Networking

Networking uses direct connections and network protocols to connect your computer to others on a network. Once connected, you can share files, access e-mail, and run special network applications on server computers.

This chapter looks at peer-to-peer networking, which uses the built-in features of Mac OS X to connect to other computers for file and application sharing. It also covers some of the advanced network configuration tools available as Mac OS X utilities.

Tips

• If you use your computer at work, you may be connected to a companywide network; if so, you'll find the networking part of this chapter very helpful. But if you use your computer at home and have only one computer, you won't have much need for the networking information here.

• A discussion of Mac OS X Server, which is designed to meet the demands of large workgroups and corporate intranets, is beyond the scope of this book.

• This chapter touches only briefly on using networks to connect to the Internet. Connecting to the Internet is discussed in detail in Chapter 13.