Originally posted by Dreaming:
[B]Camelot, that reply is the best I've received on the subject. And thank you for keeping it within layperson's terms.
You must have amassed your knowledge somewhere, so I'll ask you this: If I want to learn more on the subject, do you know of any web sites or links I can visit? It will take some more reading for me to truly grasp this.
To be perfectly honest, Dreaming, the answer is largely: Practice, practice, practice.
It's hard to know where to start sending you for information on learning networking, at least not without knowing your level and, more importantly, the resources you have available to you, but here are some fundamentals:
1) How many Computers do you have?
No one is going to learn networking if they have just one computer available to them. You can read all the books you want, but until and unless you can apply the theory in a real-world setup, it won't amount to much.
Ideally, if this is a sideline, you'll need at least two computers IN ADDITION to your 'normal' system, just because the 'working' part of 'networking doesn't always come along - you need to have at least one working system all the time.
2) What are you trying to achieve?
There are many different network models around and knowing what you're trying to achieve will make it easier to get there.
From the standpoint of all-round support, TCP/IP is clearly the way to go right now - all OS's support it, and anything you learn about TCP/IP will transfer into any system once you understand each system's idiosyncrasies (if which there are many - more on that later).
TCP/IP is also the standard for all internet systems, so if it's the internet you're interested in, then that's the way to go.
If you're in a Windows-only world (or, at least, one with brain-dead network admins), NetBIOS and the Windows networking protocols are probably prevalent. From a user's perspective, NetBIOS is pretty straightfoward, partly because it loads virtually all the administration onto the server for the network admin to maintain (which is part of why some network admins like it - they're control freaks at heart)
In the Macintosh world, AppleTalk is a breeze to setup and maintain (it's largely self-configuring), but much of Apple's networking is transitioning to TCP/IP for better enterprise support.
It's important to pick one model first and focus on that. All the above have similarities and you'll probably do better focussing on one and then transitioning to the other(s) than trying to learn multiple products at the same time.
All the above will work on an ethernet network, and that's the best starting point. You don't need to worry about T1's, DS3's, and the like until you start working in an enterprise environment.
To introduce myself to networks, there is something I have been wondering about: My computer's "Date and Time" setting allows me to get the time from an Apple network time server (this applies for both OS 9 and OS X). Does this mean I must always be connected to the time server in order to have the correct time appear on my menu bar? Or do I only need to connect periodically to "update" the time?
The date and time control panel is specifically set so that it checks the time when you startup and then periodically, not continuously. All computer clocks will drift over time, but they're usually accurate enough to keep time for a few days before it becomes any kind of problem.
It also checks whether you're currently online or not and only checks the time if you are (that way it doesn't pick up the phone line and dial the modem at unexpected times). If you're not online, it defers the time check until later.
Assuming you get online every now and then (say, at least once a month) you shouldn't have any problem with time synch.
[QUOTEAnd while I'm connected to the network, does that leave my computer vulnerable? That is, can files on my computer be accessed by the network?
[/QUOTE]
The short answer to this question is: yes.
The long answer is: it depends.
Traditionally, Macintoshes have been more secure on a network because they tend to run fewer 'services', and have followed a more proprietary network model. With Mac OS X, though, and its Unix background, that changes somewhat.
In general, if you haven't enabled any services in the Sharing preferences, you're mostly OK. If you have enabled services, the more you've enabled, the more doors you've opened into your system and therefore the higher chance there is that a malicious user will get in.
To mitigate this problem, you should use a firewall of some kind (either software or hardware). Firewalls analyze network traffic and allow or deny traffic based on a set of rules you define.
The other thing you should do to secure your system is use good passwords - any system is only as secure as the weakest password. And I don't mean only YOUR password, but the password for every account on the system.
The other system compromise comes through social engineering and MS Outloo... erm.. email trojans.
Any time you run a program on your machine, you're essentially leaving yourself open to the author of the application. Anyone that's been online any significant amount of time has seen at least one of the emails with attachments and a body that is designed to persuade you to open the attachment. If you do, the app opens a backdoor into your system for the author. Some versions of MS Outlook launched the attachment automatically, so the user didn't even get a chance to protect themselves, but that's another story.
In short, be aware that any time you're online, your ass is essentially hanging out in the wind. Limiting exposure by using a firewall, not running un-needed services and using strong password techniques can help mitigate the problem.
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