What Makes a Network Tick?

To use a network, you don't really have to know much about how it works. Still, you may feel a little bit better about using the network if you realize that it doesn't work by voodoo. A network may seem like magic, but it isn't. The following list describes the inner workings of a typical network:

• Network interface card: Inside any computer attached to a network is a special electronic circuit card: the network interface card. The TLA for network interface card is NIC.

  Tip 

  Using your network late into the evening isn't the same as watching NIC at night. If the network is set up to use that time to update software and back up data, the NIC has to be robust enough to handle all-day-all- night use.

  Although you can also use an external network interface that connects to the computer by using the computer's USB (universal serial bus) port, most networked computers use a built-in network interface card.

  TECHNICAL STUFF 

  Nearly all computers built these days have a network interface built into the computer's motherboard. This network interface is still commonly called the NIC, even though it isn't technically a separate card.

• Network cable: The network cable physically connects the computers. It plugs into the network interface card on the back of your computer.

  Nearly all networks now use a type of cable that looks something like telephone cable. However, appearances can be deceiving. Most phone systems are wired using a lower grade of cable that doesn't work for networks. For a computer network, each pair of wires in the cable must be twisted in a certain way. That's why this type of cable is called twisted- pair cable. (Standard phone cable doesn't do the twist.)

  For the complete lowdown on networking cables, refer to Chapter 5.

  Tip 

  You can do away with network cable by creating a wireless network, although that option has some challenges of its own. For more information about wireless networking, see Chapter 9.

• Network switch: Networks built with twisted-pair cabling require one or more switches. A switch is a box with a bunch of cable connectors. Each computer on the network is connected by cable to the switch. The switch, in turn, connects all the computers to each other.

  TECHNICAL STUFF 

  In the early days of twisted-pair networking, devices known as hubs were used rather than switches. The term hub is sometimes used to refer to switches, but true hubs went out of style sometime around the turn of the century.

  Network software: Of course, the software makes the network work. To make any network work, a whole bunch of software has to be set up just right. For peer-to-peer networking with Windows, you have to play with the Control Panel to get networking to work. And, a network operating system (such as Windows Server 2003) requires a substantial amount of tweaking to get it to work just right.

  Tip 

  For more information about choosing which network software to use for your network, refer to Chapter 7.