Focus of This Chapter

This chapter concentrates on how to build and use a peer-to-peer network, the lowest-cost network that is still highly useful to small business and home-office users. This type of network can be created utilizing required network hardware along with any recent version of Windows, from Windows 9x and NT through Windows XP. As you'll see, most peer-to-peer networks can be "grown" into client/server networks at a later point by adding a dedicated server and the appropriate software to the server and client PCs.

Thus, this chapter provides the hands-on and practical information you need to create a small-office, workgroup, or home-office network. If you manage a corporate network using Linux, Unix, Windows Server, or Novell NetWare, you will also be concerned with matters such as security, user profiles, SIDs, and other factors beyond the scope of this book.

Note

Networking is an enormous topic. For more information about client/server networking, wide area networking, the Internet, and corporate networking, I recommend Upgrading and Repairing Networks from Que.