When computers first became available to the general public, it was rare for any home to have more than one unit, let alone a network of computers. But as modern technology became cheaper, more accessible and within the reach of everyone, tech-savvy homes are now linking up their laptops and plugging in their PCs into home networks.
What is a home network?
A home network is simply a method of allowing computers to communicate with one another. If you have two or more computers in your home, a network can let them share:
· Files and documents
· An Internet connection
· Printers, print servers and scanners
· Stereos, TVs and game systems
· CD burners
To set up a home network, you’ll need a few basic components including more than one computer, hardware such as a router and software, either built in to the operating system or as a separate application, to co-ordinate the exchange of information. You will also need a ‘path’ for the information to follow from one computer to another. This is usually supplied via a WiFi system. The two most popular home network types are wireless and Ethernet networks. In both of these types, the router does most of the work by directing the traffic between the connected devices. By connecting a router to your dial-up, DSL or cable modem, you can also allow multiple computers to share one connection to the Internet.
Any risks?
With any network, there are always risks. If all of your computers are connected to the same network, a virus uploaded onto one computer will infect all the other computers linked to the same system. This is why it is imperative that you install effective firewalls and anti-virus software into your network to protect your system from outside attacks.
Most routers combine wireless and Ethernet technology and also include a hardware firewall already built into the system, but you can increase your security by adding your own software protection. Software firewalls installed onto your computers block all incoming information by default and prompt you for permission to allow the information to pass. In this way, a software firewall can learn which types of information you want to allow into your network. It is advisable to regularly update your firewalls and anti-virus protection to keep hackers and malicious users at bay.
Ethernet and wireless networks each have advantages and disadvantages. Wired networks provide users with plenty of security and the ability to move lots of data very quickly. They are faster than wireless networks, and very affordable. However, with wired networks, the clue is in the name – you will have cables linking your network so if you’re not happy about a house full of cables to connect your system, a wireless WiFi network may be a better and more user friendly option. The system itself may be slower, particularly if a computer is further away from the main router, but you do cut down the amount of hardware and cables needed to create the network in the first place.
Wireless networks are more susceptible to interference in the radio waves due to walls and distance of networked computers from the wireless router, but do allow you the freedom to utilise the system anywhere in the house (or even outside in the garden). Wireless networks are by far the most popular home networking system, despite some drawbacks and as the technology improves and routers become more powerful, are becoming the networking option of choice for the majority of home users.
By: Alison Brundle
Posts Tagged ‘Ethernet Networks’
Network+ Exam Tutorial: Network Interface Cards (NICs)
December 25th, 2009
Part of the challenge of passing the Network+ exam is learning about all the different types of hardware a network requires. Today we’ll take a look at a vital part of network connectivity, the Network Interface Card (NIC, pronounced “nick”).
The NIC is the device, or card, that gives the host a physical connection to the network. The NIC is generally an internal device, but one that can be removed and replaced with a different NIC. NICs are considered Physical layer devices and work at Layer 1 of the OSI model.
Most issues involving NICs occur before the device is even added to the network – because the purchaser didn’t do their research. All NICs are not created equal. Some are for Ethernet networks, some for Token Ring, and speed capabilities vary as well. Don’t assume a given vendor’s NIC is going to fit your device and give you the results you want. A quick visit to the vendor’s website and a few minutes looking up NIC specifications can save you a lot of trouble later on.
One more NIC warning – take your time when you’re installing a new NIC. Make sure the device is off, and make sure you’re properly grounded by connecting the grounding strap to your wrist. Otherwise, you can send static electricity into places on the host where it’s only going to cause damage.
Your new NIC should also come with directions on how to download the drivers for that NIC. Drivers sound like something physical, but they’re not. Drivers are simply software files that are needed on the host in order for the NIC to work correctly. Vendors used to include drivers on CDs with their NICs, but the trend now is to include instructions on where to download the drivers from the vendor website.
That does lend itself to an occasional Catch-22: “If I don’t have this device on the Net yet, how can I download the drivers?” If the host has no network connectivity, you may need to download the drivers to a host that does, copy the files to CD, and then install the drivers from CD.
You’ll see two different lights on a typical NIC, one green and one amber. Depending on whether the host has network connectivity or not, the lights will be solid, flashing, or out. Sometimes flashing is good, sometimes it’s not! Here’s a guide to the colors you’ll see on a NIC:
A solid green light indicates connectivity is present. This link light is generally either green or off. Green is good, off is not! That light should stay a solid green. If you see it flashing green, that’s a sign of intermittent connectivity, which is a fancy way of saying “one minute the PC is on the network, the next minute it’s not”. Most likely, either the NIC or the cable connected to the NIC is going bad. With the green light, flashing is not desirable.
Flashing amber lights indicate collisions. You’ll see this flash occasionally even on a healthy network, but you don’t want to see it flash so often that it looks like a solid amber light!
If you have an Internet connection at home, you can see these lights in action for yourself. The green and amber lights will be right next to where the cable from your modem connects to your PC.
On occasion, you’ll have a PC that loses connectivity to the network. I advise you to always start network troubleshooting at the Physical layer of the OSI model, and that means checking both the NIC and the cable connected to it. I personally would swap the cable out first, since they seem to go bad more often than NICs, but that’s up to you. If you swap NICs and you still can’t get the PC on the network, try putting a new cable in.
By: Chris Bryant
CompTIA A+, Network+ Certification Tutorial – Function of Network Hubs
December 14th, 2009
A hub is a device used to connect all of the computers on a star or ring network. A hub is nothing more than a box with a series of cable connectors in it. Hubs are available four- and five-port devices designed for home and small business networks to large rack-mounted units with up to 24 ports or more. Installing a single hub is simply a matter of connecting it to a power source and plugging in cables connected to the network interface adapters in your computers.
Hubs are associated with specific data-link layer protocols. Ethernet hubs are common, because Ethernet is a popular data-link layer protocol. Token Ring MAUs are hubs too, and other protocols, such as the Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) also use hubs.
An Ethernet hub is called a multiport repeater. A repeater is a device that amplifies a signal as it passes through it. If you have a thin Ethernet network with a cable segment longer than the prescribed maximum, you can install a repeater at some point in the segment to strengthen the signals and increase the maximum segment length. This repeater only has two BNC connectors. The hubs used on UTP Ethernet networks are repeaters as well, but they can have many RJ45 ports instead of just two BNC connectors.
When data enters the hub, the hub amplifies the signal and transmits it out through all of the other ports. This enables a star network to have a shared medium. The hub relays every packet transmitted by any computer on the network to all of the other computers, and also amplifies the signals. The maximum segment length for a UTP cable on an Ethernet network is 100 meters. A segment is defined as the distance between two communicating computers. Hubs function as a repeater, each of the cables connecting a computer to a hub port can be up to 100 meters long, allowing a segment length of up to 200 meters when one hub is inserted in the network.
By: M. Aslam
