CompTIA Network+ (N10-009) Certification & Exam Prep

Explore the fundamentals of networks, from LANs and WANs to routers, switches, and cables, and learn essential security measures like firewalls, encryption, and passwords.

Explore routers, switches, hubs, bridges, firewalls, and gateways as building blocks of home and enterprise networks, and learn how each enables data flow and network security.

Explore star, bus, ring, mesh, and hybrid network topologies and learn how their layouts affect manageability, reliability, cost, and scalability for home, office, and large organizations.

Understand how mac addresses uniquely identify devices on a local network and how arp maps ip addresses to mac addresses. See how switches use mac tables to deliver data.

Decode binary and hexadecimal to understand how IP networks encode addresses, subnetting and MAC addresses, and apply these formats in tools like Wireshark and IPv6 debugging.

Discover how IP addresses—IPv4 and IPv6—uniquely identify devices, distinguish private from public addresses, and enable cybersecurity tools like firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and geolocation services to protect networks.

Compare IPv4 and IPv6 side-by-side, detailing address sizes, notation formats, and header structures, then explain coexistence and transition methods such as dual stack, tunneling, and translation.

Learn how dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) automatically assigns IP addresses using the Dora process—discover, offer, request, and acknowledgement—and manages scopes, lease times, gateway and DNS settings.

Discover how the domain name system translates names into IP addresses using resolvers, root servers, and authoritative name servers, with caching and DNS cybersecurity in mind.

NAT, or network address translation, lets devices share one public IP by using private addresses. Port address translation affects peer-to-peer connections and cybersecurity visibility for firewalls.

Explore the OSI model's seven layers—from application to physical—and how data moves, enabling troubleshooting and security awareness with firewall at the network layer and SSL at the presentation layer.

Compare the seven-layer OSI model with the four-layer TCP/IP model to understand how networks communicate. Learn why this matters for cybersecurity by pinpointing where issues arise.

Explore how the seven-layer OSI model structures network protocols from application to physical layers, detailing http/https, ftp, smtp, imap, pop3, tcp, udp, ip, icmp, ethernet, wifi, and TLS/SSL.

Subnetting splits a large network into smaller subnets to organize devices, improve data flow speed, and enhance security by limiting cross-subnet access.

Switching handles traffic within the same network using Mac addresses, while routing connects different networks using IP addresses.

Explore static and dynamic routing, where static routing offers simple, predictable control for small networks, and dynamic routing uses protocols like OSPF or BGP for automatic, scalable path updates.

Explore vlan basics: separate traffic within the same physical switch to create distinct broadcast domains at the data link layer, improving performance and security through logical isolation of departments.

Learn how Wi-Fi uses radio waves for wireless networking between devices and a router, linking to internet. Explore 802.11 standards, OFDM, Mu-MIMO, 2.4/5/6 GHz bands, WPA2/WPA3, strong passwords, and VPN.

Explore virtual networking with hypervisors, VMs, Vnics, and Vswitch, learning how traffic is directed, VLAN tagging applied, and security policies enforced across virtual environments, including standard and distributed switches.

Explore twisted pair, coaxial, and fiber optic cables, their strengths and best use cases, including UTP versus STP and fiber's long-distance high-speed advantages.

Explore the cloud as a network of servers storing data and running services online, with public, private, and hybrid models shaping security and scalability.

Compare SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS to decide when to use each cloud model, from fully hosted software to development platforms to customizable virtual infrastructure.

Explore authentication protocols behind digital gatekeepers, including Radius, Tacacs+, Ldap, Kerberos, Saml, and OAuth, and learn how they verify credentials to secure enterprise networks and devices.

Block unauthorized access and allow authorized communication by monitoring traffic with stateless and stateful firewalls, packet filtering, proxy firewalls, and next-generation features like deep packet inspection and intrusion prevention.

Explore top network attacks—brute force, man-in-the-middle, dos and ddos, dns spoofing, sniffing, and session hijacking—and learn defenses like https, vpn, strong passwords, and http-only cookies.

Harden networks by patching systems, reducing the attack surface through minimizing vulnerabilities, disabling unused services, enforcing strong authentication, and tuning firewalls across servers, routers, switches, and user devices.

Explore remote access tools, from vpn and ssh to rdp and desktop apps, and learn how to balance secure network access, encryption, and regular monitoring to safeguard your entire network.

Explore how SNMP, syslog, and SIEM tools monitor networks, collect device health data, analyze patterns, and alert security teams in real time to prevent incidents.

Master configuration management and backups to keep networks stable, secure, and recoverable by versioning configurations, applying rollback strategies, and testing resilient backup plans using the 3-2-1 rule.

Master change management and documentation to prevent downtime; implement change control with review, approval, testing, and post-change reviews, plus network diagrams, IP address schemes, inventories, and configurations.

Explore IT policy types, including SLAs, NDAs, MOUs, acceptable use policies, BYOD, and security policies, to understand how organizations set expectations, protect data, and guide incident response.

Learn essential network troubleshooting tools, including ping, traceroute, nslookup, dig, netstat, Wireshark, ipconfig/ifconfig, and nmap. Use them to diagnose connectivity, DNS, routing, and security issues.