BASIC COMPUTER NETWORKING

Choosing Point-to-Point Wireless

2009-02-27T13:04:00.000-08:00

Point-to-Point Broadband Wireless for Service Providers: Backhaul
traffic, remove network bottlenecks and extend service to previously
inaccessible locations.

Looking for a way to broaden your service offerings? Are you looking for an easier way to get ahead of the competition? Point-to-point broadband wireless solutions have become the preferred solution for backhauling data, voice and video traffic, linking networks in a campus setting, providing services to rural communities, and more. If you're thinking about implementing this type of technology in your business, search the comparison of the multiple approaches and technologies for point-to-point wireless as well as the benefits and drawbacks of each.

Uncover how you can achieve unparalleled service to achieve the competitive edge in the telecommunications service arena by implementing point-to-point broadband wireless now.

You're always looking for a way to be a step ahead of your competition and offer a broader range of services. Point-to-point broadband wireless solutions can help you get there. Point-to-point
broadband wireless solutions have become a preferred solution for backhauling data, voice and video traffic, linking networks in a campus setting, providing services to rural communities, and more. There are options presents multiple approaches and technologies for point-to-point wireless and the advantages and challenges of each. Learn which approach is best for your organization.

Super G Wireless Routers & Gateways

2008-12-10T00:32:00.000-08:00

NETGEAR’s 108 Mbps Wireless Routers are up to 10x faster than 802.11b routers, and deliver twice the speed of standard 802.11g networks when used in conjunction with 108 Mbps Wireless Adapters. Super G Wireless Router WGT624 Better wireless speeds and range to surf and email. Simple and secure way to share your high-speed Internet connection. Easy set-up with Smart Wizard® installation CD.

Advanced Speed and Range

Better wireless speeds and range to surf and email
Simple and secure way to share your high-speed Internet connection
Easy set-up with Smart Wizard® installation CD
Maximum performance requires use of Super-G wireless adapters

Features

Internet sharing broadband router and 4-port switch
2x the speed and 4x times the coverage of a Wireless-G router†
Configurable for private networks and public hotspots
Double Firewall protection from external hackers attacks
Touchless WiFi Security makes securing your network easy

HOME NETWORKING IN LIVING ROOM

2008-09-06T16:21:00.000-07:00

It is time to introduce your home theater system to a new component—the digital media extender.
Most of the device that connects to computer home networking will allows you to stream music, movies, videos, pictures and anything else you want from any computer in your home directly to your HDTV and surround sound system. Or If you have a WiFi camera, you can even view pictures and movies on your TV without connecting anything to a computer.

The home of tomorrow. The digital home. The connected home. The wired home. Maybe you’ve heard one of these terms before. Maybe this is your first time hearing any of them. Maybe you’ve heard all of them and wondered what the difference is. No matter where you fall, there seems to be one common question—what does it mean?

In a nutshell, a connected home is one that uses networking technology to allow you to share information from room to room quickly and easily. Rather than embark on a lengthy explanation of the possibilities, let’s explore the connected home room by room. Note-taking is not required.

Guide For Wireless Router & Security

2008-08-17T19:19:00.000-07:00

Setting up a wireless router is easy. Essentially you turn your cable or DSL modem off and your wireless router on. Then, you connect the router to the modem with a cable, and turn the modem back on. You are more or less done. The wireless network wizard on your computer will pick up the router and, if your ISP does not have any special requirements, away-you-go, you are on the Internet.

For ease of setup and configuration, manufacturers ship wireless routers with all security disabled. Therein lies the problem. If you do not take any further steps to secure your router, and a surprising number of people don’t, your network will be wide open to all passersby and strangers. It’s like you’ve hung out a sign, “The door is open. Please come in and help yourself.”

The problem is not that strangers will be able to use your router to access the Internet but that, without further protection, would-be intruders will be able monitor and sniff out information you send and receive on your network. Malicious intruders can even hop on to your internal network; access your hard drives; and, steal, edit, or delete files on your computer.

The good news is that it is relatively easy to secure your wireless router. Here are three basic steps you should take.

1. Password protect the access to your router’s internal configuration

To access your router’s internal setup, open a browser and enter the routers setup URL. The URL will be specified in the manual. The URLs for D-Link and Linksys routers, two major manufacturers of wireless routers, are http://192.168.0.1 and http://192.168.1.1, respectively.

For Linksys routers, leave the user name blank and type “admin” (without the quotes) in the password field and press enter. To change the password, simply click on the Password tab and enter your new password.

For other routers, please consult your manual. Alternately, you can search on the Internet with the term “default login for ”. Don’t be surprised to find quite a number of pages listing default login parameters for many different routers, even uncommon ones.

2. Change the default SSID (Service Set IDentifier)

The SSID is the name of a WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network). All wireless devices on a WLAN use SSIDs to communicate with each other.

Routers ship with standard default SSIDs. For example, the default SSID for Linksys routers is, not unsurprisingly, “Linksys”. As you can see, if you don’t change the default SSID of your router a would-be intruder armed with a few common SSIDs from major manufacturers will be able to find your wireless network quite easily.

To change the SSID, click on the Wireless tab. Look for an input item labeled SSID. It will be near the top. Enter a new name for network. Don’t use something like “My Network”. Use a name that is be hard to guess.

3. Disable SSID broadcast

Wireless enabled computers use network discovery software to automatically search for nearby SSIDs. Some of the more advanced software will query the SSIDs of nearby networks and even display their names. Therefore, changing the network name only helps partially to secure your network. To prevent your network name from being discovered, you must disable SSID broadcast.

In the same screen that you changed the name of your network, you will see options for SSID broadcast. Choose “Disable SSID” to make your network invisible. Now save all your settings and log out.

Since your wireless network is now invisible, you will have to configure your computers to connect to your wireless network using the new name. On Windows XP, start by clicking on the wireless icon in the Notification Area and proceed from there.

With these three steps, your network now has basic security. However, if you keep sensitive information on your computers, you may want to secure your wireless network even further. For example, you can

Change the channel your router uses to transmit and receive data on a regularly basis.
Restrict devices that can connect to the router by filtering out MAC (Media Access Control) addresses.
Use encryption such as WEP and WPA.

As with most things in life, security is a trade off between cost (time, money, inconvenience) and benefit (ease of use). It is a personal decision you make. However for the majority of home uses, the three basic steps plus WEP/WPA encryption provides reasonably strong security.

Turning on encryption is a two-step process. First you configure your router to use encryption using an encryption key of your choice. And then, you configure your computer to use the encryption key. The actual process of configuring your router for encryption varies from router to router. Please consult the router’s manual.

There are even stronger methods for ensuring security. A strong and robust security method is RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial In User Service). Using RADIUS requires additional hardware and software. However, there are companies that offer RADIUS security as a subscription based service. The fees are reasonable and dropping.

Therefore for example, if you run a business on your wireless network, have sensitive data on your computers such as credit card information, and have a number of users who access your network, you should consider using RADIUS. Since the service sector for RADIUS is dynamic and growing, a search on the Internet with terms like “RADIUS subscription” or “RADIUS service” is probably the best way to locate one.

COMPUTER NETWORKING HARDWARE

2008-08-06T21:41:00.000-07:00

Installing computers networking both the software and the hardwares is necessary prerequisites for all effective modern business where allows workers to run as a team by share the informations, accessing the similar databases and keep in touch repeatedly. For a computer network to give the best results, a lot of detailed planning and foresight is required before installation.

Firstly, an organisation needs to clearly define its requirements – how many people would use the network, how many would use it locally (within the office) and how many might require remote access (from a different location), how many computers and other devices (servers, printers, scanners) would be connected to the network, what are the needs of the various departments and who would be in charge of running/managing the network. It also helps if one can anticipate the direction the company would take in the near future so potential growth can be factored in during computer network installation.

The technology issues should also be ironed out in advance – hardware, software, servers, switches, back-up devices, cables and network operating systems. Make sure you have the required licenses to run the software on all your machines before installing a computer network. Alongside computer network installation should proceed the building of a dedicated technical support staff, either within your own organisation or outside consultants. Delegate responsibility clearly for network management. Before installing the network, you also need to choose the security mechanism to protect corporate data and keep viruses at bay.

The transition to a new or upgraded computer network can bring some teething problems. To minimise chances of confusion, the company might need to train its staff to make them familiar with the new system. Careful planning will to a large extent prevent crises like system downtime and network crashes.

WIRELESS NETWORK - HOW IT WORKS

2008-08-01T20:11:00.000-07:00

How Wireless Network working? These day the Wireless networking will give us easy sharing for accessing the Internet as well as any print machine, and media, very easily without wires. Set up the wireless network is ussually pretty simple and it is becoming more and more common place to do this in your home or small office. The great thing about wireless networking is the fact you can add wireless functionality to your existing network.e to do this in your home or small office. The great thing about wireless networking is the fact you can add wireless functionality to your existing network.

If you intend to use wireless networking it is advisable to have windows XP service pack 2 as a minimum. Whilst this is not absolutely essential it can make things much easier when connecting to wireless networks and also a few security issues have been fixed with this service pack

The first stage to setting up a wireless network is to obtain the correct equipment. There are several different options, depending on your current setup. If you currently use a cable based provided then you just need a broadband router, however, if you currently use the more common ADSL style broadband suppliers (common here in the UK) then you will need to ensure you purchase the router with the ADSL modem built in. The router will now connect to the Internet for you and allow other devices to connect to it wirelessly. If you were previously used to having to go to a dial up connection - you now no longer need to do this as as soon as your computer connects to the router - you will automatically be connected to the Internet.

To connect your wireless router should be straight forward enough. If you use the CD that comes with the router it will quickly guide you through the setup. The basics are to plug your existing modem into the router if you are on a cable system, or disconnected your previous broadband modem and input your settings into the new router. You should have indicator lights advising you of the routers status. These vary from router to router so refer to your instructions provided.

As previously mentioned, the CD that comes with the router is often the best way to quickly create a secure active wireless network. However, if you are like me, you may want to explore the settings of the router to configure it yourself. Here are some common terms you may come up againt.

- SSID - this is your networks name. Choose something unique, as generally it will come up with the manufacturer of the router name. When you try and search for the router with your computer you will want to identify which name represents you own router.

- WEP or WPA is the type of security encryption to prevent other people accessing your Internet connection. WPA will generally allow you to use a memorable word to user a password whilst WEP is more a randomly generated bunch of numbers and letter.

- Administrator Password - this is just the password to actually access the administration of your router. Unless someone has already got a connection to your router they will be unable to change settings. If you do use a password here, make sure it is something memorable as it is quite possible that you will not have to access the admin, once setup, for a very long time.

Now your router is all set up we need to understand how to connect a computer to the network. This is very easy to do. If you have wireless technology built into your computer then ensure it is switched on. If you haven't, insert your wireless device into the relevant port.

You should have a wireless icon in the bottom left hand corner by the clock. Right click here and search for wireless networks in range.

In the box that comes up you should see a list of the networks in your area that your computer has detected. Being wireless technology is so popular these days it is common to see several different routers in here from neighbours.

Within this list you should see the name that you previously inputted as you SSID. Double click this. You should now be prompted for either your WEP or WPA key - enter this.

You should now be connected. Go ahead and load your preferred Internet browser. You should be able to surf to any given page. - Congratulations - You have successfully configured your wireless network!

COMPUTER NETWORK MONITORING

2008-07-31T15:40:00.000-07:00

Basically the idea is computer network monitoring applied at the layer above where the LAN or Network card is running. Once the computer identifies any destination, it processes the data packets and triggers them to through the physical network card. Before it could actually reach the LAN card, the network monitor received every incoming or outgoing packet which it parses and stores in its interface for the administrator to look over at a next stage. Thus now we know what network monitoring is.

At times it becomes highly essential for the administrator to take a network monitor capture to understand weird behavior identified on the network and amongst network nodes or computers. There are not of sophisticated Network monitoring utilities available in the market. The one that is packages along with the windows operating system is know as Network Monitor which is easy to use and reveal a lot of interesting information about each and every packet that has been captured. All you have to do is to specify a network interface or LAN interface in the Network Monitor application and it will start the capture what all is coming in and going out.

Apart from this network monitoring can also be done with the use of third party application which will install a network monitoring service in all your client workstations or computers and servers. This service must be installed on each and every workstation and server which would be linked with the monitoring and reporting server. The purpose of this service would be to trigger an alert incase something goes bad in any machine. Almost all the companies today are using such alerting and network monitoring service to get hold on each and every device in their premises. This is essential in those cases where the computer have been compromised or hacked and the administrators are alerted immediately. To proof that you have been hacked, lot of investigations are conducted to gather proof of the incident which can be used for any lawful intercept.

If the network monitor traces have been gathered, they can be sent over to the network forensic department for close watch to identify the source of its origination as every company would like to know from which IP address they have been attacked. This can help in getting hold of the suspected person or at-least the premises from which this happened.

Natalie Aranda writes about technology and communications. If the network monitoring traces have been gathered, they can be sent over to the network forensic department for close watch to identify the source of its origination as every company would like to know from which IP address they have been attacked. This can help in getting hold of the suspected person or at-least the premises from which this happened.

WIRELESS NETWORK - HOW TO SETTING UP

2008-07-27T13:00:00.000-07:00

Wireless Network is really popular theseday, most of people have been talking about this technology. Wireless networking allows you to easily share your Internet access as well as printers, and media, very easily without wires. Setting up a wireless network is generally very easy and it is becoming more and more commonplace to do this in your home or small office. The great thing about wireless networking is the fact you can add wireless functionality to your existing network.Wireless networking allows you to easily share your Internet access as well as printers, and media, very easily without wires. Setting up a wireless network is generally very easy and it is becoming more and more commonplace to do this in your home or small office. The great thing about wireless networking is the fact you can add wireless functionality to your existing network.

You should have a wireless icon in the bottom left hand corner by the clock. Right click here and search for wireless networks in range.

Within this list you should see the name that you previously inputted as you SSID. Double click this. You should now be prompted for either your WEP or WPA key - enter this.

Computer Network - Overview

2007-12-15T06:58:00.000-08:00

Computer networking or data communication is a most important part of the information technology. Today every business in the world needs a computer network for smooth operations, flexibly, instant communication and data access. Just imagine if there is no network communication in the university campuses, hospitals, multinational organizations and educational institutes then how difficult are to communicate with each other. In this article you will learn the basic overview of a computer network. The targeted audience of this article is the people who want to know about the network communication system, network standards and types.

A computer network is comprised of connectivity devices and components. To share data and resources between two or more computers is known as networking. There are different types of a computer network such as LAN, MAN, WAN and wireless network. The key devices involved that make the infrastructure of a computer network are Hub, Switch, Router, Modem, Access point, LAN card and network cables.

LAN stands for local area network and a network in a room, in a building or a network over small distance is known as a LAN. MAN stands for Metropolitan area network and it covers the networking between two offices within the city. WAN stands for wide area network and it cover the networking between two or more computers between two cities, two countries or two continents.

There are different topologies of a computer network. A topology defines the physical layout or a design of a network. These topologies are star topology, bus topology, mesh topology, star bus topology etc. In a star topology each computer in a network is directly connected with a centralized device known as hub or switch. If any computer gets problematic in star topology then it does not affect the other computers in a network.

There are different standards and devices in computer network. The most commonly used standard for a local area network is Ethernet. Key devices in a computer network are hub, switch, router, modem and access point etc. A router is used to connect two logically and physical different networks. All the communication on the internet is based on the router. Hub/Switch is used to connect the computers in local area network.

Hopefully, in this article you may have learnt that what a computer network is, how important it is in our lives, what are different network devices, standards, topologies and communication types.

B. Bashir manages this website Networking Tutorials and regularly writes articles on various topics such as Computer Networking, Network Troubleshooting Tips Wireless Networking, Computer Hardware, Certifications, How Tos, Network Security Guide and computer tips.

About Network Monitoring Software

2007-11-01T15:47:00.000-07:00

This software reduces unnecessary time, allows the user to monitor network equipment component and notifies when failure occurs. Entire networks can be managed from a central location. User should consider \ network monitoring requirement before purchasing the software. Network administrators, IT solution providers and system specialists use it worldwide. It constantly monitors Internet servers, Intranet servers, modems, database, routers, event logs and more for 24 hours a day, assuring that devices and networks are performing in proper manner.

Most network monitor software can support Windows XP Home, Windows XP Professional, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Server 2000. Some more advanced server can also support Linux.

Continuous network monitoring helps to detect the network problems long before any serious problem occurs. Network monitor software gathers data on remote machines with the help of a remote registry service. When network monitor software detects any problem regarding network, it automatically sends alert via pager, e-mail, SMS or network message. Some software supports WAP, that permits to check network status through WAP enabled cellular phone from anywhere in the world.

Most network monitor software provides combined package of asset management, Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN), WAN traffic analysis function, and server. Network monitoring software can make computer network monitoring an easy task. It notifies network administrators automatically when there is network problem.

According to recent survey, some Network monitor software can monitor and notify almost anything regarding network related issues. It is convenient for network administrators to have this software installed, as it is very helpful when trying to solve network-associated issues. Proper software can discover future and present problems with the network. Network monitor software is designed to monitor LAN, WAN, and all network equipment components. It troubleshoots almost all network related issues and also delivers reports on network equipments component.

Are you looking for the ultimate solution to monitor your network? Then you should be looking for Linux networking monitoring software products to check the performance of the other computers in your organization. Software like Nagios (Big Brother, as it is popularly called) offers simplicity and effectiveness to help you protect your network from the unwarranted use of office software by employees.

Every business, whether big or small, would need to know more than just who the visitors to their website are, and Linux networking monitoring software can help you achieve that. Network monitoring software helps you monitor for any unauthorized access to your computer network, including sabotage activities.

Some of the major areas that network monitoring software cover are checking the network for virus attacks, uptime and downtime of the servers, making backups of your important files and folders, giving you an overview of your bandwidth usage and monitoring your website traffic to find the causes of congestion in your network.

Network monitoring software also prepares reports on the uptime, downtime, virus attacks and even online and offline time. Networking monitoring can be done both internally as well as through remote-controlling devices.

Monitoring technology should be based on certain standards. Your software should adhere to regulations such as Simple Network Monitoring Protocol (SNMP) in order to simplify setup and installation and to avoid getting locked into one vendor’s solution.

Before you can purchase network monitoring software, you need to get a thorough compatibility check done by a reliable third-party vendor. It could be from your own computer vendor or the manufacturing company.

You could get reviews of networking monitoring software beforehand in some computer magazines online as well as offline. Finally, be choosy about the software you purchase.

Basic Network Monitoring You Should Know

2007-10-10T21:32:00.000-07:00

So what is network monitoring really all about? The following report includes some fascinating information about network monitoring--info you can use, not just the old stuff they used to tell you. Network Monitoring is the action of checking computers, systems and network systems. Network monitor is a part of Microsoft Systems Management Server often known as SMS. Network Monitors supervise Wide Area Network (WAN), Local Area Network (LAN), servers, switches, applications and more. Network monitoring is the source that helps network administrators to improvise their network.

Network monitors provide information regarding network related problems even before a problem develops. It also provides guidance on how to improve the network. Network monitors bring forth log files and charts of performance that are assigned to check system's responses and capabilities. Network monitoring should be conducted with proper and suitable software in order to obtain better results.

Proper network monitor software can identify future and present network related problems even before the problem develops or system crashes. Network monitors perpetually monitor computer network for failing or slow systems, and in case of outages via pagers or e-mails, it notifies the administrators.

Network monitors automatically apprize the network administrator about network failure or network problem and compose expanded log files. Network Monitors takes suitable actions by rebooting the system or by running a script and monitor the problems that are caused by crashed or overloaded servers or network connection.

Network monitor software sends a test message through Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) to ensure the condition of e-mail server, which is received by Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP). To ensure the condition of web server, network monitor software sends HTTP a request to get a page. With Network Monitor, users can monitor any IP networked device on Local Area Network (LAN). It has the ability to detect issues like failed logins (which causes suspicious), someone using particular protocols, or connecting to particular sites.

Think about what you've read so far. Does it reinforce what you already know about network monitoring? Or was there something completely new? What about the remaining paragraphs?

Most network monitors can supervise Internet usage and also registers fingerprints of each network connection in its database. Users can trace out browser toolbars, worms, plug-ins, viruses, and more. Built-in pager and e-mail alarm keeps network administrator informed on all the important happenings in network.

Network Monitoring provides detailed information on Network Monitoring, Network Monitoring Software, Network Monitoring Tools, Network Performance Monitoring and more. Network Monitoring is affiliated with Network Bandwidth Monitors.

Normally, the network monitoring is done at the layer above the layer where you’re LAN or Network card is placed. Once the computer identifies any destination, it processes the data packets and triggers them to through the physical network card. Before it could actually reach the LAN card, the network monitor received every incoming or outgoing packet which it parses and stores in its interface for the administrator to look over at a later stage. Thus now we know what network monitoring is.

At times it becomes highly essential for the administrator to take a network monitor capture to understand weird behavior identified on the network and amongst network nodes or computers. There are not of sophisticated Network monitoring utilities available in the market. The one that is packages along with the windows operating system is know as Network Monitor which is easy to use and reveal a lot of interesting information about each and every packet that has been captured. All you have to do is to specify a network interface or LAN interface in the Network Monitor application and it will start the capture what all is coming in and going out.

Apart from this network monitoring can also be done with the use of third party application which will install a network monitoring service in all your client workstations or computers and servers. This service must be installed on each and every workstation and server which would be linked with the monitoring and reporting server. The purpose of this service would be to trigger an alert incase something goes bad in any machine. Almost all the companies today are using such alerting and network monitoring service to get hold on each and every device in their premises. This is essential in those cases where the computer have been compromised or hacked and the administrators are alerted immediately. To proof that you have been hacked, lot of investigations are conducted to gather proof of the incident which can be used for any lawful intercept.

If the network monitor traces have been gathered, they can be sent over to the network forensic department for close watch to identify the source of its origination as every company would like to know from which IP address they have been attacked. This can help in getting hold of the suspected person or at-least the premises from which this happened.

As your knowledge about network monitoring continues to grow, you will begin to see how network monitoring fits into the overall scheme of things. Knowing how something relates to the rest of the world is important too which is mostly computer networks.

Routers Wireless Troubleshooting

2007-09-22T11:20:00.000-07:00

Routers Wireless error tracing for famous frustrates

1. With Internet Explorer opens types http://192.168.1.1 used password as admin1 and continues to your router interface. Most people not even can go to their router interface. Linksys wireless routers all have resetting default of passwords of admin1 or of admin. Your wireless router interface is the place where your all configurations takes place. If you do not know what is your password then straight go to searching router resetting into google and find your router model number in order to google search to know and also filter your search with "resetting password“any web site it.

2. Reset your router - several times, after many changes and many restarts, which can keep your router configuration documents confused above. Even after you many changes over your router net interface do not cling it. Thus you could have yourself to reset routers, by taking inside a paper clip and pressing the key back the router for approximately thirty seconds. This resets it and gives you a fresh beginning.

3. Part two reset to continue and the attitude find are another choice to reset to your wireless router to your wireless router net interface, the factory resetting say.

4. Your wireless router firmware list improve. If you a new wireless router buy and it do not function you do not wish the firmware list improve. Firmware list is the programs, which run on the wireless router's-motherboard. Up box Download manufactures your wireless router firmware list of web site. Follow the directions to a T-fitting, or you become clay brick your router. Points improve your wireless router firmware list not over a wireless connection and do not turn not the wireless router off, if it in the middle is in the high classification.

5. Bad signal = bad placing, before you return your wireless router, because you do not receive him to a signal place in a new point. That dipole all direction antennas tilt the resetting not of transfer, they remember transferred by the sides, which radiate in a doughnut sample. Thus, if you have your wireless router close of an outside wall half, your signal goes outside.

6. Can't a final system address acquire meant that you your wireless attitudes of the routers DHCP be assembled or not not be assembled correctly lets your wireless adapters?

7. If you cannot seem to connect to a routers wireless even by you to attach that you have the correct run password, could the wireless router instructs have could MAC address have to filter. Either your MAC address the filter add or it close.

8. If you hold to see the fact that your wireless adapter then it attaches you and again attaches disturbance from somewhere to have could thus, your guidance to some more change.

9. Can, to the Internet don't come however can to the wireless router attach? To your wireless router net interface then go examining and, in order to see, if you have a DHCP address of your Internet servicer. If you do or do not try, you not to renew it then, which you attaches could.

10. After many hours of the error tracing a wireless router and you do not represent still out that can, simply to do to google go and your wireless router model type and and you many more points 10,5 if all finds error tracing to what, die' with a hammer doses, he forms t work Smash it it work not, but you feel at least better.

Computer Network Devices And Component

2007-08-16T07:22:00.000-07:00

A Computer network is comprised of different devices to share, transmit, and boost the signal, voice and data. Network devices or components are the physical parts connected to a network. There is a large number of the network devices and are increasing daily. The basic network devices are: Individual Computers, Server, Hub, Switch, Bridges, Routers, Modems, Printers, DSL Modems & Routers, Gateways, Network Interface Cards, Cabling & Wireless access point. The following is a overview of each of these network devices.

INDIVIDUAL COMPUTERS: The personal computer is usually a desktop computer, a work station or a laptop. The personal computers are most widely used in any organization or for personal use. The individual computers are the most common types of the microcomputers.

SERVER: A server is a computer on a network, which process request and is used to share the data and resources among the other computers in a network. A server stores all the necessary information and provides the different services like, workstation computer’s logon access, internet sharing, print sharing, disk space sharing etc. There are different types of servers e.g File and print server, database server, proxy server, Fax server, backup server etc. A database server stores all the data and software, which may related to the certain database and it allows other network devices to access and process the database queries. A file server is used to store the data of any user on the network and a print server manages one or more printers in a network. Similarly a network server is a server that manages the network traffic.

NETWORK INTERFACE CARD: Network interface cards are attached with the computer or other network devices and are used to provide the connectivity between the two computers. Each network card is specifically designed for the different types of the network like Ethernet, FDDI, Token Ring and Wireless Networks. The Network card operates on the first and second layers of the OSI models i.e Physical layer and datalink layer specifications. NIC basically defines the physical connection methods and the control signals that provides the timings of the data transfer over the network.

HUBS: Hub is a simplest network device. The function of the hub is broadcasting i.e data is forwarded towards the all ports of a hub, regardless of whether the data was intended for the particular systems in the network or not. Computers in a network are connected to a hub with a twisted pair (CAT5) cables. There are two types of the hubs. 1. Active Hubs. 2. Passive Hubs.

SWITCHING HUB: The Switching hub (also called “switch” is the most advance shape of the basic hub. In a basic hub all the computers are connected with the hub and the speed of the network is defined by the slowest computer network card connected. For example if you have 10/100 Mbps cards in a network and only one card of 10Mbps speed then the system cannot run faster than the 10 Mbps. Now if you have a switching hub in a network, it will allow all the faster connections in the network to remain at the higher speed and still interact with the 10Mbps system.

SWITCHES: Switch is a intelligence device than hub. Switch is a layer 2 device. Swith provides the same function as a hub or a bridge but it has the advance functionality of connecting the two computers together temporarily. Switch contains the switch matrix or switch fabric that can connect and disconnect ports. Unlike hubs, switch only transmit or forwards the data to the destined computer and it does not broadcasts the data to all its ports.

MODEMS: Modems are the devices, which are used to translate the digital data into the analog format and vice versa. It performs the two main functions. Modulation and demodulation. A modulated data can travel across the conventional telephone lines. The modem modulates the signals at the sending end and demodulates at the receiving end. Modems are required for different types of the access methods such ISDN, DSL and 56K data modem. Modem can be the internal devices that plug into the expansion slots in a system or can be external devices that plug into the serial or USB ports. In Laptops, PCMCIA cards are used for this purpose and many new laptops having the built in integrated modems. The specialized devices are designed for use in the systems such as handheld computers. In ISPs where the large scaled modems are required, rack-mounted modems are used.

ROUTERS: Routers route the data between two logically and physically different networks. A Router has the capability to determine the destination address for the data and hence provides the best way for the data to continue its journey. Router gets this capability through its software called routing software. Unlike Switches and Bridges, which use hardware configured MAC address to determine the destination of the data, router uses logical network address such as IP address to make the decision in determining the destination of the data.

GATEWAY: A gateway performs the function of translating the data from one format to another format without changing the data itself. A gateway can be a device, system, software. A computer with two NIC cards can function as a gateway. Router acts as a gateway e.g a router that routes the data from a IPX network to a IP network is technically a gateway. The same can be said of translational switch converts from a Ethernet network to a token ring network.

CABLES: There are two most common types of the cables. 1. 10baseT and 10base2. 10baseT is a four paired cable. 10baseT has further two types 1. UTP (unshielded twisted pair) and 2. STP (shielded twisted pair. STP is most secure cable covered with the silver coated twisted paper to protect the cable. On the other end Thin 10base2 looks like the copper coaxial cabling that often used to connect TV sets and VCR. 10baseT/Cat5 cables are most commonly used cables to connect the computers. It has the connector, (like a telephone connector) called RJ45 connector.

Twisted pair cables are ideal for the small, medium or large networks.
My recommendation for using cables for networking is to use 10baset/Cat5 cables

Submitted by:

Fiza http://www.theitlibrary.com

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Designing Network Server

2007-08-03T20:49:00.000-07:00

Network server is a most important component of a computer network because the entire computer network is administered, controlled and managed through it. Before designing a network server for your organization, you should have the adequate knowledge about the following things.

Server Processor

Processor is a heart of the CPU. It processes all the commands, instructions and commands and execute them to perform certain actions. Pentium processors are very reliable in performance and speed and trend is growing to use the multiprocessor servers to share the load on each processor. If one processor fails to work due to any reason, there is no effect on the other processor in the same server so it’s a wise decision of the network administrators to use the multiprocessor server for company’s network.

Hard Disk

Hard disks are used to store all the data in permanently. Hard disk is a mechanical device and while selecting the hard disk you should consider the S.M.A.R.T (Smart Monitoring and Reporting Technology). This technology monitors the hard drives and predicts the any failure in the hard drivers. Today, most of the server providers provide hot swap disk drives, this means that if one there is any error occurred in the hard drives, it can be replaced with the other hard drives while the server is in the working mode.

Clustering

In a clustering environment, two or more servers operate as a single server and the failure of the one server does not affect on the other servers. Clustered environment has the benefits such as high performance, reliability and load balancing.

Memory Performance

While selecting the physical memory for the server it should be considered the memory support Error Correcting Code technology. ECC technology fixes and repairs any single bit errors and report the multi bit errors. High memory is very vital for the server for its best performance, speed and continuous work.

Power Supply

Most of the computers come with the multi power supplies. This means in case of failure of the one power supply, does not affect on the other power supply in the same computer and in this way computer works normally. Multi power supplies are hot swappable like the hard disks i.e. faulty power supplies can be replaced with the new ones while the server is in the working mode.

UPS

UPS or uninterrupted power supply are very important in a network environment because a sudden jerk of the electricity may cause of the hard drives or mother boards of the server as well as the other computers in the network. A UPS normally provide a backup of 3-4 hours and during that time server and other computers can be setup and the files or other data can be saved.

Cooling Fans

The cooling system inside the server is provided by the cooling fans. Cooling fans pull the cool air inside the server and through out the heat from the server. The failure of the cooling fan results in the automatic shutdown of the server due to the high buildup of the heat. Many vendors of the computer systems are providing the hot swappable cooling fans.

Computer Monitoring Hardware

There is a specially designed adapter to monitor the performance of the different parts of the hardware of the computer. This adapter can also be controlled by a modem remotely.

Computer Monitoring Software

Different computer monitoring software is available in the market and their main purpose is to monitor the performance of the server and the client computers.

Data Server Location

Network server should be placed in a dust free, cooling capable and clean environment and only the authorized users should be allowed to enter in the server room.

Hopefully my above mentioned tips will help you building a better server for your computer network

B. Bashir manages this website Networking Tutorials and regularly writes articles on various topics such as Computer Networking, Network Troubleshooting Tips Wireless Networking, Computer Hardware, Certifications, How Tos, Network Security Guide and computer tips.

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Welcome to Mobile Computing Networks

2007-07-27T05:05:00.003-07:00

Using mobile computers when in transit implies mobile computing. This is effectuated by using wireless technologies such as LAN, WAN, Wi-Fi, GPRS, etc.

LAN refers to Local Area Networking. This is not a very mobile technology, as it restricts the area of its reach. LAN refers to the connectivity of two or more fixed or mobile computing devices within a particular area. This connection can be done physically by cables (in which case it would not be an example of mobile computing) or other connections such as infrared rays and wireless connections. LAN enables computers within its reach to share and compute data. It is primarily an intranet network.

WAN is Wide Area Networking. It is wider in its outreach. WAN refers to the connection of two locations. These locations may be connected internally through LAN networks. WAN essentially uses wireless connections between its locations.

MAN is another kind of network used in mobile computing. It stands for Metropolitan Area Networking and it connects mobile computing devices within a particular city or metropolitan area. Devices such as mobile phones and car computers can be hooked up onto MAN to keep them interconnected. MAN provides speeds of 128 kbps or 256 kbps. Cities such as New York, Philadelphia, Minnesota, Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas and about 15 major airports in America are currently connected by MAN.

Cell phones are currently the most commonly used mobile computing devices on the planet. They use wireless technologies such as GSM, CDMA, WLL, GPRS, EDGE, 3G etc. for their connectivity. Currently, GPRS or General Packet Radio Service is considered a fast-growing technology. GPRS networks coupled with EDGE or Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution provide fast Internet connection on cell phones. They can provide data transfer speeds of about 384 kbps, which are much higher than GSM and CDMA technologies.

Besides these popular services, there are also some lesser-known networks that have been introduced lately. One such network, the Metricom, was available in 12 cities and 15 airports. However, it is no longer available due to the company’s financial constraints. ArrayComm and SWIFTComm are relatively new networks that promise speeds of up to 1 Mbps to the mobile computer user.

Mobile Computing provides detailed information on Mobile Computing, Mobile Computing Networks, Mobile Computing Solutions, Mobile Computing Devices and more. Mobile Computing is affiliated with Womens Laptop Cases.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Richard_Romando

Computer Network Devices And Component

2007-07-17T06:57:00.000-07:00

Computer Networking Solutions For Small Businesses

2007-07-04T01:23:00.000-07:00

Many terms of the computer networking fundamentals for small businesses have come from the physical world of transportation. Some examples of such terms are ports, hubs, bridge, switching and routing. However, this simile is not unjustified because networks have same importance regarding the boom of the information era, as the transportation to the industrial era. Both computer networks and transportation system require very sound infrastructure.

Computer Networking is connecting the Computers: Most fundamental form of computer networking goes back to connecting any two electronic equipments for the transfer of data between them. Third equipment only helps the communication of data. However, connecting a printer to computer simply with the help of a USB cable is not called a network. It will be a part of the network if connected with router or switch. Advent of Internet has forced the most of the companies to think about the computer networking. No matter how small business you are running, you need to have computer-networking facilities for publicity, email and online marketing of your products and services. If you do not have a well-established network of computer, your competitors will leave you behind in contacting the prospective customers.

The Biggest Advantage is File Sharing: File sharing is perhaps the most talked about component of the computer networking fundamentals. File sharing is simply centralized grouping and organization of data files on a network server. Availability of all the data files at one place makes managing documents and data easier. Furthermore, you can also avoid the inconvenience caused by the inconsistant scheme of work among the different departments of the business. The newer versions of the network operating systems give tremendous control to the administrator. He is in complete control whether a person can get access to a particular file or not.

Sharing of Printers Saves Both Time and Money: Second important component of the computer networking fundamentals for small businesses is printer sharing. It saves a lot of money and time that you would have spent on the purchasing and maintenance of printers. The printers connected to the computer network have more features than those connected to single computers.

Email: One should also learn the importance of email to get the full understanding of computer networking fundamentals for small businesses. Group email facilitates fast and effective communication among the employees. Small business can also improve their scheduling, task assignment and contact management with the help of group or internal email. Moreover, in-house communication of documents is better than faxing because group emails are less expensive easier and unbelievably fast.

Alexander Gordon is a writer for http://www.smallbusinessconsulting.com - The Small Business Consulting Community. Sign-up for the free success steps newsletter and get our booklet valued at $24.95 for free as a special bonus. The newsletter provides daily strategies on starting and significantly growing a business.

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Computer Networking - How It Works

2007-06-26T17:43:00.000-07:00

Computer networking is a process of sharing data and shared resources between two or more connected computers. The shared resources can include printer, Fax modem, Hard disk, CD - DVD Rom, Database and the data files. A computer network can be divided into a small or local area network, a networking between computers in a building of a office (LAN), medium sized network (MAN), a network between two offices in a city and Wide network (WAN) a network between the computers, one is locally and the other can be thousands of miles away in any other country of the world.

WAN connectivity is achieved by a network device known as “Router”. The internet is the world’s largest WAN network, where millions of computers from all over the globe and connected with each other.

Networking is the practice of linking two or more computers or devices with each other. The connectivity can be wired or wireless. A computer network can be categorized in different ways, depends on the geographical area as mentioned above.

There are two main types of the computer network client-server and peer to peer. In the client server computing, a computer plays a major role known as server, where the files, data in the form of web pages, docs or spread sheet files, video, database & resources are placed.

All the other computers in the client/server network are called clients and they get the data from the server. In the peer to peer network all the computers play the same role and no computer act as a centralized server. In the major businesses around the world client-server network model is in major use.

A network topology defines the structure, design or layout of a network. There are different topologies like bus, ring, star, mesh, hybrid etc. The star topology is most commonly used network topology. In the star topology, all the computers in the network are connected with a centralized device such as hub or switch. Thus forms a star like structure. If the hubs/switch fails to work for any reason then all the connectivity and communication between the computers of a network will be halted.

In the network, a common communication language is used by the computers and the network devices and this language is known as protocols. The most commonly used and popular protocols on the internet and in the home and other networks is called TCP/IP. TCP/IP is not a singleprotocol but it is a suite of several protocols.

A network can be a wired or wireless and TCP/IP protocol can work both in types of network.

A data flow in a computer network can be divided into seven logical layers called OSI layersmodel that was developed by Intel and Xerox Corporation and was standardized by ISO.

1. Application layer
2. Presentation layer
3. Session layer
4. Transport layer
5. Network layer
6. Data Link layer

a. Media access control sub-layer

b. Logical link control sub-layer
7. Physical layer.

A network can be divided into different scales and ranges and it depends on the requirement of the network and the geographical location. Computer Network can be divided into Local Area Network, Personal Area Network, Campus Area Network, Wireless Local Area Network,Metropolitan Area Network and Wide Area Network.

There are several network connection methods like HomePNA, Power line communication, Ethernet and Wifi connection method.A network can also be categorized into several different types based on the services it provides like Server farms, Storage area networks, Value control networks, Value-Added networks,SOHO network, Wireless network and Jungle networks.

B. Bashir manages this website Networking Tutorials and regularly writes articles on various topics such as Computer Networking Network Troubleshooting Tips Wireless Networking, Computer Hardware, Certifications, How Tos, Network Security Guide and computer tips.

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Networking For LAN

2007-06-12T09:00:00.000-07:00

Wiring up a LAN (local area network) can be very easy, or it can be very difficult – it all depends on the size of your network, and how you’re trying to go about it.

For a very small home network, you can get by without using any special equipment except the wires. If you want to use a network to share Internet access or a printer, just plug an Ethernet cable into the computers you want to network, and then use the simple networking features that are built into Windows, such as Internet Connection Sharing. This approach has many downsides, though – you’ll need an extra Ethernet card in each computer for every extra computer you connect to the network, for one.

Instead of connecting each computer to the next, it is better to simply connect all the computers to a central router. This is a very efficient way of connecting computers together, as the data you send will be quickly and easily routed to its destination: the data goes to the router, which knows which wire to send it down for it to reach the destination address, and simply sends it that way. This also allows you to turn on and off computers as you please with no ill effects, as the router is always-on.

If you want to connect more devices to the network than the four or five ports on a router will allow, then you need to get a network switch. This allows you to create a separate sector of your network especially for one group of devices. For example, you might have your computer and your printer both plugged into a switch. The computer and the printer can then communicate between themselves without the data needing to travel out onto the wider network – but if they want to send to or receive from the wider network, they can do that too.

John Gibb is the owner of ethernet resources For more information on ethernet check out http://www.ethernet-intelligence.info

Computer Networking Definition

2007-05-25T02:24:00.000-07:00

Definition of "Computer networking" is the engineering discipline concerned with communication between computer systems. Such communicating computer systems constitute a computer network and these networks generally involve at least two devices capable of being networked with at least one usually being a computer. The devices can be separated by a few meters (e.g. via Bluetooth) or nearly unlimited distances (e.g. via the Internet). Computer networking is sometimes considered a sub-discipline of telecommunications, and sometimes of computer science, information technology and computer engineering. Computer networks rely heavily upon the theoretical and practical application of these scientific and engineering disciplines.

A computer network is any set of computers or devices connected to each other. Examples of networks are the Internet, a wide area network that is the largest to ever exist, or a small home local area network (LAN) with two computers connected with standard networking cables connecting to a network interface card in each computer.

Networking Methods

Networking is a complex part of computing that makes up most of the IT Industry. Without networks, almost all communication in the world would cease to happen. It is because of networking that telephones, televisions, the internet, etc. work.

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There are two (broad) types of networks in existence at the moment. These are:

Local Area Network (LAN): A Local Area Network is a network that spans a relatively small space and provides services to a small amount of people. Depending on the amount of people that use a Local Area Network, a peer-to-peer or client-server method of networking may be used. A peer-to-peer network is where each client shares their resources with other workstations in the network. Examples of peer-to-peer networks are: Small office networks where resource use is minimal and a home network. A client-server network is where every client is connected to the server and each other. Client-server networks use servers in different capacities. These can be classified into two types: Single-service servers, where the server performs one task such as file server, print server, etc.; while other servers can not only perform in the capacity of file servers and print servers, but they also conduct calculations and use these to provide information to clients (Web/Intranet Server). Computers are linked via Ethernet Cable, can be joined either directly (one computer to another), or via a network hub that allows multiple connections.
Wide Area Network (WAN): A Wide Area Network is a network where a wide variety of resources are deployed across a large domestic area or internationally. An example of this is a multinational business that uses a WAN to interconnect their offices in different countries. The largest and best example of a WAN is the Internet, which is the largest network in the world.

Wireless Networks (WLAN, WWAN): A wireless network is basically the same as a LAN or a WAN but there are no wires between hosts and servers. The data is transfered over sets of radio trancievers. These types of networks are beneficial when it is to costly or inconvenient to run the necessary cables. For more information, see Wireless LAN and Wireless wide area network

In order for communication to take place between computers, mediums must be used. These mediums include Protocols, Physical Routers and Ethernet, etc. This is covered by Open Systems Interconnection which comprises all the processes that make information transport possible.