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On-the-job companion
for A+ technicians
The book has 13 chapters and starts with some basic networking concepts, physical components of network, various types of cables and network topologies. The network elements like routers, switches, network interface cards and cables are called plumbing elements. A collection of computers networked together for sharing resources is called workgroup. Such a network is organised and can have different topologies like Ethernet (with different standards – 10 BASE T, 100 BASE T, 1000 BASE T), HomePNA (Home Phone Network Alliance), Powerline and Wireless. Various tools are used to configure network devices. Information like utilisation rates, traffic characters, error rates give basic idea of overall performance of the network. Two networking topologies, dial-up networking and virtual private networking, are driving forces in networking environment. All modern operating systems like Windows, Linux and Macintosh etc support these technologies. Various types of connections are dial-up, DSL (Digital Subscriber Line), cable and satellite. Dial-up service requires modem and phone line but is not suitable for multimedia applications. DSL is broadband technology, which provides speed between 400 KBPS and 1 MBPS. Cable Internet uses coaxial cable attached to the computer. Satellite is a broadband solution and provides average 300 KBPS transfer. Networking gives benefits
like sharing data, resources etc. Disk quotas are another advantage.
Users are given provision to store transitory data on some part of hard
disk drive of server. Windows 2000 server gives option of disk quotas
for whole disk. But it will not appear if some steps are implemented on
individual files or folders. Networking poses a complex
problem of security. Some of the measures to protect network are
developing a password policy that includes minimum password length,
expiration of existing passwords, changing access privileges on folders
and directories. |
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THE
Internet is a network of networks. New networking technologies and
configurations are coming up with the growth of the Internet. An A+
technician is faced with the arduous task of supporting network users,
configuring operating system for networking and address complex network
issues. Hence, it requires knowledge and skills to manage the network
efficiently and effectively. The book is a guide for A+ technicians,
network administrators and all professionals who manage the networks. An
interesting feature of this book are short notes given in the form of
secret talk, troubleshooting etc., which deals with practical networking
problems.