PC Magazine® Home Networking Solutions (2005)

2005·17.6 MB·

by  PC Magazine

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PC Magazine®
Home Networking
Solutions
Les Freed
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PC Magazine®
Home Networking Solutions
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PC Magazine®Home Networking Solutions
Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
10475 Crosspoint Boulevard
Indianapolis, IN 46256
www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
ISBN-13: 978-0-471-74754-3
ISBN-10: 0-471-74754-8
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
1MA/TR/QY/QV/IN
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Freed, Les.
PC magazine home networking solutions / Les Freed.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-471-74754-3 (paper/website)
ISBN-10: 0-471-74754-8 (paper/website)
1. Home computer networks. I. Title: Home networking solutions. II. PC magazine (New York, N.Y.) III. Title.
TK5105.75.F744 2005
004.6’8—dc22
2005021554
Trademarks:Wiley and the Wiley logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates, in the United
States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. PC Magazine and the PC Magazine logo are registered
trademarks of Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings, Inc. Used under license. All rights reserved. All other trademarks are the property of their
respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
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About the Author
Les Freed has been a contributing editor at PC Magazine since 1994 and a frequent contributor
since 1990. Before joining PC Magazine, Les was founder and CEO of Crosstalk Communications,
developers of the popular Crosstalk data communications program for PCs—back in the days before
the Internet made communications software obsolete. Prior to founding Crosstalk, Les was a Senior
Technician and Videotape Editor at CBS News from 1976 to 1981 and a Cameraman and News
Editor at WTVJ-TV in Miami from 1972 to 1976. He graduated from the University of Miami in
1974 with B.A. in Electronic Journalism. Les is the author or co-author of 14 books on networking,
computing, and digital photography.
Les and long-time collaborator Frank Derfler shared the 1993 Computer Press Association award
for Best How-To Book for their book How Networks Work, still in print in its 6th edition.
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Credits
EXECUTIVE EDITOR PROJECT COORDINATOR
Chris Webb Erin Smith
DEVELOPMENT EDITOR GRAPHICS AND PRODUCTION SPECIALISTS
Tom Dinse Sean Decker
Lauren Goddard
TECHNICAL EDITOR JenniferHeleine
Barry Press Melanee Prendergast
PRODUCTION EDITOR QUALITY CONTROL TECHNICIANS
Pamela Hanley Leeann Harney
Jessica Kramer
COPY EDITOR Joe Niesen
Susan Hobbs Dwight Ramsey
EDITORIAL MANAGER PROOFREADING AND INDEXING
Mary Beth Wakefield TECHBOOKS Production Services
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Tim Tate
VICE PRESIDENT & EXECUTIVE GROUP
PUBLISHER
Richard Swadley
VICE PRESIDENT AND PUBLISHER
Joseph B. Wikert
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Contents at a Glance
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
Part I Why You Need a Network
Chapter 1 What Is a LAN? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Chapter 2 What Can You Do with a Network? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Chapter 3 A Networking Crash Course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Part II Designing Your LAN
Chapter 4 Designing Your Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Chapter 5 Getting the Right Stuff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Part III Installing Your LAN
Chapter 6 Installing an Ethernet LAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Chapter 7 Installing a Wireless LAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Chapter 8 Configuring Your Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Part IV Using Your LAN
Chapter 9 Sharing Internet Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Chapter 10 Sharing Files on Your LAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Chapter 11 Sharing Printers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Chapter 12 Home Media and Convergence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Chapter 13 Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Chapter 14 Advanced Networking Topics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Appendix A: Home Networking Cookbook . . . . . . . 283
Appendix B: Troubleshooting Your LAN . . . . . . . . . 327
Appendix C: Online Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
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Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
Part I Why You Need a Network
Chapter 1 What Is a LAN?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
It’s Simpler Than You Might Think . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
A Guided Tour of Les’s LAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Chapter 2 What Can You Do with a Network? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Sharing Your Internet Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Multiple IP Addresses (Ethernet Switch) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Using Windows XP’s Internet Connection Sharing (Proxy Server) . . . 12
Using a Router/Firewall (Router) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Sharing Files and Printers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
File Sharing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Printer Sharing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Enjoying Multimedia Convergence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Using Digital Media on a Home Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Home Media Hubs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
TiVo Series2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Microsoft Media Center PC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Playing Head-to-Head Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Chapter 3 A Networking Crash Course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Network Connection Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Internet Protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
IP Addressing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Understanding Client-Server and Peer Networks . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Client-Server Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Peer-to-Peer Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
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x Contents
Part II Designing Your LAN
Chapter 4 Designing Your Network. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Wired, Wireless, or Both? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Is Wireless Best for You? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Should You Stick With a Wired Network? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
“No new wires” Alternatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Evaluating Your Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Ethernet Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Wireless Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Sorting Through the Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Wireless Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Wireless Coverage Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Wireless Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
HomePlug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Chapter 5 Getting the Right Stuff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Choosing a Network Adapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Desktop Ethernet Adapters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Desktop Wireless Adapters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Laptop Ethernet Adapters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Laptop Wireless Adapters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Choosing an Ethernet Switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Choosing a Wireless Access Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Why Use a Standalone Access Point? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Wireless LAN Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Choosing a Router/Firewall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
How Routers Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
All-in-One Routers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Choosing a Print Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Part III Installing Your LAN
Chapter 6 Installing an Ethernet LAN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Installing Ethernet Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Planning Your Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Cable System Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Installing Your Network Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Installing an Ethernet Switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Installing Network Adapters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
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Contents xi
Chapter 7 Installing a Wireless LAN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Before You Install . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Installing Wireless Adapters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
PCI Wireless Adapters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
CardBus, PC Card, and USB Wireless Adapters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Configuring Your Wireless Adapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Installing Your Access Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Surveying Your Wireless LAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Connecting and Configuring the Access Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Securing Your Wireless LAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Chapter 8 Configuring Your Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
How Windows Networking Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Configuring Your Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
How OS X Networking Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Sharing Files and Printers with Other Macs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Sharing Files and Printers with PCs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Windows IP Addressing Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Automatic IP Addressing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Alternate IP Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Part IV Using Your LAN
Chapter 9 Sharing Internet Access. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
How IP Addressing Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Configuring Your Router . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Checking Your PC’s IP Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Configuring Your Router . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Configuring a Linksys Router . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Configuring a D-Link Router . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
What’s Next? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Chapter 10 Sharing Files on Your LAN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
How File Sharing Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Windows File Sharing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Sharing a Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Sharing a Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Accessing Shared Drives and Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Controlling Automatic Discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Mapping a Network Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Mac OS X File Sharing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185