IT Career JumpStart An Introduction to PC Hardware, Software, and Networking

Before candidates can begin to prepare for any kind of certification, they need a basic understanding of the various hardware and software components used in a computer network. Aimed at aspiring IT professionals, this invaluable book strips down a network to its bare basics, and discusses this complex topic in a clear and concise manner so that IT beginners can confidently gain an understanding of fundamental IT concepts. In addition, a base knowledge has been established so that more advanced topics and technologies can be learned over time.

• Includes a discussion of the key computer components, such as the processor and memory
• Covers the basics of data storage as well as the input/output process
• Zeroes in on basic hardware configuration including how to install hardware and software drivers
• Introduces various computer operating systems, including the Windows OS family, Linux, and Mac.
• Looks at basic networking concepts and design

IT Career JumpStart is an ideal starting point for anyone looking for a career in IT but doesn't know where to start.

Introduction xxiii

Chapter 1 The Computer’s Brain: Processors and Memory 1

Introduction to Processors 2

Processor Performance. 2

Processor Types: A First Look. 2

Deciphering Processor Terminology. 3

The Intel Processor Lineup. 4

Factors Affecting Performance. 5

History of Intel Chips 6

The Pentium Family. 6

Pentium. 7

Pentium MMX. 7

Pentium Pro. 8

Pentium II (PII). 8

Celeron. 8

Pentium II Xeon 8

Pentium III (PIII). 8

Pentium III Xeon. 9

Itanium/Itanium 2. 9

Pentium 4 9

Tualatin. 9

Core i3 Series 9

Core i5 Series 10

Core i7 Series 10

Stacking Up the Competition. 10

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). 11

Cyrix 12

PowerPC. 12

Alpha 13

Using Multiprocessor and Multicore Computers 14

Cooling a System 16

Physical Memory 17

Random Access Memory (RAM). 17

RAM Types. 18

SIMMs 18

DIMMs. 18

RAM Speed. 19

Edo Ram. 19

Sdram 19

Ddr Sdram. 19

Ddr2 Sdram. 19

Ddr3 Sdram. 20

Read-Only Memory (ROM) 20

Other ROM Types. 20

Prom. 20

Eprom. 21

Eeprom 21

Bus Architecture. 21

Bus Types. 22

Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) 22

Enhanced Industry Standard Architecture (EISA). 22

FireWire (IEEE 1394) 23

Hdmi. 23

IBM Micro Channel Architecture (MCA). 23

Ibm Pc. 23

IBM PC-AT, or Industry Standard Architecture (ISA). 23

Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI). 24

Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe). 24

Universal Serial Bus (USB). 24

Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) Local Bus (VL-Bus). 25

Terms to Know. 25

Review Questions. 26

Chapter 2 Storing Your Files: Data Storage 27

Keys to Data Storage. 28

Understanding Hard Drive Basics. 30

Selecting a Hard Drive. 30

Performance with Parallel ATA (PATA). 31

IDE Interface Standards. 33

Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA). 33

Ata-2. 34

Ultra-ATA. 34

Ultra-ATA/66, ATA/100, and Ultra ATA/133. 34

Performance with SATA Drives. 35

SATA revision 1 0. 35

SATA revision 2 0. 35

SATA revision 3 0. 35

eSATA. 36

Performance with SDD Drives 36

Performance with SCSI Drives. 36

SCSI Standards. 37

SCSI-1 and SCSI-2. 38

Scsi-3. 38

Ultra3 SCSI and Ultra320. 38

SCSI Termination. 39

Organizing Disks 39

Understanding Partition Types. 40

Active and Boot Partitions. 40

Primary Partition. 41

Extended Partition. 41

A Primer on Disk Drive Configurations. 41

Volume Set. 43

Disk Stripe Set. 44

Mirrored Set 45

Stripe Set with Parity Drive. 46

Stripe Set with Parity Stripe. 46

Types of Offline Data Storage. 47

Removable Storage Devices. 49

Compact Discs (CDs). 49

CD-Recordable. 50

CD-Rewritable (CD-RW). 50

Digital Video Discs (DVDs). 51

Blu-Ray Discs. 51

Tape Drives 51

Terms to Know. 53

Review Questions. 54

Chapter 3 Data Movement: Input/Output Devices 55

Understanding Ports. 56

Serial Ports. 56

Parallel Ports 57

USB Ports. 58

Thunderbolt. 59

Understanding Monitors. 59

Video Display Adapter Standards 60

Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) 62

Light Emitting Diode (LED) 62

Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED). 62

DisplayPort 63

Vga 63

dvi 63

Connecting a Keyboard and Mouse. 63

Touch Screens. 65

Making Remote Connections. 65

Analog Modems. 66

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) 67

Cable Modems. 68

Isdn 69

Choosing a Printer 71

Choosing PC Cards. 73

Bus Standards 73

Plug and Play. 74

Terms to Know. 76

Review Questions. 77

Chapter 4 Hardware Configuration 79

Installing Hardware. 80

Installing Software Drivers. 81

Updating Software Drivers. 81

Handling Interrupts. 82

Using Base Memory and Identifying System Resources 83

Using I/O Memory. 85

Using DMA. 87

Terms to Know. 89

Review Questions. 90

Chapter 5 Desktop Operating Systems: A Comparison 91

In The Beginning: Understanding DOS 92

Understanding Windows 92

The Business Solution: Windows NT Workstation 4. 93

Windows 2000 Professional. 94

Windows XP Home Edition and XP Professional. 95

Windows XP Home Edition. 95

Windows XP Professional. 96

Windows Vista. 96

The Latest Generation: Windows 7. 97

Understanding Unix and Linux 99

Unix 99

Linux 100

Apple Operating Systems 101

Dual-Booting between OSs. 101

Terms to Know. 102

Review Questions. 103

Chapter 6 Command Shell 101: Basics Every Administrator Should Know 105

Introducing the Command-Line Interface 106

Creating a Directory Structure. 106

Manipulating the Directory Structure. 107

Listing Directories, Subdirectories, and Files 108

Creating and Deleting Directories. 108

Changing Directories 109

Copying and Moving Files. 110

Deleting and Renaming Files. 111

Deleting and Renaming Files. 112

Using Command-Line Wildcards. 114

Understanding File Attributes. 116

Changing the Time and Date. 118

Using Timesaving Keyboard Shortcuts. 118

Introducing PowerShell. 120

Installing PowerShell. 120

PowerShell Command Syntax 121

Discoverability 121

Adding Arguments 121

PowerShell Execution Policy 123

Using PowerShell Wildcards. 124

Understanding PowerShell Modules and Snap-Ins. 124

PowerShell Functions and Scripts. 127

Terms to Know. 128

Review Questions. 129

Chapter 7 Graphical Interface: Windows 7 Basics 131

A Quick Introduction. 132

Introduction to the Windows 7 Desktop 133

Snap 134

Shake 135

Peek 135

Gadgets 136

Desktop Background and Appearance. 137

Using the Start Button 139

All Programs 140

Search Programs and Files. 140

Help and Support. 141

Run 142

Shut Down. 142

Managing the Computer’s Settings: Appearance and Personalization 144

Changing Your Computer’s Theme. 146

Changing Your Desktop’s Background 147

Using a Screen Saver. 147

Changing the Screen Resolution 148

Viewing and Managing Folder Options. 149

Viewing and Managing Taskbar and Start Menu Options. 150

Accessing the Computer Window. 151

Accessing Network Resources 153

Using the Recycle Bin. 154

Creating Shortcuts 155

Using Wizards. 155

Using Windows Explorer 156

Terms to Know. 158

Review Questions. 159

Chapter 8 A Communications Framework 161

Understanding OSI Model Basics. 162

Data Transfer in the OSI Model. 164

Layer 1: The Physical Layer 165

Physical Layer Technologies. 166

Physical Layer Hardware. 167

Layer 2: The Data-Link Layer 167

Frame Description. 167

Sublayers of Data-Link 168

Data-Link Layer Devices. 168

Layer 3: The Network Layer. 168

Network Layer Example 169

Layer 4: The Transport Layer. 170

Other Transport Layer Functions 171

Network and Transport Layer Technologies. 171

Layer 5: The Session Layer. 171

Creating a Connection. 172

Transferring Data and Using Dialog Control. 172

Terminating a Connection. 173

Layer 6: The Presentation Layer. 173

Character Code Translation. 173

Data Encryption. 174

Data Compression and Expansion. 174

Layer 7: The Application Layer. 174

Service Advertisement 175

Service Processing 175

Terms to Know. 176

Review Questions. 177

Chapter 9 Network Models 179

Considering Peer-to-Peer Networks. 180

When Appropriate. 181

Common OS Examples 181

Viewing Network Configurations for Windows 7 Computers. 182

Configuring Local Area Connection Properties. 183

Identifying the Computer. 184

Considering Client-Server Networks 185

When Appropriate. 185

Common OS Examples 186

The Directory Services Model 186

When Appropriate. 188

Terms to Know. 188

Review Questions. 189

Chapter 10 Data-Link and Network Layer Protocols 191

Introduction to Topologies. 192

Bus Topology. 192

Star Topology. 193

Ring Topology. 194

Mesh Topology 195

Ethernet Communication Architecture. 196

Benefits and Drawbacks of Ethernet 197

Ethernet Standards. 198

Ethernet Hardware 199

Ethernet Bus Topology 199

Ethernet Star Topology. 200

Using TCP/IP 201

Benefits of TCP/IP. 202

Disadvantages of TCP/IP. 202

IPv4 Addressing. 203

IPv4 Configuration 204

IP Address. 204

Subnet Mask. 204

Default Router, or Gateway 204

IPv6 Addressing. 205

IPv6 Configuration 205

The Function of DHCP in an IP Network. 206

The Function of DNS in an IP Network 207

Terms to Know. 208

Review Questions. 209

Chapter 11 Network Operating Systems: A Comparison 211

Introduction to an NOS. 212

What to Look for in an NOS. 213

Windows Server 2003 R2. 214

When to Choose Windows Server 2003 R2. 214

Windows Server 2008. 214

When to Choose Windows Server 2008. 215

Windows Server 2008 R2. 216

When to Choose Windows Server 2008 R2. 216

Unix Servers. 217

When to Choose Unix. 217

Linux 217

When to Choose Linux 218

Terms to Know. 218

Review Questions. 219

Chapter 12 Windows Server 2008 R2 Origins and Platforms 221

Understanding the Origins of Windows Server. 222

Provide Flexibility in OS Code. 222

Offer High Performance 222

Be Reliable. 222

Use Portable Code. 223

Be Compatible with Existing Standards. 223

Understanding NT 4. 223

NT Server 4. 224

NT Server/E 4 224

Understanding Windows 2000/Windows Server 2003. 225

Windows Server 2003 System Requirements. 227

Windows Server 2003 Family Features. 228

Understanding Windows Server 2008/Windows Server 2008 R2. 230

Windows Server 2008 R2 System Requirements. 230

Windows Server 2008 R2 Family Features 231

Terms to Know. 232

Review Questions. 233

Chapter 13 Windows Server 2008/2008 R2 Active Directory Domain Services 235

Features of the Active Directory Domain Services. 236

Structure of the Active Directory Domain Services 238

Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R 2

Domains. 239

Organizational Units. 240

Forests and Trees. 242

Forests. 242

Trees 243

Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Trusts. 243

External Trusts. 244

Forest Trusts. 245

Shortcut Trusts. 246

Realm Trusts. 246

The Physical Network. 247

Sites 247

Domain Controllers. 248

Specialized Domain Controllers. 248

Global Catalogs. 249

Operations Master Roles. 249

Terms to Know. 250

Review Questions. 251

Chapter 14 Account Management 253

Structuring the Active Directory. 254

Organizational Units. 254

Groups. 255

Using and Creating Groups. 256

Types of Groups. 256

Global Group 257

Domain Local Group 257

Universal Group 258

Local Group 258

Creating a Group. 259

Configuring a Group. 260

User Accounts. 261

Creating User Accounts. 262

Configuring User Accounts. 264

Terms to Know. 266

Review Questions. 267

Chapter 15 File and Print Management 269

Sharing Folders. 270

Creating a New Share 271

Applying Permissions for Accessing Folders. 273

Assigning Permissions to Users and Groups. 275

Using NTFS 278

Selecting a File System. 280

Understanding the Basics of NTFS 281

Assigning NTFS Permissions. 281

Combining NTFS and Share Permissions 283

Applying NTFS Permissions 284

Understanding Share and NTFS Permission Interaction. 285

Accessing Resources. 286

Sharing Printers 287

Understanding Network Printing Basics 287

Creating a Printer. 288

Configuring Printer Properties. 289

Sharing a Printer 290

Establishing Print Permissions. 291

Terms to Know. 292

Review Questions. 293

Appendix A Review Question Answers 295

Appendix B Common Acronyms 305

Glossary 311

Index 325

Joey Alpern currently works as an independent consultant specializing in web development and database component integration.

Randy Muller, MCT, MCSE, MCITP, is an independent trainer and author specializing in Unified Communications, Office 365, and IT security.