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, and foremost, the OSI stack is just a theoretical reference model. There is no actual OSI software. It has been around since about 1980, and it is based upon recommendations from the ITU-T and ...

No matter how advanced our cybersecurity defenses become, it’s the human layer that makes decisions, mistakes and oversights.

Peeling back the layers of IoT devices reveals most of them are nothing more than what are already on the Internet in the form of present-day M2M devices. In just six years, according to Cisco Systems ...

Most IT users will be familiar by now with the idea of `the software-defined something or other’. Indeed, there vendors that already talked about software-defined everything, which really should cover ...

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 ...

Thanks for your comments on my first EtherGeek post on understanding the OSI Model. I especially enjoyed learning new ways to remember the OSI Model; for example: Please Do Not Throw Stale Pizza Away.

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 ...