To Wire or Not to Wire

Wireless networks are en vogue, but your installation won’t be successful unless you chose the right type of network and set it up properly. Wired networks require that each computer be connected via a wire to a central location, called a switch or hub. This often involves installing cables through walls and ceilings and can present a challenge for anyone.

If the computers in your home or office are all within 500 feet of each other, a wireless network might be for you. A wireless network has no cables. It can connect computers on different floors of a building or even across the street. Aside from the obvious benefit of not having wires, wireless networks are more convenient since the setup, configuration, and reconfiguration can often be done within minutes, without extensive planning.

Wireless networks, however, are not as fast as wired networks. If you play computer games or want to view streaming video or other high-speed multimedia, a wireless network might not have enough capacity. But, if you just want to check e-mail and view web pages, a wireless network is a good choice. To install a wireless network, you need a Wireless Access Point and a wireless network card for each computer. You will need to buy a wireless network card for each desktop computer, although most newer laptops come equipped with one.

Security is not a large concern in a wired network, since someone would have to physically connect to a wired network to break in. In wireless networks, a car parked outside with a laptop could easily connect to your network if you don’t have proper security in place. To prevent this from happening, encrypt your wireless network connections, or set a password to access the network, or do both.

Do It Yourself or Call a Professional?

If you decide to use a wired network, consider whether you will install it yourself or hire a professional. If you have a small number of computers that are all situated very close to one another, you may be able to buy pre-assembled network cables and connect them yourself. If you need to wire multiple floors and lay wire through ceilings and walls, you need a professional installation. If you go this route, it is best to begin with a floor plan of your office or home, determine what your current needs are, and consider how the network design can be adapted to future needs. A professional installer should be familiar with EIA/TIA standards, local wiring and electrical codes, and making custom cables. Network cabling professionals are often judged by the neatness of their work, because sloppy cabling is more apt to deteriorate over time, harder to manage, and poses more of a fire risk.

Having a wireless network or a wired network is not mutually exclusive. Many small offices have a wired network in addition to one or more wireless networks, depending on their needs. Wireless networks are continuing to get faster, more secure, and less expensive. Wired networks will continue to coexist with wireless networks, often in the same homes and offices.

Deryck Richards is the founder and managing partner of Desktronix. With an extensive educational background in computer information systems, Deryck currently manages hosting and data center operations for Desktronix. He also provides system administration and technical support directly to small businesses as he has since 2000. His areas of expertise include networking, Windows, Linux, and Macintosh systems and he is the author of The Guide to Technology for Small Business. For more information on Desktronix, visit www.desktronix.com

Computer network installation has become an essential prerequisite for any efficient modern-day business as it allows employees to truly work as a team by sharing information, accessing the same database and staying in touch constantly. For a computer network to give the best results, a lot of detailed planning and foresight is required before installation.

Firstly, an organisation needs to clearly define its requirements – how many people would use the network, how many would use it locally (within the office) and how many might require remote access (from a different location), how many computers and other devices (servers, printers, scanners) would be connected to the network, what are the needs of the various departments and who would be in charge of running/managing the network. It also helps if one can anticipate the direction the company would take in the near future so potential growth can be factored in during computer network installation.

The technology issues should also be ironed out in advance – hardware, software, servers, switches, back-up devices, cables and network operating systems. Make sure you have the required licenses to run the software on all your machines before installing a computer network. Alongside computer network installation should proceed the building of a dedicated technical support staff, either within your own organisation or outside consultants. Delegate responsibility clearly for network management. Before installing the network, you also need to choose the security mechanism to protect corporate data and keep viruses at bay.

The transition to a new or upgraded computer network can bring some teething problems. To minimise chances of confusion, the company might need to train its staff to make them familiar with the new system. Careful planning will to a large extent prevent crises like system downtime and network crashes.

If you are planning to install a computer network or upgrade and existing one, contact Viper System at sales@vipersystems.co.uk for help.

Adrian Griffiths - Computer Networking, Computer Network Installation

As 2005 begins, there are a number of products on the market which enable Emergency Response Units to have internet connectivity at remote disaster locations. The products marketed this year mount on vehicles from Fire Rescue units to most any type of truck or van, on specially designed trailers utilizing portable generators and in transportable boxes which can be shipped by UPS or Fed X overnight to most any location in the U.S. A response team’s greatest challenge is to know enough about how this mobile satellite internet technology works and what the differences are in quality of transmission based on the equipment chosen and services provided by the Satellite Internet Provider.

To make the right decision at the onset of the process of buying vsat mobile satellite internet equipment will save your Government Agency thousands of dollars in the long run. How do you evaluate what the best combination of equipment and service will be? Here is the process I recommend to the Government Agencies I speak to around the country:

1. Determine what you will need to do on the internet in an emergency.

Will you need to send digital pictures to other locations? Will you need to establish a VPN connection to Headquarters? Will you want to “live stream” a camera over the internet? Do you need telephone capability over the net (VOIP) in a very remote location that has no cell phone connectivity? Do you need to connect multiple computers at the remote site engaged in the above activities or engaged in heavy emailing? All but emailing requires either low latency (1/2 second or less) or fast upload speeds (sustained speeds above 128kbps)…..some of these activities need both!

If you need ANY of these capabilities, you need to look seriously at the Enterprise Class of equipment available today. This is not Direcway or Starband powered equipment! They are fine companies; however, in spite of all they can do, the important fact is: These companies can’t or won’t provide enough upload (in-route) speed or low enough latency to work effectively at the tasks listed above – period!

2. Determine what type of installation will provide your Emergency Response team the most flexibility in an Emergency.

When time is of the essence, you need a mobile setup that can be taken to a disaster site in a hurry and is available at a moments notice to be on it’s way. A self contained vehicle mount is the most popular, in part due to the fact that it was all that was available until 2003 and until recently, the least expensive. Many Government Agencies don’t have the budget to have such a vehicle “sit around” waiting for a disaster. They need to utilize the vehicle all the time and have a legitimate concern that when the need arises, the vehicle won’t be able to get to a location in the time frame needed……what then? Many Government agencies I speak to have recently opted for a trailer mounted system combined with a portable generator or the “transportable” unit which is two or three “boxes” that contain all the gear needed to quickly establish a broadband connection to the internet and can be shipped overnight by Ground Carriers if needed at a distant location. In this scenario, the monthly service is a minimal cost and when the need arises, can be ramped up to whatever speeds are required in a matter of minutes. This can save the Government Agency an enormous amount over the years. It has only been offered by the “big boys” in this business who have figured out how to make money with this type of service by dedicating transponders that handle more accounts than you normally would have as a result of the infrequent use.

The best way to make sure your investment in this equipment is a wise one is to contact an independent provider who can give you a “No Spin” analysis of your situation and recommend the right solution to your organization.

About the Author:

Randy Scott has been involved in the bi-directional satellite internet industry from it’s beginning as a Sr. Sales Engineer, consultant and business owner. Randy is the founder of VSAT U.S., a consulting and sales agent, representing the most prestigious satellite internet providers in the U.S. For more information about mobile VSAT products or current VSAT satellite internet offerings, visit www.vsatus.com or email info@vsatus.com .

A dedicated server is a single computer on a web-hosting network that is leased or rented, and dedicated to just one customer. A service provider monitors the computer’s hardware, network connectivity, and routing equipment, while the customer generally controls and maintains the server software. Dedicated servers are most often used by those who’ve outgrown typical hosting accounts and now require massive amounts of data space and bandwidth, those with mission critical web sites, web hosting companies, or those who have special needs. Dedicated servers are housed in data centers, where service providers can monitor them close-up and have hands-on access to them.

The primary advantage of using a dedicated server over a typical shared hosting account is the sheer amount of resources and control available to you, the customer. In many cases, the client is at liberty to install whatever software they desire, giving them greater flexibility and administrative options. Dedicated server clients do not share resources, as those with shared hosting plans do; but rather, are at liberty to use all the resources available to them.

Managed Servers vs. Unmanaged Servers

There are two types of dedicated servers available today: Managed Dedicated Servers and Unmanaged Dedicated Servers.

An Unmanaged Dedicated Server leaves nearly all the management duties of running a server in the purchaser’s control. The customer in this case, updates software on their own, applies necessary patches, performs kernel compiles and operating system restores, installs software, and monitors security. With this type of dedicated server, the consumer is solely responsible for day-to-day operations and maintenance. The service provider, in turn, monitors the network, repairs hardware problems, and troubleshoots connectivity issues. Additionally, some service providers offer partial management of services, such as network monitoring, software upgrades and other services, but leave the general upkeep of the server in the hands of the client. An unmanaged dedicated server is best for someone with server management experience.

A Managed Dedicated Server is generally more proactively monitored and maintained on the part of the service provider. When renting or leasing a managed server, the service provider or host carries out the responsibility of software updates and patches, putting security measures in place, performing hardware replacements, and also monitoring the network and its connection for trouble. In other words, when utilizing a managed dedicated server, the host provider will perform both hardware and software operations. A managed dedication server solution works well for the customer with limited server management experience or limited time in being able to perform the duties necessary to keep a server running and online.

Technical Aspects In Choosing A Server

When choosing a dedicated server, there are several things to consider: Operating System, Hardware options, Space and bandwidth.

The Operating System of a server is similar to that on your own personal computer; once installed, the operating system enables one to perform tasks more simply. There are a bevy of server operating systems available today including Linux-based and Windows-based software. The operating system you choose should be directly relational to what operations your server will be performing, which types of software you’ll need to install and also, what you’re more comfortable with.

Hardware Options are also something to consider when choosing a dedicated server. You’ll need to pick a processor that’s up to the task, the amount of memory you wish installed, firewall options, and the size of the hard drive.

A certain amount of bandwidth is generally included when renting or leasing a dedicated server. Once you ascertained how much bandwidth you will require, you can adjust that limit with your service provider. The space you’ll be given is generally directly relational to the size of your hard drive. Some hosts also give clients the choice of uplink port speed (usually 10Mbps/100Mbps).

About The Author

Emmanuel Eichler

HostLead.com - Webmaster

Business Web Hosting Directory

Wireless Networking, Part 1: Capabilities and Hardware

These days it isn’t uncommon for a home to have multiple personal computers, and as such, it just makes sense for them to be able to share files, as well as to share one Internet connection. Wired networking is an option, but it is one that may require the installation and management of a great deal of wiring in order to get even a modestly sized home set up. With wireless networking equipment becoming extremely affordable and easy to install, it may be worth considering by those looking to build a home network, as well as by those looking to expand on an existing wired network.

The first installment in this two-part series of Tech Tips will provide an introduction to the basic capabilities and hardware involved in wireless networking. Once that foundation has been established, we’ll take a look at a few setup and security related considerations that should be addressed once the physical installation is complete.

Capabilities

The basic standard that covers wireless networking is the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ (IEEE) 802.11, which is close kin to the wired Ethernet standard, 802.3. Many people will recognize 802.11 more readily when accompanied by one of three suffixes (a, b, or g), used to specify the exact protocol of wireless networking.

The 802.11a protocol first hit the scene in 2001, and despite a small surge in recent popularity, it is definitely the least common of the three at this time. The signals are transmitted on a 5 GHz radio frequency, while “b” and “g” travel on 2.4 GHz. The higher frequency means that the signal can travel less distance in free space and has a harder time penetrating walls, thus making the practical application of an 802.11a network a bit limited. The maximum transfer rate, however, is roughly 54 Mbps, so it makes up for its limited range with respectable speed.

As mentioned, 802.11b and 802.11g networks operate on a 2.4 GHz radio band, which gives a much greater range as compared to 802.11a. One downside to being on the 2.4 GHz band is that many devices share it, and interference is bound to be an issue. Cordless phones and Bluetooth devices are two of many items that operate at this frequency. The range of these two protocols is about 300 feet in free air, and the difference between the two comes down to speed. 802.11b came first, released back in 1999, and offers speeds up to 11 Mbps. 802.11g first appeared in 2002 and it is a backwards compatible improvement over 802.11b and offers speeds up to 54 Mbps.

On top of these protocols, some manufacturers have improved upon the 802.11g standard and can provide speeds of up to 108 Mbps. This doesn’t involve a separate protocol, but just a bit of tweaking in areas like better data compression, more efficient data packet bursting, and by using two radio channels simultaneously. Typically, stock 802.11g equipment is not capable of these speeds, and those interested need to shop for matched components that specify 108 Mbps support. I say “matched components” as this is not a standard protocol and the various manufacturers may take different approaches to achieving these speeds. In order to ensure the best results when trying to achieve these elevated speeds, components from the same manufacturer should be used together. For instance, only Netgear brand network adaptors rated for 108 Mbps data transfer should be used with something like the Netgear WG624 wireless router (http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=WGT624NAR).

Considering your typical broadband Internet connection is going to offer data transfer rates of 10 Mbps or less, it can be seen that even 802.11b would be more than adequate if you just want to surf the web. Sharing files on your LAN (Local Area Network) is where the faster protocols will really make a difference, and comparing the prices of 802.11b and 802.11g components may show that there is little to no difference in selecting a “g” capable device over a comparable “b” capable device.

Hardware

Access Point – Wireless Access Point (WAP) is the central device that manages the transmission of wireless signals on a network. A base access point may be capable of handling up to 10 connections, and more robust APs may be able to manage up to 255 connections simultaneously. The D-Link DWL-1000AP+ (http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=37) is an example of a wireless access point capable of 802.11b transmissions.

Router – In somewhat technical terms, a router is a network device that forwards data packets. It is generally the connection between at least two networks, such as two LANs, or a LAN and ISP’s (Internet Service Provider’s) network. For our purposes, and for the sake of simplicity, a wireless router is basically an access point with the added feature of having a port for sharing a broadband Internet connection. The D-Link AirPlus G (http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=DI524-R&cat=NET) is an 802.11g capable router that provides access for numerous wireless connections and four hard-wired connections to one WAN (Wide Area Network Internet) connection. A typical router for home use will generally cost less than an access point, and via settings within the firmware, can be used as just an access point anyway. Wired or wireless, all the computers using the router can share files over the network, as well as sharing a broadband internet connection. Communication between wireless computers (or a wireless computer and a wired computer) will max out at 54 Mbps, while communication between wired computers will take full advantage of the 100 Mbps provided via the 802.3 protocol.

Network Adaptor – A network adaptor is required for every computer that you would like to be connected to the wireless network. Many laptops, such as this Sony Centrino 1.5 GHz (http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=PCGZ1RA-R&cat=NBB) now include a wireless adaptor built in, so no extra hardware is needed. For those with systems that don’t have wireless capabilities built in, adding them is fairly simple, and can be done using a variety of connections. Desktop computers can go wireless by adding a PCI slot network adaptor such as the 802.11g capable D-Link DWL-G510 (http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=308). Notebook users can easily add wireless connectivity by using a PCMCIA adaptor, such as this 802.11g capable device (http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=PBW006-N&cat=NET). And for truly convenient plug-n-play connectivity to wireless networks, USB adaptors such as this 802.11g capable dongle (http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=80211GWUD&cat=NET) are available.

Antenna/Extender – These items are not essential, but given the specifics of a wireless environment, they may be helpful. Devices such as the Hawking Hi-Gain Antenna (http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=HAI6SIP-N&cat=NET) or the Super Cantenna (http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=SCB10&cat=NET) serve the purpose of increasing the wireless signal strength, and therefore extend the range of a given wireless network. Not only can a large area of open space be covered, but the signal quality may be improved in structures with walls and floors that obstruct the signal transmission.

Final Words

In this Tech Tip, we took a look at the basics of wireless networking as it relates to capabilities and hardware. In the second part of this two-part series, we will look at some of the basic setup and security considerations that should be addressed. The physical installation of a wireless network may be exponentially easier than a wired network, but the more difficult part is setting up the software and security to make sure everything stays up and running without incident.

Jason Kohrs
Computer Geeks tech tips and computer help

Data Centers are the core of the Internet. The computer servers that power the Interne,t call Data Centers their home. If you think of how many billions of online transactions that happen every day you will be amazed to know that the final resting place of all these stored transactions is the Data centers. This Amazement quickly turns into Panic when you think about how much private data and vital data is stored there. Over years the Data Center technologies have evolved a lot into much advanced techniques like server virtualization and high speed power houses. There are more than 100 factors one should evaluate a data center against before choosing one to home their servers. In this article we will see the three main that in turn dictate the rest of the factors.

1. Security: We just now saw how much data is stored, processed and served by the data centers. All these are vital data that makes or breaks a global economy. Security includes the data encryption capability of the servers, the security of the uplinks or the backbone networks that are employed. It includes security mechanisms like the Public key dongles and the capability to store the data securely and safely. The less talked aspect is the physical security of the box and the whole data center itself. We are talking about limiting snooping and sniffing the packets, but what happens if one person just walks in carries off a server. How much credit card data, transaction details, bank details and the SSN’s get compromised! You can have a slow box but an insecure one creates a ton of problems in the form of countless lawsuits. Choose the data center that excels in all aspects of security. Ask pointed questions, expect the right answers.

2. Reliability: The next important aspect is the reliability of the systems and the data center infrastructure itself. We are just not talking about backup machines or RAID 5 HDD. We are talking of highly available power systems with sufficient backup time and in house generators for emergencies. The additional aspect to consider is reliability of the company that offers the data center and the persons working for the company. You many want to talk a little bit about their hiring and daily authentication and authorization process if you are even a mid-sized company. Disaster recovery systems are critical for the five 9’s in reliability don’t be stalled because a California power-company had a complete emergency shutdown due to an earthquake or a hurricane in Florida. You should be able to gracefully failover to alternate sites.

3. High Speed: The third aspect is the much needed speed. This is more complex than you think. Adding a word saying that we have the high end servers making a data center a high speed infrastructure is minimum requirement. The network uplinks and the Internet backbone the center are connected to are also very important. You have to ask for custom solutions like caching technologies, load balancing blueprints and high end routers, switches and backplanes.

This article just touches on these major concepts and you have to do sufficient research on the keywords employed in this article. As I said there are 100 factors to consider before choosing the right datacenter. Any good company owning a data center would openly help you evaluate their infrastructure against these factors.

You can find a good Data Center with many of the good capabilities discussed in this article in fastpcnet.net. Ask them about their custom solution and how they measure against the deciding factors and you will be happy at the answers.

Author Holds a Masters in Distributed computing and does freelancing for many great Internet companies through the no fee free freelance website freelancefree.com.

Many small businesses have considered connecting computers and other devices to their corporate network via wireless (WiFi) connections, and a brave few have actually done so. Many of these early networks required that wireless devices be carefully placed within the building so that the wireless signal reached all intended recipients. Typically, these networks lacked adequate security features, which left them vulnerable to information and resource theft by unauthorized persons. These two problems have now been largely solved, meaning that it may be time for more small businesses to look into the potential advantages a wireless network can offer.

Wireless Networking Basics

Building a wireless network requires two distinct types of hardware components, wireless access points, and wireless access cards. The wireless access point is a device, which is attached to an existing computer network via a standard Ethernet cable. It has an antenna on it, which allows it to broadcast and receive signals from PCs and other devices. Each device wishing to communicate with the access point needs a wireless access card, which also contains an antenna. The current wireless standard, called 802.11g, allows for up to 54 megabits of data per second to be transmitted between the desired access point and the access card. While not quite as fast as wired networks, which typically run at 100 megabits to 1000 megabits per second, wireless networks offer more flexibility, and can be less expensive to install. This is especially true for older buildings where installing cable can become cost prohibitive.

Cutting Corners

Wireless networks use radio frequency waves to transmit information, and thus they are susceptible to being blocked by walls and other obstructions in a building. These obstructions can cause "dead zones" where the radio waves are unable to reach their intended recipients. Microwave ovens and other radio frequency emitting devices can also wreak havoc on wireless signals. The solution is to place your wireless access points strategically around your building so that interference is minimized. When the distance from a wireless access point to the wireless device is more than a few dozen meters, wireless repeaters can be installed to boost the signal. These repeaters can also be placed so that the wireless signals can be accessible from all corners of the building.

Wireless Network Security Solved

Installing a simple wireless network is pretty straightforward, but installing a secure wireless network can be substantially more difficult. However, an Ann Arbor company called Interlink Networks now offers their LucidLink products, which make installing comprehensive wireless network security a snap. Before LucidLink became available, an organization wishing to lock down their wireless network would need to hire expensive network security consultants to install and manage the wireless portion of the network. LucidLink packages all of this expertise into a software add-on that is so easy to use that even a small company’s office manager can easily take control over who is accessing the company network via wireless. It goes above and beyond simple address authentication (standard with most wireless routers), and implements what is called a RADIUS server. RADIUS servers are what large organizations spend thousands of dollars installing and maintaining in order to secure their large (1000+ node) wireless networks. Until now, installing a RADIUS server was out of the price range for all but the largest companies. In contrast, LucidLink’s product can be purchased for as little as $99 for a 3 user Home Office Edition, $449 for a 10 user version, and goes up to $3995 for a 250 user version.

Summary

While there are still issues with making sure that all areas of a building are covered, the current WiFi standard (802.11g) has a more powerful signal, meaning less emphasis needs to be placed on the locations of attached devices. However, it is still recommended that a professional site survey be done to verify that all required areas of the building can be reached by the wireless signal. Meanwhile, Interlink Networks has finally solved the security problem at a price that is affordable for small and medium sized business.

Terrence A. Weadock is the President and Founder of Dominant Systems Corporation, an Ann Arbor-based computer network solutions provider.
http://www.domsys.com

If you’ve been brought up in the 21st century then you probably take a lot of things for granted that 30 years ago people just didn’t have. One of those things is the Internet and its ability to be able to connect people from all over the world and allow them to interact with each other in a variety of ways including sending email, visiting web sites, joining forums, attending online chats and countless other things. But none of this would be possible if it weren’t for a device that most people have never seen and probably don’t even know exist, called a router.

Routers are pieces of equipment that send messages from everyone connected to the network along thousands of different pathways. We’re going to take a behind the scenes look at exactly how these routers work.

Let’s say you’re sending an email to a friend of yours who is living across country or even in another part of the world. How does the email know to end up on your friend’s computer instead of all the other millions of computers all over the world? A good part of the work to get these messages from one computer to another is handled by routers. Rather than pass messages within networks, routers pass messages from one network to another.

To get an idea of how this works, let’s take a very simple example.

Let’s say you have two departments. Department A with 5 employees and Department B with 5 employees. Let’s say that Employee 1 from Department A wants to send an email to Employee 3 at Department B. Each department is part of its own network of computers. A router links the two networks together so that they can communicate with each other. It is the only piece of equipment that sees both networks. Many people ask, why not just make one network? The simple answer is that if the two departments do two completely different jobs for the company and send massive amounts of info within the department, you don’t want to slow down the other department with the one department’s info. To ease what they call the "traffic burden" the two departments are separated into two networks with a router put between them to connect them just in case they do want to communicate for some reason.

The way the router knows what to send where is with what is called a configuration table. These configuration table consists of info on which connections lead to which addresses, priorities for each connection, and rules for how to handle the passing of info between networks. The router then has two basic jobs. The main task is to make sure that information doesn’t go where it’s not needed so that the volume of data doesn’t clog up the network and the next task is to make sure the information goes to where it’s supposed to go.

To simplify how this happens, the router looks at the destination address of each packet sent from the source location. It checks its table to see where this address is and sends each packet to that address, bypassing all the other addresses in the network so as not to slow the network down.

In future articles we’ll take a more in depth and technical look at how packets are actually routed. Get on your thinking gear for this one.

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Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Router
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In a previous article we discussed the basics of what a router did. We’re now going to get into a more detailed, and yes technical, explanation of how packets are transmitted as well as a few other tech specs of how routers work. So put on your learning caps because you’re in for a real mind bender.

Internet data, whether it be in the form of a web page, a downloaded file or an email message, travels over what is called a packet switching network. Basically what happens is that the data is broken up into individual packets because there is only so much data that can be transmitted at one time. Each packet is about 1500 bytes long. Each packet contains quite a bit of information including the sender’s address, the receiver’s address and of course the information being sent which includes the order of each packet how it should be put back together so that the end user can make sense of the data. The packet is sent off to its destination based on what the router believes to be the best route to follow, which is usually the route with the least amount of traffic and if possible, the shortest route.

Each packet may actually given a different route depending on conditions at the time, which in a high traffic network can change every second. By doing this, the router can balance the load across the network so that no one segment gets overloaded. Also, if there is a problem with one piece of equipment in the network, the router can bypass this piece of equipment and send the packet along another route. This way if there is a problem, the entire message will still arrive intact.

In conducting this process, routers have to speak to each other. They tell each other about any problems on the network and make recommendations on routes to take. This way, paths can be reconfigured if they have to be. However, not all routers do all jobs as routers come in different sizes and have different functions.

There are what we call simple routers. A simple router is usually used in a simple small network. Simple routers simply look to see where the data packet needs to go and sends it there. It doesn’t do much else.

Slightly larger routers, which are used for slightly larger networks, do a little bit more. These routers will also enforce security for the network, protecting the network from outside attacks. They are able to do a good enough job of this that additional security software is not needed.

The largest routers are used to handle data at major points on the Internet. These routers handle millions of packets of information per second. They work very hard to configure the network as efficiently as possible. These are stand alone systems and actually have more in common with supercomputers than with a simple server one might have in a small office.

In our next instalment we’ll look at how to actually trace the path that a message has taken and some examples of transmitting packets.

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Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Routers
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Few people will really care about the path that your packet takes when sending a message, but if you’re one of those high tech egg heads then this article may be of great interest to you. It can become very addictive so proceed with caution.

If you’re using a Microsoft Windows based operation system, then it’s very easy to trace the route that your message has taken. Not only that, you can see exactly how many routers it took to get your message from point A to point B. You can do this by using a program that is on your computer called Traceroute. That is exactly what the program does. It traces the route a message takes to get to its final destination.

To run the program you have to go to a DOS prompt. After doing this, go to the C:windows directory and type tracert followed by the URL of the Internet site you’re connected to at the time. It will give you a rather technical spec sheet of every IP address it stopped at along the way until it got to its final destination.

The first number on the spec sheet tells you how many routers it went through to get to its final destination. Then each individual router listed on the page is numbered from 1 down to the last one which is actually the final destination. The next 3 numbers on each line for each router shows how long the packet took to get to that router. The next piece of information on each line is the actual name of the router the information went through. Yes, routers have names. This may be important to the users but is totally irrelevant to the router itself. Finally, the last piece of info on each line is the actual IP address of the router itself.

The amount of time it takes information to get from one router to another varies depending on how much traffic there is on that route at the time. Normally, it is no more than a couple of seconds. But occasionally, it can be longer. That is why sometimes you will be trying to access a web site and it seems to take forever. This can be for a number of reasons, but usually it is because along the way one of the routers is not working correctly and has to be bypassed. Sometimes the actual final location itself is down or having problems and the delay is the last router in the chain trying to connect to the network.

Traceroute is not limited to just checking the number of routers between you and an Internet site. You can use it to check the number of routers between you and any other computer on a network. As long as you know the IP address of the other computer you can trace the route of the packets between you and the other computer.

In our next instalment we’re going to look at how routers handle denial of service attacks and other problems.

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Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Routers
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