Doug Lowe - Networking For Dummies

Regardless, you’ve found the right book. Help is here, within these humble pages.

This book talks about networks in everyday (and often irreverent) terms. The language is friendly; you don’t need a graduate education to get through it. And the occasional potshot helps unseat the hallowed and sacred traditions of networkdom, bringing just a bit of fun to an otherwise dry subject. The goal is to bring the lofty precepts of networking down to earth, where you can touch them and squeeze them and say, “What’s the big deal? I can do this!”

This isn’t the kind of book you pick up and read from start to finish, as if it were a cheap novel. If I ever see you reading it at the beach, I’ll kick sand in your face. This book is more like a reference, the kind of book you can pick up, turn to just about any page, and start reading. Each chapter covers a specific aspect of networking, such as printing from the network, hooking up network cables, or setting up security so that bad guys can’t break in. Just turn to the chapter you’re interested in and start reading.

Each chapter is divided into self-contained chunks, all related to the major theme of the chapter. For example, the chapter on hooking up the network cable contains nuggets like these:

What is Ethernet?

All about cables

To shield or not to shield

Wall jacks and patch panels

Switches

You don’t have to memorize anything in this book. It’s a need-to-know book: You pick it up when you need to know something. Need to know what 100BaseT is? Pick up the book. Need to know how to create good passwords? Pick up the book. Otherwise, put it down and get on with your life.

Feel free to skip the sidebars that appear throughout the book; these shaded gray boxes contain interesting info that isn’t essential to your understanding of the subject at hand. The same goes for any text I mark with the Technical Stuff icon.

If you need to type something, you see the text you need to type like this: Type this stuff. In this example, you type Type this stuffat the keyboard and then press Enter. An explanation usually follows, just in case you’re scratching your head and grunting, “Huh?”

Within this book, you may note that some web addresses break across two lines of text. If you’re reading this book in print and want to visit one of these web pages, simply key in the web address exactly as it’s noted in the text, pretending as though the line break doesn’t exist. If you’re reading this as an e-book, you’ve got it easy — just click the web address to be taken directly to the web page.

I’m making only two assumptions about who you are: You’re someone who works with a computer, and you either have a network or you’re thinking about getting one. I hope that you know (and are on speaking terms with) someone who knows more about computers than you do. My goal is to decrease your reliance on that person, but don’t throw away his phone number yet.

Is this book useful for Macintosh users? Absolutely. Although the bulk of this book is devoted to showing you how to link Windows-based computers to form a network, you can find information about how to network Macintosh computers as well.

Windows 10? Gotcha covered. You’ll find plenty of information about how to network with the latest and greatest Microsoft desktop operating system.

Windows Server 2019? No worries. You’ll find plenty of information about the newest version of Microsoft’s server operating system.

Those nifty little pictures in the margin aren’t there just to pretty up the place. They also have practical functions.

Hold it — technical details lurk just around the corner. Read on only if you have a pocket protector.

Pay special attention to this icon; it lets you know that some particularly useful tidbit is at hand — perhaps a shortcut or a little-used command that pays off big.

Did I tell you about the memory course I took?

Danger, Will Robinson! This icon highlights information that may help you avoid disaster.

In addition to the material in the print or e-book you’re reading right now, this product also comes with some access-anywhere goodies on the web. Check out the free Cheat Sheet for links to useful websites for networking information, private IP address ranges for networks, and more. To get this Cheat Sheet, simply go to www.dummies.com and type Networking For Dummies Cheat Sheetin the Search box.

Yes, you can get there from here. With this book in hand, you’re ready to plow right through the rugged networking terrain. Browse through the Table of Contents and decide where you want to start. Be bold! Be courageous! Be adventurous! Above all, have fun!

Part 1

IN THIS PART …

Find out what a network is and what you can do with one.

Set up Windows and Mac computers to work on a network.

Access network resources such as shared storage and network printers.

Use Microsoft Office and other software on a network.

Chapter 1

IN THIS CHAPTER

Getting a handle on networks

Considering why networking is useful (and is everywhere)

Telling the difference between servers and clients

Looking under the hood at the network operating system

Asking “How does it work when a network works if a network works for me?” (Say what?)

Assessing how networks change computing life

Identifying (and offering sympathy to) the network administrator

Comparing servers to clients: What have they got that you don’t got?

Computer networks get a bad rap in the movies. Beginning in the 1980s, the Terminator movies featured Skynet, a computer network that becomes self-aware, takes over the planet, builds deadly terminator robots, and sends them back through time to kill everyone unfortunate enough to have the name Sarah Connor. In the Matrix movies, a vast and powerful computer network enslaves humans and keeps them trapped in a simulation of the real world. And in the 2015 blockbuster Spectre, James Bond goes rogue (again) to prevent the Evil Genius Ernst Blofeld from taking over the world (again) by linking the computer systems of all the world’s intelligence agencies together to form a single all-powerful evil network that spies on everybody.