Wiley Windows Vista All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies
Contents
1. are equal Here s what s even harder to believe PCs using plain old Ethernet can send and receive messages at the rate of 10 Gbps or 10 000 000 000 bits per second Even garden variety Ethernet systems work at 100 Mbps or 100 000 000 bits per second By comparison a 56K modem under the best possible circumstances receives data at slightly more than 50 000 bits per second Things get slow if many PCs are trying to talk to each other at the same time they start talking over the top of each other but for a typical peer to peer network 100 Mbps also called 100Base T works great Ethernet relies on a hub a box and cables running from the hub to each PC The PCs need network cards so that you have a place to stick the cables The PCs can be using any flavor of Windows since Windows 98 Plug it all Book IX Chapter 1 MOU Y 0 p N NOA suy JOMjON Aysag asoyy 682 Making Computers Talk together run the Set Up a Network Wizard on your Windows Vista machine s run a special program that Vista sticks on a key disk on the other machines and your network is ready to use That s the theory anyway Surprisingly at least 90 percent of the time it works I go into all the details in the next chapter Adding wireless What s the biggest problem with Ethernet The cables Unless your office or home has been wired with those big eight wire Ethernet cables you have to string them across the floor or2. at the same time you ll feel the per formance hit of course but in most normal circumstances you won t notice any performance change You can use Vista s features on data from other machines regardless of whether they re running Vista For example with Vista s Explorer you can view pictures stored on a networked computer as a slide show even if the pictures are stored on a computer running Windows 98 You can burn a DVD with Windows Vista s built in DVD burning support using data from any computer on your network Even the Windows Media Player and Media Center can work with sound and video clips from other machines You have an easy way to make backups The easiest fastest most reli able way to back up data is to copy it from the hard drive in one machine to the hard drive in another machine on the network You can share documents pictures music just about anything between the networked computers with practically no effort Although Understanding Networks 671 very few applications allow you to share individual files simultaneously Word doesn t let two people on two different machines edit the same document at the same time for example sharing data on networked machines is still much simpler If you get Windows Meeting Space cranked up see Book IX Chapter 2 sharing stuff among Vista PCs is like falling off a log How a network networks MOU 0 p N NOA suy JMN Aysag asoyy All
3. in short order Why Because networks are different from what you experience day to day So without benefit of a good analogy I shall forge ahead anyway Understanding servers and serfs Two fundamentally different kinds of networks exist They both use the same basic kind of hardware cables boxes interface cards and so on They both talk the same basic kind of language Ethernet and something called TCP IP usually but a few renegades speak in tongues They differ primarily on a single crucial philosophical point In one kind of network a leader a top dog PC controls things The leader is called you guessed it a server I still get shivers down my spine at the Orwellian logic of it all In this kind of network the lowly serf PCs are called clients Thus this type of network gets the moniker client server Microsoft calls this kind of network a domain If you ve ever wondered how in the realm of the English language a client could be all that much different from a server now you know In the topsy turvy world of PC networking termi nology a server is really a master Client server networks abound in large companies where central control is crucial Network administrators set up security rules grant access where needed allow new users to operate client PCs and generally ride herd on the entire network Usually the server s hold important corporate files and backup copies of key files on the client computer
4. of features Data backup and other mainte nance tasks that would be a nightmare to coordinate over a peer to peer network are all localized that is wrapped up into a server The Pin peer to peer stands for powerful painless and potentially embarrassing If you get your Internet company to install a wireless net work you can have your network up and running in hours and most of that time will be sweating over sharing printers and Public folders see Book II Chapter 1 When it s up the network will be reliable and easy to use and as exposed as a lobster in a glass tank Unless you go to the trouble of setting up and rigorously using passwords see Book II Chapter 2 anybody who can sit down at a PC can make all the PC s con tents available to anyone on the network at any time Except in extreme situations not even Windows Firewall can help If you try to install and maintain a client server network yourself even with helper tools such as Microsoft s Small Business Server be aware that it s not nearly as simple as the marketing brochures would have you believe Many Dummies this one included feel that installing and maintaining your own client server network rates as a low benefit high commitment time sink of the first degree Someday secure networks will be easy to set up and use That day hasn t arrived yet Although peer to peer networking in Windows Vista has made simple net working a reality trul
5. Chapter 1 Those Pesky Network Things Vou Need to Know In This Chapter Finding out why you really do want a network at the office and at home vy Comparing client server domain and peer to peer workgroup networking v Gathering the stuff you need to get started Networking for Neanderthals Ur business people talk to each other it s called networking When computers talk to each other it s called pandemonium This chapter tries to distill 30 years of advances in computer pandemonium er networking into a succinct digestible understandable synopsis I think you ll be pleasantly surprised to discover that even the most obnoxiously inscrutable networking jargon much of which has made its way into Windows Vista has its roots in simple concepts that everyone can understand Understanding Networks Not long ago networks were considered esoteric and intimidating the province of guys in white lab coats whose sole purpose in life was to allow you to print on the company s fancy laser printer or share that super fast Internet connection but keep you from seeing your boss s personnel file or the company s budget Those same guys and they were always guys it seems often took it upon themselves to tell you what you could and couldn t do with your PC what software you could use how you could use it where you could put your data and so much more They hid behind a cloak of mumbo jumbo initiates in the priestho
6. a logical diagram of a client server network It s important that you not take the diagram too seriously It only shows the way client PCs are subservient to the server It doesn t show you how to hook up a network MOU Y 0 p N NOA suy JOMjaN Aysag asoyy 6 14 Organizing Networks w ar Client PCs have some autonomy in a client server network but not a whole lot And a bit of leeway exists in how much security a specific network or server enforces some less secure networks may allow guest accounts for example that don t require passwords But by and large client server net works are set up to be secure They exist to allow computers and users and peripherals to talk to each other But strict limits are rigorously enforced on what individual users can do where they can go and what they can see Microsoft introduced a new umbrella security system in Windows 2000 Server called Active Directory It s designed to put control of all client server secu rity activities in one place Active Directory is a very complex program a world unto its own If you have trouble talking to your network administrator in simple English you may take some solace in the fact that he has to talk to Active Directory and the translation can be challenging The African click languages pale in comparison In general you want to use Windows Vista Enterprise Edition or possibly Ultimate if
7. d share the stuff using a shared folder shared drive or a shared printer Your network can share with other networks just like kids in your class can share with kids in other classes The Internet is the biggest class of all Yippie Unfortunately some creeps are in other classes and they may want to take things from you or share something that can hurt you You have to protect yourself 672 Organizing Networks WING s When you run into trouble the advice you hear over and over again especially in the Vista Help and Support Center is talk to your teacher uh contact your system administrator That advice is every bit as useless now as it was when you were five When networks work right which they do about 90 percent of the time in Vista they really are simple Organizing Networks MBER we amp To understand an abstract computer concept nothing works better than a solid analogy I use lots of them in this book A document is like a sheet of paper a CPU is like a car engine a modem is like a high tech hearing aid with a pronounced stutter set to max at a Nine Inch Nails concert You know what I mean That s the problem with configuring networks No really good analogies exist for all the bits and pieces Yes you can say that a server is like a gatekeeper or a hub is like a collection of tap dancing monkeys at a hyperactive organ grinder s convention but all the analogies fall flat
8. le It s used to connect PCs usually ones without wireless cards and other boxes If the people who sell you your Internet connection don t have a wireless router you can use all sorts of combinations to accomplish the same thing Vista works well with the following A cable or DSL modem attached to the Internet and plugged into a Vista or Windows XP PC If you only have one PC that s all you need If you want to share the Internet connection with more than one PC you plug a hub into the back of the PC with the Internet connection and plug other computers into the hub Vista or Windows XP can run a program called Jnternet Connection Sharing which shares the single Internet con nection among all the attached computers A cable or DSL modem attached to the Internet and plugged into a hub You don t get wireless that way but any computer close enough to the hub can simply be plugged in and you all share the Internet connec tion This is also a good solution if wireless reception isn t too wonderful and you already have LAN cable pulled through your house or office A cable or DSL modem attached to the Internet and connected in some way to other computers Alternatives include using the power lines or using an existing telephone line HPNA a de facto home net working standard developed by the Home Phoneline Networking Alliance You ll need specialized hardware for each computer Wired and wirele
9. networking at least in the business environment you can argue about academia some other time As such many networking concepts and much of the obscure terminology originated in the client server cauldron Figure 1 2 Peer to peer networks don t rely ona single super PC Organizing Networks 675 Administrator accounts on client computers can make major changes to the client PC in question but the real action is on the server If you really want to change things around you need an administrator account on the server That s the seat of power in the client server milieu In a client server network the network s Internet connection is almost always controlled through the server using the following Windows Proxy Server A proxy server is a program that allows all the people on a network to share one Internet connection and at the same time almost always acts as a firewall A server firewall monitors data as it passes between your network and the Internet acting as a security barrier Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server This is a souped up extra charge proxy server Other proxy servers Many proxy servers are made by companies other than Microsoft Ositis Software s WinProxy for example is used in many companies to protect their client server networks See www winproxy com WinProxy works on peer to peer networks too Introducing peer to peer networks On the other side of the ne
10. o call this machine The PC with the Scanner Hanging off of It in general parlance you hear the PC referred to as the scanner s host Peer to peer networks are far more adaptable computer nerds would say more robust than their client server cousins because they don t rely on a single PC to keep the network running In a peer to peer network if the laser printer s host PC breaks down you only need to schlep the printer over to a different PC and install it You can immediately begin using the printer from any PC in the network If auto detect kicks in properly it s particularly simple You only need to change the printer in the FilePrint dialog box In a client server network if the server PC breaks down you can probably kiss your weekend good bye ay To the outside world your peer to peer network appears as if you have just one PC connected to the Internet and it sits behind a big scary firewall to fend off would be attackers To little Johnny who s using the PC in his bedroom to download massive full color pictures of anatomically correct Pokemon figures his Internet connection works just like it always did slow and cantankerous with frequent dropped connections and unexplained outages But at least everybody in the family gets bumped off the Internet at the same time Comparing the p pros and c cons If you need to decide between installing a client server network Microsoft calls it a domain and a
11. od of systems administration 670 Understanding Networks That s changed a lot With Windows Vista a network is something that your 13 year old can throw together in ten minutes Mine did Your results may vary The terminology doesn t help Ask a network geek or computer store salesperson about the difference between a LAN and a WAN and you ll provoke a tirade of inscrutable acronyms so thick that you need a periscope to see out In the following sections I cut through the bafflegab What a network can do for you Do you need a network The short answer Yes If you have two or more computers with one running Windows Vista and the other running Windows 98 or later a network is well worth the hassle You don t need a fancy one But you do need one Consider these facts If you have a network just about any piece of hardware attached to one computer can be used by the other That dual scan DVD recorder on your desktop for example can be used by your portable the same way as if it were connected directly A printer or in some cases a scan ner attached to one computer can be shared by all computers All your computers can use a single Internet connection When all your computers are connected to a hub or a router you don t need to pay for two Internet accounts or run two connections over the phone or via DSL or cable modem at the same time If every computer on the network is downloading huge files
12. peer to peer network workgroup in MS speak you should read the two preceding sections for an overview of how each works and then weigh each of these factors NING The Cin client server stands for complicated cumbersome and RY costly You or someone you hire will spend a lot of time setting up a client server network If you have a small network with few employees and one or two applications you know precisely what machines will be performing which tasks and you know who needs access to what infor mation and where it s stored a real pro with extensive Active Directory experience can probably set up your client server network using Windows Small Business Server in half a day Beyond that the sky s the limit and plan on getting your network consultant s home telephone number because you re going to need it every time you get a new employee install a new computer or maybe even begin using a new application Client server networks can handle enormous volumes of data High end servers can juggle hundreds or even thousands or tens of thou sands of client PCs with data transmission speeds that would bring tears to a lowly peer to peer network s eyes The server can take on additional functions such as handling e mail for the entire network MOU 0 p N NOA suy JOMIN Aysag asoyy 678 Cutting through the Terminology most likely using Exchange Server another cantankerous Microsoft product that s chock full
13. r to peer networks dispense with the formality of centralized control Every authorized administrator on a particular PC find out more about administrators in Book II Chapter 2 can designate any drive folder or piece of hardware on that PC as shared and thus make it accessible to anyone else on the network In a peer to peer network a workgroup any administrator on a given PC can share anything on that PC If you re the least bit concerned about security that fact should give you pause high blood pressure and intense anxiety attacks Not to mention apoplexy Say you set up a home office network using the standard Vista Home Basic settings The network that is installed is a peer to peer network quite frequently with no passwords That means anyone can walk up to a Welcome sign on screen click one of the usernames and immediately designate every drive as shared The entire process would take less than 30 seconds From that point on anybody who can get to any of the computers on the network would have full control over all the files on the shared drive anybody can read change and even delete them perma nently without the benefit of the Recycle Bin The primary distinguishing factor among PCs in a peer to peer network lies in the shared hardware hanging off an individual PC Refer to Figure 1 2 for Organizing Networks 677 example and you see that only one PC has a scanner attached to it Although you may be tempted t
14. rkgroup network That s a great choice For the advanced course on wireless networks surely the simplest kind of net work to install see Book IX Chapter 3 Understanding Ethernet The easiest fastest cheapest most reliable and most secure way to hook up a peer to peer network is also the oldest least flexible and most boring If you want sexy look somewhere else If you want an old workhorse hey do I have a horse for you It s called Ethernet see Figure 1 3 and it works like a champ Ethernet really isn t that complicated In the early 1970s Bob Metcalfe came up with an interesting new way to connect Xerox Alto computers He called the technique EtherNet The name stuck give or take a capital N So did the technology By modern standards Ethernet isn t very sophisticated Here s how it works All the PCs on a network watch messages going over a wire When PC A wants to talk to PC B A shoots a message out on the wire saying something like Hey B this is A followed by the message PCB sees the message on the wire and retrieves it It s hard to believe but with a few minor tweaks like what happens when two PCs try to send messages at the same time so that they re talking over the top of each other that s really all there is to Ethernet Figure 1 3 Atypical Ethernet peer to peer network Making Computers Talk 681 Direct connections between PCs All PCs
15. s Usually the major gov On ASky Figure 1 1 Logical view of a client server network Organizing Networks 6 13 networked printers hang off of the server s Usually all Internet access goes through the server s Usually In the other kind of network all the pigs er PCs are created equal No single PC dominates perhaps I should say serves all the others Rather the PCs maintain an equal footing This kind of network is called rather appro priately peer to peer which sounds veddy British to me Eh wot Microsoft calls them workgroups which isn t nearly as classy Peer to peer networking doesn t get hung up in the kind of security and cen tral administration that client server networks take for granted For exam ple a typical user on a peer to peer network can share a disk drive so that anybody on the network can see it On a client server network you d have to call in the network administrator At the risk of oversimplifying peer to peer networking works best in homes and small offices where security isn t a major concern Client server net working works best in larger companies with significant security needs and a budget to match Network administrators don t come cheap So much for the overview I now take a look at the details Introducing client server networks Client server networks have one PC called a server that s figuratively on top of all the others Figure 1 1 shows
16. ss connections aren t mutually exclusive Almost every wireless network has the capability for attaching wired computers In fact most wireless networks you bump into every day have one or more comput ers running on wires They all meet together at the router Making Computers Talk Getting computers to talk to each other can be as simple as buying a box and some cables and plugging it all together like you do with telephones or as painful expensive and hair challenging as in pulling it out by the roots as any computer pursuit you ve ever encountered Book IX Chapter 1 MOU 0 p N NOA suy JOMIN Aysag asoyy 680 Making Computers Talk ASky oP Cay 6 In the following sections I step you through the details of setting up a simple traditional peer to peer network with interface cards in each PC a hub which is an incredibly dumb switch and a bunch of cable After you see the basics I step you through the same territory using wire less technology If you want to set up a wireless network I suggest you read about setting up a wired network first in the next chapter Walk before you run ya know For details on actually assembling a network choosing hardware compo nents installing and testing them and then getting Windows Vista to recog nize the network see Book IX Chapter 2 If you re setting up a new network chances are very good that you re looking at a wireless peer to peer wo
17. tworking fence sits the undisciplined rag tag scruffy lot involved in peer to peer computing In a peer to peer environ ment all computers are created equal and security takes a backseat to flexi bility I like peer to peer networks see Figure 1 2 Could you tell a Network hub In the home office In the living room In Billy s bedroom MOU 0 p N NOA suy JOMIN Aysag asoyy 676 Organizing Networks ING s At different times in different places Microsoft calls peer to peer networks by the following names Workgroups and or workgroup networks Small office networks and or small business networks Home networks The Windows Vista Help and Support Center also on occasion refers to peer to peer networks as uh peer to peer networks They all mean the same thing Traditionally client server networks see the preceding section dangled all the shared peripherals off the server Fifteen years ago your office s big laser printer was probably connected directly to the server The massive bank of 2GB hard drives no doubt lived on the server too Even today you hear reference to print servers and file servers in hushed tones as if only the server itself were capable of handling such massive processing demands Nowadays you can buy a laser printer out of petty cash although you better have a line in the budget for toner and paper and 500GB hard drives fit on the head of a pin Well almost Pee
18. under the rug run them up and down stair cases or hang them out the window and pray they don t blow away Don t laugh I ve done all that and more Wireless networking relies on radio transmitters and receivers in place of Ethernet s cables You need a wireless access point which goes by a lot of different names most commonly WAP as in uh Whap wireless receivers plugged into each PC possibly by a card or connected via a USB adapter or wireless built into the computer common with laptops Wireless networks use the same kind of technology as everyday wireless telephones The part that moves the telephone handset communicates with a base that stays put the phone cradle Wireless connections suffer all the problems that you ve no doubt encountered with portable telephones The signal gets weaker as you move farther away from the base station and at some point it disappears Ifthe base gets unplugged everything goes bananas Other people can eavesdrop on your conversations unless you re cautious Ain t no such thing as a free lunch I go into detail about wireless networking in Book IX Chapter 3
19. y secure networks and really big networks are still the province of guys in white lab coats Cutting through the Terminology Peer to peer networks work great over wireless connections If the people who sell you an Internet connection have a wireless box get it The installa tion folks plug the wireless router into the phone line or cable TV outlet and every machine that has a wireless card gets on the Internet with a minimum of fuss Confused by the terminology Don t be Here s a quick reference A wireless router combines the functions of a wireless access point a DSL or cable modem and usually a hub If you buy or rent a wireless router from your Internet company you don t have to futz with any of the details or any of the other terms in this list A wireless access point is a box with a pair of rabbit ears on top PCs with wireless cards talk to the wireless access point Making Computers Talk 6 19 ADSL modem is a box that connects to your phone line and usually delivers always on fast Internet most commonly using a technology called asymmetric digital subscriber line ADSL Acable modem is a box that does the same thing but it connects to your cable TV cable A hub is a box with a bunch of slots on the back that take local area net work LAN cables The hub connects all the PCs and other boxes that are plugged into it ALAN cable looks like an extra wide phone cab
20. you re on a client server network Yes you can set up Vista Business Edition to work on a client server network No it isn t worth the effort or added expense In this book I don t talk about client server networks er domains very much simply because you don t have much control over them If you use a client server network chances are good that somebody else in your com pany made the decision to go with client server He or she probably installed your copy of Vista most likely Vista Enterprise or bought a new machine rigged to his specifications and configured it to work with your company s network He also gets to fix things when your network connection goes bump in the night Poetic justice sez I I have to talk about client server from time to time though for three big reasons You may have an existing client server network that you want to con vert to a peer to peer network Many Dummies I ll raise my hand here installed Windows NT Windows 2000 or Windows 2003 client server networks in their homes or offices and they re tired of the constant has sles They need to understand enough about client server to get rid of it You may actually need some of the features that client server offers and not know it In that case you are better off to bite the bullet now and get client server going instead of struggling with peer to peer as an unintentional stopgap Client server is the original form of
21. you really need to know about networks you learned in kindergarten Here s the lowdown Good computers talk to each other over a network If your computer is on a network it can play with other computers on the same network If your computer is not on a network it can only sit in the corner and play by itself You can see all the computers on your network by looking at Mister Rogers uh by choosing Start Network Every computer in a network has its own name actually it s a number called an JP address and all the names er numbers are different That s how computers keep track of each other You can share stuff on your computer You have two different ways to share The way you share depends on how the network uh kinder garten class is organized e If you have a really mean teacher called a network administrator she decides what can be shared When other kids want to borrow your stuff they usually have to ask the teacher I don t talk about this kind of network very much because the teacher makes most of the decisions Details are in the next section of this chapter e On the other hand if the kids are in charge of sharing each kid can share his stuff in one of two ways He can put the stuff that he wants to share in a special place that s called Public that s a Public folder and tell Vista that he wants to share it see Book II Chapter 1 or he can tell the computer to just go ahead an
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