Networking 101: Switching Fundamentals and LAN Communication

Thursday 21 May 2026, 16:00 → 18:00 Africa/Mogadishu

Zoom (Virtual)

Abdiwahid Mohamed Ali (JUST)

Networking 101: Switching Fundamentals and LAN Communication

This webinar introduces the fundamentals of switching technology and explains how devices communicate inside a Local Area Network. Participants will learn how switches use MAC addresses, how traffic is forwarded or flooded, and how to verify basic switch operation using Cisco CLI commands.

The session will also include practical LAN demonstrations, common switching issues, and a brief introduction to advanced switching topics such as VLANs, trunking, STP, EtherChannel, inter-VLAN routing, and port security.

Switching Fundamentals - SomNOG.pptx

16:00 → 16:20 Introduction to Switching Technology

o What is a switch?
o Why switches are used in LANs
o Role of switches in enterprise networks

Convener: Mr Abduwahid Darmad

16:20 → 16:40 Network Devices Comparison

o Hub vs Switch vs Router
o Layer 1, Layer 2, and Layer 3 devices
o Where switches operate in the OSI model

Convener: Mr Abduwahid Darmad

16:40 → 16:50 Ethernet Basics

o What is Ethernet?
o Ethernet frame overview
o Source MAC address and destination MAC address

Convener: Mr Abduwahid Darmad

16:50 → 17:00 MAC Addressing

o What is a MAC address?
o Difference between MAC address and IP address
o How devices use MAC addresses in LAN communication

Convener: Mr Abduwahid Darmad

17:00 → 17:15 How Switches Learn MAC Addresses

o MAC address table
o Dynamic learning
o MAC address aging

Convener: Abduwahid Darmad

17:15 → 17:30 Switch Forwarding Decisions

o Forwarding
o Flooding
o Filtering
o Unknown unicast traffic
o Broadcast traffic

Convener: Mr ABDULLAHI Darmad

17:30 → 17:40 Collision Domains and Broadcast Domains

o Meaning of collision domain
o Hub-based collision problem
o Each switch port as a separate collision domain
o Meaning of broadcast domain
o ARP and DHCP broadcast examples
o Broadcast domain in a default VLAN

Convener: Mr Abduwahid Darmad

17:40 → 17:50 Basic Switch Ports and Interfaces, Cisco Switch CLI and Switch Verification Commands

o Access ports
o Uplink ports
o Speed and duplex
o Interface status
• Accessing the switch CLI
• Basic show commands
• Viewing MAC address table
• Checking interface status
• show mac address-table
• show interfaces status
• show running-config
• show vlan brief
• show interfaces fa0/1

Convener: Mr ABDULLAHI Darmad

17:50 → 18:00 RECAP AND ASSESSMENT