Introduction To Local Area Networking; Introduction To Virtual Private Networking - D-Link DI-804 User Manual

application or type of port that is being used. For example, a firewall can
be configured to work with an FTP or Telnet server. Or a firewall can be
configured to work with specific UDP or TCP ports to allow certain
applications or games to work properly over the Internet.

Introduction to Local Area Networking

Local Area Networking (LAN) is the term used when connecting
several computers together over a small area such as a building or group of
buildings. LAN's can be connected over large areas. A collection of LAN's
connected over a large area is called a Wide Area Network (WAN).
A LAN consists of multiple computers connected to each other. There
are many types of media that can connect computers together. The most
common media is CAT5 cable; UTP or STP twisted pair
hand, wireless networks do not use wires; instead they communicate over
radio waves. Each computer must have a Network Interface Card (NIC),
which communicates the data between computers. A NIC is usually a
10Mbps network card, or 10/100Mbps network card, or a wireless network
card.
Most networks use hardware devices such as hubs or switches that
each cable can be connected to in order to continue the connection between
computers. A hub simply takes any data arriving through each port and
forwards the data to all other ports. A switch is more sophisticated, in that
a switch can determine the destination port for a specific piece of data. A
switch minimizes network traffic overhead and speeds up the
communication over a network.
Networks take some time in order to plan and implement correctly.
There are many types of scenarios to consider which could affect the
operability of a network.

Introduction to Virtual Private Networking

Virtual Private Networking (VPN) uses a publicly wired network (the
Internet) to securely connect two different networks as if they were the
same network. For example, an employee can access the corporate network
from home using VPN, allowing the employee to access files and printers.
Here are several different implementations of VPN that can be used.
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wire. On the other