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Elements and Performance Criteria

Required Skills

Required skills

analytical skills to evaluate hardware software and network specifications against client requirements

communication skills to deal with clients and vendors

literacy skills to

review technical documentation

write detailed technical notes

planning and organisational skills to

set benchmarks and identify scope

develop plans prioritise tasks and apply contingency strategy

problemsolving skills to predict the range of network problems

research skills to identify analyse and evaluate technical information

technical skills to

identify and install components of hardware software cabling and wireless equipment

use network system software

Required knowledge

current industryaccepted hardware and software products

current industryaccepted network hardware and software products

data and voice transmission technologies and protocols

hardware and software installation procedures

local area network LAN capabilities and characteristics including network type such as ethernet Appletalk IP addressing switch or hub operation

network connections both wired and wireless

networking technologies incorporating substantial depth in areas relating to network operating systems and cabling standards

operating system such as Mac Linux Novell Windows to enable basic installation

setup and configuration procedures

small business and home office networking requirements

software packages supported by the organisation

Evidence Required

The evidence guide provides advice on assessment and must be read in conjunction with the performance criteria required skills and knowledge range statement and the Assessment Guidelines for the Training Package

Overview of assessment

Critical aspects for assessment and evidence required to demonstrate competency in this unit

Evidence of the ability to

identify the most relevant network hardware and software equipment to meet client requirements

install configure and test the network according to client requirements and produce appropriate documentation

identify possible security threats and secure the network

Context of and specific resources for assessment

Assessment must ensure access to

current industry standard software hardware and networking technologies

server and workstation hardware and software

internet connection

network components hardware and software

networked computers

technical documentation and installation manuals

vendor hardware and software components

appropriate learning and assessment support when required

modified equipment for people with special needs

Method of assessment

A range of assessment methods should be used to assess practical skills and knowledge The following examples are appropriate for this unit

verbal or written questioning to assess candidates knowledge of

current industryaccepted network hardware and software products

hardware and software installation procedures

direct observation of candidate

configuring LAN equipment in a variety of scenarios

troubleshooting security issues

review of candidates

documented installation process

documented security settings

Guidance information for assessment

Holistic assessment with other units relevant to the industry sector workplace and job role is recommended where appropriate

Assessment processes and techniques must be culturally appropriate and suitable to the communication skill level language literacy and numeracy capacity of the candidate and the work being performed

Indigenous people and other people from a nonEnglish speaking background may need additional support

In cases where practical assessment is used it should be combined with targeted questioning to assess required knowledge

Range Statement

The range statement relates to the unit of competency as a whole. It allows for different work environments and situations that may affect performance. Bold italicised wording, if used in the performance criteria, is detailed below. Essential operating conditions that may be present with training and assessment (depending on the work situation, needs of the candidate, accessibility of the item, and local industry and regional contexts) may also be included.

Client requirements may relate to networking a:	small business small club small home office small network.
Small office home office network may refer to:	a single or small number of rooms linking a small number of personal computers (PCs) or laptops and associated peripherals having or not having a server sharing peripherals, files and other information using single type or combination of wired or wireless connections: category 5 (or similar) cabling ethernet network hub ethernet network switch wi-fi wireless network.
Network design may include:	Bluetooth broadband: cable digital subscriber line (DSL) fibre satellite cellular dial-up wireless: all 802.11 types dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) settings MAC filtering service set identifier (SSID) wi-fi protected access (WPA) wired equivalent privacy (WEP).
Networking technologies, devices and protocols may include:	bandwidth and latency basics class identification basics of configuring IP addressing and transmission control protocol or internet protocol (TCP/IP) properties (DHCP, DNS) basics of workgroups and domains common ports: file transfer protocol (FTP) hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) hypertext transfer protocol secure (HTTPS) post office protocol (POP) simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP) Telnet full-duplex and half-duplex hub, switch and router identify virtual private networks (VPN) internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) versus internet protocol version 4 (IPv4): address conventions address length differences local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN) protocols, such as: TCP/IP network basic input/output system (NETBIOS) status indicators.
Network cables and connectors may include:	cables: plenum or polyvinyl chloride (PVC) shielded twisted-pair (STP) fibre coaxial cable unshielded twisted-pair (UTP), such as CAT3, CAT5, 5e, and CAT6 connectors: RJ11 RJ45.
Appropriate person may include:	authorised business representative client supervisor.
Industry standards may include:	Australian Standards (AS) Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) International Organization for Standardization (ISO) International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) organisational standards project standards.
Computer may include:	iPAD (or similar) laptop notebook personal digital assistant (PDA) Mac or PC server thin client workstation.
Installation and configuration tools may include:	basics of hardware and software firewall configuration: port assignment or setting up rules (exceptions) port forwarding or port triggering connection types: basic VoIP (consumer applications) Bluetooth (1.0 versus 2.0) broadband: cable DSL ISDN satellite cellular dial-up LAN (10, 100, 1000BaseT, Speeds) routers or access points: change default username and password change SSID from default disable DHCP disable SSID broadcast firewall MAC filtering update firmware use static IP wireless: all 802.11 DHCP settings MAC filtering service set identifier (SSID) wired equivalent privacy (WEP) wi-fi protected access (WPA) physical installation: cable length wireless router placement.
Network settings may include:	characteristics of TCP/IP: automatic IP addressing loopback addresses firewall settings: open and closed ports program filters FTP settings: exceptions IP addresses ports programs mail protocol settings: internet message access protocol (IMAP) POP SMTP proxy settings: exceptions IP addresses ports programs TCP/IP settings: DHCP (dynamic versus static) DNS gateway NAT (private and public) subnet mask.
Networking tools may include:	secure connection protocols: HTTPS secure shell (SSH) tools to use and interpret results: ipconfig Net use Netstat Nslookup Ping Telnet Tracert.
Security concepts and technologies may include:	authentication technologies: biometrics password smart cards user name basics of data sensitivity and data security: classifications compliance social engineering data wiping or hard drive destruction or hard drive recycling encryption technologies software firewall: exceptions port security.
Security features may include:	biometrics: fingerprint scanner bios security: drive lock intrusion detection passwords TPM locking workstation: hardware operating system malicious software protection: adware grayware spam spyware trojans viruses worms password management or password complexity wireless encryption: client configuration, such as service set identifier (SSID) WEPx and WPAx.
Common security intrusion symptoms and issues may relate to:	operating systems: encryption (Bitlocker, EFS) local users and groups: administrator, power users, guest, users new technology file system (NTFS) versus share permissions: allow versus deny difference between moving and copying folders and files file attributes shared files and folders: administrative shares versus local shares inheritance permission propagation system files and folders user authentication Vista or Windows 7 User Account Control (UAC) system: network basic input/output system (BIOS) security: drive lock passwords intrusion detection TPM virus and malware tools: educate end user identify malware symptoms quarantine infected systems remediate infected systems repair boot blocks research malware types, symptoms and solutions (virus encyclopaedia) scan and removal techniques: boot environment safe mode schedule scans update antivirus software: automatic versus manual signature and engine updates use antivirus software.