Your computers and network probably play a huge role in your business as they do for millions of other companies around the world. The emergence of internet businesses has meant that there are more and more IT support firms being set up to cope with the demands of the modern day company.
In the past, data and information was stored on pieces of paper that were filed away in hundreds of folders that were hard to find when you most needed it. Nowadays, companies have seen the importance of having these documents on hand when needed and combined with the importance of being environmentally friendly, computer have well and truly taken over.
Your computers will contain important information about your company, employees and clients. This information is personal and it is extremely important that nobody else is allowed to access these files. At the same time you need to ensure that the work that is carried out by you and your workforce is suitably backed up in case the server fails.
For companies reliant on their computers, a server crash could be very costly as we all know time is money. IT support companies endeavour to get to your company to sort the problem out as soon as possible and where possible stay until the problem is fully fixed and all servers restored. This is vital to all companies as no computers can mean limited or no contact with clients or customers.
In a matter of a few hours, depending on location, the IT support company can be at your office and fixing the problem as they want to get your server up and running in the quickest time possible. You will be able to be in constant contact with them should you have a fault in the server or any computers in the office.
This also applies for home internet services as some support companies are able to offer technical support for the home. Losing connection at home may not be as costly as losing it in the office but it can still be very inconvenient especially as many of us have taken to online shopping in recent years. For people who have to work at home though, the importance is as high as it is in the office. Preparing for that all important meeting may require extra work to be done at home.
Whether in the office or at home, ensure that you have a high quality service to help you should anything go wrong
By: Phil Adams-Wright
Posts Tagged ‘Servers’
Supporting your IT network
December 8th, 2009Networking Your Home or Small Business is Fairly Inexpensive
September 24th, 2009If you have as few as two computers in your home, you can reap a number of benefits by connecting them with a network cable and two NICs (Network Interface Cards). Equally, if you run a small business from your house, and have maybe five or six systems, benefits can be seen by networking.
One of the main advantages of a small home network is that it allows each computer to share all the resources. For example, if you print from a program running on one computer to a printer attached to the other computer, you won’t need to buy two printers. Importantly, you will also be able to save precious disk space by keeping programs and data on one computer and running them from all machines.
You can also take advantage of special software that exploits the fact that your computers are connected. This ranges from mainstream productivity software to that productivity killer: networked gaming.
There are a number of ways in which to connect two or more computers into a network, but most fall into either the peer networking or server networking category.
Server based networks have one or more server computers dedicated to providing shared resources to a group of network client computers. The servers are generally highly specified and generally also more reliable than the average computer. They need to be, because people using the client computers have to logon to the network before they can access the server’s resources. Therefore, the server must be running all the time in a typical environment.
Although there are situations in which a home network should follow the server based model, it is actually overkill for most home networks.
The alternative to a server based network is peer networking. Here, each computer functions as a server sharing its disks and printers, and as a client using the resources on other computers. Generally, peer networks are easier to setup than server based networks.
With network cards and the network software that ships with Windows XP, you can share hard disks, directories, files, programs, email and printers.
Network Hardware
The best way to connect two computers in a peer network is via a pair of network cards and a piece of cable. The two NICs will be fitted into a free PCI expansion slot. Windows XP will probably have the drivers and automatically install them for you when it detects the new hardware, otherwise you may need to provide the drivers.
Cables
With the cards fitted and the correct drivers installed you then need to connect the NICs with the cable. There are many different network cables available but the de facto standard to which most people adhere is Ethernet. And, there is quite a variety within the Ethernet category itself. The only real decision you have to make is between Thin Ethernet and Twisted Pair or TP.
For a basic two computer network the cheapest option is Thin Ethernet – it offers long cable runs and doesn’t require a hub. Unfortunately, Thin Ethernet chains computers together in series and is susceptible to breaks in the cable. So, if one section breaks, none of the computers on the network will be able to communicate with each other.
TP, in comparison, generally uses a star arrangement with each computer individually cabled to the hub. This is a lot more reliable because a failure in the cable to one computer doesn’t affect the other computers. It’s an academic point if you have only two computers, but as soon as you have three or more at home, TP automatically becomes a lot more reliable than Thin Ethernet.
Hubs
Hubs come in all shapes and sizes. More sophisticated hubs, known as switches, are used in very large, busy networks, while managed hubs are designed to work with network management software for large networks. Most home networks requires neither switches nor managed hubs – an inexpensive 4-port or 8-port hub should suffice. Ensure that the hubs and NIC cards support 10/100 Mbps which is the standard these days.
Up and Running
When your network is up and running, what should you use it for? Well, it’s up to you, but here are some typical uses which can enhance your home computing experience.
Firstly, you can use it to share files. Do you have data that you and another family member want to access from your own computer? Now you don’t have to copy them from one machine to the other with flash disks.
Now a single printer can be used by each computer saving the need to buy two or more printers for each user.
Other resources can also be shared, such as modems and ADSL connections. The whole family can surf the Internet simultaneously. Now what are you waiting for?
By: Sandra Prior
