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Week Four Individual Assignment Mike Dunn University of Phoenix NTC 360, Network and Telecommunications Concepts David Tam January 24, 2010 Introduction A household network can be the backbone of almost any household these days. With it you can connect to other members of the household, the Internet and various electronic devices. To create a dream home network system is what this paper will show it will demonstrate a topology, the hardware involved and how all the various devices connect to one another.
The topology of the home network is the means which all devices are connected to one another. There are several types of topology bus, ring, star, and mesh each of these offers their own benefits and drawbacks, but the choice that would be made for a dream home network would be star. “A star network features a central connection point called a “hub” that may be a hub, switch or router” Mitchell (2010). The reason for this choice is that with the star topology you will experience fewer system failures than with the others, it is also a simple home setup that anyone could do.
The start of this network is the Internet connection, which would be a cable connection. The service provider would be from the cable company and would use a coaxial cable from the wall connected to a modem device usually provided by the installing cable company. The Zoom CableModem 5241 would be the choice for the modem and is what is used by most cable companies. The modem will be located next to the main computer of the household for ease of access by the administrator. The network protocol for the home network will be TCP/IP.
This will permit for more expansion of the network if more devices are added over time. From the modem a Linksys Wireless-N Simultaneous Dual-Band Router WRT400N will be connected using category 6 cable for cleaner and faster transfer rates. The router has four 10/100 Ethernet cables that allow direct connection of printers, computers, and other devices that sit in proximity to it. “Advanced wireless security and SPI firewall protection is designed to help safeguard your home network and computers from most Internet ttacks” http://www. shoplinksys. com (2010). The main computer will be directly wired to the router and would be a Dell XPS 9000 with built- in 10/100 Ethernet and McAfee Internet Security Center. Along with the main computer a HP all-in-one laser printer and HP MediaSmart Server EX495 with 17 TB of storage capacity will be hard wired to the router. These will be located within 10 feet of the main router, which will create the shortest possible run of category 6 cable.
From here all other computers and laptops will be connected via wireless Internet adapters installed in each unit. These will each be able to connect to the router and have access to the printer and server for storing of photos, music, and personal documents. Two Dell Studio XPS 8100’s in bedrooms and one initial Dell Inspiron 15 laptop with the ability to add more in the future if needed. By allowing all external computers the ability to access the server it allows them to save storage space on each one, which means they do not need as large of hard drives.
The following Diagram shows the layout of the home network: Conclusion All these components help to makeup what I would consider to be an ideal home network. Some of these I have currently employed in my home like the cable modem and Linksys router and have had superior success with them. Although, this may not be the ideal home network for everyone it is what I want to one day set up for myself, but as technology changes so will what I want.