Thanks for giving it a try without cheating! These are actually "basic" questions, but their answers tend to be tricky if you want to be 100% correct (note that I'm probably not 100% correct myself).

Overall, your answers are correct, and you seem to undertstand the topic well enough. They are not "correct enough" in the academic sense though, and, I think, deserve some correction. (Note that I'm also replying without googling, so some answers might not be totally correct).

(12-07-2016, 05:33 AM)pranomostro Wrote: MAC address: a (normally) device specific address, 48 bit long, set by the manufacturer. Can be changed,
normally shouldn't, is mostly used for authentication. Only the next router knows it.

MAC addresses are used for layer 2, while routers operate on layer 3, so your statement is not exact.

(12-07-2016, 05:33 AM)pranomostro Wrote: IP address: IP addresses are used within the TCP/IP protocol to establish connections.

IP addresses are used for far more protocols than TCP. TCP and IP are two distinct protocols.

(12-07-2016, 05:33 AM)pranomostro Wrote: IPv4 addresses are mostly dynamic, so every device is assigned an IP address with DHCP to avoid IPv4 address collisions.

DHCP is used primarily to avoid bothering your administrator when connecting to a network. When you sit in an airport, you don't know what's the network, netmask and gateway. DHCP sets this all for you. You're right as it also helps avoiding address conflicts.
Also, they are not "mostly" dynamic. For home networks, DHCP is pretty common, as it makes it easier for the lambda user to connect. For professionnal networks, static addressing is used a lot, especially for network equipment and servers. Public IP addresses are also candidates for static IPs (even though providers like digital ocean have a DHCP server for them too).

(12-07-2016, 05:33 AM)pranomostro Wrote: IPv6 doesn't need DHCP because collisions are highly unlikely (the IPv6 address is generated via the MAC address and some device specific stuff).

Using the MAC address to set the IPv6 is a common practice amongst net admins, as it would be tedious to generate "manually" a new address for each machine you setup. It is also a good practice because, as all MAC addresses are supposedly unique, it helps making IPv6 addresses unique too (this tend to be wrong because of VMs, as the MAC address has to be generated semi-randomly for them, but that's another topic).

(12-07-2016, 05:33 AM)pranomostro Wrote: IP addresses are hierarchical, which means that every network can have a sub-network.

The netmasks are hierarchical, not the IP addresses themselves, but that's correct (exception for netmask /30 and more)

(12-07-2016, 05:33 AM)pranomostro Wrote: netmask: a simple description of how big a subnet of a certain router is.

The concept of "network" is independent from the routers. The router only serves as a "bridge" (or gateway ;)) between networks. You're right saying it defines its size (size refers to the number of available IP address withing a network), and it's used internally by the OS to know where to send its packets.

(12-07-2016, 05:33 AM)pranomostro Wrote: For example, Apple has got a whole /24 network, meaning that they can use every IP-address which begins with a 17 (17.1.1.1 for example) (source: https://www.xkcd.com/195/). IPv6 has the same
principle.

/24 only features 254 available addresses (x.x.x.1 to x.x.x.254, .0 is reserved for the network, .255 for the broadcast). "24" here refers to the numbers of bits set to 1 in the netmask. A netmask includes 32 bits overall (4 bytes, like IP addresses):

/24 == 255.255.255.0 (base10) == 11111111.11111111.11111111.00000000 (base2)

Apple then owns a /8 (or 'A' class) IP range (16581373 available IP addresses). This range goes from 17.0.0.0 to 17.255.255.255 (including net and broadcast).

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I think such a course would help people understand better how network works. It would also help me being more precise about some points, as I'll have to dive again into some topics that I've probably forgotten (looking at you "split-horizon" and comrades), and learn a bunch of things along the way.

Who would be up for it then?

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(12-07-2016, 03:43 AM)stark Wrote: 0. What kind of issue(s) did you come across today ?
1. How did you solve it when no search engine or individual had the answer ?
2. What kind of complexity do you manage everyday ?
3. Can it be simplified ? If so, how ?

0. networking is really creative when it comes to issues. Latest one was a NAT rule forgotten on a firewall interface, leading to a DMZ machine accessible from the internet, but not from the internal network. You know you have a network issue when you start saying "Ah, that's odd..."
1. if no search engine or individual has the answer, it means you're writing a thesis on a hot topic only you is interrested in. On a more serious note, there is always a manual somewhere with the answer.
2. top secret ;) Personnally, I'm connected to 5 different networks, my local one, internet, and 3 VPNs. I manage one router/firewall myself
3. it's simplified at its max (I guess...)