vpnsite.net

‘Broadband’ is the general term used to refer to high-speed information transmission over networks, and nowadays is used increasingly to mean a fast Internet connection.

The term has more to do with the electrical waveform (’signal’) being transmitted. The signal can come to you through a variety of physical arrangements: a DSL line, a T1 line, a TV cable, a wireless link and even your utility power line.

Which physical arrangement is best for you depends a great deal on what is available in your geographical area and the price of each arrangement. You should do a comparison of speeds and costs and choose what is optimal for you. Just be sure you do not choose an ISDN line (because it is getting obsolete) or power line (because the technology is not mature, and it will be some years before the bugs are ironed out).

Live in a large city and want free wireless broadband Internet? Your wish is or will be granted! Almighty Google is busy fixing antennae to lampposts in major cities so that your computer can access the Internet much in the same way your mobile phone accesses your cellular network: almost anywhere in any city. Not only will you get driving directions to that restaurant you are going to, the maitre d’ will appear on a small screen and take your order as you drive.

~ Broadband’s Bag of Goodies ~

Broadband has brought a slew of valuable capabilities to the Internet:

1. Good Video

First of all, you can download smooth, non-jerky video. Consequently an increasing number of sites are including rich graphics, Flash and video to enhance the appeal of their messages. You can now download feature films from over 200,000 Web TV stations and watch them as they stream into your computer (”stream them”). No more trips to the video library and no more renting DVDs!

You can share your screen and talk with co-workers located at far-flung locations (or just relax and play Xbox or PS2 games with them). You can interact with them from the convenience of your home computer, and the need for a physical office can be dispensed with. This implies less travel in your car, less gasoline consumption and less pollution of the atmosphere by engine exhaust gases.

You can search online video archives with specialized search engines. This means you can download video that matches your chosen phrases. Examples would be “Nick Lachey singing ‘My Everything’ to Jessica Simpson”, “Oprah visiting Katrina victims” or “how to toss a thin pizza shell”. There is no longer a need to wait for your subject to be broadcast.

2. Cheap Long Distance

Broadband has enabled miracle of low-cost long-distance Internet telephony. This application is based on the renowned technology, VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). You can now speak to your loved ones or business associates in most other parts of the world for 2 cents a minute!

No more waiting for late nights or weekends to get those “free minutes” you can afford to call anytime. Additionally, the sound clarity is several times better than that of a conventional phone call voices are loud and clear with little or no background noise.

This means you can stay in touch more often. You can get news faster and offer advice without delay. For instance, a timely observation about a certain medical treatment could very well save the life of the person at the other end!

3. Always On

With Broadband, you are always connected to the Internet. No more dialing up and waiting to connect. The dialing time is freed up for you to use for other things.

In most cases, you get a telephone connection with the broadband connection, so you can simultaneously speak on the phone and surf the Internet. Your phone line will not be busy when you surf so that people can reach you even if you are online.

One important user of this constant connectivity is security. You can have inexpensive webcams mounted in various locations of your home or office and connect them to the Internet. Since your broadband connection is always ‘live’, you can monitor your house from anywhere, anytime. No more worrying when away from your desk or living room!

~ Conclusion ~

The day is not far when dial-up connections will be a rarity. If you have not yet upgraded to broadband, start working at doing so NOW. You will definitely not regret it.

John J Stockwell is an engineer with considerable experience in Internet technologies. Get even more information n broadband from his website at
http://broadband-aa.info

[tags]internet broadband phone connection, broadband cheap uk, Broadband phones, broadband support line li[/tags]

Introduction

This document explains topics relating to wireless networks. The main topics discussed include, what type of vulnerabilities exist today in 802.11 networks and ways that you can help prevent these vulnerabilities from happening. Wireless networks have not been around for many years. Federal Express has been using a type of wireless networks, common to the 802.11 networks used today, but the general public has recently just started to use wireless networking technology. Because of weak security that exists in wireless networks, companies such as Best Buy have decided to postpone the roll-out of wireless technology. The United States Government has done likewise and is suspending the use of wireless until a more universal, secure solution is available.

Background

What is Wireless?

Wireless LANs or Wi-Fi is a technology used to connect computers and devices together. Wireless LANs give persons more mobility and flexibility by allowing workers to stay connected to the Internet and to the network as they roam from one coverage area to another. This increases efficiency by allowing data to be entered and accessed on site.

Besides being very simple to install, WLANs are easy to understand and use. With few exceptions, everything to do with wired LANs applies to wireless LANs. They function like, and are commonly connected to, wired Ethernet networks.

The Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance [WECA] is the industry organization that certifies 802.11 products that are deemed to meet a base standard of interoperability. The first family of products to be certified by WECA is that based on the 802.11b standard. This set of products is what we will be studying. Also more standards exist such as 802.11a and 802.11g.

The original 802.11 standard was published in 1999 and provides for data rates at up to 2 Mbps at 2.4 GHz, using either FHSS or DSSS. Since that time many task groups have been formed to create supplements and enhancements to the original 802.11 standard.

The 802.11b TG created a supplement to the original 802.11 standard, called 802.11b, which has become the industry standard for WLANs. It uses DSSS and provides data rates up to 11 Mbps at 2.4 Ghz. 802.11b will eventually be replaced by standards which have better QoS features, and better security.

Network Topology

There are two main topologies in wireless networks which can be configured:

Peer-to-peer (ad hoc mode) - This configuration is identical to its wired counterpart, except without the wires. Two or more devices can talk to each other without an AP.

Client/Server (infrastructure networking) - This configuration is identical to its wired counterpart, except without the wires. This is the most common wireless network used today, and what most of the concepts in this paper apply to.

Benefits of Wireless LANs

• WLANs can be used to replace wired LANs, or as an extension of a wired infrastructure. It costs far less to deploy a wireless LAN than to deploy a wired one. A major cost of installing and modifying a wired network is the expense to run network and power cables, all in accordance with local building codes. Example of additional applications where the decision to deploy WLANs include:

• Additions or moves of computers.

• Installation of temporary networks

• Installation of hard-to-wire locations

Wireless LANs give you more mobility and flexibility by allowing you to stay connected to the Internet and to the network as you roam.

Cons of Wireless LANs

Wireless LANs are a relatively new technology which has only been around since 1999. With any new technology, standards are always improving, but in the beginning are unreliable and insecure. Wired networks send traffic over a dedicated line that is physically private; WLANs send their traffic over shared space, airwaves. This introduces interference from other traffic and the need for additional security. Besides interference from other wireless LAN devices, the 2.4 GHz is also used by cordless phones and microwaves.

Security Issues of WLANs

• War-driving

  War-driving is a process in which an individual uses a wireless device such as a laptop or PDA to drive around looking for wireless networks. Some people do this as a hobby and map out different wireless networks which they find. Other people, who can be considered hackers, will look for wireless networks and then break into the networks. If a wireless is not secure, it can be fairly easy to break into the network and obtain confidential information. Even with security, hackers can break the security and hack. One of the most prevalent tools used on PDAs and Microsoft windows devices is, Network Stumbler, which can be downloaded at http://www.netstumbler.com. Equipped with the software and device, a person can map out wireless access points if a GPS unit is attached. Adding an antenna to the wireless card increases the capabilities of Wi-Fi. More information can be found at: http://www.wardriving.info and http://www.wardriving.com to name a few.

• War-chalking

  War-chalking is a method of marking wireless networks by using chalk most commonly. War-driving is usually the method used to search for networks, and then the person will mark the network with chalk that gives information about the network. Some of the information would include, what the network name is, whether the network has security, and possibly the contact information of who owns the network. If your wireless network is War-chalked and you don’t realize it, your network can be used and/or broken into faster, because of information shown about your network.

Eavesdropping & Espionage

Because wireless communication is broadcast over radio waves, eavesdroppers who just listen over the airwaves can easily pick up unencrypted messages. These intruders put businesses at risk of exposing sensitive information to corporate espionage. Wireless LAN Security - What Hackers Know That You Don’t www.airdefense.net Copyright 2002

Internal Vulnerabilities

Within an organization network security can be compromised by ways such as, Rouge WLANs (or Rouge Aps), Insecure Network Configuration, and Accidental Associations to name a few.

Rouge Access Points - An employee of an organization might hook up an access point without the permission or even knowledge of IT. This is simple to do, all a person has to do is plug an Access point or wireless router into an existing live LAN jack and they are on the network. One statistic in 2001 by Gartner said that, “at least 20 percent of enterprises already have rouge access points.” Another type of attack would be if, someone from outside the organization, enters into the workplace and adds an Access Point by means of Social Engineering.

Insecure Network Configurations- Many companies think that if they are using a firewall or a technology such as VPN, they are automatically secure. This is not necessarily true because all security holes, big and small, can be exploited. Also if devices and technologies, such as VPNs, firewalls or routers, are mis-configured, the network can be compromised.

Accidental Associations - This can happen if a wireless network is setup using the same SSID as your network and within range of your wireless device. You may accidentally associate with their network without your knowledge. Connecting to another wireless LAN can divulge passwords or sensitive document to anyone on the neighboring network. Wireless LAN Security - What Hackers Know That You Don’t www.airdefense.net Copyright 2002

Social Engineering - Social Engineering is one of the most effective and scariest types of attacks that can be done. This type of attack really scares me and can be done for many other purposes besides compromising security in wireless networks. A scenario: Someone dressed up as a support person from Cisco enters the workplace. The secretary sees his fake credentials and lets him get pass the front desk. The impersonator walks from cubicle to cubicle, collecting user names and passwords as he/she goes. After finding a hidden corner, which seems to be lightly traveled, he plugs an insecure Access Point into the network. At the same time he configures the Access Point to not broadcast its SSID and modifies a few other settings to make it hard for the IT department to find this Rouge Access Point. He then leaves without ever being questioned by anyone because it looks like he just fits in. Now, all he has to do is be within 300 feet from the access point, (more if he added an antenna), and now has access to all kinds of secure documents and data. This can be a devastating blow to any corporation and could eventually lead to bankruptcy if the secrets of the company were revealed to competitors.

Bruce Schneier came to my classroom and said the following about Social Engineering, “Someone is just trying to do their job, and be nice. Someone takes advantage of that by targeting this human nature. Social Engineering is unsolvable.”

Securing Wireless Networks

According to Bruce Schneier and others such as Kevin Mitnick, you can never have a totally secure computing environment. What is often suggested is to try and control the damage which can be done if security is breached. One can try many different tools on the market which can help prevent security breaches.

WEP - WEP supports both 64 and 128-bit keys. Both are vulnerable, however, because the initialization vector is only 24-bits long in each case. Its RC4 algorithm, which is used securely in other implementations, such as SSL, is quite vulnerable in WEP. Http://www.infosecuritymag.com/2002/jan/cover.shtml Wireless Insecurities By Dale Gardner. Different tools exist to break WEP keys, including AirSnort, which can be found at www.airsnort.net. Although this method is not a secure solution, it can be used to help slowdown an attacker if other means are not possible financially or otherwise.

VPN and IPSec- IPSec VPNs let companies connect remote offices or wireless connections using the public Internet rather than expensive leased lines or a managed data service. Encryption and authentication systems protect the data as it crosses the public network, so companies don’t have to sacrifice data privacy and integrity for lower costs. A lot of VPN’s exist on the market today. An important note about VPNs is, interoperability does not really exist, and whatever you use for your server has to be the same brand as your clients most of the time. Some VPNs include:

• Borderware

• BroadConnex Networks

• CheckPoint

• Cisco

• Computer Associates

DMZ - Adding this to your network enables you to put your wireless network on an untrusted segment of your network.

Firewalls - Firewalls are all over the place. Firewalls range from hardware to software versions. By adding a firewall between the wireless network and wired network helps prevent hackers from accessing your wired network. This paper doesn’t go into specifics about different firewalls and how to set them up, but there are many. Some of the firewalls include:

• ZoneAlarm (an inexpensive based software firewall) Zonelabs.com

• Symantec has many different firewalls depending what you require.

PKI - Public-key infrastructure (PKI) is the combination of software, encryption technologies, and services that enables enterprises to protect the security of their communications and business transactions on the Internet. What is PKI? http://verisign.netscape.com/security/pki/understanding.html

Site Surveys - Site Surveys involve using a software package and a wireless device to probe your network for Access Points and security risks.

Proactive Approaches

Since wireless technology is insecure, companies or anyone can take a proactive approach to try and identify hackers trying to gain access via wireless networks.

Honeypots - are fake networks setup to try and lure in hackers. This enables administrators to find out more about what type of techniques hackers are using to gain access. One product is Mantrap created by Symantec.

“ManTrap has the unique ability to detect both host- and network-based attacks, providing hybrid detection in a single solution. No matter how an internal or external attacker tries to compromise the system, Symantec ManTrap’s decoy sensors will deliver holistic detection and response and provide detailed information through its system of data collection modules.”

http://enterprisesecurity.symantec.com/products/products.cfm?ProductID=157

Intrusion Detection - Intrusion Detection is software that monitors traffic on the network. It sounds out a warning if a hacker it trying to access the network. One such free product is Snort.

“Before we proceed, there are a few basic concepts you should understand about Snort. There are three main modes in which Snort can be configured: sniffer, packet logger, and network intrusion detection system. Sniffer mode simply reads the packets off of the network and displays them for you in a continuous stream on the console. Packet logger mode logs the packets to the disk. Network intrusion detection mode is the most complex and configurable configuration, allowing Snort to analyze network traffic for matches against a user defined rule set and perform several actions based upon what it sees.” http://www.snort.org/docs/writing_rules/chap1.html#tth_chAp1

Network Monitoring- Network Monitoring would be products such as snort that monitor the flow of traffic over the network.

Quick tips and tricks

• When setting up wireless networks and access points there are a few quick steps that can be taken to immediately secure the network, even though it does not make it secure. Some of these ways include:

• Change your default SSID: each router or access point comes with a default SSID. By changing this it can take longer for an attacker to know what type of device he is trying to hack.

• Change the default password - generic default passwords are assigned to access points and routers. Sometimes the password is admin. By changing this password, the attacker cannot modify settings on your router as easily.

• Disable broadcasting SSID: By default AP’s broadcast their SSIDs, if you shutoff this setting it is harder for outsiders to find your AP.

• Enable MAC filtering: WARNING: this can only work in smaller environments where a centralized access list does not need to be maintained. You can enable only specific wireless cards to access the AP by only enabling those MAC addresses.

• Turn off shares: If security is important, scanning for shares and turning off the shares on the network can help. Also encrypting sensitive data can prevent hackers from accessing the data.

• Put your wireless access points in a hard to find and reach spot.

• Keep your drivers on all wireless equipment updated. This helps patch existing security vulnerabilities.

• Read current press releases about emerging wireless news.

About The Author

Richard J Johnson

Network+ Certified

RJ Computer Consulting

http://rjcomputerconsulting.com

Richard@johnsorichard.com

[tags]article submission, articles, writers, writing, publishing, ezine, email marketing, email newsletter, email[/tags]

A typical T1 circuit is only 1.5 megabits per second. A typical digital 3 minute song is 3 megaBYTES or 24 megabits in size. A typical digital photo is about 2 megaBYTES or 16 megabits. The typical Power Point presentation is 10 megaBYTES in size or 80 megabits. If 3 or more people in the office were to email a power point presentation at the same time the office internet connection would slow to a crawl for 3 or more minutes. This does not take into account all the spam email clogging up your Internet connection while attempting to reach your mail server. Nor does it take into account many other new bandwidth hogging applications that others in office are using such as monitoring their nanny cam at home, watching MarketWatch , CNN streaming video channels, or uploading a photo album to a relative. Everyday there are new bandwidth intensive applications being developed for the Internet.

It’s obvious that the common T1 connection can’t handle this growth. Your best option is to research application of a DS3 bandwidth solution.

A DS3 (sometimes referred to as a T3 or E3) is a leased private dedicated line that goes directly from your office to an Internet Service Provider (ISP). A T3/DS3 connection is equivalent to 28 T1/DS1 connections and uses digital signals on fiber-optic cable at speeds of 45 million bps (bits per second) or 44.736 megabits per second. Generally this type of dedicated line is for 50-100+ users and/or high bandwidth applications. T3/DS3 connections can also be used for point to point access (direct connection between 2 business sites).

As a standard used in the North American and Japanese marketplaces, a DS3 can handle 672, 64Kbps voice conversations or one video data channel. The DS3 line has enough bandwidth to transmit full-motion real-time videos and very large databases over a busy network. Generally a DS3 line would be installed as a major networking channel for a large corporation, research facility, call center, or university with high volume network traffic. But there are multiple smaller scale business uses also….particularly when multiple locations are involved. Bandwidth for a Fractional DS3, up to a full DS3, generally run at speeds between 6 Mbps through 45 Mbps.

DS3 connection (or T3 connection), is great for companies with large bandwidth needs. It is especially useful as the backbone for Disaster Recovery systems. If your company needs computer access for 50 + users, or needs to run high bandwidth applications like video conferencing, you are likely in the market for a T3/DS3 connection. A T3/DS3 line is also a viable solution for companies looking to resell bandwidth to their customers.

The common T1 line can handle 24 simultaneous voice calls or a high speed Internet connection speed of 1.54 Mbps. This is usually the solution of choice for small to mid size businesses. A DS3 line can handle 672 simultaneous voice calls or provide a high speed Internet connection of 45 Mbps. The T3/DS3 is typically used by high end data and voice customers as it is the equivalent of 28 T1 lines or 672 voice lines.

Most DS3 circuits are “fractional”, meaning a portion of the circuit. A DS3 is capable of 45 megabits per second. Fractional DS3s are usually, 8 megabit per second which is equal to about five (5) T1s. Today this is more than fast enough for most all business needs.

The cost of the DS3 circuit is always mileage based. Generally speaking the farther the distance from your ISPs Central Office (CO) connection the more it will cost. On top of that there is often a bandwidth usage charge.

DS3 service can be deployed for a wide variety of applications. The most common uses are DS3 point-to-point (tying 2 distinct business locations together), DS3 internet (data), DS3 frame relay, DS3 voice, and DS3 VPN. The pricing for these connections varies widely depending on the carrier, location of service and the application for which the connection is being used. Using a free rate quote research service such as DS3-Bandwidth.com will allow you to obtain current pricing for your location.

Michael is the owner of FreedomFire
Communications….including Business-VoIP-Solution.com Michael also authors Broadband Nation where you’re always welcome to drop in and catch up on the latest BroadBand news, tips, insights, and ramblings for the masses.

[tags]DS3 Bandwidth, Ds3 line, DS3 connection, DS3 service, DS3 point to point, DS3, DS3 circuits[/tags]

With Remote Network Access, your computer becomes just another citizen on the network. You can access the servers just as if you were on the local network, except the response is slower. Sometimes much, much slower. This network access can be by telephone line and modem, or by Internet through a router.

The user communities requiring Remote Network Access range from people who only need access to their e-mail and the corporate Web portal from their family PC, to the full-time telecommuters who need to use core applications from the office network wherever they are, and some customers and vendors.

Companies usually don’t have too much trouble justifying high-end solutions for the full-time telecommuters by providing them with a company-owned computer, firewall and 24×7 help desk access, since these users depend upon remote access for all their work. But sometimes it becomes difficult for them to effectively and affordably support the lower-end needs of other users, due to the security issues of the network.

One solution to prevent security threats is to implement a virtual private network (VPN). A VPN ensures a degree of security for the remote users accessing the network. There are various other emerging tools and applications, such as Cisco security agent and Trend Micro’s network virus wall, that can be used to protect the network from unwanted viruses and unsecured devices. However, implementing solutions such as this can be costly and adds another technology to the task list of the administrator.

The bottom line when it comes to Remote Network Access seems to be due diligence combined with enough knowledge and strict policy. Allowing other networks and individuals to connect to your network is virtually unavoidable. All that you need is to ensure that you exercise the appropriate level of caution and pay close attention to that back door. If all of your fingers are already in use it’s time to stick a toe in the Remote Network Access “leak in the dike.”

Remote Access provides detailed information about remote access, remote PC access, secure remote access, remote internet access and more. Remote Access is the sister site of FTP Site Hosting.

[tags]remote access, remote PC access, secure remote access, remote internet access[/tags]

This is a significant achievement for the region. Although it is not an EU prerogative to enforce governments to provide universal broadband access to their citizens, Northern Ireland has shown that it is highly regarded. Thanks to this achievement, NI broadband providers are now able to offer broadband services to every household and business in the country, regardless of their location.

In other parts of the EU, coverage has reached levels of around 90% but no one else can claim 100% coverage as yet.

It is widely believed that the universal availability of broadband has played an important part in the growth of businesses in the region. Various industry sectors have reported new levels of growth since the inception of broadband and it may have been impossible to achieve this without the service.

However there are still areas in which progress can be made. Just because there is 100% availability, it does not mean there is 100% take-up, so now the NI government must encourage as many businesses and individuals as possible to sign up to the service in order to reap its full benefits. The last thing they want is a big white elephant instead of a fully functional communications system.

100% availability also does not necessarily equal 100% satisfaction. Some customers who cannot receive the service through their fixed telephone lines have complained that they are being forced to pay more for broadband via an expensive satellite link.

However work is being done to rectify this situation and improve the networks, so many of households who currently may not be able to receive broadband via their telephone line, should be able to in the future, ensuring a more fair system.

At the other end of the spectrum there are people who can connect to broadband through a choice of mediums - everything from cable or ADSL through a phone line, to wireless solutions such as satellite and radio broadband.

Northern Ireland will probably act as a blueprint for many other EU regions in the following years as broadband take-up continues to increase.

Broadband-is-cheap contains up-to-date news, information, and deals from leading UK Broadband Providers market.

[tags]broadband,cheap broadband,broadband deals,broadband providers,broadband suppliers,wireless broadband[/tags]

Over the years I have been able to work on many different software projects. Some of these were stand-alone applications, others were client server applications that made good use of the local networks. A lot of Web development and working with Web technologies also played a part. All of these projects were challenging but not nearly as complex as the software industry with its myriad languages, technologies - its crazy jargon and seemingly endless acronyms. That was until now.

You see, now I have been immersed into the giant world of the oil and gas industry. They have their own languages and enough acronyms to make even a hardened software guy shudder. When you come across terms like datum, TVD (True Vertical Depth), mudlogging, RT (Rotary Table Elevation), MSL (Mean Sea Level), MDRT (Measured Depth from the Rotary Table), KB (Kelly Bushing), AHD (Australian Height Datum), plus many, many more - you have to stop and scratch your head.

Although being a specialist within the software industry with many years of experience and qualifications, it is much easier dealing with database tables with fields like FirstName, LastName, StreetAddress and Phone than it is with fields like Calcimetry_mg, AGSO_Id, iC4, LagDepthMD and Dolomite. If you are a geologist or work in the oil and gas industry then these terms may already be familiar to you. However, most people are absolutely flabbergasted when confronted by such terms. I know that I am.

When doing database mappings from one format into another, it is much simpler to look at FirstName and LastName fields in the source database and then see that they have to be concatenated in order to fit the single CustomerName field belonging to the destination database. This is not so easy when you don’t understand the geological meanings of terms and what they signify.

To some extent, you can still apply knowledge that you have from the software industry that does not have an immediate impact from any outside source. So, for example, you know how to setup Apache config files or modify IIS to configure the geology website and this requires no knowledge of wellsite geology terminology whatsoever. The knowledge of how to create a class and reference it does not change. There are many other aspects where your software, database and system skills are not impeded by the complexity of the field that you are working in.

All said and done, I am finding my introduction to the oil and gas industry not without incident and its fair share of activity. There is nothing sleepy about this industry as it seems to be a 24/7 worldwide operation and they don’t stop for weekends.

About The Author
Rob Francis is a senior developer working with a team on R-WEB - a wellsite geology software package.
Visit http://www.r-web.com for more details.

[tags]software industry, many many, software projects[/tags]

Wiring up a LAN (local area network) can be very easy, or it can be very difficult - it all depends on the size of your network, and how you’re trying to go about it.

For a very small home network, you can get by without using any special equipment except the wires. If you want to use a network to share Internet access or a printer, just plug an Ethernet cable into the computers you want to network, and then use the simple networking features that are built into Windows, such as Internet Connection Sharing. This approach has many downsides, though - you’ll need an extra Ethernet card in each computer for every extra computer you connect to the network, for one.

Instead of connecting each computer to the next, it is better to simply connect all the computers to a central router. This is a very efficient way of connecting computers together, as the data you send will be quickly and easily routed to its destination: the data goes to the router, which knows which wire to send it down for it to reach the destination address, and simply sends it that way. This also allows you to turn on and off computers as you please with no ill effects, as the router is always-on.

If you want to connect more devices to the network than the four or five ports on a router will allow, then you need to get a network switch. This allows you to create a separate sector of your network especially for one group of devices. For example, you might have your computer and your printer both plugged into a switch. The computer and the printer can then communicate between themselves without the data needing to travel out onto the wider network - but if they want to send to or receive from the wider network, they can do that too.

John Gibb is the owner of ethernet resources
For more information on ethernet check out http://www.ethernet-intelligence.info

[tags]ethernet, network, internet[/tags]

Even young people can remember the old days when network administrators were more often associated for being the person sitting next to a computer system rather than for specific abilities of proficiency. In those early days, CCNA Certification or CCNA training were concepts totally ignored by most small-to-medium businesses, and they never asked a network administrator to apply for a CCNA course.

In fact during long time, many office managers just learned a few computer tricks to qualify as network administrator because a Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) was only known as inter networking became more complex. The increasingly sophistication in design and equipment requiring IT professionals.

CCNA training begin to be considered essential when the business world found that only the labor of a pool consisting of qualified technicians could handle common problems and new challenges resulting from the evolving of new technologies. A CCNA course was synonym of the knowledge and skills accrediting IT personal.

As the time went by, all major vendors of computer software and hardware started to develop their own certification programs with the customers in mind. CCNA Certification become necessary to ensure providing them with people up to date with the technology, to help customers implement their products.

This way, Cisco certifications began with the offer of the Cisco Certified Inter networking Engineer (CCIE), which was a extremely difficult level of certification, as the only CCNA course available during that time. Such CCNA Certification usually required several years of experience and thousands of dollars.

CCNA training consisted of torturous lab practical, needing multiple attempts at the exam, in order to pass. CCIE Certification still require the same level of experience, practice and the rigorous nature of the exam that only a few candidates actually pass, but Cisco has developed intermediate levels of certification nowadays.

CCNA Certification can be acquired applying for a CCNA course designed for those who want to be identified as Cisco-knowledgeable technicians to improve their opportunities to develop an IT career or integrate themselves to the growing demand for computer-related jobs.

It is a well known fact that a college degree in any field cannot guarantee employment, if the person holding a college diploma is not capable of doing properly the job, regardless any advanced degree. In networking, a traditional college four-year degree in Computer Science may be obsolete by graduation day due the constantly shifting nature of technology.

Cisco has worked very hard through its history to make sure any CCNA Certification, CCNA training or CCNA course retain its real worth and prestige in the marketplace.

Natalie Aranda writes about CBT and IT certifications. CCNA Certification can be acquired applying for a CCNA course designed for those who want to be identified as Cisco-knowledgeable technicians to improve their opportunities to develop an IT career or integrate themselves to the growing demand for computer-related jobs. Learnkey offers expert on-demand training solutions, bringing software to educate you at home, school or office via PC. This vendor has helped thousands of people achieve their certification goals, through the use of critical software and related technology, including MCSE, MCSA, Cisco, MCDBA, MOS and Wireless.

[tags]Cisco Certifications[/tags]

HYPERWRT Mission Statement is “HyperWRT is a power boost firmware for the Linksys WRT54G and WRT54GS router. The goal of this project is to add a limited set of features to the last Linksys firmware, extending its possibilities but staying close to the official firmware.”
HYPER-WRT - Installing this distribution is really a breeze with no head aches. Cool features for this distribution are:

With my old linksys firmware I was unable to VPN into my network. After I installed HYPER-WRT I had no problem. Also, I usually work off my laptop in the same area of my house and with the linksys firmware I had a “Good” signal according to windows. After I installed HYPER-WRT my windows signal jumped to excellent every time.

Installing HYPER-WRT was very easy, I reset my router to factory defaults, downloaded the latest HYPER-WRT firmware, connected to my router’s web interface administration tab and pressed firmware upgrade. Then I browsed to the firmware bin files and pressed upgrade.

HYPERWRT turned out to be exactly what its authors intended, an easy to install, power boosting firmware. I would highly recommend using this firmware for any home or business network.

EWRT

EWRT is distributed by Portless Networks. This WRT54G firmware is packed with features meant for creating open wireless hotspots for business or neighborhoods. EWRT has many cool features: Drop bear SSH server (This provides secure access), a writeable jffs2 partition to store your content, great QOS (Quality of service), and NOCAT splash.

NoCat Splash is a captive portal which lets users connected to the wireless network receiving a dynamic IP address but all traffic is redirected to an internal web page. The webpage for EWRT just explains that this router is a wireless hotspot meant for public use and don’t abuse it, users must accept the agreement or they won’t have access to anything. You’re not stuck using Portless Networks web page because you can modify it for your liking.

QOS for a wireless hotspot is very important for managing how much bandwidth certain services are using. If a few users are hogging bandwidth then others will not have access to the internet thus ruining the hotspot.

Portless Networks intention was to create this router as a “Hotspot” in a box and they achieved this with flying colors. I was able to install EWRT through the web interface with no problems. I was able to VPN into my home network and used SSH to my Linux box. EWRT has all the latest security features such as WPA and WPA radius. I was able to use TINYPEAP as my radius server.. When I started NOCAT splash and connected to the internet I did receive an error “NO DATA ON THIS PAGE” once in a while but that could be my fault some how.

If you want to start a hotspot for your business or create free public nodes in your neighborhood EWRT is for you.

DD-WRT

DD-WRT turns your WRT54G from a cheap $60 router into a $200 dollar wireless router. It has more features then you can count so I will just go over the many highlights.
Right now I am using VER. 22, VER 23 is out but I have not installed it yet. VER. 23 is a BETA release. VER 23 has a whole new web interface with many more options that I have listed below. DD-WRT also has options for VOIP.

Setup Tab - Everything is pretty much the same here with the exceptions of VLANS. VLANs can divide your physical LAN into logical LANS. You will want to use this to separate network resources or prevent access to resources.

Security Tab - One of the best features of DD-WRT is that the VPN option actually works.

Access Restriction TAB - All the other firmwares have this option but I am using DD-wrt currently so I will cover them here. If you like to share your wireless connection with others but don’t want it abused you will need to set up access policies. You can block file sharing from exact applications like edonkey, you can set times to share your wireless signal, limit certain days and block websites.

Application and Gamming Tab- First you have over 30 slots to configure port forwardingthat’s a lot of different services. Next on this tab is the QOS (Quality of Service), here you can give priority of bandwidth to certain ports and MAC address.

Administration Tab - If you go all the way to the bottom you will find the option for enabling WDS/connection watch dog. This service will send out ICMP messages / ping commands to your given Access points every few minutes. If the access point you specify can’t be reached the router will reboot

In my next article I will be reviewing TINYPEAP, BATBOX and openwrt wrt54g linux firmware distros.

Sign up for the most popular wireless networking news letter on the internet. Receive the inside scoop on wireless technology for the home and work place at http://www.wirelessninja.com.

[tags]wrt54g, wrt54g firmware, wrt54g linux, wireless router, wrt54gs, firmware, linksys wrt54g[/tags]

Our corporate intranet is a non-framed environment with both Lotus Domino and IIS (.Net and classic ASP) applications and content. We have between 300,000-500,000 pages of web content and documents across more than 1200 “sites” on approximately 30 unique domains. We used to have Inktomi’s UltraSeek Server 3.0 as our intranet search engine which was beginning to look like its age (purchased in 1998). The Inktomi product did not handle attachments well (DOC, PPT, PDF, etc.), would not crawl our secured sites, and was no longer supported by the vendor. We did a cursory review of the search vendors and were immediately attracted to Google’s 30 day trial offer for their Google Search Appliance (GSA). After signing a standard agreement, they shipped us a brand new shiny yellow unit which we could test for 30 days before returning or purchasing.

Product info

The GSA is a “black box” 1U standard rack-mountable server. By “black box” I mean, Google gives you a web interface to administer the device but do not want you to access the Operating System (a heavily Google-customized version of Linux). In fact, the license agreement stipulates that you will not tamper with the hardware or OS of the appliance in any way. The device has no need for a keyboard, mouse or video - all you need for normal operation is a network cable and standard power input.

The GSA comes in different flavors to fit different needs varying by size of the hardware and correspondingly size of the license. (Licensing is based on the number of URLs crawled by the appliance.) There are 3 different hardware configurations; the GB-1001, GB-5005, and GB-800. These are broken down as follows;

• GB-1001 - 150K documents for $28K, 300K documents for $50K
• GB-5005 - 1.5M documents for $230K
• GB-8008 - 4M documents for $450K

Why Google?

As advertised, the GSA met all of our needs being able to index the large variety of filetypes we have in our environment, access secured content, having a documented API, etc. The Google brand power was another big selling factor. When we told our users that they were going to get a Google-based search engine they knew their days of troubled searching were over. Lastly, the 30-day trial run experience we had with the GSA sealed the deal. The appliance is the easiest enterprise solution I’ve ever had to install, configure and maintain. We were literally up and running within an hour of opening the shipping box.

Installation

The appliance has two network ports on the back panel; one for normal operation and the other used exclusively for network configuration. To configure the network settings we connected a laptop to the appliance via a special (some pin-outs are non-standard) orange Ethernet cable which is included. The installation process was about as easy as one can imagine for a “black box.”

First we plugged in the normal operation network cable and then the power. The power plug on the appliance IS the power switch; plug it in to turn on and unplug it to turn it off. After plugging it in, we waited about 5 minutes for the appliance to play a tune which is the signal to continue. Next, we hooked up our laptop (already set to DHCP mode) to the appliance and powered it up. After logging in to our laptop and making sure we had the correct IP assigned by the appliance’s built-in DHCP server we are ready to configure the network settings. Total elapsed time (excluding rack mounting): 10 minutes.

Configuration

Network configuration, like normal administration, is done entirely through a browser and is a simple 5 step process. The first screens ask you for basic network information; IP address, subnet mask, default gateway, and DNS. Subsequent screens collect SMTP server, “From” address for GSA notification messages, time zone, NTP (time) servers and the admin account name/password. The last step is to test a few URLs which you will be crawling to make sure you’ve done the setup correctly. After a final settings review screen configuration is complete and you can then unplug your laptop and get to the good part; start crawling. Total elapsed time: 10 minutes.

Crawling the site(s)

Using the URL provided, all administration of the GSA is done remotely. After logging in with the ID/password we provided in the previous step, we were presented with the Administration console. We created a new collection to hold our index, put in the “Start crawling from” URL, copied that same URL into the “Follow and Crawl only URLs with the Following patterns” box and we were done. We saved our settings and then clicked the “Start crawling” button. We then went over to the “Crawl status” screen and watched the “Crawled URLs” counter increase. Google advertises that it can crawl about 4,000 URLs in about 15 minutes or so. We found the crawl time would increase significantly if there are documents (Word, PDF, Excel, etc.) linked to from those URLS.

After the crawl is done the collection is automatically indexed and then checked against the Serving Prerequisites (any criteria you wish to use to determine whether to move an indexed collection to production) and the collection will either be moved to Production (and consequently searchable) or be moved to Staging. The Staging area lets you validate new crawls before letting users search against them.

Crawling configuration

After your first crawl you may find the need to go back and tweak the crawling parameters. Google gives you a good amount of control over how sites are crawled, the frequency, how many threads are used, etc. For sites with security, the GSA supports Basic Authentication and an additional security module is available which supports Forms Authentication. The most challenging configuration aspects for us were determining the right combination of URL patterns to exclude from the search. If you are a Domino shop and looking to use the GSA you may need to spend some time getting the crawler configuration just right to support the sometimes convoluted Domino query string parameters.

After we got the crawl parameters tuned and the first complete crawl done we did some testing to see if the crawler grabbed all the content. Browsing our site and testing with some strings buried deep inside the taxonomy we always found the GSA had crawled them accurately. We also did some testing with strings inside PDF documents, PowerPoint presentations and the like. When we did come across something that hadn’t been crawled a careful analysis led us to discover that we needed to do some more tweaking of the crawl settings.

Other notable features

Google also gives you a KeyMatch tool that allows you to specify which indexed documents should appear at the top of the results page for a given query. These manifest themselves almost identically to the Sponsored Links at the top of the results page of the Google we all use. A Synonym tool allows you to specify alternate words or phrases for search queries. For example, if someone searches for WCM, you can suggest “Web Content Management” at the top of the results page.

An output format feature lets you control (via an XSLT) the presentation of the search results. You can use this for changing the fonts, colors, logo, header, etc. of the results page. We were able to easily remove the “Cached” feature on the results page with some XSLT modifications.

The Reporting tool lets you run reports on search queries over various time ranges. It will show you the number of searches per day, per hour, the top 100 keywords and top 100 queries for the time period specified.

Downsides

The GSA is not for organizations looking to index their shared network drives as the appliance has no facility for crawling file systems. This is really too bad as many companies struggle with the huge quantities of unstructured content on stored on their networks. Of course, there are a plethora of other products out there for exactly this issue.

Access directly to databases (e.g. SQL, Oracle, etc.) is another area which is off-limits for the GSA as well as any kind of integration with content or document management systems.

Conclusion

The Google Search Appliance (GSA) is an excellent search product for HTTP-accessible content. It gives great control over administrative features such as crawler configuration and results serving and sufficient reporting capabilities as well. Those looking for a solution to integrate directly with a content/document management system, databases, or indexing network drives should look to another product. However, if you have a intranet or intranet site with plenty of HTML-based content the GSA may be just what you need.

Bryan Mjaanes is the creator/editor of Intranet101.com, a community-based forum for Intranet professionals.

[tags]Google, search engine, GSA, intranet[/tags]