Unit 9
Wired Networking: How You Get Connected
What Happens During the Boot Process:
1. Push power
2. POST runs
3. BIOSes get read into RAM
4. NIC BIOS gets read into RAM
5. Every NIC has a MAC address (48 bits, Hex) like:
01:23:45:67:89:ab
6. The NIC sends out a frame FROM: its MAC, TO: Broadcast (BC)
Ethernet Broadcast Address is:
ffffffffffff (note that this is 48 1s)
0000 = 0
0001 = 1
1111 = f
7. The switch it’s connected to hears the BC, and registers the new MAC address to the physical port it’s plugged into.
8. If NetBEUI/NetBIOS are being used (DOS, Windows 95/98, Windows NT3.x):
a. The Local Browse Master for NetBEUI/NetBIOS hears the initial NIC BC, and
b. Registers the host’s NetBIOS name and MAC address to the local Workgroup.
9. If IPv4 is being used:
a. NIC broadcasts to the IPv4 BC address: ipv4 address is 32 bits, IN DECIMAL
The IPv4 BC address is:
255.255.255.255 (note that this is 32 1s)
b. DHCP gives me
IP
NM
GW
NS
DDNS
10. If IPv6 is being used:
a. The router gives you a Network Number to prefix your Host ID, forming a 128-bit IPv6 address.
b. The NM is always /64, except in very esoteric cases.
c. The router itself is the default GW.
d. All you’re missing is a couple of DNS Name Servers, and this is all that IPv6 DHCP has to do. Even this functionality will disappear (along with IPv6 DHCP) when routers incorporate this DNS information.