Introduction 1
About This Book 1
Foolish Assumptions 2
Icons Used in This Book 3
Beyond the Book 3
Where to Go from Here 4
Part 1: Getting Started with Networking 5
Chapter 1: Let’s Network! 7
Defining a Network 8
Why Bother with a Network? 11
Sharing files 11
Sharing resources 11
Sharing programs 12
Sharing messages 12
Servers and Clients 13
Dedicated Servers and Peers 13
What Makes a Network Tick? 15
It’s Not a Personal Computer Anymore! 16
The Network Administrator 17
What Have They Got That You Don’t Got? 18
Chapter 2: Configuring Windows and Mac Clients 21
Configuring Windows Network Connections 22
Joining a Windows Computer to a Domain 27
Configuring Mac Network Settings 29
Joining a Mac Computer to a Domain 33
Chapter 3: Life on the Network 37
Distinguishing between Local Resources and Network Resources 38
What’s in a Name? 38
Logging on to the Network 40
Understanding Shared Folders 42
Four Good Uses for a Shared Folder 43
Store files that everybody needs 43
Store your own files 44
Make a temporary resting place for files on their way to other users 44
Back up your local hard drive 45
Oh, the Network Places You’ll Go 45
Mapping Network Drives 47
Using a Network Printer 50
Adding a network printer 51
Printing to a network printer 52
Playing with the print queue 53
Logging off the Network 55
Chapter 4: More Ways to Use Your Network 57
Sharing Your Stuff 57
Enabling File and Printer Sharing 58
Sharing a Folder 59
Using the Public Folder 61
Sharing a Printer 62
Using Microsoft Office on a Network 64
Accessing network files 64
Using workgroup templates 65
Networking an Access database 67
Working with Offline Files 68
Part 2: Designing Your Network 73
Chapter 5: Planning a Network 75
Making a Network Plan 75
Being Purposeful 76
Taking Stock 77
What you need to know 77
Programs that gather information for you 79
To Dedicate or Not to Dedicate: That Is the Question 80
File servers 81
Print servers 81
Web servers 82
Mail servers 82
Database servers 83
Application servers 83
License servers 83
Choosing a Server Operating System 83
Planning the Infrastructure 84
Drawing Diagrams 84
Chapter 6: Dealing with TCP/IP 87
Understanding Binary 88
Counting by ones 88
Doing the logic thing 89
Introducing IP Addresses 90
Networks and hosts 90
The dotted-decimal dance 91
Classifying IP Addresses 91
Class A addresses 92
Class B addresses 93
Class C addresses 93
Subnetting 94
Subnets 95
Subnet masks 96
The great subnet roundup 97
Private and public addresses 98
Understanding Network Address Translation 98
Configuring Your Network for DHCP 99
Understanding DHCP 100
DHCP servers 100
Understanding scopes 101
Feeling excluded? 102
Reservations suggested 103
How long to lease? 104
Managing a Windows Server 2019 DHCP Server 104
Configuring a Windows DHCP Client 105
Using DNS 106
Domains and domain names 106
Fully qualified domain names 108
Working with the Windows DNS Server 109
Configuring a Windows DNS Client 110
Chapter 7: Oh, What a Tangled Web We Weave: Cables and Switches 111
What Is Ethernet? 112
All about Cable 114
Cable categories 116
What’s with the pairs? 117
To shield or not to shield 117
When to use plenum cable 118
Sometimes solid, sometimes stranded 118
Installation guidelines 119
The tools you need 120
Pinouts for twisted-pair cables 121
RJ-45 connectors 122
Crossover cables 124
Wall jacks and patch panels 124
Understanding Switches 126
Comparing managed and unmanaged switches 126
Daisy-chaining switches 128
Stacking switches 128
Looking at distribution switches and access switches 129
Powering Up with Power over Ethernet 130
Looking at Three Types of Network Rooms 131
Chapter 8: Setting Up a Wireless Network 133
Diving into Wireless Networking 134
A Little High School Electronics 135
Waves and frequencies 135
Wavelength and antennas 137
Spectrums and the FCC 137
Eight-Oh-Two-Dot-Eleventy Something: Understanding Wireless Standards 139
Home on the Range 140
Using Wireless Network Adapters 141
Setting Wireless Access Points 142
Infrastructure mode 142
Multifunction WAPs 143
Roaming Capabilities 144
Wireless bridging 144
Ad-hoc networks 145
Configuring a Wireless Access Point 145
Basic configuration options 146
DHCP configuration 146
Connecting to a Wireless Network 147
Paying Attention to Wireless Network Security 149
Chapter 9: Connecting to the Internet 155
Connecting to the Internet 155
Connecting with cable or DSL 156
Connecting with high-speed private lines 157
Sharing an Internet connection 158
Securing Your Connection with a Firewall 159
Using a firewall 159
Comparing residential gateways to firewall routers 161
Looking at the built-in Windows firewall 161
Providing a Backup Internet Connection 163
Part 3: Working with Servers 165
Chapter 10: Virtualizing Your Network 167
Understanding Virtualization 167
Understanding Hypervisors 169
Understanding Virtual Disks 171
Understanding Network Virtualization 173
Looking at the Benefits of Virtualization 174
Choosing Virtualization Hosts 176
Understanding Windows Server 2019 Licensing 176
Introducing Hyper-V 178
Understanding the Hyper-V hypervisor 178
Understanding virtual disks 179
Enabling Hyper-V 180
Getting Familiar with Hyper-V 181
Creating a Virtual Switch 182
Creating a Virtual Disk 184
Creating a Virtual Machine 188
Installing an Operating System 192
Chapter 11: Setting Up a Windows Server 195
Planning a Windows Server Installation 196
Checking system requirements 196
Reading the release notes 196
Considering your licensing options 196
Deciding your TCP/IP configuration 197
Choosing workgroups or domains 197
Running Setup 198
Adding Server Roles and Features 203
Creating a New Domain 208
Chapter 12: Managing Windows User Accounts 213
Understanding How Active Directory Is Organized 214
Objects 214
Domains 215
Organizational units 215
Trees 216
Forests 216
Understanding Windows User Accounts 216
Local accounts versus domain accounts 216
User account properties 217
Creating a New User 217
Setting User Properties 220
Changing the user’s contact information 220
Setting account options 221
Specifying logon hours 223
Restricting access to certain computers 223
Setting the user’s profile information 224
Resetting User Passwords 225
Disabling and Enabling User Accounts 226
Deleting a User 226
Working with Groups 227
Creating a group 227
Adding a member to a group 228
Creating a Logon Script 230
Chapter 13: Managing Network Storage 231
Understanding Disk Storage 231
Hard disk drives 231
Solid state drives to the rescue! 234
It’s a RAID! 234
Three ways to attach disks to your servers 236
Focusing on File Servers 237
Understanding permissions 237
Understanding shares 239
Managing Your File Server 240
Using the New Share Wizard 241
Sharing a folder without the wizard 245
Granting permissions 247
Part 4: Managing Your Network 251
Chapter 14: Welcome to Network Management 253
What a Network Administrator Does 254
Choosing the Part-Time Administrator 255
The Three “Ups” of Network Management 256
Managing Network Users 257
Acquiring Software Tools for Network Administrators 258
Building a Library 259
Pursuing Certification 260
Helpful Bluffs and Excuses 261
Chapter 15: Supporting Your Users 263
Establishing the Help Desk’s Charter 264
Tracking Support Tickets 265
Deciding How to Communicate with Users 267
Using Remote Assistance 268
Enabling Remote Assistance 269
Inviting someone to help you via a Remote Assistance session 270
Responding to a Remote Assistance invitation 273
Creating a Knowledge Base 275
Creating a Self-Service Help Portal 275
Using Satisfaction Surveys 276
Tracking Help Desk Performance 278
Using Help Desk Management Software 279
Chapter 16: Using Group Policy 281
Understanding Group Policy 281
Enabling Group Policy Management on Windows Server 2019 282
Creating Group Policy Objects 283
Filtering Group Policy Objects 289
Forcing Group Policy Updates 292
Chapter 17: Managing Software Deployment 293
Understanding Software Licenses 294
Using a License Server 297
Deploying Network Software 298
Deploying software manually 298
Running Setup from a network share 299
Installing silently 300
Creating an administrative installation image 301
Pushing out software with Group Policy 302
Keeping Software Up to Date 302
Chapter 18: Managing Mobile Devices 305
The Many Types of Mobile Devices 306
Considering Security for Mobile Devices 307
Managing iOS Devices 308
Understanding the iPhone 308
Understanding the iPad 309
Integrating iOS devices with Exchange 309
Configuring an iOS device for Exchange email 311
Managing Android Devices 314
Looking at the Android OS 314
Perusing Android’s core applications 315
Integrating Android with Exchange 316
Part 5: Securing Your Network 317
Chapter 19: Welcome to Cybersecurity Network 319
Do You Need Security? 320
The Three Pillars of Cybersecurity 321
Two Approaches to Security 322
Physical Security: Locking Your Doors 323
Securing User Accounts 324
Obfuscating your usernames 324
Using passwords wisely 325
Generating passwords For Dummies 326
Secure the Administrator account 328
Managing User Security 328
User accounts 329
Built-in accounts 330
User rights 331
Permissions (who gets what) 331
Group therapy 332
User profiles 333
Logon scripts 334
Securing the Human Firewall 334
Chapter 20: Hardening Your Network 337
Firewalls 337
The Many Types of Firewalls 339
Packet filtering 339
Stateful packet inspection (SPI) 341
Circuit-level gateway 342
Application gateway 342
Next-generation firewall 343
Virus Protection 343
What is a virus? 343
Antivirus programs 345
Safe computing 346
Patching Things Up 346
Chapter 21: Securing Your Email 349
Defining Spam 350
Sampling the Many Flavors of Spam 351
Using Antispam Software 352
Understanding Spam Filters 353
Looking at Three Types of Antispam Software 356
On-premises antispam 356
Antispam appliances 357
Cloud-based antispam services 358
Minimizing Spam 359
Chapter 22: Backing Up Your Data 361
3-2-1: The Golden Rule of Backups 361
How Often Should You Back Up Your Data? 363
Choosing Where to Back Up Your Data 364
Establishing Two Key Backup Objectives 365
Backing Up to Tape 366
Understanding Backup Software 367
Examining File-Based Backups 368
Full backups 369
Copy backups 370
Incremental backups 370
Differential backups 371
Backup and Virtualization 371
Verifying Tape Reliability 373
Keeping Backup Equipment Clean and Reliable 374
Setting Backup Security 375
Chapter 23: Planning for Disaster 377
Assessing Different Types of Disasters 378
Environmental disasters 379
Deliberate disasters 379
Disruption of services 380
Equipment failure 380
Other disasters 381
Analyzing the Impact of a Disaster 381
Developing a Business Continuity Plan 382
Holding a Fire Drill 383
Part 6: More Ways to Network 385
Chapter 24: Accommodating Remote Users 387
Using Outlook Web App 388
Using a Virtual Private Network 389
Looking at VPN security 390
Understanding VPN servers and clients 391
Connecting with Remote Desktop Connection 393
Enabling Remote Desktop Connection 394
Connecting remotely 395
Using keyboard shortcuts for Remote Desktop 397
Chapter 25: Life in Cloud City 399
Introducing Cloud Computing 400
Looking at the Benefits of Cloud Computing 401
Detailing the Drawbacks of Cloud Computing 402
Examining Three Basic Kinds of Cloud Services 403
Applications 404
Platforms 404
Infrastructure 405
Public Clouds versus Private Clouds 405
Introducing Some of the Major Cloud Providers 406
Amazon 406
Google 407
Microsoft 407
Getting into the Cloud 408
Chapter 26: Going Hybrid 409
What Is a Hybrid Cloud? 409
What Are the Benefits of Hybrid Cloud? 411
Elasticity 411
Flexibility 412
Agility 412
Innovation 412
Operational efficiency 412
Integrating Identity 413
Azure Active Directory 413
Single sign-on 414
Looking at Hybrid Cloud Virtualization Platforms 416
Part 7: The Part of Tens 419
Chapter 27: Ten Networking Commandments 421
I Thou Shalt Back Up Thy Data Religiously 421
II Thou Shalt Protect Thy Network from Infidels 422
III Thou Shalt Train Up Thy Users in the Ways of Safe Computing 422
IV Thou Shalt Keepeth Thy Network Drive Pure and Cleanse It of Old Files 423
V Thou Shalt Not Tinker with Thine Network Configuration unless Thou Knowest What Thou Art Doing 423
VI Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor’s Network 423
VII Thou Shalt Not Take Down Thy Network without Proper Notification 424
VIII Thou Shalt Keep an Adequate Supply of Spare Parts 424
IX Thou Shalt Not Steal Thy Neighbor’s Program without a License 424
X Thou Shalt Write Down Thy Network Configuration upon Tablets of Stone 425
Chapter 28: Ten Big Network Mistakes 427
Skimping on Hardware 427
Turning Off or Restarting a Server Computer While Users Are Logged On 428
Deleting Important Files on the Server 429
Copying a File from the Server, Changing It, and Then Copying It Back 429
Sending Something to the Printer Again Just Because It Didn’t Print the First Time 430
Assuming That the Server Is Safely Backed Up 430
Connecting to the Internet without Considering Security Issues 430
Plugging in a Wireless Access Point without Asking 431
Thinking You Can’t Work Just Because the Network Is Down 431
Running Out of Space on a Server 432
Always Blaming the Network 433
Chapter 29: Ten Things You Should Keep in Your Closet 435
Duct Tape 435
Tools 436
Patch Cables 436
Cable Ties and Velcro 436
Twinkies 437
Replacement Parts 437
Cheap Network Switches 438
The Complete Documentation of the Network on Tablets of Stone 438
The Network Manuals and Disks 438
Ten Copies of This Book 439
Index 441
