Mashed Articles

Writen by Jeff Heaton

Home networks are becoming more common. People want to be able to share a single broadband Internet connection to several computers in the house. There are many different devices that you can use to make up your home network. If you have never heard network terminology device names like router, hub, etc may seem confusing.

The purpose of most of these devices are to control how the network passes around information. This information is sent in the form of “packets”. I will refer to the term packet several times in this article. It simply means the data that the network is transporting. I will now explain the purpose of the major components of a home network.

What is a Hub

A hub is a device that has several Ethernet ports on the back of the device. One of these ports will likely be labeled “Uplink”. This port allows you to connect multiple hubs together, if you run out of ports on your hub. If you do not have an uplink port on your hub, the hub can not be easily extended if you run out of ports.

A hub is a device that attaches multiple computers on an Ethernet network. If you have a number different computers that you want to connect together, you could connect each to the hub. Any packet that is sent out by any computer on the network will immediately be transmitted to the other computers. Each computer will determine if the packet was really intended for it, and filter out packets that were intended for other computers.

You really should not use a hub in a modern home network. You should always use a switch in place of a hub. Switches will be discussed in the next section.

What is a Switch

A switch is a device that has several Ethernet ports on the back of the device. One of these ports will likely be labeled “Uplink”. This port allows you to connect multiple switches together, if you run out of ports on your switch. If you do not have an uplink port on your switch, the switch can not be easily extended if you run out of ports.

A switch serves the same function as a hub. It allows you to connect multiple computers together, so that they can exchange packets. However, a switch is much more efficient than a hub. A switch will only send Ethernet packets to the computer that the packet was intended for. Because of this you should always use a switch in place of a hub.

What is a Router

A router is a device that has several Ethernet ports on the back of the device. One of the connectors will be labeled WAN. You should connect the WAN port to the Ethernet connection on a broadband source, such as a cable or DSL modem. The other ports on the router can be connected other computers or switches/hubs that will share the WAN connection.

Routers allow you to share your broadband connection with multiple computers in your house. Rather than connecting your computer directly into your cable or DSL modem you connect the router to the cable or DSL modem. Now any computer that you connect to the router will have access to the Internet.

If you run out of ports on your router you can always connect an additional switch to the router. To connect a switch to a router simply connect the switch’s “uplink” port to one of the routers Ethernet ports. Of course, don’t connect to the router’s WAN port. The WAN port should only be connected to something such as a cable or DSL router.

Some routers come with additional features installed. Most routers also include a firewall. Firewalls are discussed in the next section. Some routers will also include a wireless access point (WAP). The WAP allows you to use wireless devices, such as wireless laptops, with the Internet.

What is a Firewall

A firewall controls traffic flow between your network and the Internet. A firewall can be either hardware or software. Windows XP SP2 or higher includes a software firewall. A hardware firewall is included with most routers.

A firewall is a very good idea. It can protect you from inbound virus attempts. By inbound virus attempt I mean other computers that will connect to your computer and attempt to infect your computer. You do not want to run a computer directly connected to the Internet, without a firewall. There are just too many other computers out there that can connect and infect you without you even noticing.

What is a Network Attached Storage (NAS)

A network attached storage device is s device that allows a hard drive to be shared across the network. This hard drive is NOT attached to any of your computers. It is simply made available by the NAS. This can be a convent way to add a hard drive that can be accessed by several computers on your network. The other common way to add a network hard drive is to simply share a folder on one of your computers. However, with the NAS, you do not need to keep one of your computers on at all times.

There are two types of NAS commonly available. The first type comes with a build in hard drive. The second accepts a USB or Firewire external hard drive. The advantage to using a USB or Firewire hard drive is that you can upgrade the hard drive if it ever were to become too small.

What is a Print Server

Just like you can buy a device to allow you to share a hard drive, you can do the same with a printer. A print server connects directly to your printer. Your printer is then shared to all of your computers on the network. This is convent because you do not need to leave the printer hooked to a computer, which must be turned on to print.

Conclusions

As you can see there are many different components. Perhaps the final component that I have yet to mention is the cable. These components are connected together with CAT5 Ethernet cable.

You are now ready to pick out the components for your home network!

Jeff Heaton is author, consultant and college instructor. Jeff maintains the “Heaton Research” website that contains many Java tutorials and other computer programming information.

Writen by Josh Riverside

A “rack” is designed to hold items, and it is usually on a two-post or four-post frame. So a server rack is a frame that contains server components. The new server racks are designed to hold the servers and also to cool them and other electronic equipment by allowing air to flow in a front-to-back direction.

Server racks come in various shapes and sizes, adhering to the needs of a prospective customer. A customer can design his own server rack according to the viable space he has to accommodate the rack. The price of server racks range from $153 to $265 with and without additional options. The Open Frame Server Racks have sizes from 24U to 50U. These racks have an optional caster kit, and a 2Post Server Rack is also available with large datacenter installations. The cost of 24U server rack starts from $429, and that of 50U server rack starts from $469. Normally, most server racks should meet with EIA standards.

Server racks generally come with advanced features such as cooling, power distribution, and cable management for servers and networking applications for IT atmosphere. The rugged, fully welded CORACK comes with unique features such as 180 degree door hinges, curved door, flush latch, etc. Server racks are mostly designed with smoother edges to reduce cable damage and chaffing. Some primary advantages of server racks are improving cabling management, providing superior physical security, and easy hardware maintenance. Modern designs provide accommodations for keyboard, video, mouse switches, Ethernet hubs, etc. These server racks also come with a high-tech appearance.

Server racks of the utmost premium quality can be equipped with multiple shelves, glide-mounted drawers, or keyboard shelves with ambidextrous mouse trays, etc. When servers are locked up into a rack, the risk of server knocking is avoided.

Server racks ensure that your servers stay up and running and are safe. Online shopping is the best way to shop for a server rack, as you can compare several types, models, and brands of server racks, so that you find what that will work for you based on your desired configuration, security, capacity, and other features.

Server Racks provides detailed information on Server Racks, Computer Server Racks, LAN Server Racks, Vertical Server Rack Storage and more. Server Racks is affiliated with Hard Drive Data Recovery.

Writen by Mansi Aggarwal

Human beings are scaling new heights day by day. Markets are becoming more and more complex and competitive. Companies launch new products, market them, but even then are not sure if their product will match the taste, need and pocket of the consumer. This is because numerous brands are associated with a single commodity. Some companies try to win the consumer’s heart via a low price while a few others offer an impeccable quality at significantly good amount. But at the end of the day what matters to the consumer is how the products minimizes the labor, enhances the work and its durability. This article will shed light on some of the eminent and world’s top quality products called ‘Ergo Products’. There are a wide variety of ergo products. They range from keyboards, mice, armchairs to keyboard stickers, footrests, foot switches etc. The ergo products one amongst the largely used ones nowadays . The reason being their consumer friendly nature and their troubleshooting strategy.

1. The first and foremost widely used ergo product besides many others is the ergo keyboard. These keyboards come in different shapes, sizes and colors. For instance there are Ergo Flex Keyboards, Comfort Track 35 PM, Evolution Desktop, Pace Keyboard and so forth. These keyboards provide different advantages and come in varying but affordable price range.

The main and basic advantage of the ergo keyboards is that they are designed in such a fashion that they reduce the threat of various problems that may afflict those who work on online for hours together. They are made keeping in mind the excess strain on user’s arms and hands while working. Quite often the extra exertion results in chronic disorders such as tennis elbow, tendinits and the like. These disorders are mainly read under the name of CTDs i.e. cumulative trauma disorders. It is not just the posture of the hands that is distorted but also the entire body that gets uncomfortable due to it.

So, the ergo keyboards are mainly concerned with safeguarding you against the musculoskeletal (MSD) ailments. The large list of ergo users have revealed that how these keyboards have enhanced their work proficiency and comfort. Their feather touch keys and other comforts make the work easy and stress free for the users.

2. Ergo products focus on the all round health of its users. This is made evident by the uniquely designed and convenient ergonomic chairs. Two most popular ergo chairs are the Salli Saddle Chair Classic and the Salli Saddle Chair Twin. Both these are at the same manageable price of $ 345. Some of the few of the many advantages of the ergonomic chairs are the –

* The height of these chairs can be adjusted according to that of the person seated on them. This enables the person to have the ground support even with a small height.

* The depth of seat can also be altered to allow shorter as well as taller people take the backrest support.

* The backrest height can also be adjusted as suitable to the user.

* There are facilities if accommodating the lumbar support to prevent the frequently occurring problem of flattening of lumbar spine.

* What more, even the height and width of the padded armrests can be modified to met the comfort of one’s shoulders and upper arms.

3. Last but not the least are the super beneficial ergonomic mice. There are again different kinds of these. The Graphical Tablet, Quill Mouse, Zero Tension mouse and the Evoluent Vertical Mouse to name a few. The mice have the merit of giving total relax and minimum exertion to the user’s palm, fingers and forearms. With these ergonomic mice you can bid goodbye to the aching palms and tired fingers. A simple touch or clicking the button will do maximum of your work and will save you from the trouble of rotating the mice here and pressurizing your forearm.

This is not all for the ergonomic products. There are many others that have not been mentioned and perhaps cannot be enumerated in a single go. A lot of information is available online regarding them. So waiting for what…go “ergo”..!

Mansi aggarwal writes about Ergonomic Products .

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