tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53566936387358624532024-03-12T16:37:55.623-07:00Digital TutorialsTutorials on computers, networking, software and hardware for beginners.Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10465937024456818391noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356693638735862453.post-42755003781669825392012-02-04T09:12:00.000-08:002012-02-04T09:12:15.358-08:00Basic Hardware (Easy)<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Basic Hardware explained</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">A computer is made up of many different components and all have a different role to play in order for the computer to work.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b> </b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>The Motherboard</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b> </b>The motherboard is the putty that allows the components to connect to each other. Think of the motherboard as a house. You can buy a new sofa for your house and it will fit perfectly, but without the house the sofa would be useless as it would get rained on etc. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">When you are building your own computer, the first component to look for should be the motherboard because the type of motherboard you get will depend on what type of hard drive you can get (IDE/SATA), RAM (DDR2/DDR3) etc.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>The GPU (Graphics processing unit)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">This is<b> </b>what fuels your monitor. Without a graphics card you would not be able to use a monitor with your computer. Old motherboards have integrated graphics with allow a visual display of the computer. If you want to use the latest games, graphics software or editing software then the integrated graphics will not work.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b> </b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>The CPU (central processing unit or Processor)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">This component allows process to occur on your computer. The bigger/better (3Ghz) the processor, the more processes it can handle<b>. </b>This device gets very hot and the computer shouldn't be started without the processor having either a heat sink or a fan above it.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>The Hard Disk Drive</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">This is where all of the information is stored. The operating system is stored here and all of your pictures and videos. Hard drives use magnets to retrieve the data that is written on them.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br />
</b>Depending on the hard drive you get you will find that they spin at different speeds and vary in size (500mb, 1TB, 3TB etc.). When you see a specification of a hard disk drive saying that it spins at 7500rpm it means that is the number of times it spins in revolutions per minute. The faster the HDD spins, the faster information is retrieved from it. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b> </b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>The RAM</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">RAM stands for Random Access Memory. It is where the CPU can read, write and access data.</div><div style="text-align: left;">All information stored in RAM is lost when the computer is shutdown.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>The Power supply</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">This provides power for the computer. When building a computer, you have to consider the types of components you are using and their power consumption.<b> </b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b> </b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>The CD/DVD Drive</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">The CD/DVD drive is usually located at the top of the computer at the front. Here you can put in disks and the computer will read them.<b> </b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Expansion card slots </b></div><div style="text-align: left;">PCI stands for "Peripheral Component Interconnect". On a typical motherboard you will find PCI slots along with PCI-E slots where the "E" stands for express. These slots are faster than the normal PCI slots. They are usually for expansion cards that require faster speeds such as network cards or GPU cards.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>North Bridge </b></div><div style="text-align: left;">The North Bridge is controls communication of all the faster devices on a motherboard e.g. CPU, GPU,PCI-E slots etc. The north bridge closer to the processor than the south bridge.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>The South Bridge</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">This device speeds up and slows down communication speeds of the slower devices on the computer e.g. PCI slots, USB, Front panel, audio etc.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;"><i style="background-color: #f7f7f7; color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Verdana,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </i></div>Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10465937024456818391noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356693638735862453.post-85963648310811666382012-01-17T13:44:00.000-08:002012-01-17T13:44:27.878-08:00Hardware (Easy)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Hardware</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The Back of a PC</b></span> </span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AQCaGB6hvyM/TxW0Ud4FqKI/AAAAAAAAAC4/L3Fvtd82jOU/s1600/IMG_0234EDITED.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AQCaGB6hvyM/TxW0Ud4FqKI/AAAAAAAAAC4/L3Fvtd82jOU/s320/IMG_0234EDITED.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jBikt0C3QjE/TxW0xGAEtSI/AAAAAAAAADA/IME0qWEXa60/s1600/IMG_0236EDIT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div> The photo above is a picture of the back of my old dusty PC. You will find these basic/common ports on most computers.<br />
Look at the numbers in the picture to find out what ports they are. <br />
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1. These are PS2 ports. The purple colored port is for keyboards and the green is for mice. You wont find these ports on the latest computers as the keyboard and mouse connect via USB.<br />
2. This port is called a VGA port for VGA cables. VGA cables are what hook up to your monitor and allow you to see an image on your screen. Depending on your computer, your VGA port will be located on your graphics card along with DVI and HDMI unless it is integrated onto the motherboard (most laptops will be integrated)<br />
3. These are USB ports to allow other connections to be made to the computer such as external hard drives, flash drives, cameras etc.<br />
4. This is a RJ45 port or a Ethernet port for an Ethernet cable. Ethernet cables allow connections to other network devices such as a router or another PC.<br />
5. These are the audio ports. You have the mic port and the headphone/stereo<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_6yENCGKMsU/TxWzwJkPA1I/AAAAAAAAACw/JcicZvvT-wM/s1600/IMG_0233EDITED.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_6yENCGKMsU/TxWzwJkPA1I/AAAAAAAAACw/JcicZvvT-wM/s320/IMG_0233EDITED.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This is the motherboard of my old PC.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">1. PCI Slots</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">2. South Bridge</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">3. PCI Express Slots</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">4. North Bridge</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">5. CPU Fan (on top of the CPU or Processor) </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">6. RAM Slots (Memory)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">7. Back Ports</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jBikt0C3QjE/TxW0xGAEtSI/AAAAAAAAADA/IME0qWEXa60/s1600/IMG_0236EDIT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jBikt0C3QjE/TxW0xGAEtSI/AAAAAAAAADA/IME0qWEXa60/s320/IMG_0236EDIT.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This is my current PC.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">1. Power supply</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">2. PCI Slots with a network interface card</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">3. PCI Express card - USB Controller</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">4. Graphics Card</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">5. Hard Disk Drive</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">6. RAM Slots</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_6yENCGKMsU/TxWzwJkPA1I/AAAAAAAAACw/JcicZvvT-wM/s1600/IMG_0233EDITED.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ui6w3PV52Ns/TxW1MvVYylI/AAAAAAAAADI/4BUO2bv4UyU/s1600/IMG_0237EDITED.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ui6w3PV52Ns/TxW1MvVYylI/AAAAAAAAADI/4BUO2bv4UyU/s320/IMG_0237EDITED.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
The top half of my PC.<br />
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1. CPU Heat Sink on top of CPU<br />
2. DVD Drive<br />
3. RAM Slots<br />
4. Fans that are part of the case. (total of 4 fans)<br />
5. Back Ports<br />
6. North Bridge.<br />
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In my next hardware post, I will explain what the purpose of these components are.<br />
This post should give you some information on the basic structure of a mother board and name some of the major components. There are many different types of components e.g. motherboards, graphic cards, processors etc. if your computer looks nothing like mine then this is why.Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10465937024456818391noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356693638735862453.post-72970008758596921262012-01-14T08:00:00.000-08:002012-01-14T08:00:48.308-08:00ProtocolsSatellite - STP stands for Satellite Transport Protocol. It has a low bandwidth and low connectivity<br />
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HTTP - Hypertext transfer protocol is used to communicate with the webpage and request the selected webpage.<br />
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IrDA - Infrared data association is a simplex communication as you aren’t receiving any information back from it. An example of an IrDA protocol would be the one used in remote control. This type of communication needs to have line of sight.<br />
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Cellular radio/network - Cellular radio is a simplex communication as radio waves don’t pick up any responses. This broadcasts a message that most media devices can pick up.<br />
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GSM/UMTS - (Global System for Mobile communication) is a standard for describing 2nd generation digital cellular networks (2G).<br />
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IEEE WiFi802.11 standards - This is the standard that defines a wireless interface between the clients. This specific wireless standard is used for WLANs (wireless local area network) The IEEE stands for Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.<br />
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TCP/IP - Transfer control protocol. This protocol is used for sending and receiving information over the internet. This protocol requires information to be sent back confirming that the first packet was sent and arrived correctly without any corruptions.<br />
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Ethernet - Ethernet is a network communication standard and is used to create LANs. They transmit at speeds between 10mb/s and 100mb/s.<br />
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Frame Relay - Frame Relay is a protocol standard for local area network. It is used for fast transmitting.<br />
They travel through virtual circuits. This means they take the logical paths from the origination. The frame relay protocol replaces the header of a packet with a 2 bit header and that contains the destination address. Frame relay increase reliability of the communication lines.<br />
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ATM - ATM protocol is used to support voice and data communications at high speeds.<br />
ATM uses the data link layer in the OSI model. Synchronous and Asynchronous.<br />
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Token Ring - Token ring is where the computers are connected in a ring called a LAN.<br />
It is used to stop any collision in the network as all the traffic goes one way. This can be slow for the network.<br />
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UDP - UDP stands for User Data protocol. This, like TCP is a transportation protocol except that it doesn’t require a reply/confirmation for the next packet to be sent. This protocol uses less bandwidth than TCP. This protocol is used for online streaming etc. so you can get a smoother running picture instead of having to wait for it to buffer.Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10465937024456818391noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356693638735862453.post-87429399787281061142012-01-06T15:58:00.000-08:002012-01-06T15:58:16.903-08:00Features and Functions of information systems<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"> The Features and Functions</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Information is very important in business because you can see where you can make cuts in people’s jobs if you know the input, output and what’s required <br />
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The features of information systems are: data; people; hardware; software and telecommunications.<br />
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Data<br />
You need data for it to be processed into information. You need information to make business decisions. An example from the insignia scenario would be ideas from the client go to the design team and they process that to come up with a mock up of what the final project will look like. If the client wants to change the look or is not happy with it the process is repeated until the end user is happy with their product<br />
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People<br />
People are the process. Everyone has different ways of turning data into information unless they all have the same variable e.g. the number 2004 means different things to different people because they process it differently. People manage the data and without people you would not be able to input process data and get any output back into the business.<br />
Insignia rely on people to get the data from their clients <br />
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Hardware<br />
Hardware are the tools that you use to collect and use the information. These are the physical components. These need software to be able to get the job done. <br />
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Software<br />
Software could and is everything. Your brain is software because it tells your body (hardware) what to do. You need a human to collect the data and someone else to process it into information.<br />
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Telecommunications <br />
Telecommunication is data, people, hardware and software communicating together. If they did not communicate the business would loose money and you would not be able to get accurate data. E.g. software and hardware needs each other in order to be able to work, if they do not communicate the data could not be processed by the people. <br />
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The functions of information systems can be broken down into: input; storage; processing; output; control and closed and open systems. <br />
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Input<br />
Input is the data that you collect this data can be anything but it will not mean anything to anybody until it is processed. If processed in different ways it will mean different things to different people.<br />
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Storage<br />
The storage of information has to be secure especially if the information is about people then it falls under the data protection act. The storage has to keep the information safe but has to be accessible whenever the organization needs the information so easy access is essential. <br />
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Processing<br />
This is where the data gets turned into information so that you can understand it. Data can be processed in different ways such as the number 2010 will mean the year to some people and just a number to others.<br />
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Output<br />
Output is what you get out of something.<br />
If you are spending money on input but not getting any output it is not cost efficient.<br />
E.g. spending £500 on research that will only save you £200 in the future.<br />
Output can be different things such as money or feedback about your business.<br />
If you know the input and output of someone’s job you can see if what they do is a value for money. If it isn’t the business should get rid of it. Output comes from processed data.<br />
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Control<br />
This manages the behavior of other systems and produce a desired output.<br />
It controls a lot of the business. Its process is check, record, regulate, supervise, authenticate. It is a good management technique.<br />
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Feedback loops<br />
Insignia at the moment use this information technique. They get the design off of the client, improve it, run it by the client and make any changes to suit the client’s tastes. They do this process until the client is happy with their end product.<br />
This is a good process to do because you give the client exactly what they want instead of making something that they didn’t.<br />
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Closed and open systems<br />
Closed systems means that the business has a internal relationship E.g. they don’t talk about their profits or looses for the past year.<br />
An open system shares its information with the outside world allowing them to look at their profits and/or losses. Both systems have their advantages closed; you are not giving any information away to competitive businesses, Open; letting other people see your profits could create new business opportunities<br />
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<b>Types of information systems</b><br />
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Management information systems<br />
This system follows steps and plans a time schedule for the work that needs to be done. They allow the ability to collect vast amount of data for a business.<br />
This system allows for employees to be monitored so managers can see if any cuts to save money can be made.<br />
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Marketing (sales performance, competitors)<br />
This information system technique allows it to analyze marketing information. It gathers information all the time from sources inside and outside the business. E.g. from suppliers and from managers. This allows businesses to make decisions based on that information.<br />
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Financial<br />
This system is designed to meet the businesses financial obligations as they come near. It is designed to manage everything financial. It will keep a good margin of profit and pay the minimum expenses it can. <br />
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Human resources<br />
This manages workers payrolls, work time, benefits, HR management information system, recruiting, training, performance record, employee self service.<br />
This reduces the workload of the management.Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10465937024456818391noreply@blogger.com66tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356693638735862453.post-21823525300911840492012-01-02T08:02:00.000-08:002012-01-02T08:02:37.313-08:00Characteristics of good information<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Good information</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Accurate </b><br />
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Information has to be accurate in order for it to be valid. <br />
The information wouldn’t be any good to anybody if it wasn’t.<br />
You wouldn’t be able to make decisions based on that information. More <br />
Accurate information means more accurate decisions made.<br />
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<b> Relevant</b> </div><div style="text-align: left;"> The information has to be relevant. If you want to find out information on a business’s work force and you are told about their suppliers it won’t be helpful. This issue <br />
Of your researchers knowing what information to collect so communication is also vital.<br />
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<b>Up to date</b><br />
Information isn’t any good if it isn’t up to date. This is very important so businesses can keep on top of information so they can make decisions and plan their business.<br />
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<b> Timely</b><br />
Information is a waste if you get the information a week after you wanted it so you </div><div style="text-align: left;">can’t do anything with the information. If you need information by 5:00 and you get it at 9:00 the information is useless and you can’t use it. Information has to be accurate and quick in order to be useful. <br />
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<b>Cost efficient </b><br />
If the research to get the information costs more than you will save with the information then it isn’t worth it. It isn’t a good business plan if you do this.<br />
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<b>Reliable</b><br />
Information has to come from a source that can be trusted or if not then should be cross checked to see if information is true. If the information is not reliable then using it to decide business decisions is a very bad idea.<br />
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<b>Accessible </b><br />
Information has to be accessible. The information is no good to you if you can’t see it. You can’t make decisions based on information that you can’t read. If a report you need is in another country it will not be any good to you to make any decisions.</div>Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10465937024456818391noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356693638735862453.post-46139713692151667492011-12-28T14:59:00.000-08:002012-12-02T09:13:54.817-08:00Converting IPv4 addresses into Binary (Hard)<b>What is Binary?</b><br />
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</b><br />
Binary is the language that the computer speaks in and it consists of zero's and one's e.g. 110100101101.<b><br />
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Without a protocol, these numbers would mean nothing. You need to tell the computer how to read the numbers e.g. 1010101111010 could mean nothing if the computer read it as text but a butterfly if read as a picture.<b><br />
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<b>Converting Binary into an IP4 and vise versa.</b><br />
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A IP4 address is made up of 32 bits (4 bytes) and consists of 4 sets of numbers that are 8 bits each (one digit is one bit - 11010010 = 8 bits/1 byte).<br />
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An IP address = 192.168.1.1 which would look something like 11001100.10100101.01101010.00101101 in binary.<br />
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The biggest IP address you can get is 255.255.255.255<br />
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To convert an IP into binary, you simply use the 8 numbers below to add up to the byte you want to convert.<br />
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128,64,32,16,8,4,2,1<br />
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e.g.<br />
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192.168.1.1 <br />
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192.<br />
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128 goes into 192, so we put a 1. We are now left with 64.<br />
then we go to the next number along which is a 64.<br />
64 - 64 = 0 so we put a 1.<br />
We have now reached 192 by adding the first 2 numbers together.<br />
Our conversion should look like this - 11000000.<br />
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11000000 = 192.<br />
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128.64.32.16.8.4.2.1<br />
1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0<br />
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And to convert it back you do the reverse.<br />
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This is quite hard to understand, especially because i am writing it down.<br />
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As always, if you have any questions please comment and i will answer you.<br />
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<b><br />
</b>Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10465937024456818391noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356693638735862453.post-83747014864182288822011-12-27T11:10:00.000-08:002011-12-30T10:30:30.901-08:00Factors that influence webstie performance.<div style="text-align: center;"><pre style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"> <span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Some Factors that influence website performance.</b></span></pre></div><pre style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"> </pre><pre style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">These are some factors that have to be taken into consideration when wanting to improve/create a connection or site. </pre><pre style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"> </pre><pre style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: large;">Clients side (your machine) - </span>
<b>Bandwidth/quality of connection</b> - the connection speed you have to the internet is going to be a huge factor in the time it takes to load webpages.</pre><pre style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><b>distance from the exchange </b>- the further the distance the lower the connection quality as the request has to travel further.</pre><pre style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><b>Browser</b> - some browsers are much faster than others (some are built for speed and some are built for utility)</pre><pre style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><b>Cache </b>- some browser's caches are better than others (cache remembers graphics/text on a website so it doesnt have to be downloaded again)</pre><pre style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><b>PC performance</b> - RAM, processor power etc. The better hardware you have the faster the requests can be sent to the webserver and the faster they can be recieved.</pre><pre style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><b>Anti virus</b> software can slow down if the site has to be scanned before hand.
network interface card - the better (bigger bandwidth it can hold) N.I.C is the faster the connection will be.</pre><pre style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><b>Wireless</b> - is there any interferance from anyother wireless devices and how far away from the router is the computer.</pre><pre style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><b>Wired cable</b>s - is there any interferance to the cabling (ethernet, UTP)
<span style="font-size: large;">Server side -</span>
<b>Number of clients accessing that site at any given time</b> - The more people you have trying to access your website the more slower the site will become (this factor depends on how much bandwidth/traffic your shared/dedicated web host has to use.</pre><pre style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><b>DOS attacks</b> - denial of service attacks are where someone requests a lot of information from the web server that the website cant handle so it goes down and noone else can use it
Amount of content/media and the size e.g. a page with hundreds of images on it will load slower than one with just text.</pre><pre style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><b>Quality of the code (HTML, CSS) </b>- The speed can be increased if the code is well written.</pre><pre style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><b>Qualtiy of server software </b>- The server software could slow down the site.
If the web server is shared or dedicated. If the server is shared then you are sharing web space with other websites so your bandwidth will be limited whereas if your site is being hosted on a dedicated server then it has as much bandwith as that server can provide.</pre><pre style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><b>Web server hardware</b> - the speed of the server RAM, processor is like the computer. The faster they are, the faster the clients webpage requests will be answered.
</pre>Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10465937024456818391noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356693638735862453.post-17826654642495227672011-12-26T07:12:00.000-08:002011-12-30T10:29:10.322-08:00Cloud computing<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>What is Cloud computing?</b></span></div><br />
Cloud computing is where you focus less on the physical hardware and more on storing information/ websites/ data online. Cloud computing is where you pay someone to host a server and but you only pay for what you use. E.g. when you buy a 10TB server and host your website on their. You are paying to run that server whereas with the cloud you only pay for what you use.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Costs less – Pay for what you need You giving someone else your information/ data and trusting them to keep it safe. <br />
Scalable – can increase/ decrease storage when needed Security, you are trusting someone to keep your data secure. <br />
Access data from anywhere <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b> <br />
Localized storage </b></span> </div> <br />
<b>Advantages </b> <br />
<br />
You are in control of your own data<br />
<br />
<b> Disadvantages </b><br />
<br />
Expensive to maintain and run <br />
costs more if you need more space <br />
You pay whether you are using the space or not. <br />
Can only access your data when you are in that network <br />
If the physical hardware is damaged (fire, water, stolen etc.) you can’t get it back <br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Cloud Computing</b></span></div><br />
<br />
<b>Advantages</b><br />
<br />
Costs less – Pay for what you need<br />
Scalable – can increase/ decrease storage when needed<br />
Access data from anywhere<br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Disadvantages</b><br />
<br />
You giving someone else your information/ data and trusting them to keep it safe.<br />
Security, you are trusting someone to keep your data secure.Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10465937024456818391noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356693638735862453.post-32293553639133400552011-12-25T10:45:00.000-08:002011-12-30T10:23:31.067-08:00IP Addresses and TCP/IP model (Hard)<div style="text-align: center;"><b>IP Addresses</b></div><br />
<b> What is an IP address?</b><br />
<br />
There are two types of IP addresses. We have used IPv4 addresses up until now but we are running out of IP addresses to give, so we have created IPv6 addresses. The "4" and the "6" relate to how many bits are in the address e.g. 4 = 255.255.255.255 (total of 32 bytes). IPv6 addresses also include letters as well as numbers.<br />
<br />
An IP address is given to each device whenever it accesses a network e.g. 192.48.3.12. Think of it as the computers identification.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>What is the format of an IP address?</b><br />
<br />
The format of an IP address consists of 4 different numbers separated by a full stop. Each number is a byte or 8 bits (total 4 bytes and 32 bits) The number is written in binary (01011) so the maximum number available as an IP address is 255.255.255.255.<br />
<br />
<b>Difference between a class A, B and C IP address.</b><br />
<br />
Class A – Each IP has a specific location that it is assigned to. They use the location and the network it will connect to. 192.168.48.5 ( 192 would be the network it connects to) Class A Is given to very large companies as there are a lot of IP addresses available.<br />
Class B – Is given to service providers and small companies like a college.<br />
Class C – Is given to small to mid-size companies.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>What are the four layers of the TCP/IP model?</b><br />
<br />
The four layers of the TCP/IP model are – <br />
Application<br />
Transport<br />
Internet<br />
Network access layer<br />
<br />
<b>Function of each of the four layers in the TCP/IP model with examples of Protocols for each layer.</b><br />
Application layer – This layer is what the user uses to send/request the packets e.g. FTP, SMTP.<br />
Transport layer – Sends the packets to the destination. This layer is responsible for checking to see if the packets arrived uncorrupted e.g. TCP/IP, UDP.<br />
Internet layer – Responsible for sending the data over a network.<br />
Network access layer – This is used to transfer data to different nodes on a network e.g. Ethernet, IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN.Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10465937024456818391noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356693638735862453.post-28151738414690595452011-12-24T11:22:00.000-08:002011-12-30T10:21:25.969-08:00Hardware Introduction (Beginner)<b>Differences between Desktops and Laptops</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<ul><li>Desktops are easily upgradeable whereas a laptop can be very difficult.</li>
<li>Desktops usually have better components than laptops<b> </b>meaning they are used for tasks that would be near impossible to run on a laptop<b></b></li>
<li>Desktops are not portable whereas laptops can be taken wherever you go<b></b></li>
<li>Laptops are used for word processing, games that don't require a lot of computer power, and browsing.</li>
<li> Desktops are used for video/photo editing, gaming (where graphics and frames per second count), and everything the laptop can do.</li>
</ul><br />
Computers need both hardware and software. Software couldn't be run without hardware and without software, hardware would be totally useless.<br />
<br />
Hardware is everything you can touch that is related to the computer e.g. a USB stick or a motherboard.<br />
<br />
<b>Peripherals.</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
Peripherals are any device that can connect to the computer but is not required for it to work.<br />
<br />
Examples of peripherals would be...<br />
<br />
<ol><li>Keyboard</li>
<li>Mouse</li>
<li>Monitor</li>
<li>Speakers</li>
<li>USB</li>
<li>Printers</li>
<li>Scanners</li>
<li>Webcams</li>
<li>Microphones</li>
<li>Speakers</li>
</ol><br />
USB (pendrive, flashdrive, storage stick)<br />
<br />
Universal serial bus and other mass storage device's allow for extra data to be stored. You can take these USB sticks and external hard drives everywhere you go and use them to back up any important work you have.Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10465937024456818391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356693638735862453.post-47536196791384629722011-12-23T09:11:00.000-08:002011-12-30T10:19:51.502-08:00Sizes and Packets (Hard) <b>Sizes</b><br />
<br />
8 bits = 1 byte<br />
1024 bytes = 1 Kilobyte (KB)<br />
1024 Kilobytes = 1 Megabyte (MB)<br />
1024 Megabytes = 1 Gigabyte (GB)<br />
1024 Gigabytes = 1 Terabyte (TP)<br />
<span style="background-color: #ededed; color: black; display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Verdana,Tahoma,Sans,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="background-color: #ededed; color: black; display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Verdana,Tahoma,Sans,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />
</span><br />
<br />
<b>Packets</b><br />
<b> </b> <br />
When a Device wants to send a message to another device, the information is sent in envelopes called packets. Packets are 8 bits or 1 byte in size.<br />
<br />
Each packet is sent simultaneously unless the connection is broken. <br />
<br />
<b>Packet structure</b><br />
<br />
A packet is broken into 3 parts; Header, body, and footer.<br />
<b> </b><br />
<b>Header</b><br />
<br />
Senders IP address - Address of where the packet was sent from.<br />
Destination IP address - Where the packet is going.<br />
Protocol - What protocol its using.<br />
Sequence number - Messages are too large to be sent in one packet so they are sent in multiple packets. The packets don't arrive at the destination in the right order so each packet is given a sequence number so that it can be put back into the right order when it gets to the destination.<br />
<br />
e.g.<br />
packet send order = 3,2,4,1<br />
packet receive order = 3,2,4,1<br />
packets order after sequence number has been read = 1,2,3,4<br />
<br />
<b>Body</b><br />
<br />
This is where the data being sent is stored.<br />
<b> </b><br />
<b> Footer</b><br />
<br />
Error correction -This is where the packet gives information to the receiving device to figure out if the data is corrupt or not (I will go over this in the protocol and general tutorial<br />
<b> </b>Data to show end of packet - This information tells the device that it is the end of the packet.<br />
<br />
<b>To sum up.</b><br />
<br />
<ul><li>Packets are 8 bits in size (1 bytes)</li>
<li>Packets contain a header, body and footer.</li>
</ul>Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10465937024456818391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356693638735862453.post-33844522943711386912011-12-20T06:00:00.000-08:002011-12-30T10:18:00.068-08:00Types of communication (Medium)<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Types of communication</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">When devices communicate they use one of three methods; Simplex, half-duplex and duplex (full duplex)<b>.</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Simplex</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b> </b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Simplex communication is one way communication. A television remote uses infrared to communicate with the television, This is simplex communication as the television isn't communicating back. In other words, simplex communication is like a single lane full of traffic where no other cars can come through the other way. Another example would be a keyboard or a mouse.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b> </b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Half-Duplex</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Half - Duplex is where devices can talk to each other but not at the same time. Imagine a single lane with traffic lights. A walkie talkie uses half duplex communication.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Duplex</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"> Duplex communication is where there are two lanes of traffic and both lanes can go in their own direction at the same time. An example of duplex communication would be a mobile phone</div>Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10465937024456818391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356693638735862453.post-21955877339447549322011-12-17T15:25:00.000-08:002011-12-30T10:17:00.457-08:00ISP's, Web hosting and Requesting a web page (Medium)<div style="text-align: center;"> <b>ISP's and Requesting a webpage.</b></div><br />
ISP<br />
The ISP (Internet Service Provider) is what you need in order to connect to the internet.<br />
Different ISP’s offer different deals and speeds. Orange, sky, Tesco and BT are all ISP’s and all have different speeds and deals depending on your location. Some ISP’s provide you with web hosting, domain names, routers and your own email e.g. Riley@tesco.co.uk<br />
<br />
Web hosting is where you host your website on a server. You can host a website on a server that you own but this requires knowledge and time. Most websites have their sites hosted by companies offering web hosting services.<br />
<br />
Web Hosting Services<br />
<br />
Web hosting is where you buy space on someone’s server that allows you to host a website. <br />
<br />
The website is hosted on a server which you access when you go to that web address. There are 2 types of web hosting servers – shared or dedicated. Shared means your website is being hosted on the same server as other peoples so you will have more limitations than dedicated servers such as bandwidth, traffic, web space etc. With a dedicated server you have a server for yourself and don’t share it with anyone so the security is much better and you don’t have to share bandwidth, traffic or web space with anyone else. <br />
Web hosting service is aimed at people who don’t have time or knowledge to host their website on their own server.<br />
Depending on what site/server you choose to host with you will get different deals such as bandwidth, server space, traffic and domain names. <br />
<br />
Some of the other features offered by web hosting sites are<br />
<br />
Sub domains these can be limited or unlimited <br />
<br />
Money back – some web hosting sites offer an anytime money back guarantee and others give a limited time.<br />
Email – some companies offer an option to have your own email address such as Riley@WEBSITENAMEHERE.co.uk<br />
<br />
Site builder – this is where you use the sites tools to create your webpage if you don’t know any code to do it yourself. This makes the design of the website much easier but it means you have to use a premade theme design.<br />
<br />
SSL certificate – Secure socket layer. This provides encryption between the web server and the internet (browser) to make sure that all data is secure.<br />
<br />
An example of a site that allows you to buy web space on their servers would be http://www.ipage.com. Sites like this provide package deals such as web hosting and domain names included. <br />
<br />
<br />
Domain Name Registration<br />
<br />
In order to make the website go live it needs an address so that people can view it. The domain name is the name of the site so it should be relevant to your company name <br />
e.g. www.fancythat.co.uk so that people can easily find your site when they search for it.<br />
A domain name can be bought from domain name registrars online such as www.godaddy.com.<br />
When people type in a web address into the address bar in their browser, a message is sent to their ISP and then onwards to the DNS (Domain Name Servers) which translates the domain name entered into the actual address (to view a website you need to get the page from a webserver which is an IP address, the DNS looks at the address enters and finds the IP) and then sends that information back to your computer. <br />
<br />
<br />
An example in detail.<br />
<br />
<br />
The client enters in a web address such as “http://uk.yahoo.com” this is sent to their router either through wired or wireless connection . It is then sent to the clients ISP which allows them to connect to the internet e.g. Talk Talk, BT and Orange etc. <br />
<br />
Before you can access the webhost server you need to look up the actual address of the site you want to visit. The actual name of the server you want to go to is an IP address but it is much easier to remember names than a long list of numbers. The DNS server takes the name of the site you want to go to and looks up the IP address and then sends that information back to the client through the clients ISP.<br />
Once the client has the actual address of the website they can request information from it and the information of the page are sent back to the client’s computer. <br />
<br />
Once they have been to the DNS to retrieve the real address of the web host server they then can access the web host server to retrieve the webpage which then displays inside your browser. This all happens in a matter of seconds/milliseconds depending on your connection speed (broadband or dial up ect).<br />
<br />
The main software tool the client uses to access a web page is a browser. A browser allows you to browse the internet. There are many different types of browser e.g. Google chrome, Internet explorer, Safari, Opera. This is where the webpage is displayed from the web host. All browsers use the same protocol - HTTP ( will go into protocols in later tutorials) this is a request and response communication method.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>To sum up.</b><br />
<ul><li><b> </b>ISP's (Internet service providers) - allow us to connect to the internet.</li>
<li>Shared severs - where your site is hosted with others.</li>
<li>Dedicated servers - Where you have a server for yourself.</li>
<li>A website name is not its "actual" address. A real address is a IP address of the web server its hosted on e.g. www.google.com - 74.125.79.104. We use names instead of numbers as names are much easier to remember.</li>
<li>DNS = Domain name servers</li>
<li>Method of viewing a webpage is.... Enter web page address e.g www.google.co.uk- message is sent from your computer to your router, through your ISP and to your DNS where the name of the website you entered is checked in a database to find its "actual" address. The "actual" address is then sent back to your computer where it request the webpage from the webserver with the address it just received from your DNS. The webpage is requested and then shown into your browser.</li>
</ul>Thank you for reading, If you have any questions i will be happy to answer them.Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10465937024456818391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356693638735862453.post-3258352710370961232011-12-16T14:43:00.000-08:002011-12-30T10:14:56.435-08:00Network Devices (Medium)<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Network Devices</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b> </b>There are many devices that can be used in a network and they all have different uses.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Your home network will have a router, computer/laptop (host) and other devices such as ipods, xbox, printers etc. These will all be connected to the router via a Ethernet cable or wireless.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Devices on a network explained.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
Hubs – A Hub allows different nodes on a network to connect to each other via Ethernet cables or wireless. When one node wants to send a message to another, all the nodes on the network are sent the message and they all ignore it unless it is the node that it was meant to go to. It is inefficient to do it this way when you look at switches…</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">Fast Hub - A fast Hub connects two hubs together, creating 2 networks out of one.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Fast switch - A fast Switch does exactly the same as a fast hub except for switches.</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vx2x0sgykQo/TuvJNXBGMGI/AAAAAAAAABU/76vvLSEf0hc/s1600/Untitled.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="145" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vx2x0sgykQo/TuvJNXBGMGI/AAAAAAAAABU/76vvLSEf0hc/s320/Untitled.png" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
<br />
Switches – Switches are like a Hub but when one node wants to send a message, the switch reads where the message is going to and sends it straight to that node. The other nodes don’t have to ignore the message. This is more efficient than the hub and wont send unnecessary packets.<br />
<br />
Bridges – Bridges connect two localized networks together. A bridge will look at the source address and destination address and decide whether to forward or filter the packet. It will look at a packet and see if it Is going to someone outside the network or someone in your network and if it has authorization. <br />
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Repeaters – Repeaters receive a message and repeat it at a higher strength. They do not break up the message, they recreate it and send it on again. The maximum number of repeaters you can use between two nodes is four. You cant use any more than four because there is not enough time to send a confirmation message back before another message is sent.<br />
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Routers – Routers are used to connect networks together e.g. the network you have at home ( computer, laptop, games console and IPod etc.) is connected to the Internet via your router (it has to go through the ISP before connecting though) This allows your devices on your network to request information from the Internet. They also filter out any unwanted packets going to your network through a port.</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
Servers - Servers are used to manage resources on a network. This includes email servers, ftp (file transfer), web (web hosting), print server etc. </div><div style="text-align: left;">Servers differ from hosts in that the server focuses on one specific task that you set it up with.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Printers - Devices that allow you to put an image from the computer onto paper or other material depending on what type of printer it is.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"> Hosts - The computers on the network that are called hosts or nodes. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Terminators - These go at the end of a bus network to stop the messages from bouncing back into the network and creating all kinds of problems. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">All these devices play a different part. They can all be used together in a network to create a bigger network.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The technical name for the Ethernet cable is called RJ45.</div><div style="text-align: left;">The technical name for the phone line cable which gets plugged into your phone and router is called RJ11.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>To sum up.</b><br />
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<ul><li>There are many different devices on a network and they all do different tasks.</li>
<li>The names of the devices are above, along with their description. ( Google them, learn what they look like and how to distinguish one from the other. I can't upload photos because i have't got any of these devices and copyright laws are crazy).</li>
<li>Ethernet cable = RJ45</li>
<li>Phone line cable = RJ11</li>
</ul>If you have any questions, please comment below. </div>Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10465937024456818391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356693638735862453.post-67732570679984492262011-12-15T15:38:00.000-08:002011-12-30T10:11:03.977-08:00Topologies (Medium)<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Network topologies.</b></div><br />
Network topologies are names for how the networks are setup (shape, description etc.)<br />
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The basic types of topologies are...<br />
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<ul><li>Bus.</li>
<li>Star</li>
<li>Tree</li>
<li>Ring</li>
<li>Mesh</li>
</ul><br />
<b>Bus.</b><br />
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A bus network can be described as one long network cable that has multiple cables coming off of it to the computers. Terminators are required at the end of the long network cable to stop any signals getting sent back.<br />
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Why you should have a Bus network.<br />
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It is cost efficient as you only need one cable.<br />
Costs much less than other topologies <br />
No hassle with tangled wires.<br />
Easy to install.<br />
Best suited for small networks.<br />
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Why you shouldn’t have a bus network.<br />
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If the cable gets damaged or broken the whole network will go down.<br />
All computers on the network will share bandwidth so performance will be slow.<br />
Limited cable length and hard to add new stations.<b><br />
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<b>Star.</b><br />
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A star network is one central switch, hub or computer which all other workstations connect to the central device. This network topology is the most common of all the other networks and is best suited for computers that are scattered around and can’t be connected with an Ethernet cable. <br />
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Why you should have a Star network.<br />
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Better performance, unlike the Bus network or ring network because data lines aren’t being shared with other work stations.<br />
Easy to install<br />
No interruptions to the network if stations are added or taken away.<br />
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Why you shouldn’t have a Star network <br />
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If the central device fails the network will go down.<br />
If one workstation is using up most of the central devices processing capacity.<br />
Network size is limited to amount of workstations that can connect to the central device.<br />
Performance of the network depends on the capabilities of the central device.<b> </b><br />
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<b>Tree.</b><br />
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<b> </b>A tree network is made when two or more star networks are connected. <br />
If one star network (the central hub) goes down all the computers in that star network will be effected but the other star networks will not. It connects the different star networks together by a wire exactly like the bus network does to connect all the different work stations/nodes.<br />
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Why you should have a tree network.<br />
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Easy to add and remove stations<br />
You can add whole star networks at one time to the network.<br />
Perfect for schools, universities and colleges.<br />
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Why you shouldn’t have a tree network.<br />
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A lot of cable is required.<br />
The network can get really big and be hard to manage.<br />
The length of the network depends on the length of the cable.<br />
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<b>Ring.</b><br />
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A ring network is a circle of computers that are all connected by one cable. Kind of like a bus network but the cable loops. In a ring network the data flows in all of the same direction, so there is no risk of packet collision.<br />
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Why you should have a ring network.<br />
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It’s faster than other network topologies because the data flows in one way.<br />
Cheap and easy to expand.<br />
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Why you shouldn’t have a ring network.<br />
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If the ring is broken then the whole network will go down.<br />
If extra workstations are added the network will slow down with more users.<br />
Network adapter cards are more expensive than Ethernet cards or hubs.<b> </b><br />
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<b>Mesh.</b><br />
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Mesh networking is where workstations are used as independent router. This is so the data can get transferred to the target location in the fastest way possible. If one connection is blocked either by being offline or having a cable damaged the network will allow data too “hop” to another workstation to find the next quickest route. It can be called a self healing network because it will find a connection if the one it is using breaks down.<br />
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Why you should get a mesh network.<br />
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Self healing <br />
Not dependent on a single switch or hub<br />
Perfect for lots of workstations<br />
If one connection fails the whole network does not go down.<br />
No traffic problems<br />
If one connection should fail it is easy to see where the failure happened as all nodes are connected to each other.<br />
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Why you shouldn’t have a mesh network.<br />
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A lot of cable is required to connect all the nodes together.<br />
Can be difficult when trying to connect all nodes together.<br />
Much more expensive than any of the other networks.<br />
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All network topologies have their advantages and disadvantages. They are all used in businesses, some more than others but it ultimately depends on what you want the network to do. I you want the network to be stable, a mesh network would be the most reliable or if you want a home network, then the star network is efficient.Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10465937024456818391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356693638735862453.post-16989009640081615772011-12-14T12:37:00.000-08:002011-12-30T10:09:15.237-08:00What are networks? (Beginner)If you are viewing this page then you are connected to the internet.<br />
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<b>What is the Internet?</b><br />
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The internet is a network of networks (a connection of networks that are joined together)<br />
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If you could see the internet, it would look something like this. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-u5N7CBtCG6c/TukEKAGgejI/AAAAAAAAAAk/B16A62CMg8U/s1600/img003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="209" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-u5N7CBtCG6c/TukEKAGgejI/AAAAAAAAAAk/B16A62CMg8U/s320/img003.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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The circles represents a web server.<br />
The point of this image is to demonstrate that no one controls the internet. When you (one of the squares) connects to Google (blue circle) you are connecting straight to their web server and requesting the page. When you search for YouTube through Google and click the link you are being sent to another web server (not always the circle next to it)<br />
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The Internet is a mesh of networks. "Mesh" is a network topology and i will cover it in the medium network tutorial. <br />
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<b>Home networks vs Business networks.</b><br />
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There is a difference between home and business networks as the purpose and requirements are different.<br />
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A home network is mainly used to connect to the internet and to other devices on your network (connecting your smartphone to your computer etc.)<br />
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Whereas a business network is mainly focused on connecting multiple computers together (depending on the size of the business, networks can have a range of 5-600+ computers on the network)<br />
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Your home network will look something like this...<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FVyKT5bsmmA/TujzIQTEUmI/AAAAAAAAAAU/x4igtGA9vPQ/s1600/img001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="281" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FVyKT5bsmmA/TujzIQTEUmI/AAAAAAAAAAU/x4igtGA9vPQ/s320/img001.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Artistic drawing of a typical home network.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
In this picture we see a number of devices connected to the router via wired or wireless connection.<br />
The router is the gateway to the internet. <br />
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A simple business network will look something like this...<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pE-Y1G5QVh0/Tuj8MvtANCI/AAAAAAAAAAc/NRWs3UUo9JM/s1600/img002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="217" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pE-Y1G5QVh0/Tuj8MvtANCI/AAAAAAAAAAc/NRWs3UUo9JM/s320/img002.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Artistic drawing of a simple business network.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
In this network we have a number of computers connecting to a switch.<br />
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A switch allows multiple devices to talk to one another.<br />
When Pc-1 wants to send a message to PC-2, the message goes through the switch and onto PC-2. <br />
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Also on the network we have a server. Servers can do different things depending on how they are set up. For example, they can be an email server, a web server, dynamic host control protocol, domain name server etc. (Don't worry if you don't know what those last two are, they will be explained in the medium network tutorial)<br />
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<u>Ports</u><br />
Ports are the slots where cables go to allow devices to connect to them. Ports can be found on your router, switch, hub, and computer.<br />
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Switches have a lot of ports, but if its a big network the switch can connect to another switch to allow more devices on the network. <br />
If we have a router connected then all of the computers on this network will be able to connect to the internet.<br />
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<br />
<b>To sum up.</b><br />
<br />
<ul><li>The Internet is a network of networks.</li>
<li>A router connects networks together and is a gateway to the internet.</li>
<li>A switch is a device that allows other devices to communicate with each other.</li>
<li>A port is where the cable fits into which in turn allows connections to be made.</li>
<li>Servers are used for many different tasks depending on what you need them for.</li>
</ul><br />
If you have any questions, feel free to ask below :)Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10465937024456818391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356693638735862453.post-87196141139407266942011-12-14T10:26:00.000-08:002011-12-30T10:06:16.834-08:00IntroductionHi, my name is Riley and i have decided to create a blog on everything i know about computers. When i first started learning about computers and networking, the websites weren't that helpful and were all laid out in massive chunks of text which was a pain to scan through. <br />
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In my tutorials i will try my hardest to explain everything as detailed and as simply as possible. <br />
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-RileyRileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10465937024456818391noreply@blogger.com0