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Computer or PC Tips InformationUnderstanding the Components of a House Network
by:
Jeff Heaton
House networks are becoming more common. Folk want to be able to share a single broadband Computer network connection to some computers in the house. There are galore some devices that you can use to do up your home network. If you have ne'er
detected
network nomenclature device names like router, hub, etc may seem confusing.
The intention of most of these devices are to control how the network passes about information. This information is sent in the form of "packets". I wish refer to the term packet some times in this article. It just means the data that the network is transporting. I wish now explain the intention of the major components of a home network.
What is a Hub
A hub is a device that has some Local area network ports on the back of the device. One of these ports wish 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 transmission
port on your hub, the hub can not be easily extended if you run out of ports.
A hub is a device that attaches multiple computers on an Local area network network. If you have a number some 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 wish instantly be transmitted to the another computers. Each computer wish determine if the packet was actually intended for it, and filter out packets that were intended for another computers.
You actually should not use a hub in a modern home network. You should always use a switch in place of a hub. Switches wish be discussed in the next section.
What is a Switch
A switch is a device that has some Local area network ports on the back of the device. One of these ports wish 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 transmission
port on your switch, the switch can not be easily extended if you run out of ports.
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 more much efficient than a hub. A switch wish only send Local area network packets to the computer that the packet was intended for. Because of this you should always use a switch in place of a hub.
What is a Router
A router is a device that has some Local area network ports on the back of the device. One of the connectors wish be labeled WAN. You should connect the WAN port to the Local area network connection on a broadband source, such as a cable or DSL modem. The another ports on the router can be connected another computers or switches/hubs that wish share the WAN connection.
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 electronic equipment
you connect the router to the cable or DSL modem. Now any computer that you connect to the router wish have access to the Internet.
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 just connect the switch’s "uplink" port to one of the routers Local area network ports. Of course, don’t connect to the router’s WAN port. The WAN port should only be connected to thing
such as a cable or DSL router.
Some routers move with additional features installed. Most routers besides include a firewall. Firewalls are discussed in the next section. Several routers wish besides include a wireless access point (WAP). The WAP allows you to use wireless devices, such as wireless laptops, with the Internet.
What is a Firewall
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 system firewall. A hardware firewall is enclosed
with most routers.
A firewall is a really nice idea. It can protect you from arriving virus attempts. By arriving virus attempt I mean another computers that wish 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 galore another computers out there that can connect and infect you without you even as noticing.
What is a Network Attached Storage (NAS)
A network attached storage device is s device that allows a hard driving to be shared across the network. This hard driving is NOT attached to any of your computers. It is just ready-made accessible by the NAS. This can be a convent way to add a hard driving that can be accessed by some computers on your network. The another common way to add a network hard driving is to just share a folder on one of your computers. However, with the NAS, you do not need to support one of your computers on at all times.
There are two types of NAS normally available. The 1st type comes with a build in hard drive. The second accepts a USB or Firewire external hard drive. The advantage to exploitation a USB or Firewire hard driving is that you can upgrade the hard driving if it ever were to become too small.
What is a Print Server
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.
Conclusions
As you can see there are galore some components. Possibly the final component that I have yet to mention is the cable. These components are connected together with CAT5 Local area network cable.
You are now available to pick out the components for your home network!
Simply about the author:
Jeff Heaton ( http://www.jeffheaton.com) is author, adviser and college instructor. Jeff maintains the "Heaton Research"( http://www.heatonresearch.com) website that contains galore Java tutorials and another computer programming information.
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