⻬ Simple user-account management that lets you create multiple users and assign passwords.
⻬ Built-in support for wireless networking. ⻬ A network bridge feature that lets you use a Windows XP computer to
link two networks systematically. The computer must have two network adapters, one for each network.
⻬ Advanced network diagnostics and troubleshooting tools help you to find and correct networking problems.
Older Windows versions
Previous versions of Windows also offered peer-to-peer networking features. The following list summarizes the networking features of the major Windows
releases prior to Windows XP, starting with the most recent and descending into the Dark Ages just kidding:
⻬ Windows Me: Short for Windows Millennium Edition, this release was
aimed at home users. It provided a Home Networking Wizard to simplify the task of configuring a network. It was the last version of Windows that
was based on the old 16-bit MS-DOS code.
⻬ Windows 2000 Professional: A desktop version of Windows 2000. It
has powerful peer-to-peer networking features similar to those found in Windows XP, although they are a bit more difficult to set up. It was the
first desktop version of Windows that integrated well with Active Directory.
⻬ Windows 98 and Windows 98 Second Edition: These were popular
upgrades to Windows 95 that enhanced its basic networking features.
⻬ Windows 95: This was the first 32-bit version of Windows. However, it
still relied internally on 16-bit MS-DOS code, so it wasn’t a true 32-bit operating system. It provided basic peer-to-peer network features, with
built-in drivers for common network adapters and basic file and printer sharing features.
⻬ Windows for Workgroups was the first version of Windows to support
networking without requiring an add-on product. It simplified the task of creating NetBIOS-based networks for file and printer sharing. However, it
had only weak support for TCPIP, the dominant Internet protocol in use today.
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Chapter 8: Understanding Network Operating Systems
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Part II: Building Your Own Network
Chapter 9
Oh, What a Tangled Web We Weave: Cables, Adapters,
and Other Stuff
In This Chapter
䊳
Getting a whiff of Ethernet
䊳
Checking out the different types of network cable
䊳
Installing twisted-pair cable
䊳
Working with hubs and switches
䊳
Installing network interface cards
䊳
Adding professional touches to your cabling
䊳
Mulling over other devices such as repeaters, bridges, and routers
C
able is the plumbing of your network. In fact, working with network cable is a lot like working with pipe: You have to use the right kind of
pipe cable, the right valves and connectors hubs and switches, and the right fixtures network interface cards.
Network cables have one compelling advantage over pipes: You don’t get wet when they leak.
This chapter tells you far more about network cables than you probably need to know. I introduce you to Ethernet, the most common system of network
cabling for small networks. Then you find out how to work with the cables used to wire an Ethernet network. You also find out how to install a network
interface card, which enables you to connect the cables to your computer.
What Is Ethernet?
Ethernet is a standardized way of connecting computers to create a network. You can think of Ethernet as a kind of municipal building code for networks: It
specifies what kind of cables to use, how to connect the cables together, how long the cables can be, how computers transmit data to one another using
the cables, and more.
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Part II: Building Your Own Network
Worthless filler about network topology
A networking book wouldn’t be complete with- out the usual textbook description of the three
basic network topologies. The first type of net- work topology is called a bus, in which network
nodes that is, computers are strung together in a line, like this:
A bus is the simplest type of topology but it has some drawbacks. If the cable breaks some-
where in the middle, the whole network breaks. The second type of topology is called a ring:
A ring is very much like a bus except with no end to the line: The last node on the line is con-
nected to the first node, forming an endless loop.
The third type of topology is called a star:
In a star network, all the nodes are connected to a central hub. In effect, each node has an
independent connection to the network, so a break in one cable doesn’t affect the others.
Ethernet networks are based on a bus design. However, fancy cabling tricks make an Ethernet
network appear to be wired like a star when twisted-pair cable is used.
Historical Footnote Warning:
Although Ethernet is today the overwhelming choice for networking, that wasn’t always the case. In days of old, Ethernet
had competition from two other network cabling standards: Token Ring and ARCnet. Token Ring is an IBM standard for networking that is still used in
some organizations, especially where older IBM mainframe or midrange sys- tems are included in the network. ARCnet has all but vanished from the
office-networking scene but is still commonly used for industrial network applications, such as building automation and factory robot control.
Without regard to the technical merits of Ethernet, Token Ring, or ARCnet, the fact is that the vast majority of business networks use Ethernet. You can
purchase inexpensive Ethernet components at just about any computer store, and you can even purchase Ethernet cable and connectors at many
hardware warehouse stores. Because Ethernet is inexpensive and readily available, it is really the only choice for new networks — small as well as
large.
Here are a few tidbits you’re likely to run into at parties well, okay, meetings where the conversation is about Ethernet standards:
⻬ Ethernet is a set of standards for the infrastructure on which a network is built. All the network operating systems that I discuss in this book —
including all versions of Windows, NetWare, Linux, and Macintosh OSX — can operate on an Ethernet network. If you build your network on a solid
Ethernet base, you can change network operating systems later.
⻬ Ethernet is often referred to by network gurus as 802.3 pronounced eight- oh-two-dot-three, which is the official designation used by the IEEE pro-
nounced eye-triple-e, not aieeee, a group of electrical engineers who wear bow ties and have nothing better to do than argue about induc-
tance all day long — and it’s a good thing they do. If not for them, you wouldn’t be able to mix and match Ethernet components made by differ-
ent companies.
⻬ The original vintage Ethernet transmits data at a rate of 10 million bits per second, or 10 Mbps. Mbps is usually pronounced megabits per second.
Because 8 bits are in a byte, that translates into roughly 1.2 million bytes per second. In practice, Ethernet can’t actually move information that
fast because data must be transmitted in packages of no more than 1,500 bytes, called packets. So 150 KB of information has to be split into 100
packets.
Ethernet’s transmission speed has nothing to do with how fast electrical signals move on the cable. The electrical signals themselves travel at
about 70 percent of the speed of light, or as Captain Picard would say, “Warp factor point-seven-oh.”
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Chapter 9: Oh, What a Tangled Web We Weave
