The last few chapters introduced you to configuring IP features on your Cisco router. This chapter introduces you to wide area networking (WAN) concepts and some basic point-to-point configurations, including HDLC and PPP. The two chapters following this, Frame Relay and ISDN, focus on packet-switched and dialup connections, respectively. | CCNA CISCO CERTIFIED NETWORK ASSOCIATE 15 WAN Introduction CERTIFICATION OBJECTIVES Wide Area Networking Overview HDLCp PPP Two-Minute Drill Q A Self Test 2 Chapter 15 WAN Introduction T he last few chapters introduced you to configuring IP features on your Cisco router. This chapter introduces you to wide area networking WAN concepts and some basic point-to-point configurations including HDLC and PPP. The two chapters following this Frame Relay and ISDN focus on packet-switched and dialup connections respectively. CERTIFICATION OBJECTIVE Wide Area Networking Overview The most important factor in choosing a WAN service is cost. Typically LAN connections are within a company and WAN connections allow you to connect to remote sites. Typically you don t own the infrastructure for WAN connections another company such as a telephone company provides the infrastructure. WAN connections are usually slower than LAN connections. A derivative of WAN solutions is the metropolitan area network MAN . MANs sometimes use high-speed LAN connections in a small geographic area between different companies or divisions within a company. MANs are becoming more and more popular in large cities and even provide connections over a LAN medium such as Ethernet. One of the major factors when choosing a WAN or MAN provider is cost. These connections are billed in multiple ways flat monthly lease cost per-packet cost per-minute cost and many other methods. On top of this you have many solutions to choose from to solve your WAN connection problems. In order to choose the right solution you ll need to weigh your connection requirements your traffic patterns and the cost of the solution. Equipment and Components WAN connections are made up of many types of equipment and components. Figure 15-1 shows some of these WAN terms. Table 15-1 has a list of the terms and definitions. at c h It is important to remember the WAN terms in Table 15-1. As you may recall from Chapter 2 a
