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6 CHAPTER 1 WHY NETWORK?
As with a local connection, users can also share information, such as contacts, with each other.
An administrator can also use a SharePoint server to place (deploy) applications on remote
systems without physically visiting those locations.
E-Commerce Online Stores If you’ve got something great to sell, then the Web’s one place
to do it. There are thousands of online stores on the Web, and a good number of them run on
2008. While 2008 includes a Web server, it doesn’t include the other software that you’d need
to create a complete online store. But there are a lot of consulting and programming firms that
would be happy to help you create an online store atop 2008!
Microsoft has adopted new terminology for Windows Server 2008 that makes it easier to under-
stand the difference between a service that the server provides and a piece of software that makes
the server perform better or provide improved capabilities. Roles are the pieces of software that
define the services that a server provides. For example, if you want to make your server into a
Web server, you install the Web Server (IIS) role. Features help your server perform certain tasks
better. In some cases, you must install a feature to make a role work, but most features simply
add functionality. For example, if you want to use your Web server to help remote users print
documents, then you install the Internet Printing Client feature.
Networks Need Connection Hardware and Links
If I want to offer a server service and ensure that you can enjoy that service, then we’ll both
need to be physically attached to the same network — the same series of cables, satellite links,
or whatever — or your computer’s requests will never get to my computer in the first place. That
probably means that we’re both on that huge network-of-networks called the Internet, but we
could just be working for the same company in a single wired building, or a multilocation firm
connected by a private intranet.
Now, notice that if I’m going to run a Web server, I’ll need to be connected to our common
network (Internet or otherwise) persistently: I couldn’t decide to run a Web server out of my
house and just dial in to the Internet now and then. Of course, if I’m only serving some private
network that we share, then an Internet connection is unnecessary, because we already have a
connection to a common network.
People who worry about the physical connection part of networking concern themselves with
getting cables run through walls, calling the phone company to arrange for persistently connected
data links of various kinds (links with names like digital subscriber line, cable modem, frame relay,
leased lines, T1 or T3 lines) and then working with a family of hardware that helps get the bits
going off in the right direction (devices with names like switches, hubs,androuters).
Does 2008 help you with this part of the job? In some parts, it can. Switches and hubs are very
basic, simple devices, and 2008 has nothing to do with them — although clearly 2008 depends on
their presence in order to network! Routers are, however, more complex devices. You probably
know that the market leader in the router world is a firm named Cisco Systems, but you might not
know that a router is really just a small, single-purpose computer. If you wanted, you could use
a computer running Server 2008 to replace a Cisco router. Additionally, if you wanted to allow
people outside your network to dial in to your network, you could use a Windows Server 2008 to
make that possible.
Considering the Hardware
This chapter has already discussed a lot of hardware. Although the hardware part of the picture
isn’t hard to understand, you do need to understand it in order to create your network. Networks
have some basic hardware that you must have in order to ensure that everyone can communicate.