Chapter 27: Designing a Windows-Based Local Area Network
What Do You Need to Do? Setting up a network consists of four major tasks:
- Choosing the network technology (the type of cabling, cable connections, and adapter cards for your computers). These choices are described in the next few sections of this chapter.
- Choosing and buying the hardware.
- Installing the hardware.
- Configuring Windows to use the network.
While you needn't be a network engineer to set up a small peer-to-peer network, you do need to have some knowledge about your computer. You need to be able to install a network interface card (NIC) in each computer that will be on the LAN (unless the NIC has already been installed), and to use Windows to configure each computer to communicate on the LAN. If you don't feel comfortable installing network cards and configuring Windows, you can hire someone to install your hardware and configure your network. Make sure you tell the installer what type of network you're expecting--a peer-to-peer, workgroup-based network. Otherwise--read on.
Adding to an Existing Network If you're adding a computer to an existing network, you can skip the sections regarding choosing a network technology and a topology--someone has already made those choices for you. Find out what technology is in use on your network, and then buy the appropriate NIC for the computer you want to add to the network. Also, if no leftover cable is on hand, buy the correct kind of cable for your network. Once you've done these things, you can dive into the section "Installing Your Network Hardware" later in this chapter.
Upgrading a Computer on an Existing Network If you are upgrading the operating system of a computer on an existing network from an earlier version of Windows to Windows XP, you may find your network works right away--open the My Network Places icon on the desktop to see whether other computers on the network appear. If your computer doesn't appear to be communicating on the network, skip ahead to Chapter 28.
