installation or operations of data networks. It is also helpful to applications programmers or systems programmers supporting other systems who need to extend their data processing expertise into data communications. This course serves as a prerequisite for many other courses in the IBM communications systems curriculum

Prerequisites

A general knowledge of data processing systems is assumed, but no prior data communications training is required.

Objectives

The data communications network is examined with an emphasis on presenting the hardware and software components of data networks, their principal functions and the communications protocols and architectural rules which govern their interaction. Students are taught:
o Basic data communications terminology, in the context of wide and local area networks
o Fundamentals of communications transport facilities - options for connecting nodes in wide area networks, operation of line adapters and electrical interfaces
o Trends and directions in communications transport facilities
o Roles of data link protocols in a data communications network and comparisons of major data link control protocols used in wide and local area networks
o Functions of data communications terminals and workstations
o Data communications network architecture (SNA and TCP/IP) terminology, components and functions
o Functions provided by LAN bridges, switches and multiprotocol routers
o Role of Network Operating Systems and some of the characteristics of Warp Server and Netware environments
o Strategies for supporting the interoperability of applications between networks.
o Rationale and architectures supporting network management tasks in wide and local area networks.