Chapter 10

Understanding and Troubleshooting

Your PC

Chapter 10: Connecting PCs to Networks and the Internet 2

Chapter Objectives

In this chapter, you will learn:– About networks, network protocols, and network

architectures– How networking works with Windows– How to install a network card, connect to a

network, and share network resources– About Internet technologies and how to access the

Internet

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Network Types and Architectures

A network is a collection of computers and devices connected together to share resources, such as hardware, software, data, and information

Bandwidth refers to the amount of data that can travel over a given communication system in a given amount of time

A PC makes a direct connection to a network by way of a network adapter– Network interface card (NIC)

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LANs, MANs, and WANs

A local area network (LAN) connects computers and devices in a relatively small area

A metropolitan area network (MAN) is a high-speed network that connects LANs in a metropolitan area such as a city or town

A wide area network (WAN) covers a large geographic area

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Physical Network Topologies

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Logical Network Architecture

The network architecture is a logical model that defines the design and interaction of the computers, devices, and media on a network– Client/Server

• One or more computers acts as a server and the other computers on the network request services from the server

– Peer-to-Peer• Each computer on the network has equal responsibilities

and capabilities on the network

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Logical Network Architecture

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Network Hardware Protocols

Network protocols are rules that define how the hardware devices and software operate and work together– Ethernet

• Hardware protocol that allows nodes to contend for access to the network

– Token Ring and FDDI• Token ring is an older LAN technology that controls access to the

network by requiring devices on the network to pass a special signal called a token

• FDDI is similar to token ring, but uses a dial-ring approach

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Types of Ethernet

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Types of Network Cables

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Configuring Ethernet Networks

Ethernet networks can be configured using either a bus or star topology

A bridge typically connects one LAN to another LAN that uses the same hardware protocol

A switch works much like a bridge, but does not broadcast messages

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Configuring Ethernet Networks

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Wireless LANs

Wireless LAN (WLAN) technology uses radio waves or infrared light instead of cables or wires to connect computers or other devices

A computer connects to a wireless LAN using a wireless NIC A device can communicate directly with another device, or it

can connect to a LAN by way of a wireless access point (AP)

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Wireless LANs:802.11 Standards

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How NICs Work

A NIC is designed to support one of the network hardware protocols

A NIC can be internal or externalBefore sending data from a computer, a NIC

must convert the data into a signal that is appropriate for network cabling– The component on the card responsible for this

signal conversion is called the transceiver– Ethernet cards that accommodate different cabling

media are called combo cards

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How NICs Work

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Network Protocols

Windows supports three suites of network protocols:– TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol)– IPX/SPX (Internetwork Packet Exchange / Sequenced

Packet Exchange)– NetBEUI (NetBIOS Extended User Interface)

Binding occurs when an operating system-level protocol such as TCP/IP associates itself with a lower-level hardware protocol such as Ethernet

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Addressing on a Network

A MAC (Media Access Control) address is a 6-byte address, often expressed as six pairs of hexadecimal numbers and letters, often separated by hyphens

An IP address is a 32-bit address consisting of a series of four 8-bit numbers separated by periods

A port number identifies a program or service running on a computer to communicate over the network

Character-based names are used to identify a PC on a network with easy-to-remember letters rather than numbers

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MAC Addresses

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IP Addresses

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Port Numbers

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How Computers Find Each Other on a LAN

DNS (Domain Name System) is a system that determines the IP address associated with host names and domain names– DNS Server

WINS (Windows Internet Naming Service) is a system that determines the IP address associated with a client or server computer running on a Windows network using the NetBEUI protocol

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Connecting to a Network

Install the Network Interface CardName the computer on the networkConnect to the network

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Installing a Wireless NIC and Connecting to a Wireless LAN

Install any software that came with the NICInstall the wireless NICStart the PC and install the drivers

– The NIC will attempt to connect to access points already set up

Consult the documentation if the wireless connection is not working

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Installing a Wireless NIC and Connecting to a Wireless LAN

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Sharing Files, Folders, and Applications

If users on a LAN need to share applications, files, or printers, then all these users must be assigned to the same domain or workgroup on the LAN

To share resources, you first must install Client for Microsoft Networks and File and Printer Sharing– These two components are

installed by default when you install Windows XP using the Typical setting

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Mapping a Network Drive

Mapping a network drive is one of the most powerful and versatile methods of communicating over a network

The mapped drive appears as if it is a drive directly on the PC

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Troubleshooting a Network Connection

Some methods and steps to resolve networking issues:– Determine whether other computers on the

network are having trouble with their connections– Make sure the NIC and its drivers are installed– Check the network cable– Connect the network cable to a different port on

the hub– Ping and Ipconfig

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Routers

A router is a communications device that manages the delivery of data traveling over interconnected networks

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TCP/IP Suite of Protocols

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Connecting to the Internet:Dial-up Modems

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Connecting to the Internet:DSL Modems

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Connecting to the Internet:Cable Modems

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Connecting to the Internet Using Dial-up Networking

To connect to the Internet over a telephone line using a dial-up connection, you need to have a modem installed on your PC

When a Windows PC connects to a network using a modem and regular telephone line, the process is called dial-up networking– The modem on your PC acts like a network card

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How Dial-up Networking Works

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Using a Dial-up Connection in Windows XP

In order for your PC to connect to your ISP and use the Internet, you must know:– The dial-up access telephone number of the ISP– Your user ID and password for the ISP– If DNS servers will be assigned at connection– How your IP address will be assigned

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Installing and Configuring a Cable Modem

Install the network card and drivers to control the card

Use a network cable to connect the PC to a cable modem or DSL box

Install TCP/IP to bind TCP/IP to the cardConfigure TCP/IP using the settings provided

by the cable service providerTest the connection using application software

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Installing and Configuringa DSL Modem

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Implementing a Firewall

A firewall can function in several ways:– Firewalls can filter data packets, examining the destination

IP address or source IP address or the type of protocol used (for example, TCP or UDP)

– Firewalls can filter ports so outside clients cannot communicate with inside services listening at these ports

– Firewalls can filter applications such as FTP so users inside the firewall cannot use this service over the Internet

– Some firewalls can filter information such as inappropriate Web content for children or employees

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Hardware Firewall

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Software Firewall

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Accessing Internet Resources Using a Web Browser

A Web browser is a software application on a user’s PC that is used to request Web pages from a Web server on the Internet or an intranet

A Web page is a document on the Web identified by a unique URL (Uniform Resource Locator)

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) can be interpreted by a Web browser to display formatted text, graphics, images, forms, and so on

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How a URL is Structured

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Chapter Summary

In this chapter, you learned:– About networks, network protocols, and network

architectures– How networking works with Windows– How to install a network card, connect to a

network, and share network resources– About Internet technologies and how to access the

Internet

Understanding and Troubleshooting

Your PCChapter 10 Complete