This Week's
Hot Topic

Networking

In general terms we all know what people mean when they use the term networking.  In fact, we discussed the idea of networking early in this course within the context of building contacts and resources that can assist you in your role as an instructional technologist. In the world of computing. a network is comprised of 2 or more computers linked together for purposes of sharing resources, exchanging information, and/or electronic communication.  Networks are everywhere you look and likely affect much of your daily computer-mediated-communication.  With viruses or worm attacks you may have heard, "the network is down" but may not know what that means beyond the fact that you cannot send or receive email or accomplish some other task for which the network is necessary.  If you have ever asked a computer technician about networking it is likely your eyes began to glaze over after the 5th or 6th acronym that you did not understand coinciding with terminology that is just gibberish to you.  Well, this week, we will change all that. 

Our goal this week is to become knowledgeable in the area of networking, including LANs, WANS, protocols, topologies, and cabling. Regardless of whether you are planning on setting up your own network or never, ever plan to attempt such a thing, understanding basic terminology and concepts can empower you and that's what part of this course is all about. Some of you in this course may already know a great deal about networking and I hope you will take time to assist your fellow firefighters in understanding the topic this week if the opportunity presents itself. The drills this week build on each other so you will need to complete them in sequence this week.

Happy Networking!              

The Basics of Networking

The best way to introduce yourself to networking is to first read some good resource materials to get a handle on the terminology and the acronyms.  Once you have accomplished this to some extent, the next step is to have a network administrator show you how a network they manage is set up. If you jump to this step first you often get information overload with the new terminology and the set up all coming in at once.  Also, the network administrator may not be willing or have the time to explain the basic terminology.  In this drill, you are going to accomplish the first step and then, if possible, take the initiative to do the second step on your own with someone at your school or business that manages a network. Gathering the basics will be important for your next drill so be sure to complete this drill first before going on to the 2-alarm drill

To begin, read the following chapters in your How the Internet Works text for a great overview of networking:

• Chapters 2 - 3

• Chapters 6 - 7

• Chapter 12 - 13

Go to the following sites and learn the basics of networking.  If you are a beginner I would suggest you use the links in the order I have provided (the guide to school networking is very straightforward).  If you are advanced you may just need to review them or may not need them at all.  To challenge yourself you may want to look up some of the latest information about networking to keep yourself up to date.  In the next drill you are going to be asked to draw a diagram of a home network so you may want to peek at that drill first to see what the requirements are so you can target your learning for accomplishing that task.

• An Educator's Guide to School Networks
• Check out the CTDP Networking Guide
• Home Networking Tutorial
• How Stuff Works: How Home Networking Works
• Computer Networking at About.com - lots of stuff here (maybe too much) - explore different links down the left side on topics that interest you (home networking and LAN/WAN links would be a good place to start) - after you have perused a few tutorials -  check out the home networking quiz and other self-tests
• Lantronix Networking Tutorials

Drill

Once you have completed your readings on networking, check your knowledge of the following:

• Identify and explain acronyms such as PPP, TCP/IP, LAN, WAN, ISP, SLIP

• Distinguish between LANs and WANs

• Identify functions of hubs, routers, bridges, gateway, repeater, routing table

• compare speeds of different modes of data transfer

• Identify hardware needed to connect a computer to a network

• Distinguish between token-ring and Ethernet networks and packet-switched and circuit-switched networks

• Distinguish between wired and wireless networks

• Describe/identify the process of information transfer and factors that affect it

• Define a packet in terms of network information transfer

• Recognize examples of socket software.

• Identify characteristics of different types of network setups

Take the networking quiz in the elearning system. You will have 60 minutes to complete this quiz.

Drawing a Network Diagram using Inspiration

Now that you know all there is to know about networking (only kidding) or at least just enough to make you dangerous, let's apply that knowledge to a hypothetical scenario and see what type of networking diagram you would draw prior to an actual set up.  This drill has 2 main goals.  The first is that you apply the knowledge you gained in your 1-alarm drill to a possible scenario (it could happen).  The second is that you learn a new Draw Program and at that to your list of fire marshall badge skills. 

The program you are going to learn is called Inspiration and it is marketed as a tool for K-12 educators and students as a tool for visual learning.  Many of the samples they will show you are of brainstorming activities with students and creating concept maps. While their main market is K-12 in nature do not think this tool is not for you if you are a not a teacher.  I think you will find many uses.  There are other similar tools used in other work settings, but this tool is free for 30 days and if a Kindergartener can learn to use it, so should we! Right?

If you did not download the free trial version of this program in your housekeeping tasks go back and do that now. If you are an explorer by nature and are familiar with draw tools in general you may be able to simply install it and jump right in to drawing your network diagram.  If you need a bit more guidance then you should be sure to go to the Workshop Resources page and use the QuickStart Tutorial available online or downloaded as a pdf file and view some of the sample diagrams they have so you can see all the possibilities.  These resources should help you get started and then you can explore from there. Before you begin drawing your network diagram for this drill it is probably a good idea to play around with the tool and do some simple diagrams of your own first. Finally, please see the "Hints" below for guidelines to follow when using Inspiration for this assignment.

Drill

The scenario:
You are going to set up a home network.  There are

• 5 computers [4 workstations (3 are desktop computers and 1 is a laptop) and 1 desktop computer that you want to use as a file server)

• one printer (USB connection or networkable - your choice), and

• one scanner (USB connection)

• all computers have network cards and necessary capabilities

throughout the 4,000 square foot, 2-story home to network (LAN) and connect to an internet service provider (WAN) for access to the Internet.

Using Inspiration, draw a diagram of how your network connections and devices will be set up. NOTE:  There is more than one way to draw this diagram so do not get hung up on the idea that there is one "right" answer and you must find it.  There are many diagrams available on different web sites that may help get you started in drawing and labeling your diagram.

In your diagram you must include:

• a text box at the top or bottom of your diagram with your name in it

• labels for everything (workstations, servers, printer, scanner, hubs, router, modem, etc.)

• the protocol you will use (hint: most likely Ethernet or Fast Ethernet)

• the physical topology you will use

• labeling for all cables (e.g., Cat5 twisted pair, Cat3, fiber, etc.)

Once you have completed your diagram, save it and send it to me as an attachment via email. Put your name as part of the file name (for example,"lkcurdanetwork.isf")

Hints for Inspiration:

In the next drill you are going to export your diagram in a variety of file formats - jpeg, gif, and html.  Next week you are going to post this diagram on your own personal server space on the UWF server so others can view it using a web browser.  The guidelines below will allow you to create the best diagram for viewing in a browser.  To best meet your needs for drills next week, PLEASE follow these guidelines:

• Under the "View" menu select the "View page lines" so that it is checked.  This will allow you to see if your diagram will be on more than one page.  If possible try to keep it on one page. This will be useful for when we export it and view it in your browser.  If you need to use more than one page that is fine (better to do that than use font too small).  It will likely mean that some people will have to use the scroll bar when viewing it in a web browser.

• Be mindful of the font you choose and the size.  If you choose a font that is difficult to read or you choose a size that is too small - it will not look good when converted to other graphic formats. Try to use at least a size 12 or 14. If your diagram gets crowded and you want to use more than one page it is better to do that than to reduce the size of your font.

• Beware of zooming in or out to work on your diagram - you may make something too big or too small without realizing it

Exporting Files in Different File Formats

In a previous drill on file formats you learned the idea of native file formats and platform-independent file formats.  In this drill we are going to put this knowledge to use.  When you created and saved your network diagram using Inspiration in the 2-alarm drill above you created a file in native file format (you should know what that term means now :-).  The file has an extension of ".isf" to indicate it is in Inspiration format.  This means Inspiration is the only program that can open this file.  Also notice that you have the option to choose the Inspiration 6 format with an extension of ".ins" which can then be opened by version 6.0 or earlier.  Native file format is a nuisance when we want to be able to share our work with others who do not have the same programs that we do.  For example, what if you drew your diagram up and wanted to send it to your parents via email so they could set their own network up?  If they did not also have Inspiration they would not be able to open it. 

Here is where the capability of exporting native file formats as other file formats that are viewable by multiple platforms and by using other programs or viewers is extremely helpful.  Some programs do a better job exporting in some formats than others.  For example, you could use Microsoft Word to draw your diagram and then export it as an html file, but I could almost guarantee it would not keep your diagram completely intact in its conversion (believe me I have tried).  Inspiration, on the other hand, does a great job of exporting your diagram into file formats such as gif, jpeg, and html without losing much information. In addition, jpeg, gif, and html file formats are viewable by just about anyone who has a current web browser.

Drill

In this drill, you are going to export your Inspiration network diagram into 3 different formats.  Please follow these directions closely.  It will become highly relevant next week when you load this up to the student web server.

1. Complete your diagram in Inspiration and save it wherever you normally save your files for this course.
2. Create a new folder on your desktop [you can do this by right clicking on your desktop and selecting "New" and then "folder"]
3. Name the folder on your desktop "myhomenet" (do NOT use the quotes; DO NOT use ANY spaces)
4. Open your network diagram in Inspiration if it is not already open (make sure you are in diagram and not outline view)
5. Export the file as a GIF:
1. In the "File" menu, select "Export".
2. Click the "Graphics File" tab in the Export dialog box.
   
3. On the Graphics File tab, there is a dropdown list labeled "file format".
4. Select the GIF option from the list of file formats, and click on "save".
5. Save the file in your "myhomenet" folder that you created on your desktop.  Name the file "mygifnetwork" (do NOT use the quotes; DO NOT use ANY spaces).
6. Export the file as a JPEG:
   1. Select "Export" in the "File" menu again.
   2. Click the Graphics File tab.
   3. Select the JPG option (in the File Format list on the Graphics File tab), and click on "save".
   4. Save the file in your "myhomenet" folder that you created on your desktop.  Name the file "myjpegnetwork" (do NOT use the quotes; DO NOT use ANY spaces).
7. Export the file as a web page (HTML file):
   1. Select "Export" in the "File" menu again.
   2. Click the "Web Pages" tab.
   3. Select the "Diagram" option and click on "save".
      
   4. Save the file in your "myhomenet" folder that you created on your desktop.  Name the file "myhtmlnetwork" (do NOT use the quotes; DO NOT use ANY spaces)
8. Check the exported files:
   1. Go to your desktop and open your "myhomenet" folder
   2. If you have done the steps above correctly you should have 3 files and one folder in your "myhomenet" folder:
      • mygifnetwork (a gif file)
      • myjpegnetwork (a jpeg file)
      • myhtmlnetwork (a htm file)
      • myhtmlnetwork_files (a folder with a gif file in it named "myhtmlnetwork_1")
   3. Notice that there are NO quotes and NO spaces in the file names or folder name.
      
   4. Notice that you only exported 3 files, but you have an additional folder with a GIF image in it.  This is because when you completed the export as an HTML file, Inspiration created the folder with the GIF image of the diagram in it so the html page would know where to go to find the image to insert on the page.  This is a VERY important concept.  In order for you to view the diagram the file and folder created when you exported your diagram as HTML must ALWAYS stay together in the same place (such as your "myhomenet" folder).  If you separate the "myhtmlnetwork_files" folder with the gif image in it from the "myhtmlnetwork" html file, and then you try to open your html file to view your diagram you will get that nasty little symbol created when a web page cannot find its graphic images. Next week when you upload your html page to the UWF student web server you MUST also upload the myhtmlnetwork_files folder that was created with it or your diagram will not show up.
   5. Once you have your 3 files and 1 folder in your "myhomenet" folder, open your web browser, preferably Internet Explorer. Select the "File" menu and choose "open."  Then choose browse and navigate to your desktop and your "myhomenet" folder. Open each of the files in turn and see if there are any significant difference between them.  The one to pay the most attention to is the html file and how it looks in your web browser. If you cannot see the text clearly then you used a font size too small.  If the diagram is so huge that people are scrolling back and forth and cannot get a good idea of the diagram then you have made it too big. To correct for these you will have to return to your file in native file format (with the .isf extension) in Inspiration and make adjustments.  Then you will need to export your files again and replace the old files or choose a different file name)
   6. Once satisfied with your diagram in HTML format, you are done with this drill.  You will use these files next week when you learn to ftp so keep them handy.  I will refer to the same folder and file names next week as the ones you create in this drill so please follow these directions closely.

Technology Planning Continued: Hardware and Software

As a brief reminder, you should be continuing to work on your School Technology Plan Analysis and Report. Your readings this week in your Picciano text can assist you not only with some things related to your networking, but also with your analysis of technology hardware and software in the school you are using for your report. You still have 2 more weeks to work on your analysis and report. Your readings within your text should provide you with additional content and ideas for how to analyze and report on the hardware and software that you have identified within your school. Your software chapter has a section on instructional software as well as administrative software. Chapter 12 provides discussion of ways for you to consider the ways in which technology is distributed within the school as well as policies and procedures common within schools. As you continue to work on this assignment, please feel free to ask me any questions as you have them.

Drill

• Read chapters 7 and 9-10 and 12 in your Picciano Text
• School Technology Plan Analysis and Report
• Ask any questions you have about the assignment via email
• Review the rubric that will be used to evaluate your report

• Check the FAQ Page to see if your question has already been answered.
• Email Chief Curda.
• Email EMT Kelly.
• Email the firehouse crew and see if another firefighter knows the answer.

Now let's take a look at the Chief's
Inspection List for this week!