SOME OF THE MAIN TOPICS IN THIS CHAPTER ARE
Networking of computers has jumped out of the business/corporate environment to include the home during the past few years. Although inexpensive switches and other networking gear that enables you to interconnect computers at home have been available for several years , they initially were used to allow more than one computer to connect to the Internet for Web surfing or for sharing simple files. It is still possible to use the serial ports on Intel-based systems to establish a point-to-point link with another computer ”in essence, a two-node network. However, that method of communication is about the slowest you can achieve, and the limitation of just two computers leaves little room for growing your network. For a small office/home office (SOHO) network, there are various technologies you can use to create a network quickly. With the deployment of broadband technologies, such as cable and DSL (digital subscriber line) modems, the bandwidth finally is available to make connecting a home office to the Internet a practical solution.
The number of telecommuters ”employees who work from home, as well as employees who travel frequently ”has been on the rise. A large number of households now have more than one computer or printer, as well as an Internet connection. Because of these and other factors, the Internet is becoming as important to our economy as the telephone switched network (if not more important already). Another factor that has contributed to using the Internet as a means of communicating with a business network is the increasing use of Virtual Private Network (VPN) technologies, which are discussed in Chapter 50, "Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and Tunneling." By creating a secure communications path through the Internet, VPNs help reduce the cost of telecommuting , such as long-distance charges. And Windows XP, 2000, and Windows Server 2003 servers all provide VPN solutions in the operating system, so the VPN option is not an extra expense to bear. And when it comes to Unix or Linux, you can pick and choose from a large number of VPN solutions. SOHO networks usually are composed of only a few computers or other networked devices, so troubleshooting problems on this kind of network is a lot easier than trying to track down problems in a large network. Most of the hardware components are plug-and-play, and even software configuration is a lot simpler than it was a few years ago. However, no matter what kind of networked devices you have in your SOHO environment, invariably a time will come when a document won't print, or a computer can't connect to a resource on another system, and you'll need to spend some time troubleshooting the problem.
In this chapter, we'll look at some common problems you might encounter and methods you can use to troubleshoot them. |