Networking Equipment: What’s It All Do?
There are many times when explaining to clients what piece of hardware needs rebooted or reset that they do not know what we are talking about when we reference the piece of networking equipment by name.
Even if you do know what is meant by router, modem, switch, hub, etc., you might not know what the equipment does, and why you need it.
Today is your lucky day! Below is a brief explanation of what the various types of networking equipment is, what it does, and why you need it.
Let’s start from your Internet service providers (ISP) main line into your house or business and work our way up to your computer. It all begins with your modem - this is how you initially connect to your ISP’s main line into your building.
The modem is what connects you to your Internet provider, and secures an IP address for your computer or network to connect to the Internet.
The next piece of hardware in line is normally your router.
Some network installations don’t have a router, usually because the modem supplied by the Internet provider has one built in, or the computer connects directly to the modem.
A router allows you to have your own network IP scheme and communicate from your network to your ISP’s network.
Routers allow you to expand your network beyond the one device that most ISP’s modems allow by creating a larger subset of IP addresses for your computers to connect to which is then “routed” to your ISP’s IP address and out to the Internet.
This is why they are called routers, they route network traffic. Some routers also offer the ability to connect wirelessly to your network.
These connections act exactly the same way except for the fact that they do not have an Ethernet cable plugged into the computer you are using to connect with and there is increased security on the wireless connection to prevent unauthorized connections to your network. Some routers also offer a high grade built in firewall.
So as you can see routers can come in many different flavors and configurations.
The final piece of hardware in the chain of networking hardware is your switch.
In general switches are designed to be connected to your router and offer more Ethernet ports for you to connect devices to your network.
Most routers offer on average five Ethernet ports - a switch gives you the ability to expand on the number of available Ethernet ports that can connect to your router.
If you want to have multiple devices connected to your Internet connection while keeping your network secure give us a call and we can guide you on selecting the proper equipment as well as getting it setup properly for you.
If this kind of equipment is not configured properly you may not be able to connect to the Internet at all.
Featured Article Written By:
Frank Wright
When Should Your Company Consider Adding A Server?
Thomas Fox is president of Tech Experts, southeast Michigan’s leading small business computer support company. |
If you are like most small businesses, you acquire desktop computers, phone systems, and software in a random, “buy-it-when-you-need-it” fashion as your business operations demand it.
But at some point, this patchwork of stopgap technology you’ve acquired needs to be examined, retooled, and perhaps replaced, depending on your company’s needs.
As your business grows, it makes sense to take a broader view of your technology investments. One of the first things you might consider is the role a server would play in your company.
Servers can take on a lot of tasks for a growing business, from securing data to enabling better sharing of company resources. But it’s sometimes diffi cult to know when, and if they’re a smart investment.
There are a few common scenarios in which a server can bring real benefits to a growing business - read on and see if any of these apply to you.
You need to share files, printers or other resources
It is technically possible to set up a simple network without a dedicated server, with just a few PCs connected together.
However, if you want to share databases, files, printers or other resources, a server makes it a lot easier.
In fact, servers are specifically designed for sharing, so you’ll get better control, faster access, easier management and improved security. And who wouldn’t want all that?
Your computers are overloaded and you need more storage
If you have a lot of files or multiple databases, it might be time to consider migrating some of these files to a server.
Whether you want to replace your old computers or just improve their performance, a server will give sluggish, data-laden PCs a welcome respite by freeing up memory and storage.
You want to have inhouse company email
While businesses with only a few employees can get by with using an external service for its email, there comes a time when these services aren’t ideal.
Adding a server allows you to bring your e-mail in-house, with the dual benefits of making users’ e-mail access faster and keeping sensitive business information within the company - not on another company’s servers. Plus, you can benefit from shared email productivity tools like Microsoft Outlook.
You want to conduct business remotely
If you have employees that work remotely, or if you’d like the option to work from home, a server will allow you and your employees to remotely access your company network, information and resources.
These are only a sampling of the signs that a server could be right for you. The bottom line is this: if you spend a lot of time moving data around, struggling to access things you need, and are worried about security, then it’s time to consider a
server.
Fall Is The Perfect Time For An IT And Network Checkup
Thomas Fox is president of Tech Experts, southeast Michigan’s leading small business computer support company. |
To make the most of your IT investment, you don’t need to be a technology whiz. However, you should have a plan in place for making the most of your company’s data. As fall approaches, now is an excellent time to examine your company’s technology to determine what’s working well and what could be improved.
Is It Time To Update?
Technology changes rapidly. While your systems may appear to be working well, you may be missing out on new ways to protect your business information, help your business run more efficiently, and better serve your customers.
For example, to run some of today’s most powerful programs, you need a fast and large hard drive with significant memory capacity.
You might consider adding newer technology - such as wireless capabilities - to older equipment; but the cost of upgrading a computer is often more than the cost of a new model.
Check Your Power Protection
Loss of electrical power and power surges are the most common causes of data loss and weaken computer components. If your business depends on computers, protecting the power source is critical.
This is especially important if your area is prone to power fluctuations or electrical storms.
An Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) unit offers both superior surge protection and, depending on the model, anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes of backup power-enough time to save and copy critical files.
The idea of a UPS isn’t to continue your business dealings while the lights are out. Rather, it is to ensure that your data is available when the lights come back on.
Have You Patched Windows?
Have you installed the latest version of Windows on your computer, and do you keep it updated? Do you do this automatically?
It is incredibly important that you keep Windows and your software applications current. Updates improve performance, fix bugs, and many add new features. You should also regularly update and run anti-virus software.
How’s Your Backup?
Consider storage needs in terms of both capacity and physical location. Depending on the amount of data, you can back up to USB flash drives, CDs, DVDs, tapes, or an external drive.
You might also want to look into off-site backup. Our Experts Total Backup System is an excellent backup, disaster recovery, and offsite storage service.
Integrate Your Data
Over the years, businesses tend to produce multiple silos of data. Your inventory, sales data, and marketing information need to be linked together to better serve your customers and increase your company’s productivity and profitability.
Without this integration, you may not know who your best customers are or you could end up agreeing to provide a top customer with an item you don’t have in your inventory.
LoJack For Laptops
The technology behind Computrace LoJack for Laptops by Absolute Software is the Computrace Agent, a small software client that is embedded into the BIOS firmware of most computers at the factory. Or Tech Experts can install this agent for you.
The Agent in your computer maintains daily contact with the Absolute Monitoring Center. If you report your computer stolen, Agent contact will increase to every 15 minutes.
Increased contact allows Computrace to obtain specific details like the physical location of your computer, any activity that has occurred post-theft, and other important data that will aid Computrace in working with local law enforcement to catch the thief and return your property to you.
Regardless of recovery status, you can remotely delete data to remove some or all of the information stored on your computer
so that it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.
This could include files and applications containing personal photos, internet bookmarks, browser cookies, financial information, and stored passwords.Everything an identity thief would need to steal your identity.
On the web: www.absolute.com
Running Out Of Room: Server Storage Upgrades
 Will Alston is a PC hardware technician with Tech Experts. |
We have all experienced this: The longer you own a computer, the smaller the hard drive seems be. This can be a problem not only for the home user, but a huge problem for business clients and their servers.
Just a few years ago, 100 gigabytes of hard drive space was more than anyone thought they would ever need. Today, laptop computers come with more than 500gb of storage, and terabyte laptop drives aren’t far away.
As applications like Microsoft’s PowerPoint become more powerful, the size of the files being saved grow larger and larger. If you are creating these files on your PC and saving the files locally to your hard drive you can quickly run out of space.
The ease and affordability of “thumb” or “flash” drives allows most users to save these files to removalable media and keep the local drive free to perform the other tasks required. Servers on the other hand are a different story.
Most servers are used for file storage. The data created by all the users on the network is stored on the server. This allows multiple users access to spreadsheets, Word documents or PowerPoint presentations.
They can open the file, make their changes, and save the file back to a common storage space on the server. Most, if not all, of these files are important and more than likely will be used over and over again.
I have found that most of my clients can not move these files to a removable storage device, as they need access to the file almost on a daily basis.
That means the file needs to be on the server and accessible to all users, all the time. Each of these files requires space on the hard drive. If you’re using shadow copies to keep older files in case something becomes corrupt (or someone deletes something accidentally in the application), before you know it, your server is running out of room.
Most of the servers I deal with have separate areas of the hard drive called “partitions” that have the operating system (“OS” )separate from the data storage area. This allows technicians to come in, once the data area or OS partitions start to get full and install a new drive.
We have the ability at Tech Experts to take a server that may have originally had a 100GB hard drive and install a drive with a capacity that will allow you to store information for months to come.
Notice how I said “months to come.” It never fails to amaze me how fast server storage can fill up with data. I have written in previous articles how important it is to back this data up, but it is just as important to make sure you have enough room on your server for both file storage as well as the OS.
Microsoft releases updates to all operating systems continually to keep your systems secure and operating at the best possible speed. Having the room required to install these updates is vital to the health of your network and the productivity of your business.
When it becomes necessary to upgrade your server’s storage with more capacity, we can perform this task with minimal amount of downtime and with an eye toward the future to insure your investment in the server will be well worth it.