Ethernet networking for the small office and professional home office - Harrington, Jan L. (Morgan Kaufmann Publishers/Elsevier, 2007)
In a local area network (LAN) or intranet, there are many pieces of hardare trying to gain access to the network transmission media at the same time (i.e., phone lines, coax, wireless, etc.). However, a network cable or wireless transmission frequency can physically only allow one node to use it at a given time. Therefore, there must be some way to regulate which node has control of the medium (a media access control, or MAC, protocol). Ethernet is a MAC protocol; it is one way to regulate physical access to network tranmission media. Ethernet networking is used primarily by networks that are contained within a single physical location. If you need to design, install, and manage a network in such an envronment, i.e., home or small business office, then this book will give you an in-depth understanding of the technology involved in an Ethernet network.