1 Interop Atlanta 99 SS1 © DavidS trom Inc. Home Networking: How You Can Provide Tech Support for Your Family and Still Keep Your Day Job presented by:

1 Interop Atlanta 99 SS1 © DavidS trom Inc.

Home Networking: How You Can Provide Tech Support for Your Family and Still Keep Your Day Job

presented by:

David StromDavid Strom, Inc.(516) [email protected]


Summary

My own home experience Wiring choices Internet access technologies Advantages and disadvantages of each Skills, costs required to implement See Byte article here:

www.byte.com/features/1999/04/0419homenetwork.html


My Current Home LAN

Standard Ethernet RJ45 wiring, cheap hub, two Win98 PCs

Cablevision Optimum Online since January, two hour install, multiple outages. Overall bandwidth ~10x ISDN

SonicWall firewall with NAT


How I Got There

Needed a friend to terminate, test and make cables

Drilled holes through the floors Spent lots of time debugging wire plant,

protocols Not bullet-proof: power outages can ruin

network configuration


Issues

Understanding what to do with which Windows OS version isn’t obvious

Care to not share your PC with your neighbors Do you really need a home firewall? Understand your applications needs of family

members before doing anything


The Real Issue

You are on call 24x7 for your family LAN, whether you like it or not


Goals

Easy to support Reliable Resilient to well-meaning but ignorant family

members’ efforts Upgradable as you add more PCs Minimize home disruptions to phone and power


Other Suggestions

Remember phone service is a mission-critical family application, so mess with it at your peril

Do your installation when the family is out of the home

Maybe hire your neighbor’s teen to do the job


Motivations for Home LANs

Shared Internet Access Play DVD movies on larger TV screens Multiuser games


Questions to Answer Before Installing a Home LAN

Are you brave and talented enough to open up the PC and install a network card and its drivers?

Are your PCs located near existing (and working) phone or cable TV jacks?

Do you have the carpentry skills and spousal design approval to run wires and drill holes around your house?


Home Wiring Choices

No, No, No: Powerline Yes, No, No: Wireless No, Yes, No: HomePNA (single shared phone

pair) or Peracom (cable TV coax) Yes, No, Yes: Standard Ethernet (two

dedicated pairs)


Powerline

Least reliable of the four technologies Quirky installation Slowest overall network throughput When it works it is wonderful Typical vendor: Intelogis


Wireless

Can be the most expensive Good for support roaming laptops Typical vendors: Aironet, Proxim, Diamond,

WebGear


HomePNA

Lots of choices now on the market But quirky install on older PCI PCs Understanding which phone lines are shared

isn’t obvious in all homes Still need Ethernet card for cable access Typical vendors can be found at homepna.com

or homepna.org


Standard Ethernet

Widest number of choices of equipment Need cable fabrication expertise Great if you have access to a basement or attic

to run the wires


Internet Connection choices

Cable DSL ISDN Dial-up


Cable Advantages

One phone-call install Know nothing about routers Wiring is already in the home


Cable Disadvantages

Reliability and reputation low: single supplier per area

No relationships with business users Need firewall and/or security improvements As popularity grows, bandwidth drops (2-20 x

ISDN connection) Some MSOs don’t support LANs


DSL Advantages

Not sharing your connection Competition in many urban areas Cost competitive with T-1 service


DSL Disadvantages

Multiple truck rolls Customer is caught among ISP, iLEC and

CLEC Limited number of routers supported Confusing choices of speeds and technologies Distance limits for some suburban users


ISDN Advantages

Widest deployment Largest choice of routers and access

technologies (apart from dial-up) Best understood of the four technologies


ISDN Disadvantages

Still dealing with the phone company Bonding two data channels still a black art Can get pricey if you use it lots


Dial-up Advantages

Cheap Easiest of the four to implement Lots of access equipment choices (Ramp,

3Com, etc.)


Dial-up Disadvantages

Slow Not for more than two-three concurrent

connections Some ISPs don’t allow shared dial connections


Skills Required

Router, network management Wire plant installation and management Protocol wrangling Good conflict management skills (and we aren’t

taking about IRQ conflicts only!)


Conclusions

Technologies still improving, but no clear choices

Home wire plant anything but predictable No single vendor solution Speed isn’t the issue: reliability and installation

ease is far from a done deal You’ll need to be part electrician, part plumber,

and part therapist

1 Interop Atlanta 99 SS1 © DavidS trom Inc. Home Networking: How You Can Provide Tech Support for Your Family and Still Keep Your Day Job presented by:

Documents

ss1 davids trom

interop atlanta

power slide

job slide

nat slide

webgear slide

intelogis slide

network configuration