We need to know that the biggest feature of a LAN is that it can achieve the best utilization of resources, such as: sharing disk devices, printers, etc., so that files can be called to each other within the established LAN and can be accessed at any time Print on a shared printer; of course, we can also use software such as Wingate or Sygate to share a Modem with multiple machines to access the Internet; or connect to the Internet through a proxy server to enjoy extraordinary speeds. If you have more than one computer at home, and if you want to upgrade your computer game room to an Internet cafe, then you have to consider connecting them into a LAN.
Don’t think it’s difficult. In fact, if we just set up a small local area network, we only need to buy a few network cards and some data cables, and we can have enough food and clothing by ourselves. We know that Win98 has built-in point-to-point (pc to pc) network configuration capabilities, which makes it easy to establish a small network. If your LAN has many computers, then you need a mature network operating system to manage the network, such as WinNT, Netware or Linux, etc.
Serial and parallel port communication networking
If you just want to connect two PCs equipped with Windows series operating systems, we can directly use the serial and parallel ports of the computer to Communication cable (pc to pc), after connecting the two computers, select Microsoft's "Dial-up Network Adapter" in "Adapter" under "Control Panel/Network" in Windows and "IPX/SPX Compatible Protocol" in "Protocol" ” and “NetBEUI Protocol”. Then start the "Control Panel", select "Add/Remove Programs", click "Install Windows Programs", select "Communications", click "Direct Cable Connection", and then use the Windows installation disk to install. After installation, restart your computer. Select a computer as the host, right-click a drive (such as C drive) in the host's "My Computer", select "Special Sharing", and select the optimal sharing level. Run "Direct Cable Connection" in the accessories of both machines, and on the host machine, select the communication port used. Select another computer as the client, follow the prompts, wait a moment, and the connection is completed. Open "Network Neighborhood" on the "Client" desktop, and you will find that you are no longer alone. You can access your host through "Network Neighborhood", or you can map the network drive to yourself through the "Map Network Drive" method. Virtual physical drive, what's even better is that if the host you are connected to is already on the LAN, you can also access all online resources through the host. And when you visit, it does not affect the normal work of the host, which is especially beneficial to laptop users.
Network card communication and networking
When there are more than two computers (PC), you need to use network cards, network cables and hubs (HUB). If there is no network card in the LAN, it is like a river without bridges on both sides. Network card is the abbreviation of NIC (NETWORK Interface Card), which is one of the most basic components of a local area network. The network card is installed in the expansion slot of network computers and servers and serves as the physical interface between the computer and the network. Therefore, it can simply be said that the network card is a bridge for receiving and transmitting data. According to the transmission rate, network cards can be divided into: 10Mbps network card (ISA socket or PCI socket), 100Mbps PCI socket network card, 10Mbps/100Mbps adaptive network card and Gigabit network card. At present, the 10Mbps ISA socket network card still occupies a certain market share with its low price. However, due to the low network transmission rate of the 10Mbps ISA socket network card and occupying a large amount of CPU resources, it is only suitable for those LANs that do not have high speed requirements. I recommend using a 100Mbps PCI socket network card or a 10Mbps/100Mbps adaptive network card. It is not expensive and can be adapted to application environments with a large number of users, large amounts of data transmitted over the Internet, and multimedia information transmission.
When choosing a network cable, you must first look at the interface type of the network card you purchased. There are two types of network card interfaces (RJ45 and BNC): the BNC port uses a thin coaxial cable as the transmission medium. Network card interface. RJ45 is a network card interface that uses twisted pair cable as the transmission medium. The interface of RJ45 is similar to the interface of a telephone line, but the network cable uses an 8-core connector. The disadvantage of using RJ45 is that the installation cost is high, but installation and maintenance are more convenient. , so we generally use the RJ45 interface. Hub (HU): Depending on the number of microcomputers, HUB is used to form a star structure. When there are many workstations, the processing rate of HUB will be far lower than the transmission speed of the communication line, causing a bottleneck problem. Therefore, if conditions permit, Choose a switch. The domain formed by a Hub is called a collision domain. That is to say, when any computer on the network sends and receives data, all other computers can receive it, and these computers cannot send and receive data at the same time, otherwise it will happen. Collision (CSMA/CD protocol prevents collision).
In addition, each computer connected to the Hub must detect the destination address of the received data to confirm whether it has received its own communication information. Therefore, the computer CPU usage is high and the communication efficiency of the entire network is low. It is only suitable for small workgroup levels. application.
The functions of a hub HUB or switch:
(1) Each twisted pair interface is only connected to one workstation (network card), and signals are transmitted point-to-point.
(2) When a certain port receives a signal, HUB reshapes it and broadcasts it to every other port.
(3)HUB itself can automatically detect signal collisions and immediately send out a jam signal to notify other ports when a collision occurs.
(4) When the transmission line or network card of a certain port fails, the HUB automatically isolates the port so that it does not affect the normal operation of other ports. Because the current 100MB switch is very cheap, it is generally Choose a 100Mbps network card and a 100M switch.
The components required for the LAN are all ready. Now let’s follow me step by step to set up a LAN bar based on Windows2000 Professional, the most stable personal operating system at the moment.
Steps to connect to the LAN:
1. Install the network card. Turn off the computer, open the case, find a free PCI slot (usually a short white slot), insert the network card, and tighten the screws.
2. Connect the network cable. Plug one end of the network cable into the network card connector and the other end into the switch or HUB.
3. Install the network card driver. Turn on the computer and the operating system will detect the network card and prompt you to insert the driver disk. Insert the driver disk sold with the network card and click "Next". After Windows finds the driver, a confirmation screen will be displayed. Click "Next". If Windows does not find the driver, click the Browse button in the Device Driver Wizard to specify the location of the drive. If your driver is not the latest version, you can open "Device Management", run the "Update Device Driver Wizard", double-click "Network Adapter", then select your network card, select the "Driver" button, and click "Upgrade" Driver" button. Windows will prompt you to insert the Windows installation disk, just follow the prompts. You must also give each computer on the network a unique name and the same workgroup name (such as the default Workgroup) before restarting the computer. The specific operation is to right-click on the "My Computer" icon on the desktop and click "Properties". In the pop-up dialog box, click "Network Identification", then click "Properties", fill in the machine name you want to specify in the "Computer" name, fill in the unified workgroup name in the workgroup, and click OK to complete.
4. Install the necessary network protocols. Right-click on the "Network Neighborhood" icon on the desktop, click "Properties", right-click on the "Local Area Connection" icon, click "Install" in the pop-up properties dialog box, double-click "Protocol" to install "Internet Protocol (TCP)" /IP)", double-click "Client" to install "Microsoft Network Client", and restart the computer.
5. Realize network sharing. Right-click on the "Network Neighborhood" icon on the desktop, click "Properties", right-click on the "Local Area Connection" icon, click "Install" in the pop-up properties dialog box, double-click "Services" to install "Microsoft Network Files" "Shared with the printer", click "OK", these settings will not take effect until the computer is restarted. If you want to *share a drive or directory, open "My Computer" in the explorer or on the desktop, right-click the drive or directory you want to *share, select "***Share", and fill in the appropriate information. content. If you choose to share the entire drive, all directories under the drive are network shared. Open the "Network Neighborhood" icon to get a list of computers on the network. Double-click the computer you want to access to access the drive. To map a network drive, consult the Windows Help file. If you have problems accessing a printer or other computer over the network, please check your network cable connection to ensure that the connection and sharing settings are correct.
6. Set an optional startup password. When you start the computer for the first time after installing the network driver, a dialog box will pop up prompting you to enter the user and password of the Microsoft network. Type your username and it will automatically appear every time you start your computer (you can use the computer name specified in step three). If you do not want to set a password, leave the password line blank and click "OK", otherwise type in the password and confirm the password. If the entered password does not match the set password, the computer can run the operating system locally but cannot share resources online.