So far, if you have been following the course, you should have an idea of some of the hardware that goes into creating a network, namely:Network interface cards Switches Routers Wireless Access Points Print serversGoing to the store to pick out your equipment can be a little confusing. Usually, you’re looking at a bunch of boxes each promoted to be the...

Putting together your network can be an interesting experience given all the different types of hardware out there. Print servers, routers, switches, bridges, cabling, NICs…it’s enough to make a lot of folks very confused. I’ve shopped for networking things several times. The folks who work the stores are not always that knowledgeable (although they like...

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Networking has a reputation for being a complicated topic. Many people can work on their PCs all day long but throw their hands up in frustration when it comes to networking. This subject brings technical types to the point of calling their neighborhood geek to the house with the order “just make it work”. Many times, this frustration is born out of simply...

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The most common reason for forming a home network is to share an internet connection. With broadband internet access becoming almost as common as television, people are today commonly sharing that single pipeline to the internet with all of the computers in their home. This is very easy to do with a home network. You can also do a lot of other things with a home...

A computer network is a setup where two or more computers communicate with each other. The connection between the computers is some kind of electrical connection, whether it be copper wire, fiber optic or radio waves. You might not have though about it before, but networks are everywhere. When you watch TV, you are getting data over a network. When you are...