Networking specialist

By Bradley Mitchell, About.com Guide Question: How Can the Range of a Wi-Fi Network Be Boosted? You can boost the signal range of a Wi-Fi computer network in several ways: Answer: * reposition your router (or access point) to avoid obstructions and radio interference. Both reduce the range of Wi-Fi network equipment. Common sources of interference in residences include brick or plaster walls, microwave ovens, and cordless phones. Additionally, consider changing the Wi-Fi channel number on your equipment to avoid interference. * upgrade the antenna on your router (or access point). Wi-Fi antennas on most wireless base stations can be removed and replaced with more powerful ones. * add another access point (or router). Large residences typically require no more than two APs, whereas businesses may employ dozens of APs. In a home, this option requires connecting your primary wireless router (access point) to the second one with Ethernet cable; home wireless routers and/or APs ...

By Bradley Mitchell, About.com Guide See More About: * troubleshooting home networks * wireless signal interference On home or public wireless networks, your Wi-Fi connection might drop unexpectedly for no obvious reason. This kind of networking problem is especially frustrating. It's also more common than you might think. Fortunately, solutions exist. Consult this checklist to determine why it is happening and how to prevent it. 1. Wi-Fi Radio Interference Radio signals from various consumer electronic products can interfere with Wi-Fi wireless network signals. For example, cordless phones, Bluetooth devices, garage door openers and microwave ovens can each take down a Wi-Fi network connection when powered on. You can move your network equipment or (on home networks) change some Wi-Fi radio settings to avoid this problem. * Change the Wi-Fi Channel to Avoid Interference * Position Your Router / Access Point for Best Performance Sponsored Links Bluetooth WirelessOrd...

The Dude network monitor is a new application by MikroTik which can dramatically improve the way you manage your network environment. It will automatically scan all devices within specified subnets, draw and layout a map of your networks, monitor services of your devices and alert you in case some service has problems. The Dude demo system: Our RouterOS demo routers are viewable from within the Dude, install The Dude and connect to our Demo dude system with the Dude Secure connection to 159.148.147.209 RouterOS package is currently only suited for v3.17 and above The Dude for Windows the dude stable download Dude v3.6 Optional RouterOS package * For X86 (RB200, PC) * For MIPS-LE (RB100, RB500) * For MIPS-BE (RB400) * For PPC (RB300, RB600, RB1000) The Dude for Windows the dude beta download Dude v4.0beta3 Optional RouterOS package Note: v4beta3 PPC package is currently not working * For X86 (RB200, PC) * For MIPS-LE (RB100, RB500) * For MIPS-BE (RB400)...

In the first part of this article series, I talked about some basic networking hardware such as hubs and switches. In this article, I want to continue the discussion of networking hardware by talking about one of the most important networking components; routers. Even if you are new to networking, you have probably heard of routers. Broadband Internet connections, such as those utilizing a cable modem or a DSL modem, almost always require a router. A router's job isn't to provide Internet connectivity though. A router's job is to move packets of data from one network to another. There are actually many different types of routers ranging from simple, inexpensive routers used for home Internet connectivity to the insanely expensive routers used by giant corporations. Regardless of a router’s cost or complexity, routers all work on the same basic principles. That being the case, I'm going to focus my discussion around simple, low budget routers that are typically used to c...

Troubleshooting 101 When working in a networked environment, it’s common to have to troubleshoot problems often and quickly. Not only do problems come up often, but they are normally complex, require a lot of abstract thought, involved multiple parties and can be downright confusing. The following flow chart is a quick way to visualize all the steps involved in troubleshooting just about anything: First you want to establish a baseline of normal operation. If you do not know what your router operates like normally, how will you know if it has a problem? Next, you want to document what the symptoms are and attempt to define what the problem is. If you have a runny nose, a cough and aches, you may have the flu. Make sure you gather all the facts based on the defined problem. In this section you want to consider your possibilities for defining what the problem is. If it’s the Flu, then we have to attack it with rest and medication. Make the plan, have a fallback plan in case the main pla...

In my last article, I introduced the Open System Interconnect (OSI) reference model and discussed it's first layer; the Physical Layer. In this article I will discuss the second layer, the Data Link Layer, from a hardware perspective. The data link layer provides functional and procedural methods of transferring data between two points. There are five general functions which the Data Link layer is responsible for. These functions are: * Logical Link Control * Media Access Control * Data Framing * Addressing * Error Detection Logical Link Control The Logical Link Control (LLC) is usually considered a sublayer of the Data Link layer (DLL), as opposed to a function of the DLL. This LLC sublayer is primarily concerned with multiplexing protocols to be sent over Media Access Control (MAC) sublayer. The LLC does this by splitting up the data to be sent into smaller frames and adding descriptive information to these frames, called headers. Media Access Control Like LLC...