It’s been very long since I have written a review! I also have the feeling that in the near future people may ask Davie who? Before any of that may happen, I am back with a review. Just to'ping' that I am alive.
For many reasons I had to come up with a review on this topic, one such accounts to my change in job. Finding the right candidate to take my place, doing a knowledge transfer and the transition took a lot of my time. Knowledge transfer involved showing him around and getting the replacement candidate accustomed to my responsibilities. Trust me folks, I would have happily written a movie review or a book review. But the transition to my new job and shuttling between the new place and the old place, till things settle down at the old one and get settled down at the new one, I have learnt a lot of things. As of today, I have 3 years of Systems admin experience under my belt(Leather belt from Park Avenue! that was supposed to be funny . why don’t I see you smile).
Networking is the'thing' today. There are different medium and modes of communications. There is the ever popular email which has become a common trend today. Let me see the routine now, check email before breakfast, after breakfast and did mention during breakfast? And in the same order for lunch and dinner and in between all the meals, the first thing in the morning you want to do is check mails, the last thing before going to bed is you want to check mails.(this applies to me)If I sound like I am advertising about email, think again. Most of you will be nodding your heads in a way that says “yeah you are so right'
Where do I start - let us say from the basics. Setting the network, this depends on answers to two questions. The Finance available, which of course, is vital part to begin with and two - the future upgrades.
I have seen many companies just grabbing whatever the hardware vendors throw their way, without consulting a qualified person ( like me of course, ! Then what), which could have saved them time, money and the strain. While on the other hand some small time companies were smart enough to hire my services(and pay my consultation charges) services where in I saved them some considerable amount of money(excluding my service charges) and kept their network up 24 / 7.
Choose the Connectivity Hardware
There are hubs and there are switches. Choosing the right hardware is the question. We can buy three hubs for the price of two. I am referring to the best brand in the market. Ok, so when do we go for a hub? Let us say when you are on a shoe string budget and less than 10 PC's that need to be on the network, so hub is the obvious choice. Anything more than 10 PC’s we go for a switch.
Hub and switches have similar functions to look at. They provide a PC, connection to the network. But where do they differ and why the price difference.
Here is why.
When a PC wants to transmit, it listens to the wire if it is free, if the wire is free of any transmissions, the PC transmits. If two PC's transmit at the same time, there is a collision and both the PC's wait for a random no of time(usually Milliseconds) before they retransmit. So far so good! But that is not the actual problem. When a PC transmits, the hub amplifies to all the ports except the originating port. So you can just imagine how much a network is going to suffer with hubs.
A Switch on the other hand, transmits only to the port the transmission is meant for. The switch has a database as to which port is connected to which machine. When there is a transmission all it does is check the database for the port it has to transmit to. Thus, if one has more than 10 machines on the network, go for a switch. The standard cabling system in the current days is the CAT 5 Cables with RJ 45 connectors. Telephone uses CAT 1 or CAT 2 with RJ 11 connectors which are usually meant for voice grade. CAT 5 can extend up to 100 meters after which there is attenuation or signal dying out.
Many System Admins, Inclusive of me, in my initial days have paid less attention to the cable layout and later suffered. Now a days, I always suggest the 3 step formulae. The PC to mount point( which is fixed to the wall) the mount point to the jack panel, jack panel to the Hub/switch. managing the cables this way is easier and looks hi fi to look at( trust me it does).
Licensed Software
I usually emphasis on the fact that a software available for as much as Rs. 200 to Rs. 300 doesn’t mean that it is licensed. Software piracy is a serious offense and the penalties paid for such involve arrest warrant for the CEO of the company, public humiliation and heavy fines.(Three times the price of the software plus taxes plus other fines)
Well you may say, ok now if I don’t use pirated software, I got to pay through my nose for the licensed ones. Well, I say yes, pay for it if you want to use it. I suggest you go for alternates. Linux comes free for usage. For word processors, presentation slides and spreadsheets you can have Open Office which is free again. Open Office is usable on both Windows and Linux. Open Office also can save the files in Microsoft Office documents format. You can also make PDF documents with the latest OPEN OFFICE version.
There is a considerable amount of investment, a person or a software company has made in creating software for you to use- for a price of course, and I value and respect that. This, in an indirect way affects the economy drastically and brings down IT industry to its knees.
Usually home users are spared of this licensing regulations because they are not at risk of being audited by the software giants like the business houses are.
Branded or assembled .?
Read my review on the same subject. I always suggested going for branded PC's for corporate clients. You get Windows OS software free and pre installed. In Microsoft it is called OEM(Original Equipment Manufacture). To get the best of support, always go in for Branded ones.
Branded machines usually come with hardware warrantee for three years, unquestioned replacement of your hardware components(except monitors which are covered in warantee for only one year) and onsite support for one year, which can further be extended with AMC. Also you could look for the brand that provides you the operating system and other basic application software like Word, excel and presentation come free. For eg. IBM PC 300 GL comes with lotus software which has all the above mentioned.
Upgrades
I had always kept this in mind when I deal with clients. Are they planning to upgrade?. If yes how soon? If the current network has 10 machines and in the next 3 months they are looking at 40 machines the decision is go for a switch. If you are looking at another office distributed geographically\ or perhaps a VOIP(voice Over Internet Protocol), then go for a catalyst switch . Catalyst switches are advanced, and comes with a network interface of its own. They can be managed from a remote terminal. Catalyst switches are usually used for routing different types of network packets to a
Location or a port as specified in the configuration. In this case let us say we can use Catalyst switches working hand in hand with Routers to connect two offices in different locations on the internet backbone.
Continued In Comments . . .
