Datasheet

Book VII
Chapter 1
Setting Up a Peer-
to-Peer Network
Hardware Requirements
453
connecting a network of computers to a central hub. The process consists of
three basic steps:
✦ Connecting all the necessary hardware
✦ Configuring your host computer
✦ Configuring all the other computers on your network
Throughout this chapter, I show you how.
Just for the sake of thoroughness, let me also say that you can create a simple
wireless peer-to-peer network, too. With a wireless network, you don’t cable
your computers together using wires and a central hub. Instead, the comput-
ers on the network communicate through a hub (actually called a wireless
router, but who cares) using radio waves. In fact, in a wireless network, no kid-
ding, little radio antennas often stick out the back of computers and the hub!
A wireless network is very convenient in a peer-to-peer setting because you
don’t have to worry about tripping over network cabling. However, a wireless
network requires a bit more fiddling in order to get your network secure. (If
you’re not careful, anyone else with one of those little antennas on the back of
his computer can sneak into your network.) For this reason, I’m not going to
discuss the wireless option here. If you’re interested in going wireless, find a
local networking consultant and ask her to make your network wireless.
Hardware Requirements
You need three essential components to set up your wired network:
✦ The hub or a router
✦ Some cable
✦ A network interface card (NIC) in each computer
A hub is the central device that connects all the computers on the network,
and it is slightly smaller than the size of this book. The hub itself doesn’t
require any software or configuration; it is simply the device that allows all
the computers to communicate. The number of connections on the hub —
or the number of places to which you can connect — determines the number
of computers that can be on the network. Be sure to buy a hub that has
enough connections for the number of computers that you want to connect.
Cables are the physical connection between the computers on the network
and the hub. The cable, or more specifically Ethernet cable, attaches to the
network hardware with RJ-45 jacks, which are snap connectors that look like
a wider version of the plastic jacks used by your landline phone system.
Cables are commonly available in lengths of 10, 15, 20, 25, and 50 feet.
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