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Cisco Certification: The OSI Model Isn't Just For Exams Anymore!
There's nothing I enjoy more than teaching Cisco technologies, especially CCNA candidates. Whether it's in-person or online, everyone's excited to be there. There's a sense of anticipation in the air, and everyone is ready to work hard, get their...
Computer Tips that Help Small Businesses Operate Profitably
When working properly, computers enable small businesses to make big business profits; however, get booted off your computer and you’re suddenly starving. In most instances, computers usually act up due to lack of care by its owners. Here are...
Ideal connection builder for small businesses
Small businesses, just like any other big company, need effective business contacts to grow and spread their net wide. But compared to large companies, they face a stiffer challenge in building a network base. Not any more! With the internet proving...
The Importance of Protecting Your PC from Viruses and Spam
Today the internet is a mine field of malicious code looking to harm your computer. Hackers want to have access to your PC for both fun and profit. You must be diligent in your ability to detect and then protect your important computer data. ...
Wi-Fi Networking - What to Look For: Range, Speed and Standards
Not sure what you're doing in your wireless card shopping? Want
to make sure you're buying the right thing but just have no idea
what it is you're looking for? Well, you've come to the right
place. When you're looking to buy a wireless network...
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Networking Structures Explained: Access Point or Ad-hoc?
What happens to many people is that they're just about to
purchase some wireless equipment, and then they have a sudden
realisation -- they have no idea how their network layout is
going to work with a wireless connection. Well, there are a few
things you need to think about when you decide how you're going
to connect up your computers with all that great new wireless
gear.
Ad-hoc Networks Explained
Ad-hoc networks are the ones your wireless devices create
more-or-less on their own -- they are also known as peer-to-peer
networks. In an ad-hoc network, each computer on the network
acts as an equal 'peer', with each one sending data to any
other. This arrangement is most often used in place of a real
LAN, to allow employees in a company, for example, to exchange
files. You can create ad-hoc wireless networks between any
computers that have wireless equipment -- access to the Internet
is not required.
These networks work using something called an 'SSID' (Service
Set Identifier). Essentially, this is the network's name,
decided on the computer that was the first to connect to the
network (yes, a network consisting of just itself). The other
computers that connect to the network can then simply connect by
finding the network with the name (SSID) they want.
This is powerful. You can put your wireless-enabled laptop next
to a friend's, and the two computers can create a little network
for themselves on the fly. Thanks the way wireless networking
works, they keep the connection even if you move them around --
the only thing that will force the computers to disconnect from
each other is if they go out of range. For many people, this
spells the end of messing around with CDs and floppy disks --
they can finally use their laptop just like a briefcase,
carrying everything from one place to another.
Arriving somewhere with your laptop and being automatically
included in the wireless network also gives you access to shared
resources, such as printers. Imagine being able to take your
computer to somewhere where there's a printer, press print,
collect the document and walk away again. Ad-hoc networking
makes this a
reality.
Access Points
An access point, on the other hand, is a way of connecting your
ad-hoc wireless network to a real, wired network. Note that this
network could just be a LAN, or it could be the entire Internet.
There are hardware access points and software ones, with either
kind allowing you to connect your wireless device to a wired
network. Internet Connecting Sharing, for example, is a software
access point to the Internet, while a wireless router is a wired
one. If you have wireless access at your office, the chances are
it is provided as a wireless access point to the wired network,
to let people bring in wireless devices and connect them to the
office LAN.
A network that contains an access point is sometimes called an
'infrastructure' network, as opposed to an ad-hoc one. It's
worth remembering, though, that part of the infrastructure
network still consists of the ad-hoc network between the
computers -- they can still communicate just the same as they
could before.
If you think about it, you can see that the access point
structure allows you to create a series of networks, all
interconnected. The Internet, in this scheme, is just another
wired network. You can connect your wired network to the
Internet, connect your wireless network to an access point to
your wired network -- whatever you want.
The string of networks is potentially never-ending, with wired
networks being able to break out into wireless ones as often as
they need to. This concept is sometimes called lilypad
networking, because it lets your computer be like a frog,
hopping from lilypad to lilypad. Even though the whole area of
the water isn't covered with lilypads, the frog can still get
through -- and you can make wireless networks work the same way.
About the author:
Original Source: Articles-Galore.com
Information supplied and written by Lee Asher of CyberTech SoftShop
Suppliers of
SuperLinker - Hyperlinking Technology for the 21st
Century.
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