Network Design |
| As any company grows there is a point at which more than one person needs
to access a file or device at the same time as someone else. This is where a network
can come in handy. Networks allow you to share files, printers, an internet
connection in fact almost any device or services that is connected to the network. |
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| A basic network could simply be the computers in the office all
connected to one another. A more complex setup could involve a
server from which files are centrally stored and backed up, print
jobs are controlled and access restricted. |
| The design of the network is operated on an individual basis, what
works for one company might not work for another. |
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Technologies |
| A top. what? |
The Oxford English Dictionary
describes it as: the way in which constituent parts are interrelated or arranged.
In this instance how computers are connected to one another. |
| The two you are most likely to come across are star and bus topologies. With a star topology
the computers are connected to a central hub or switch. Star topologies have gained
popularity over the last few years as the cost of equipment has come down. The drawback is if
the hub or switch fails the network is down. |
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| Bus topolgies differ from stars in that they need no central piece of hardware to control the
flow of data. A cable simply connects one machine to another in a chain. The drawback with the
bus network is if there is a break at any point in the cable the entire network stops working. |
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