Advanced Network Design: IoT and Small Business Solutions Course

Lesson 1 • IP Addressing and Subnetting Basics

Introduces IPv4 and IPv6 addressing schemes and subnetting logic. Enables accurate address planning for small business and IoT deployments.

Lesson 2 • Core Network Topologies and Media

Examines physical and logical topologies alongside transmission media types. Connects topology choice to performance, cost, and scalability trade-offs.

Lesson 3 • Network Models and Layered Architecture

Covers OSI and TCP/IP models as frameworks for understanding data flow. Provides the conceptual base for all protocol and device decisions in later chapters.

Lesson 4 • Network Devices and Their Roles

Defines the function of switches, routers, access points, and gateways. Prepares students to select and position devices appropriately in a network design.

Lesson 1 • Budget and Resource Constraints

Analyzes cost boundaries and available IT resources to shape realistic design choices. Balances performance targets against capital and operational expenditure limits.

Lesson 2 • Assessing Business Size and Workflow

Identifies user counts, application types, and data flow patterns in small businesses. Links operational workflow to bandwidth and reliability requirements.

Lesson 3 • Regulatory and Compliance Considerations

Surveys data protection, privacy, and industry-specific compliance obligations affecting network design. Ensures designs meet functional regulatory requirements from the outset.

Lesson 4 • Service Level and Availability Targets

Defines uptime, latency, and recovery objectives aligned with business criticality. Translates SLA targets into redundancy and failover design requirements.

Lesson 1 • DHCP and DNS Service Placement

Determines optimal placement of DHCP and DNS services within the LAN design. Ensures reliable address assignment and name resolution across all VLANs.

Lesson 2 • Switch Configuration and Spanning Tree

Covers managed switch setup, port roles, and Spanning Tree Protocol to prevent loops. Builds the switching layer that underpins reliable LAN operation.

Lesson 3 • Cabling Infrastructure and Patch Planning

Addresses structured cabling standards, patch panel layout, and cable management practices. Proper physical infrastructure prevents performance degradation and simplifies maintenance.

Lesson 4 • LAN Performance and Capacity Planning

Applies traffic analysis to validate that the LAN design meets throughput and latency targets. Introduces QoS marking at the access layer to prioritize critical traffic.

Lesson 1 • Wireless Standards and Protocol Selection

Compares Wi-Fi generations and selects appropriate standards for throughput and device density. Aligns protocol choice with IoT device compatibility and business performance needs.

Lesson 2 • RF Fundamentals and Signal Propagation

Explains radio frequency behavior, signal attenuation, and interference sources in real environments. Provides the physics foundation needed for accurate coverage planning.

Lesson 3 • Wireless Controller and Management Architecture

Compares controller-based, cloud-managed, and autonomous AP architectures for small business scale. Selects the management model that balances cost, visibility, and operational simplicity.

Lesson 4 • Site Survey and Coverage Planning

Teaches predictive and active site survey methods to determine access point placement and count. Translates survey data into a coverage map that meets signal strength targets.

Lesson 1 • IoT Ecosystem and Device Taxonomy

Categorizes IoT devices by resource profile, communication pattern, and business function. Establishes a device taxonomy that drives segmentation and protocol selection decisions.

Lesson 2 • IoT Network Segmentation and Isolation

Applies VLAN, firewall, and micro-segmentation techniques to isolate IoT devices from business systems. Limits lateral movement risk while preserving required data flows.

Lesson 3 • IoT Gateway Design and Edge Processing

Designs IoT gateways that aggregate, filter, and pre-process device data before cloud transmission. Reduces latency and bandwidth consumption through edge computing logic.

Lesson 4 • Low-Power Wide-Area Network Technologies

Evaluates LoRaWAN, NB-IoT, and Sigfox for long-range, low-bandwidth IoT deployments. Matches LPWAN technology to coverage range, data rate, and power budget requirements.

Lesson 1 • SD-WAN Design for Small Business

Applies SD-WAN principles to centralize policy management and optimize application traffic routing. Reduces operational complexity while improving WAN performance visibility.

Lesson 2 • WAN Quality of Service and Traffic Shaping

Applies QoS policies at the WAN edge to prioritize voice, video, and critical IoT traffic. Prevents bandwidth contention from degrading time-sensitive application performance.

Lesson 3 • WAN Technology Options and Selection

Compares broadband, fiber, cellular, and SD-WAN options for small business uplink needs. Selects WAN technology based on bandwidth, latency, cost, and availability criteria.

Lesson 4 • Router and Firewall Placement at the Edge

Defines the logical and physical placement of routers and firewalls at the internet edge. Establishes a DMZ architecture that separates public-facing services from internal networks.

Lesson 1 • Firewall Policy Design and Rule Management

Builds structured firewall rule sets using least-privilege and default-deny principles. Covers rule ordering, object grouping, and policy review cycles for ongoing accuracy.

Lesson 2 • VPN Design for Remote Access and Site Links

Designs IPsec and SSL VPN solutions for remote workers and branch site connectivity. Selects tunnel type, authentication method, and split-tunneling policy for each use case.

Lesson 3 • Network Access Control and Device Authentication

Implements 802.1X port-based access control and certificate-based device authentication. Prevents unauthorized devices from accessing network segments, including IoT VLANs.

Lesson 4 • Threat Landscape for Small Business Networks

Profiles common attack vectors targeting small business and IoT infrastructure. Establishes a threat model that drives control selection throughout the security design.

Lesson 1 • Configuration Management and Automation

Applies version-controlled configuration management and automation scripts to reduce manual errors. Accelerates deployment consistency across switches, routers, and access points.

Lesson 2 • Capacity Planning and Network Optimization

Uses collected performance data to forecast growth and implement targeted optimizations. Produces a capacity plan that aligns infrastructure investment with business growth projections.

Lesson 3 • Troubleshooting Methodology and Tools

Applies a structured top-down and bottom-up troubleshooting methodology to isolate faults. Covers diagnostic tools and escalation paths for LAN, WAN, wireless, and IoT issues.

Lesson 4 • Network Management Frameworks and Tools

Introduces FCAPS and ITIL-aligned management frameworks alongside practical toolsets. Aligns management activities with business service continuity and change control requirements.