4c - Home & Work Computer Networks

4c - Home & Work Computer Networks

1. Home

   • Students/ group of people
     • Advantages
       • Share cost of internet conection
       • Share use of peripherals, e.g. printer
       • Wireless connection allows cable free solution
       • They can collaborate on studies/work
       • Use laptops anywhere in house
     • Disadvantages
       • One person may use more of the available bandwidth than others, thus slowing it down
       • One person may use the printer more than others, leading to arguments over cost
       • Wireless may not be able to cover the whole house
         • May use a WAP repeater
         • May use mains ethernet network
       • Router may not have enough ports
   • A family/ domestic
     • Advantages
       • Share internet connection and peripherals
       • Parental control
       • Operating system update and anti-virus updates can be received automoatically via the internet
       • Non-computer devices can use the network
         • network enabled TV
         • eReaders
     • Disadvantages
       • Routing ethernet cables can be awkward if trailing cables are to be avoided
       • Parental Control is needed to be set up for any children
       • WIreless must be password protected
       • Anything other than a simple wireless network requires technical knowledge
         • cabling and linking other devices such as NAS and HiFi systems

2. Work

   • Client Server
     • Advantages
       • Allows staff to store work centrally
       • Dedicated leased line makes it practical to create a WAN as well as a LAN
       • The WAN allows a company intranet to be set up across branches
         • Extranet as well
       • Archiving and backups can be carries out
       • Operating system and software updates can be deployed remotely
       • Share peripherals
       • Dedicated print server
     • Disadvantages
       • Sensitive customer details must be kept private
         • Data Protection Act
       • Professional IT support staff
         • In-house or third party
       • High performance business equipment is expensive
       • Work stations, desks and charis need to be ergonomic
       • Office may need to be hard wired
       • A dedicated line to support a WAN is expensive
       • May need another room to keep servers cool and secure
   • Peer-to-peer
     • Advantages
       • Simpler and cheaper to set up than a client server network
       • HIgh speed connection makes it practical to use online cloud services
         • Virtual servers
       • Emails can be accessed from anywhere
       • Operating system and software updates can be reciecved automaitcally from the internet
       • Peripherals can be shared
       • Archiving an backups can be carries out over the network
     • Disadvantages
       • Sensitive customer details must be kept private
         • Data Protection Act
       • Work stations, desks and chairs need to be ergonomic
       • High performance business class equipment is expensive
       • Files are stored on seperate computers
       • Data usage need to be tracked, especially if renting cloud based services.
       • If internet connection is down, this can cause serious disruption to business