What is included in WAN?

abefroman

What is included in WAN?

Is that just frame relay? Or does it cover NAT, PAT, etc too?

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mikej412

abefroman wrote: »

What is included in WAN?

Odom mentions NAT/PAT as part of the IP Services section of one of the "WAN Chapters" while Todd Lammle has NAT as a Separate Chapter. Both of them mention VPNs within their WAN chapters -- but a WAN isn't required to run VPN, it's just common practice that VPNs do run over WANs a lot of the time. The exam blueprint also has VPNs under the Implement and verify WAN links section.

I'd say it looks like Cisco still considers the serial connections as "the" WAN links for the CCNA. So from a Cisco "study for the exam" view, WANs include your serial links running HDLC, PPP, And Frame Relay. IP Services that may run over the WAN links like VPNs and NAT may be studied while working with WAN connections.

DevilWAH

Link mike says in the CCNA we are talking serial links. but its really any link that passes out side your control through a 3rd party back in to you control (OK in some cases you may actual own the physical links.) but generally some thing like a leased line, frame relay, adsl. link will all be provided to you by a third party company who will offer you a connections in to there cloud. And you would route you network thorough this.

I would say in general a lan link is where you control all the equipment end to end. With a WAN link you would have a 3rd party network in between the end points. So WAN technologies often deal with handing control of data back and forth between yourself and the 3rd party provider (such as your ISP) the trick is to hand enough control over to allow them to send your data to the remote site, be retain enough to allow you to insure security of the data and what data is sent where.

Leased lines, Frame relay, ADSL are common WAN technologies to know about at the CCNA level. However WAN is a type of network topology rather than the specific technologies that run over it.

Again NAT and PAT are most often used over the WAN, but there are also LAN situations where you may need to implement them. Just as VPN's can be LAN or WAN.