Technological Advancements of Networking - Assignment Example

? of Institute] of Discipline] ‘Networking’ INTRODUCTION The growing technological advancements have transformed the planet Earth into a fast pace planet I which tasks are getting executed at very rapid rates. The increasing usability of the technologically advanced devices has been the main reason for their popularity and excessive use. Communication was never easier and more timely than today. The current research mentions one of the technologies that have assisted in the ease of communication. The concept is narrated with respect to a specific small scale business environment that would get benefitted by introduction and implementation of the technology. The co-owner of the small scale photography business, Sally, is a fifty year old lady who keeps an account of all the transactions, invoices an orders related to the photography that her husband, Mr. John does. Only one of the computer systems in her use has access to the internet. She does most of her invoice and record maintenance using Excel and Access software that are installed on another computer system that does not have any access to the internet. Considering the above mentioned details it is proposed the efficiency of conducting tasks with efficiency and accuracy would enhance considerable if a Local Area Network (LAN) is incorporated within the system. The following report presents a comprehensive narration that would highlight the use of the said technology. A NETWORK A computer network is basically the phenomenon of connecting two or more computers together via a link. The connected computers are said to be part of a network. There are several types of networks such as LAN (Local Area Network), WAN (Wide Area Network), WLAN (Wireless LAN) and MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) etc. However, the most feasible network that would suit the requirements of the small scale photography business would be the LAN. Once the LAN has been set up, the proposition of converting it into its better WLAN form would also be discussed. A LAN is used to connect together computing resources particularly inside a building or an enclosed premises. The construction of such a network has many utilities. These pros are mentioned as follows: Advantages of a Local Area Network File Sharing Files can be sent from one computer on a network to any other computer connected in the same network. There is no longer any need to copy data on a piece of paper and then type it again into the other computer system, neither is there any need to copy the data on a retractable flash drive and then physically bring the flash drive to the second system to transfer the file to it. All these methods of file transfer become obsolete once LAN enables file transferring. Another basic method via which file sharing becomes really handy is when data is being stored and arranged on one system (in this scenario Sally’s Computer system), but is needed for reference at another computer within the premises (John’s Computer System). Transferring of files over the network enable timely data management and significantly reduce the chance of data entry and manipulating errors. Streaming of Media Transferring of digital media such as image files, digital videos or audio files becomes very easy within a network. This becomes particularly handy when a main set of big LCD screen or High Fi speakers are connected to one main central room and a file from any computer over the network can be sent to it and played. With particular reference to the current business of photography the image files photographed by John can be managed across the network and can even by displayed via one central projector if required. Internet Connection Sharing A single broadband internet connection can be shared over the Local Area Network. This means that all the computers connected to a network can get connected to the internet via a single connection only and separate internet connections are not required for each one of them. This way, the internet connection that is being used on John’s computer would be accessible for use on Sally’s computer as well. Communicating Within Network Text messaging within the network and playing of computer games with other people over the internet becomes possible once a user is hooked up to the internet. Sharing a Printer or other hardware peripherals. Separate Peripheral devices like printers and scanners do not need to be attached separately to each computer system once they are connected to a computer system. All the computer systems connected to the Network can send printing and scanning commands to a single peripheral unit only. This helps prevent spending of excessive money being spent on separate printing and scanning units. Commonly known as resource sharing, it is considered as one of the foremost advantages of a Local Area Network. The single monochrome printer that Sally possesses would come in extremely handy in the Local Area Environment. The high quality image scanner and color printer attached to John’s computer would also be accessible by Sally’s computer once it is connected to the Local Area Network. Disadvantages of Local Area Networks Just as every technology has disadvantages associated with it so do Local Area Networks. These disadvantages may be summed up as follows: Administrative Tasks Handling a network is not as simple as handling a single computer system. Certain administrative tasks are required that would control authoritative issues over the network. This task takes considerable time an expertise and for a novice such as Sally, it would not be a piece of cake. So, though the small photography business would be saving money of hardware peripherals it may need to employ a network administrator who would troubleshoot any problems arising over the network. Dependence on Server A single computer system is designated as a server in the network of computers. It is the computer system from where the administrator monitors the overall activities of the network. This computer system is just as vulnerable to fault as is any other computer system over the network. However if any fault does occur in this system, the entire network gets affected by it. Sometimes, if the fault is severe, the entire network may come to a halt because of it. For networks containing larger number of nodes it is often a good practice to made redundant systems supportive of critical network services. Hardware Issues Network Cables are required to connect Computer Systems over the network. If, unfortunately, any one cable fails, it may put off the entire network. Security and Compliance Data security and prevention of unauthorized access is essential to maintain the integrity of the data of the business organization. It is therefore essential that the network must be secure. Moreover, the access rights of individuals at each managerial level such be separately secured so that any lower level worker may not be able to mismanage and alter any managerial level data available over the network. Now that the advantages and disadvantages of setting up a local area network have been narrated it is suggested that John and Sally should decide in favor of setting up a Local Area Network for her business. This is because the advantages and facilities that would be obtained as a result outweigh its disadvantages. EQUIPMENT In order to set up a computer network in the enclosed premises of Sally and John’s home-cum office it is suggested that the following hardware be purchased: 1. A Router A Router can be either wired or wireless. Even though there is no current need for a wireless router in John’s small scale business but it is better to be prepared for the future. If, sometime later, they do plan to switch to a wireless local area network they would not have to buy another router. For the time being the wireless option of the router can be switched off. A router is available in different speeds. Sally can choose from the 54Mbit router, 11 Mbit router or the other routers available. However it is recommended that the one with the highest speed should be bought which is the current state is 2.4 GHz router (the Wireless g-standard). The 2.4 GHz standard is preferred for its stability and also because of the wide area it covers. The 2.4 GHz router (Wireless b-standard) is not generally recommended. The Ethernet cable having maximum number of connections for Ethernet cables should be opted for. Cross Cables should not be opted for since they do not go with the router setup. Please refer to Appendix for a comparison of routers available in the market. The table clearly narrates the capabilities and range of the routers as well. 2. An Ethernet Modem The router gets connected to the Ethernet Modem. The Ethernet modem does not need to get connected to every computer separately. The Ethernet modem gets connected to the internet. Via the router each connected computer gets access to the internet as well. The internet connection provider would be able to provide an Ethernet modem. That would be the most suitable Ethernet modem to go for. 3. Network Adapter and UTP Cables A network card or adapters needs to be embedded into each computer system that is connected to the network. This card recognizes the network settings and enables the computer to get connected to it. Each computer is connected to the router by a separate CAT5 UTP cable. WIRELESS NETWORKING Wireless Networking is the most trending phenomenon in the world of networks nowadays. Instead of having physically linked computers as its nodes a wireless network connects computing devices to itself using radio waves which are as low as the frequency of the harmless microwaves. How does it Work? Home-Network-Help quotes the following text about how a wireless network works: “let say you have 2 computers each equipped with wireless adapter and you have set up wireless router. When the computer sends out the data, the binary data will be encoded to radio frequency and transmitted via wireless router. The receiving computer will then decode the signal back to binary data.” (home-network-help, n.d.) Figure 3: Typical small scale wireless network (Home-Network-Help, n.d.) 802.11 The Wireless Protocol The Wireless Network is governed by the 802.11 standard protocol approved by the IEEE governing body. 802.11n is the latest version of the standard wireless networking protocol. All the wireless enabled devices being sold right now are equipped with the compatibility of this latest version of protocol. This protocol version is compatible with devices supporting the earlier versions of the 802.11 protocol. Following are few of the advantages and disadvantages of the increasingly popular technology: Advantages of Wireless Networking 1. Physical Wired Connections No Longer Required Computing Devices are being equipped with the ability to get connected to a wireless network nowadays. If a wireless network is installed more and more computing devices can get connected to it. This would eliminate the necessity of each device getting connected to the network only via network cables. 2. Enhancement in Usability and Productivity. Without the restrictions of being seated at a particular place an individual can work with the ease of manner in which it is desired. Since the usability of tasks increases this way so does the overall productivity of the business environment. 3. Remote Area Connectivity A remote worker can access the private network of a business enterprise via internet and then eventually into the business network itself without having the need for being within the boundaries of the office premises. 4. Reduction in Cost of Ownership Though the initial costs of setting up a network may be higher owing to the purchase of the network hardware equipment the overall running of the system results in overall reduction and increased productivity instead. Long term cost benefits are often associated with the embedding of wireless networks within a business environment. 5. Scalable Wireless networks are easily scalable. Unlike the LAN they do not need to be equipped with more hardware cables and infrastructure setup in order to cope up with increasing area requirements. For wireless networks only the installation of access points at farther locations is required and thus expands the range of the wireless network. The need for embedding specific installations and applications is addressed flexibly by wireless networks as their configurations can easily be changed as and when require. Disadvantages of Wireless Networking 1. Setting up cost The setting up cost of a Wireless Network is up to four times higher than that of a Local Area Network. Therefore if a business cannot afford to spare this much amount for the installation of the wireless network then its installation would not be possible. Figure 4: Wireless Network with a shared internet connection. (Boyer, 2012) 2. Covering Area The Typical area covered by a router is very limited. A typical router permits only 150 to 300 feet coverage. 3. Susceptibility Since microwaves are used to transmit data over a wireless network they are prone to various kinds of interferences as well. These may be sound interferences or those produced by other kids of waves. 4. Security Wireless networks may be accessed by any computer within the network’s signal. Therefore the data being transmitted may become intercepted by unauthorized users as breaking the security key of a router is not a very difficult task and neither is the decryption of the encrypted data being transmitted over the wireless network. 5. Slower in Speed Wireless networks are generally slower than wired networks. They may actually be up to ten times slower than the wired local area networks. CONNECTION between Local Area Network and the INTERNET. Once all the computers have been connected to a network, only the Ethernet modem needs to link directly to the internet. The internet then gets available to be used all over the network. The settings on the Ethernet Modem or the network adapter can be done as quote by Optimizig PC (2012) in the following words: “The network cable has to be connected to one of the available ports on the router, and the other end of the cable to the network adapter in the computer. Check the settings and whether a connection has been made (XP: the sub Network Connections of the Control Panel, Vista: the sub Network and Sharing Center of the Control Panel). Normally, the connection is generated automatically and the IP address is given automatically by the DHCP server of the build in router.” (OptimizingPC, 2012). INTRODUCING AN ISP AND IP ADDRESSES An ISP or an Internet Service Provider that provides internet services for its customers. This connection can be via various technologies. They may be dial-up, cable, DSL, ISDN etcetera. An ISP maintains the connections of other networks and ISPs. Thus it acts like a router of internet traffic between its customers and millions of other internet users. An IP address or an “Internet Protocol id” is a unique id that is assigned to every single user over the internet. Each unit PC of a LAN has a unique IP address over the internet. Therefore in the light of all the above mentioned facts and figures it can very well be stated that Sally can use the internet not only on her own computer system but also on the computer system of her husband as well once the network installation is complete and on the go. REFERENCES: Addison, D. 2012. Setting up a Local Area Network. IBM. Viewed 2nd February 2012, All Business. 2012. Why you need a LAN? Viewed 1st February, 2012, BRIERE, D., HURLEY, P., & FERRIS, E. (2008). Wireless home networking for dummies. Hoboken, N.J., Wiley Pub. Boyer, G. 2012. Why Network? Microsoft Corporation. Viewed 2nd February 2012, CICCARELLI, P., & MILLER, F. (2007). Networking basics. Hoboken, N.J., Wiley. CICCARELLI, P. (2012). Networking basics. New York, Wiley. Din, Rasul. 2 February 2009. Building a home network- Advantages and disadvantages. Viewed 3rd February 2012, Home-Netwrok-Help. N.d. What is a Wireless Network? Viewed 2nd February 2012, Internet Techies. 14 April, 2011. Create Wi-Fi hotspot zone in your home or office. Viewed 3rd February 2012, Knowledge Base. 2012. What is a LAN (local area network)? Indiana University. Viewed 1st February 2012, < http://kb.iu.edu/data/aesx.html> LOWE, D. (2003). Networking for dummies. New York, NY, Wiley Pub. Mitchell, B. 2012. Readers Respond: Do You Need 802.11n Speed or Any Other Benefits of Wireless-N? About.com. Viewed 1st February, 2012, OptimizingPC. 2012. Setting up a (wireless) network with DSL/ Cable. Viewed 3rd February, 2012, < http://www.optimizingpc.com/optimize/wirelessnetwork.html > WATSON, R. T. (2007). Networking basics. Hoboken, N.J., Wiley. APPENDIX A (Internet Techies, 2001) APPENDIX B9 TABLE SHOWING USEFUL TIPS FOR A WIRELESS NETWORK (OptimizingPC, 2012) SOME USEFUL TIPS FOR A GOOD WIRELESS CONNECTION Enable G-only If you only use wireless devices capable of using the g-standard (54 Mbit), then enable the G-only setting in the wireless router. This option will eventually improve the wireless connection quality. Select a channel with less noise For an optimal connection, one can choose between thirteen frequencies available for the wireless network to operate on. If a frequency is used for more then one wireless router, it will definitely result in bad connections. But also the neighboring frequencies can give a poor connection as well! By changing the used frequency by the wireless router, the quality of the wireless connection should improve significantly. The tool NetStumbler for XP (download: www.netstumbler.com) or Vistumbler for Vista (download:www.vistumbler.net) can be used to find out which frequencies the neighboring wireless networks are using (the networks included of which the SSID (the name of the network) has been hidden). The next step is to change the router settings, to make sure the wireless network operates on a frequency with less noise. But remember that setting the frequency as high as possible, might result in a bad wireless connection (or the network is not visible anymore) depending on the used wireless adapter. No icon for the wireless adapter available If there is no wireless connection icon available in the system tray, you probably didn't install the drivers yet. You can use the software shipped with the hardware, personally I prefer to disable this software and use the Windows XP build in software (in some cases the utility works better). Disabling the software is easily done with the tool MSCONFIG (tab Startup and/or Services), but in most cases you can disable the installed utility by removing the icon from the Startup folder in Start, All Programs. Besides deactivating the vendors software, make sure the service Wireless Zero Configuration-service (XP) or WLAN Auto Config (Vista) has been set to automatic. Disable the SSID broadcast Once you have a successful wireless connection, disable the SSID broadcast of the router (most wireless routers support this option). Now you have to enter the SSID correctly before the wireless router will communicate with a computer. This makes your router invisible to others. MAC-Address control With the routers option MAC control, you are able to select your specific (wireless) hardware ID's, and deny all other. This gives some extra security: if someone tries to crack your wireless network, they have to clone one of your MAC addresses (it's not difficult to change the MAC address, but it is an extra defense). Especially if you decide not to use any wireless encryption, I advise to enable MAC address control. Preferred network If you are frequently connected with the wireless connection of one of your neighbors, you need to move up your own wireless network as a preferred network. You can do this on the tab Wireless Networks of the Wireless Network Connection Properties. Select your own wireless network and press Move up. Read More