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.