TCP/IP First-Step [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Chapter 12. Connecting to TCP/IP Networks

What You Will Learn

After reading this chapter, you should be able to answer the following questions:

How are TCP/IP and networks such as Ethernet related?

How many components are needed, at a minimum, to build a local-area network?

What is the difference between a hub and a switch?

Is coaxial cable obsolete or does it still serve a purpose?

What is a Category of Performance?

What is currently the fastest speed at which a wireless network can operate?

What is the fastest speed at which an Ethernet wire-based local-area network can operate?

Which is more reliable: wire-based networks or wireless networks?

What are the main drawbacks of wire-based networks?

What are the main advantages of wire-based networks?

What do wireless networks use to transmit signals?

What are the main benefits of wireless networks?

Now that you have learned most of the theory and mechanics that are TCP/IP's foundation, it is time to make things a bit more real. By now you should know that TCP/IP is not a network. You run TCP/IP over networks, but it isn't a network unto itself. TCP/IP absolutely requires a network of some type to run.

This chapter introduces the two most commonly used networks technologies: wire-based Ethernet and wireless. These network technologies serve double duty as they can be found in both professional and home networks. Learning a little about them will provide you with a double advantage.

Such networks are the mechanism that enables you to use TCP/IP. You see how to configure these networks and how to connect to them using TCP/IP. That leaves you more than ready for the remaining two chapters of the book, which show you how to use TCP/IP networks and how to figure out what's wrong when they don't work as expected.