Historically, organizations in the early days of networking were concerned with the sharing of information and data internally. However, as more organizations began to own their own computer systems, it became increasingly evident that it would be beneficial to share information between organizations, such as universities. From this, the idea of wide area networking began to take shape to become what it is today. There are very few organizations in the developed world that have not taken to the internet. Gaining a good foundation knowledge of how some of the basic wide area network (WAN) infrastructure works will give you a good grounding to be able to support your organization and troubleshoot any issues as they arise.
This chapter moves out of your own networks and discusses the principles behind WANs. It focuses on the services offered by service...
