We recently advised that people in the business of planning, building and supporting computer networks should not lose sight of the mythical OSI Layer 8. We define Layer 8 as the human-to-human ...

According to the OSI Model, the session layer is where connections are established, managed, and torn down. For connection-oriented network protocols, understanding how the session layer works, and ...

Morey Haber, Chief Security Advisor at BeyondTrust, is an identity and technical evangelist with over 25 years of IT industry experience. Recently, I was reminiscing with a colleague about unique ...

Getting a handle on the invisible part of your network—the protocols that are in use—can be of enormous value in helping you detect problems. So far, we've talked about the tangibles of your ...

First off, howdy and welcome to the inaugural post of the EtherGeek blog. My name is Josh Stephens and I’m Head Geek and VP of Technology at SolarWinds, an IT management software company in Austin.

Other tips in this series have examined the seven-layer OSI model from the perspective of security. Although security was not the No. 1 goal of the designers of the OSI model, the idea behind these ...

From the OSI and TCP/IP models to subnetting, commands, and real-world fixes, understanding networking fundamentals is key to building, maintaining, and troubleshooting secure, efficient systems. By ...

From the network layer’s routing magic to the shift toward IPv6 and the nuances of physical versus logical topologies, understanding these concepts is key to building robust systems. As IPv6 adoption ...

Explains the three layers critical to network design: Access, Distribution, and Core Anyone involved in networking and/or telecommunications should be somewhat familiar with the use of layers. Many ...