The Essential Guide to Networking

Preface

Computer technology seems to completely change every 18 months, and network technology is leading this change. Stop and think for a moment how much you depend on network technology. If you're like me, you probably have a difficult time answering that question because networking is something you don't see and most of us don't touch.

Yet if I asked you how many times you send and receive e-mails every day or how many hours a day you surf the Internet, then you probably would have no difficulty answering. E-mail and the Internet are just two ways we use networking technology every day.

Now for the million dollar question: Do you know how networks work? Take your time answering. Remember, you still have your "lifelines" available. If your answer is no, then you're reading the right book.

Most of us know little or nothing about networks unless we work closely with the technicians who maintain them for our company. However, we're forced to interact with network technology whenever the network goes down, leaving us disconnected from our files and e-mails.

A help desk technician talks network mumbo jumbo to us as he or she tries to get us back online. It's tough to admit, but even the office guru probably doesn't have a clue about what the technicians are doing. I know this for a fact because I was one of those office gurus—and that's the reason I wrote this book. I hung around with networking professionals for about a year and discovered networks interested me enough to become an expert. I'd rather be on the complaining end of a call instead of having to track down a problem in the miles of network cables and the hundreds of network devices that keep data flowing through my company.

To help you understand networks, my objective when writing this book was to make the text plain, simple, and easy to understand. As you read through this book and develop your own understanding of how networks work, I think you'll find that I met my goal.

I begin with basic school science that illustrates how an electronic signal is generated. Don't worry—I purposely left out math problems. If you can turn a light switch on and off, then you'll be fine.

After that, I lead you on a clear, straight path that takes you to local area networks and wide area networks technology and a rare look behind the scenes at the Internet. Your journey will be peppered with a few humorous stories that I picked up while I was writing this book.

The last few chapters are devoted to the business side of networking, and I take you on a tour of the movers and shakers who decide how networks operate. You'll recognize a few of the companies as those that are the pride of tech stock traders. Many are not household names, yet have a dramatic role in network and Internet technologies. I'm sure anyone who has remotely followed tech stocks will enjoy this look at the networking industry.

If you're a network technician or want to become a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, then don't read this book. Instead pick up a copy of my Core MCSE: Networking Essentials, which is a Microsoft Certified-approved study guide designed for studying for the certification tests.

If you're a nontechnical person interested in learning more about networks, then read this book. It's the best way to learn about networking without having to sift through technical stuff you don't need to know.

This book is ideal for anyone who is responsible for administrating network services for an organization and for salespeople, law firms, research organizations, marketing personnel, human resources professionals, project managers, networking managers, and high-level administrators. It will give you the knowledge you need to effectively communicate and understand networking language. And as we evolve farther into a network-centric world, the importance of such a skill is going to be increasingly more apparent and important.

JAMES KEOGH has written more than 45 computer books, including Core MCSE: Networking Essentials (Prentice Hall PTR). He spent over a decade developing mission-critical systems for top Wall Street firms. Keogh chairs the Electronic Commerce track at Columbia University and serves on the graduate school faculty of Saint Peter's College in Jersey City, NJ, where he teaches networking.

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