Chapter 4. Networking Your Mac

IN THIS CHAPTER:

27 Set Your Network Device Preference Order

28 Dial Up to the Internet with a Modem (PPP)

29 Configure Networking Automatically with DHCP or BootP

30 Configure Networking Manually

31 Configure Proxy Server Settings

32 Activate AppleTalk

33 Share Your Internet Connection

34 Configure a Secure Tunnel (VPN)

35 Share Another Mac's Files

36 Allow Other Mac Users to Share Your Files

37 Share Files from a Windows PC

38 Allow Windows Users to Share Your Files

39 Discover Nearby Websites

No Mac is an island. Computing in the modern world is almost synonymous with Internet connectivity and the ability for one computer to communicate with others, whether down the hall or across the globe. Mac OS X is a thoroughly modern operating system, with professional-grade support for TCP/IP (the communication mechanism that runs the Internet) and a suite of full-featured applications that give you the tools you need to make the most of the Internetuse email, browse the Web, and much more. Whether your Mac is connected to the global network using a dial-up modem, or whether you have several computers in your household or office that are connected to each other in a LAN, Mac OS X can handle it all.

KEY TERMS

TCP/IP Transport Control Protocol and Internet Protocol. This is the general term for the software communication protocols that underlie all networking on the Internet.

LAN Local Area Network. A group of computers directly connected to each other with cables and devices such as hubs or switches. If you have to connect using a long- distance method such as a dial-up modem or DSL connection, it's a Wide Area Network, or WAN.

Sure, you can do a ton of things with just a single computerprocess words, listen to music, edit video, organize photosbut when you plug in an Internet connection, you open up the horizons of a much wider computing world. What's more, when you make the move from a single Mac to several Macs, or add some Windows machines to the household or office, you begin to reap the benefits of Mac OS X's ability to integrate all your machines together seamlessly. You can share files between Macs, or between Macs and Windows machines. You can run programs hosted on other computers. With .Mac , you can synchronize your computers' Address Books and web bookmarks so that they're all the same, no matter whether you're using your desktop Mac or your PowerBook on the road. And thanks to Bonjour , Apple's configuration-free network-service discovery protocol, you can connect immediately with chat partners and shared music on any computer on your LAN (local area network).

KEY TERMS

.Mac Apple's centralized network service, available for a yearly fee, that allows you to publish the products of your creativity online and make all your Macs operate as one. See 45 Sign Up for .Mac for more information.

Bonjour A technology built in to Mac OS X (formerly known as Rendezvous) that allows applications on your Mac to automatically find network services that are provided by other computers on the same network, such as shared music, chat partners, and file servers.

To take advantage of all this technology, however, Mac OS X must be set up to connect properly to your network environment. Whether you connect using Ethernet cables, AirPort , or a modem dial-up over a phone line, there is a fair amount of configuration involved before you'll be able to communicate with the outside world. This chapter covers the basic procedures to get you up and running on the Internet. Furthermore, it covers what you need to know in joining your computer to a home or office network so that it can take part as a member of an interlinked community of computers.

For more information about TCP/IP and networking, refer to Sams Teach Yourself TCP/IP in 24 Hours or Sams Teach Yourself Networking in 24 Hours , both published by Sams Publishing.