With some simple hardware and routing protocols, you can connect offices in almost any location. Wide area networks (WANs) allow data to be shared securely and quickly over long distances. In this course, networking expert Greg Sowell describes how to set up WANs, including networking your workstations with switchs and connecting them to the Internet via a routing device.

He discusses different WAN technologies and features such as speeds, spans, and price points—including inexpensive options such as VPN. He then covers switches (the devices that connect computers in your building) and routers (devices that control the transmission of network data). Along the way, Greg shows how to build private connections, implement free networking over the Internet, build switch networks, and overlay-routed networks. He'll also introduce different routing protocols, such as OPSF link-state routing and distance-vector routing with RIPv2, EIGRP, and BGP.

Note that this course maps to domains 1 and 2 of the Microsoft Technology Associate (MTA) Networking Fundamentals certification exam (98-366).
Topics include:
Understanding the technology: from dial-up to VPNs
Working with hubs, bridges, and switches
Ensuring hardware redundancy
Using switching types and MAC tables
Preventing bridge loops with STP
Routing with routing tables
Using NAT
Securing your switches and routers
Setting up firewalls
Working with different routing protocols: RIPv2, OSPF, EIGRP, and more