Networking For Dummies®

Networking For Dummies?, 5th Edition provides valuable updates on the latest tools and trends in networking including Windows 2000, NetWare 5.1, Linux 6.2, and home networking. Networking For Dummies?, 5th Edition is straightforward in its approach to guide professional and novice administrators through building, managing, and securing both large and small networks.

Contents

Introduction

About This Book

How to Use This Book

What You Don't Need to Read

Foolish Assumptions

How This Book Is Organized

Icons Used in This Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I: The Absolute Basics: A Network User's Guide

Chapter 1: Networks Will Not Take Over the World, and Other Network Basics

What Is a Network?

Why Bother?

Servers and Clients

Dedicated Servers and Peers

The NOS Choice

What Makes a Network Tick?

It's Not a Personal Computer Anymore!

The Network Manager

What Have They Got That You Don't Got?

Chapter 2: Life on the Network

Distinguishing between Local Resources and Network Resources

What's in a Name?

Logging On to the Network

Understanding Shared Folders

Welcome to the Network 'Hood

Mapping Network Drives

Four Good Uses for a Shared Folder

Using a Network Printer

Logging Off the Network

Chapter 3: Using a Network Printer

What's So Special about Network Printing?

Adding a Network Printer

Using a Network Printer

Playing with the Print Queue

Using Windows Print Queue Tricks

What to Do When the Printer Jams

Chapter 4: Becoming a Server

Enabling File and Printer Sharing

Sharing a Hard Drive or Folder

Sharing a Printer

Chapter 5: Mr. McFeeley's Guide to E-mail

E-mail and Why It's So Cool

Microsoft Outlook

Electronic Scheduling

Electronic Conferencing

E-mail Etiquette

Chapter 6: Help! The Network's Down!

When Bad Things Happen to Good Computers

My Computer's Dead!

Ways to Check Your Network Connection

A Bunch of Error Messages Just Flew By!

The Windows Networking Troubleshooter

Time to Experiment

How to Restart Your Computer

How to Restart the Network

The Care and Feeding of Your Network Guru

Computer Bribes for Serious Network Trouble

Part II: Building Your Own Network

Chapter 7: The Bad News: You Have to Plan Ahead

Making a Network Plan

Taking Stock

Considering Why You Need a Network, Anyway

Making Three Basic Network Decisions That You Can't Avoid

Using a Network Starter Kit -- Networks to Go

Looking at a Sample Network Plan

Chapter 8: Choosing Your Weapon (Or, Which Network Should You Use?)

Novell NetWare

Microsoft's Server Operating Systems

Other Server Operating Systems

Peer-to-Peer Networking with Windows

Chapter 9: Planning Your Servers

To Dedicate or Not to Dedicate

How Much Disk Space Do You Need?

What to Put on a File Server

Planning Your Network Drive Mapping

Sharing CD-ROM Drives

Using a Separate Print Server

Buying a Server Computer

Keeping the Power On

Location, Location, and Location

Chapter 10: Oh, What a Tangled Web We Weave: Cables, Adapters, and Other Stuff

What Is Ethernet?

Three Types of Ethernet Cable

Hubs and the Network

Network Interface Cards

Network Starter Kits

Installing Network Cable

Professional Touches

Chapter 11: Configuring Your Network Computers

Installing a Network Interface Card

Installing a Server Operating System

Configuring Client Computers

Testing Your Network Installation

Part III: Network Management For Dummies

Chapter 12: Help Wanted: A Network Manager's Job Description

Identifying the Network Manager: A Closet Computer Geek

Going by the Book

Managing the Network

Doing the Routine Stuff That You Hate to Do

Managing Network Users

Patching Things Up

Getting the Tools of a Network Manager

Chapter 13: Who Are You? (Or, Big Brother's Guide to Network Security)

Do You Need Security?

User Accounts

Passwords

Generating Passwords For Dummies

User Rights

File System Rights (Who Gets What)

It's Good to Be the Administrator

User Profiles

Too Many Lists! (How to Manage Multiple Servers)

Chapter 14: If I Could Save Time in a Bottleneck: Optimizing Your Network's Performance

What Exactly Is a Bottleneck?

The Eight Most Common Network Bottlenecks

Tuning Your Network the Compulsive Way

Tuning a Windows 95/98 or Millennium Edition Server

Tuning a Windows NT/2000 Server

Tuning a NetWare Server

Chapter 15: Things That Go Bump in the Night: How to Protect Your Network Data

Planning for Disaster

Backing Up Your Data

Changing the Oil Every 3,000 Miles

Guarding against Dreaded Computer Viruses

Chapter 16: How to Stay on Top of Your Network and Keep the Users off Your Back

Training Your Users

Organizing a Library

Keeping Up with the Computer Industry

The Guru Needs a Guru, Too

Helpful Bluffs and Excuses

Part IV: Webifying Your Network

Chapter 17: Welcome to the Internet

What Is the Internet?

What Does the Internet Have to Offer?

Understanding Internet Addresses

Coping with TCP/IP

What Is an Intranet?

Chapter 18: Connecting Your Network to the Internet

Connecting to the Internet

Sharing an Internet Connection

Choosing a Web Browser

Worrying about Security Issues

Chapter 19: Hosting Your Own Web Site

Serving Up Your Web Page

Registering Your Own Domain Name

Protecting Your LAN from the Internet

Choosing Tools for Creating Web Pages

Dealing with CGI

Wake Up and Smell the Java

Chapter 20: Creating an Intranet

What Is an Intranet?

What Do You Use an Intranet For?

What You Need to Set Up an Intranet

Creating a Small Intranet with Personal Web Server

Part V: More Ways to Network

Chapter 21: Networking Your Home

Choosing How You Want to Network Your Home

Using the Windows Millennium Edition Home Networking Wizard

Setting Up a Network without the Wizard

Sharing a Folder

Sharing a Printer

Sharing an Internet Connection

Managing Your Home Network

Chapter 22: Dialing In to Your Network

Understanding Dial-Up Networking

Installing the Dial-Up Server Feature

Configuring a Windows 98/Me Dial-Up Server

Configuring a Windows 2000 Dial-Up Server

Configuring Your Home Computer for Dial-Up Networking

Making the Connection

Using Network Resources with a Dial-Up Connection

Don't Call Us -- We'll Call You

Using Remote Access Service

Hardware-Based Remote Access

Virtual Private Networking

Chapter 23: Using Microsoft Office on a Network

Installing Office on a Network -- Some Options

Accessing Network Files

Using Workgroup Templates

Working with Collaboration Features

Networking an Access Database

Chapter 24: Networking Older Computers

Networking Older Computers Presents Challenges

Dealing with Older Computers in Two Ways

Using a DOS Client Computer

Configuring a Network Card in an Older Computer

Chapter 25: Welcoming Macintosh Computers to Your Network

What You Need to Know to Hook Up a Macintosh Network

What You Need to Know to Use a Macintosh Network

What You Need to Know to Network Macintoshes with PCs

Chapter 26: Using a Linux Server

Comparing Linux with Windows

Choosing a Linux Distribution

Installing Linux

Managing User Accounts

Configuring Linux Network Settings

Running the Apache Web Server

Running the Sendmail Mail Server

Doing the Samba Dance

Using Linux as a Firewall

Part VI: The Part of Tens

Chapter 27: Ten Big Network Mistakes

Skimping on Cable

Turning Off or Restarting a Server Computer While Users

Are Logged On

Deleting Important Files on the Server

Copying a File from the Server, Changing It, and Then Copying It Back

Sending Something to the Printer Again Just Because It Didn't Print the First Time

Unplugging a Cable While the Computer Is On

Assuming That the Server Is Safely Backed Up

Thinking You Can't Work Just Because the Network Is Down

Always Blaming the Network

Chapter 28: Ten Networking Commandments

I. Thou Shalt Back Up Thy Hard Drive Religiously

II. Thou Shalt Protect Thy Network from Infidels

III. Thou Shalt Keepeth Thy Network Drive Pure and Cleanse It of Old Files

IV. Thou Shalt Not Tinker with Thine Network Configuration Files Unless Thou Knowest What Thou Art Doing

V. Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor's Network

VI. Thou Shalt Schedule Downtime before Working upon Thy Network

VII. Thou Shalt Keep an Adequate Supply of Spare Parts

VIII. Thou Shalt Not Steal Thy Neighbor's Program without a License

IX. Thou Shalt Train Thy Users in the Ways of the Network

X. Thou Shalt Write Down Thy Network Configuration upon Tablets of Stone

Chapter 29: Ten Things You Should Keep in Your Closet

Tools

Extra Cable

Extra Connectors

Patch Cables

Twinkies

Extra Network Cards

The Complete Documentation of the Network on Tablets of Stone

The Network Manuals and Disks

Ten Copies of This Book

Chapter 30: Ten Network Gizmos Only Big Networks Need

Repeaters

Managed Hubs

Switches

Bridges

Routers

Firewalls

Gateways

It's a RAID!

Superservers

Server Farms

Gigabit Ethernet

Chapter 31: Ten Layers of the OSI Model

Layer 1: The Physical Layer

Layer 2: The Data Link Layer

Layer 3: The Network Layer

Layer 4: The Transport Layer

Layer 4a: The Lemon-Pudding Layer

Layer 5: The Session Layer

Layer 6: The Presentation Layer

Layer 7: The Application Layer

Chapter 32: Ten Hot Network Buzzwords Guaranteed to Enliven a Cocktail Party

Intranet

Extranet

Client/Server

Enterprise Computing

Interoperability

Fiber Optics

SNA

E-commerce

TCP/IP

Broadband

Appendix: Glossary

Index

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