This document provides an instructor planning guide for a networking module that covers building a simple home network, including describing different network cabling types, explaining how twisted-pair networks transmit data, and verifying network connectivity using tools like ping and traceroute as well as Packet Tracer labs and videos.

1. Module 4: Build a Simple
Network
Instructor Materials
Networking Essentials (NETESS v2.0)

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Instructor Materials – Module 4 Planning Guide
This PowerPoint deck is divided in two parts:
• Instructor Planning Guide
• Information to help you become familiar with the module
• Teaching aids
• Instructor Class Presentation
• Optional slides that you can use in the classroom
• Begins on slide # 10
Note: Remove the Planning Guide from this presentation before sharing with anyone.
For additional help and resources go to the Instructor Home Page and Course Resources for this
course. You also can visit the professional development site on netacad.com, the official Cisco
Networking Academy Facebook page, or Instructor Only FB group.

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What to Expect in this Module
To facilitate learning, the following features within the GUI may be included in this module:
Feature Description
Animations Expose learners to new skills and concepts.
Videos Expose learners to new skills and concepts.
Check Your Understanding (CYU) Per topic online quiz to help learners gauge
content understanding.
Labs Labs designed for working with physical
equipment.
Packet Tracers Simulation and modeling activities designed to
explore, acquire, reinforce, and expand skills.
Module Quizzes Self-assessments that integrate concepts and
skills learned throughout the series of topics
presented in the module.
Module Summary Briefly recaps module content.

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Check Your Understanding
• Check Your Understanding activities are designed to let students quickly determine if they
understand the content and can proceed, or if they need to review.
• Check Your Understanding activities do not affect student grades.
• There are no separate slides for these activities in the PPT. They are listed in the notes area
of the slide that appears before these activities.

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Module 4: Activities
Page # Activity Type Activity Name Optional?
4.1.1 Video Network Media Types recommended
4.1.4 CYU Network Media Types recommended
4.2.3 CYU Ethernet Cabling recommended
4.3.1 Animation Construction of Coaxial Cable recommended
4.3.3 CYU Coaxial and Fiber-Optic Cabling recommended
4.4.2 Animation Twisted-Pair Transmit and Receive Pairs required
4.4.3 CYU Twisted-Pair Operation recommended
4.5.1 Video The ping Command recommended
4.5.2 Animation Ping to a Remote Host required

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Module 4: Activities (Cont.)
Page # Activity Type Activity Name Optional?
4.5.4 Video Build a Network in Packet Tracer recommended
4.5.5 Video Trace a Path through the Network recommended
4.5.6 Video Traceroute Operation recommended
4.5.7 Lab Build a Simple Network recommended
4.5.8 Lab Trace a Route recommended
4.6.2 Module Quiz Build a Simple Network Quiz recommended
Exam Module Group 1 Exam (covers Modules 1 – 4) recommended

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Module 4: Best Practices
Prior to teaching Module 4, the instructor should:
• Review the activities and assessments for this module.
• Try to include as many questions/activities as possible to keep students engaged during classroom
presentation.
Topic 4.1
• Review the importance of network media (refer to Mod 3 PT 3.3.4).
• Ask students to describe what kind of network cables that they use at home.
• Discuss why different types of network media are needed (can one type fit all?)
• Bring some cables to class and have students classify them as twisted pair, coaxial, or fiber.
Topic 4.2
• If you have access to straight-through and crossover cables with cable colors that can be seen, put the
students in teams and have them (1) identify what type of cable they see, and (2) determine what
devices would be on each end of that particular type of cable.

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Module 4: Best Practices
Topic 4.3
• Take a tour of the campus and see where you can find coaxial cable and fiber-optic cable in use.
• If teaching virtually, ask the student to take a tour of their living area to see what type of cables are
installed. In teams, discuss their findings.
• Use a search engine to search for a network operations virtual tour. Ask the students as they watch
the virtual tour together to make a mental note about the type of cabling they see. Discuss the use of
cabling in networks today.
Topic 4.4
• Play the animation found on 4.4.2 that demonstrate how the transmit pairs on one side connect to the
receive pairs on the other end.
• Discuss why crossover cables are needed between like devices.
• Bring up a picture of an Ethernet switch port pinout that shows the receive and transmit pins.

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Module 4: Best Practices
Topic 4.5
• Show the 4.5.5 and 4.5.6 videos. Then, in teams or individually, have each student bring up a
command prompt and use the ping and traceroute commands. You could use the Lab 4.5.8 or do as
an instructor-led activity.
• Have the students have a reflection session in groups of 2 or 3 where they discuss how they might use
Packet Tracer in their own lives to learn something about networking.
• Show the video on 4.5.4 on how to build a network in Packet Tracer and then have each student do
the same.
• Do Lab 4.5.7 in groups of 2.

10. Module 4: Build a Simple
Network
Networking Essentials (NETESS)

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Module Objective
Module Title: Build a Simple Network
Module Objective: Build a simple home network.
Topic Title Topic Objective
Ethernet Cabling Describe Ethernet twisted-pair cables.
Coaxial and Fiber-Optic Cabling Describe coaxial and fiber-optic cabling.
Twisted-Pair Operation Explain how a twisted-pair cable transmits and receives
signals.
Verify Connectivity Verify connectivity in a simple routed network.

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4.1 Network Media Types

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Network Media Types
Video - Network Media Types

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Network Media Types
Three Media Types
• Communication transmits across a network on media.
• Modern networks primarily use three types of media to interconnect devices.
• Metal wires within cables - Data is encoded
into electrical impulses.
• Glass or plastic fibers within cables (fiber-
optic cable) - Data is encoded into pulses of
light.
• Wireless transmission - Data is encoded via
modulation of specific frequencies of
electromagnetic waves.

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Network Media Types
Common Network Cables
The three most common network cables are twisted-pair cable, coaxial cable, and fiber-optic cable.
Twisted-Pair Cable
Ethernet technology
generally uses twisted-pair
cables to interconnect
devices.
Coaxial Cable
• It was one of the earliest
network cabling types
developed.
• It is used as a high-
frequency transmission line
to carry high-frequency or
broadband signals.
Fiber-Optic Cable
It can be either glass or
plastic and it can carry digital
information at very high
speeds over long distances.

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4.2 Ethernet Cabling

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Ethernet Cabling
Twisted-Pair Cables
• The networks in most homes and schools are wired with twisted-pair copper cable.
• This type of cable is inexpensive and readily available.
• The Ethernet patch cables are an example of copper twisted-pair cable.
• Twisted-pair cables consist of one or more pairs of insulated copper wires
that are twisted together and housed in a protective jacket.
• Twisted-pair cable uses pulses of electricity to transmit data.
• Data transmission over copper cable is sensitive to electromagnetic interference (EMI).
• Another source of interference, called crosstalk, occurs when cables are bundled together for
long lengths.

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Ethernet Cabling
Twisted-Pair Cables (Cont.)
Interference can cause problems with data being transmitted on the cable.
1. A pure digital signal is
transmitted.
2. On the medium, there is an
interference signal.
3. The digital signal is corrupted
by the interference signal.
4. The receiving computer reads
a changed signal. Notice that
a 0 bit is now interpreted as a
1 bit.

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Ethernet Cabling
Types of Twisted-Pair Cables
There are two commonly installed types of twisted-pair cable:
• Unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) - This is the most common type of network cable in North
America and many other areas.
• Shielded cables (STP) - These are used almost exclusively in European countries.
• UTP cables are used to
connect workstations,
hosts and network
devices.
• Ethernet UTP cables
consists of 4 pairs of
twisted cables.
• Each pair is identified by
a specific color code.
• STP cables are immune to EMI and RFI
interference.
• STP cables are expensive, not as flexible,
and have additional requirements because of
the shielding.

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Ethernet Cabling
Types of Twisted-Pair Cables (Cont.)
Many different categories of UTP cables have been developed to support a specific technology.
Category Speed Features
Cat 3 UTP 10 Mbps at 16 MHz • Suitable for Ethernet LANs
• Most often used for phone lines
Cat 5 UTP 100 Mbps at 100 MHz • Manufactured with higher standard than Cat 3 to allow for
higher data transfer rates
Cat 5e UTP 1000 Mbps at 100 MHz • Manufactured with higher standard than Cat 5 to allow for
higher data transfer rates
• More twists per foot than Cat 5 to better prevent EMI and
RFI from outside sources
Cat 6 UTP 1000 Mbps at 250 MHz • Manufactured with higher standard than Cat 5e
• More twists per foot than Cat 5 to better prevent EMI and
RFI from outside sources
Cat 6a UTP 1000 Mbps at 500 MHz
Cat 7 ScTP 10 Gbps at 600 MHz

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4.3 Coaxial and Fiber-Optic
Cabling

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Coaxial and Fiber-Optic Cabling
Cable TV and Satellite Cables
• Coaxial cable (or coax) carries data in the form of electrical signals.
• It provides improved shielding compared to UTP and can therefore carry more data.
• It is used by cable television companies to provide service and for connecting the various
components that make up satellite communication systems.
• With the addition of a cable modem, the cable television provider can offer data and internet
service, as well as television signals and telephone over the same coaxial cable to customers.
Usually terminated with a BNC or F-series connector
A metallic braid helps to shield against EMI and RFI
The outer jacket is an insulator to protect against EMI and RFI
A single center conductor is copper or aluminum

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Coaxial and Fiber-Optic Cabling
Fiber-Optic Cables
• Fiber-optic cables transmit data using pulses of light.
• Fiber-optic cable is constructed of either glass or plastic and it is immune to EMI and RFI.
Parts of a fiber-optical cable are:
• Jacket - typically a PVC jacket that protects the fiber against
abrasion, moisture, and other contaminants.
• Strengthening Material - Surrounds the buffer, prevents the
fiber cable from being stretched when it is being pulled
• Buffer - Used to help shield the core and cladding from
damage.
• Cladding - Made from slightly different chemicals than those
used to create the core. It tends to act like a mirror.
• Core - The light transmission element at the center of the
optical fiber. Light pulses travel through the fiber core.

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4.4 Twisted-Pair Operation

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Twisted-Pair Operation
Twisted-Pair Wiring Schemes
• The color coding of the wire pairs in an UTP cable is determined by the type of standard that is
used to make the cable.
• Different standards have different purposes and are closely governed by the standards
organizations.
• There are two standards that are widely implemented for
typical Ethernet installations.
• The TIA/EIA organization defines two different patterns,
or wiring schemes, called T568A and T568B.
• Each wiring scheme defines the pinout, or order of wire
connections, on the end of the cable.
• One of the two wiring schemes (T568A or T568B) should
be chosen for a network installation.
• It is important that the same wiring scheme is used for
every termination in that project.

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Twisted-Pair Operation
Twisted-Pair Transmit and Receive Pairs
• Ethernet NICs and the ports on networking devices are designed to send data over UTP cables.
• Specific pins on the connector are associated with a transmit function and a receive function.
• The interfaces on each device are designed to transmit and receive data on designated wires
within the cable.
• When two unlike devices are directly connected using an UTP Ethernet cable, it is important
that the transmit function and the receive function on each end of the cable are reversed.
• This cable is called straight-through cable and it has the same color patterns on both ends
of the cable.

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4.5 Verify Connectivity

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Verify Connectivity
Video - The ping Command

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Verify Connectivity
Using the ping Command
• A host that sends messages across the internet must have an IP address to identify it to the other
devices in the network.
• The ping utility can be used to test end-to-end connectivity between the IP address of the sending
host and the IP address of the destination host.
• It measures the time that it takes test messages to make a round trip from the source to the
destination, and whether the transmission is successful.
• However, if the test message does not reach the destination, or if delays are encountered along
the way, ping cannot determine where the problem is located.
The format of the ping command is ping x.x.x.x, where x.x.x.x
is an IP address or domain name of the destination host:
For example, ping 192.168.30.1, ping www.cisco.com, etc.

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Verify Connectivity
The traceroute Command
• The traceroute utility traces the route a message takes from its
source to the destination.
• Each individual network through which the message travels is
referred to as a hop.
• The traceroute command displays each hop along the way
and the time it takes for the message to get to that network and
back.
• If a problem occurs, the output of the traceroute utility can help
determine where a message was lost or delayed.
• The traceroute utility is called tracert in the Windows
environment.

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Verify Connectivity
Video - Build a Network in Packet Tracer

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Verify Connectivity
Video - Trace a Path through the Network

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Verify Connectivity
Video - Traceroute Operation

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Verify Connectivity
Lab - Build a Simple Network
In this lab, you will complete the following objectives:
• Identify cables and ports for use in the network.
• Cable a physical lab topology.
• Enter static IP address information on the LAN interface of the hosts.
• Verify that PCs can communicate using the ping utility.

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Verify Connectivity
Lab - Trace a Route
In this lab, you will complete the following objectives:
• Test network connectivity using ping.
• Trace a route to a remote server using Windows tracert.
• Trace a route to a remote server using web-based tools and software tools.
• Compare traceroute results.

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4.6 Build a Simple Network
Summary

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Build a Simple Network Summary
What Did I Learn in this Module?
• Modern networks primarily use three types of media to interconnect devices and to provide the pathway data
communications: copper wires within cables, glass or plastic fibers (fiber-optic cable), and wireless transmission.
• Twisted-pair is the most common network cable. The wires are grouped in pairs and twisted together to reduce
interference.
• Data transmission over copper cable is sensitive to EMI and RFI, which can reduce the data throughput rate that a cable
can provide.
• Two types of twisted-pair cable are UTP and STP.
• Fiber-optic cables transmit data using pulses of light. Fiber-optic cable is constructed of either glass or plastic, it is
immune to EMI and RFI.
• Fiber-optic cables provides high bandwidth of data transmission over long distance.
• Two standards for Ethernet cable wiring scheme are T568A and T568B developed by TIA/EIA.
• Straight-through cables, or patch cables, are used to connect between two unlike devices.
• Crossover cables, are used to connect between two like devices.
• The ping utility tests end-to-end connectivity between two IP hosts.
• The traceroute utility traces the route a message takes from its source to the destination.

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Module 4 - Build a Simple Network
New Terms and Commands
• copper cable
• coaxial cable
• fiber-optical cable
• twisted-pair cable
• UTP cable
• STP cable
• UTP cable category
• RJ-11 connector
• RJ-45 connector
• twisted-pair wiring scheme
• TIA/EIA
• T568A
• T568B
• straight-through cable
• patch cable
• crossover cable
• like devices
• unlike devices
• ping utility
• traceroute utility
• tracert command