Home networks are becoming more common. If you have never heard network terminology device names like router, hub, etc may seem confusing. This article explains what makes up a home network.
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Home networks are becoming more common. People want to be able to share a single broadband Internet connection to several computers in the house. There are many different devices that you can use to make up your home network. If you have never heard network terminology device names like router, hub, etc may seem confusing.
Home wireless routers allow you to connect your home computers together into a network. If you want to use your router as a firewall also, in firewall. Otherwise, you can purchase a firewall separately. Wireless network routers will allow you to connect computers, notebook computers, PDAs and printers without wires. They are also useful for connecting laptops to the Internet and other networks, such as at work or at home.
Thinkpad The purpose of most of these devices are to control how the network passes around information. This information is sent in the form of "packets". I will refer to the term packet several times in this article. It simply means the data that the network is transporting. I will now explain the purpose of the major components of a home network.
2. check your current network. All the computers on your network should be talking to each other, and you must have at least one free slot on your router to plug in the new server. At least one of the computers on your network must be ready, willing, and able to run the Windows Home Server connection software. Any Windows XP or Vista machine will suffice. 3. CDs that you will need.
Microsoft
What is a Hub
PCs left over after an upgrade often do an admirable job as file servers. You just need to know what components are important, what parts you can do without, and how to adjust Windows so other computers on the network can access the file server. The following steps will tell you how to create a file server using an old computer with Windows XP installed, although with a little tweaking most of the following tips apply to a computer using any version of Windows...
Laptop Computers A hub is a device that has several Ethernet ports on the back of the device. One of these ports will likely be labeled "Uplink". This port allows you to connect multiple hubs together, if you run out of ports on your hub. If you do not have an uplink port on your hub, the hub can not be easily extended if you run out of ports.
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Laptop Computer A hub is a device that attaches multiple computers on an Ethernet network. If you have a number different computers that you want to connect together, you could connect each to the hub. Any packet that is sent out by any computer on the network will immediately be transmitted to the other computers. Each computer will determine if the packet was really intended for it, and filter out packets that were intended for other computers.
Yes, when the computer that is physically wired to the wireless gateway is used to set up the home network. The Home Network Install CD automates the installation of device drivers for a computer that is wired to the gateway via a USB cable, and configures the network settings (including wireless security parameters) for the home network. There is no need to run The Home Network Install CD on secondary computers that are attached to the wireless gateway via physical wire. These computers will simply connect to the shared Internet connection provided through the gateway’s integral broadband modem.
Desktop Computer You really should not use a hub in a modern home network. You should always use a switch in place of a hub. Switches will be discussed in the next section.
Notebooks What is a Switch
Lenovo A switch is a device that has several Ethernet ports on the back of the device. One of these ports will likely be labeled "Uplink". This port allows you to connect multiple switches together, if you run out of ports on your switch. If you do not have an uplink port on your switch, the switch can not be easily extended if you run out of ports.
Hard Drive A switch serves the same function as a hub. It allows you to connect multiple computers together, so that they can exchange packets. However, a switch is much more efficient than a hub. A switch will only send Ethernet packets to the computer that the packet was intended for. Because of this you should always use a switch in place of a hub.
Travelstar What is a Router
Gateway A router is a device that has several Ethernet ports on the back of the device. One of the connectors will be labeled WAN. You should connect the WAN port to the Ethernet connection on a broadband source, such as a cable or DSL modem. The other ports on the router can be connected other computers or switches/hubs that will share the WAN connection.
Laptop Parts Routers allow you to share your broadband connection with multiple computers in your house. Rather than connecting your computer directly into your cable or DSL modem you connect the router to the cable or DSL modem. Now any computer that you connect to the router will have access to the Internet.
Software If you run out of ports on your router you can always connect an additional switch to the router. To connect a switch to a router simply connect the switch's "uplink" port to one of the routers Ethernet ports. Of course, don't connect to the router's WAN port. The WAN port should only be connected to something such as a cable or DSL router.
Hard Drives Some routers come with additional features installed. Most routers also include a firewall. Firewalls are discussed in the next section. Some routers will also include a wireless access point (WAP). The WAP allows you to use wireless devices, such as wireless laptops, with the Internet.
Electronics What is a Firewall
Canon A firewall controls traffic flow between your network and the Internet. A firewall can be either hardware or software. Windows XP SP2 or higher includes a software firewall. A hardware firewall is included with most routers.
Desktop Pc A firewall is a very good idea. It can protect you from inbound virus attempts. By inbound virus attempt I mean other computers that will connect to your computer and attempt to infect your computer. You do not want to run a computer directly connected to the Internet, without a firewall. There are just too many other computers out there that can connect and infect you without you even noticing.
Desktop Computers What is a Network Attached Storage (NAS)
Think Pad A network attached storage device is s device that allows a hard drive to be shared across the network. This hard drive is NOT attached to any of your computers. It is simply made available by the NAS. This can be a convent way to add a hard drive that can be accessed by several computers on your network. The other common way to add a network hard drive is to simply share a folder on one of your computers. However, with the NAS, you do not need to keep one of your computers on at all times.
Repair There are two types of NAS commonly available. The first type comes with a build in hard drive. The second accepts a USB or Firewire external hard drive. The advantage to using a USB or Firewire hard drive is that you can upgrade the hard drive if it ever were to become too small.
Data Recovery What is a Print Server
Cisco Just like you can buy a device to allow you to share a hard drive, you can do the same with a printer. A print server connects directly to your printer. Your printer is then shared to all of your computers on the network. This is convent because you do not need to leave the printer hooked to a computer, which must be turned on to print.
Keyboard
Conclusions
Monitor As you can see there are many different components. Perhaps the final component that I have yet to mention is the cable. These components are connected together with CAT5 Ethernet cable.
Desktop You are now ready to pick out the components for your home network!
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Jeff Heaton is author, consultant and college instructor. Jeff maintains the "Heaton Research" website that contains many Java tutorials and other computer programming information.
