CompTIA Network+ N10-009 Comprehensive Flashcards

Flashcards covering the essential vocabulary, protocols, models, and troubleshooting steps for the CompTIA Network+ N10-009 exam.

Layer 7 - Application

The user-facing OSI layer providing network services such as DNS, HTTP, HTTPS, SMTP, SSH clients, and directory queries.

Layer 6 - Presentation

The OSI layer responsible for encryption, compression, and data formatting, conceptually including TLS.

Layer 5 - Session

The OSI layer that sets up, maintains, and tears down conversations, with examples including SIP and RPC-style sessions.

Layer 4 - Transport

The OSI layer managing TCP/UDP ports, segmentation, reliability, retransmission, sequencing, and flow control.

Layer 3 - Network

The OSI layer handling IP addressing, routing, ICMP, and IPv4/IPv6 packet delivery between networks.

Layer 2 - Data Link

The OSI layer dealing with Ethernet frames, MAC addresses, switching, VLAN tags, ARP adjacency, and STP.

Layer 1 - Physical

The OSI layer involving cabling, radio, light, pinouts, transceivers, signal quality, and speed/duplex negotiation.

Encapsulation Order

The process from sender: application data $\rightarrow$ TCP/UDP segment $\rightarrow$ IP packet $\rightarrow$ Ethernet frame $\rightarrow$ bits/signals.

Ethernet Frame Components

Includes Destination MAC ($6 \text{ bytes}$), Source MAC ($6 \text{ bytes}$), EtherType ($2 \text{ bytes}$), and LCS ($4 \text{ bytes}$).

IDS vs. IPS

IDS (Intrusion Detection System) detects suspicious activity, while IPS (Intrusion Prevention System) detects and actively blocks it.

NAS vs. SAN

NAS (Network Attached Storage) provides file-level storage, while SAN (Storage Area Network) provides block-level storage often using Fibre Channel or iSCSI.

SaaS (Software as a Service)

Cloud model where the provider manages the application and infrastructure while the customer manages data and identities.

PaaS (Platform as a Service)

Cloud model where the provider manages infrastructure, OS, and runtime while the customer manages applications and data.

IaaS (Infrastructure as Service)

Cloud model where the provider manages physical infrastructure while the customer manages the OS, applications, and security policy.

SDN (Software Defined Networking)

A networking architecture that separates control plane logic from forwarding hardware using centralized controllers.

Unicast

A traffic type representing one sender to one specific receiver.

Broadcast

A traffic type representing one sender to all devices in the broadcast domain.

Multicast

A traffic type representing one sender to a group of interested receivers.

Anycast

A traffic type where many destinations share one address and routing sends the client to the nearest/best instance.

APIPA (Automatic Private IP Addressing)

The range $169.254.0.0/16$ used when DHCP fails or no static address is configured.

Private IPv4 Ranges

Defined as $10.0.0.0/8$, $172.16.0.0/12$, and $192.168.0.0/16$.

IPv6 Link-Local Address

Addresses beginning with $\text{FE80::/10}$ used on the local link only.

Neighbor Discovery

The IPv6 mechanism that replaces ARP functionality using ICMPv6.

DNS (Domain Name System)

A service that maps names to addresses and services using port $53$ (UDP for queries, TCP for zone transfers).

SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol)

A protocol for monitoring and managing devices using port $161$ for queries and $162$ for traps.

RADIUS

An AAA protocol using UDP ports $1812/1813$ that encrypts only the password.

TACACS+ (Terminal Access Controller Access-Control System Plus)

An AAA protocol using TCP port $49$ that encrypts the entire packet body; preferred for device administration.

CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing)

A notation indicating the number of network bits, where usable hosts is calculated as $2^{\text{host bits}} - 2$.

VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network)

Technique to create separate Layer 2 broadcast domains on a single switch.

STP (Spanning Tree Protocol)

A protocol that prevents Layer 2 loops by blocking redundant paths.

LACP (Link Aggregation Control Protocol)

A protocol that bundles multiple physical links into one logical link for redundancy and bandwidth.

WPA3-Personal

A wireless security standard using SAE (Simultaneous Authentication of Equals) to resist offline dictionary attacks.

RIP (Routing Information Protocol)

A distance-vector IGP using hop count as a metric, with a maximum of $15 \text{ hops}$.

OSPF (Open Shortest Path First)

A link-state IGP using cost as a metric, organized around a backbone Area $0$.

BGP (Border Gateway Protocol)

A path-vector EGP used to route between autonomous systems on the internet.

MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures)

A performance metric measuring the average time between failures; higher is better.

MTTR (Mean Time To Repair)

A performance metric measuring the average time to repair a system; lower is better.

CIA Triad

The core security principles: Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability.

Zero Trust

A security model that never assumes trust based on location and verifies identity and context continuously.

North-South Traffic

Traffic patterns representing data entering or leaving the network.

East-West Traffic

Traffic patterns representing lateral movement within a data center or network.

Troubleshooting Step 1

Identify the problem by gathering information, questioning users, determining scope, and checking for changes.

Troubleshooting Step 7

Document findings, actions, outcomes, and lessons learned.

Single-mode Fiber

Fiberoptic cabling using a small core and laser for long distances.

Multimode Fiber

Fiberoptic cabling using a larger core and LEDs for high bandwidth over shorter distances.