March 09, 2006

WiFi Safe Surfing with VPN

Soon Steve Gibson from the Security Now podcast will be doing a big VPN solution how-to. He has done a few podcasts talking about Open VPN and Hamachi in the past and now VPN is a big topic. With more people using open WiFi access points or internet connections they have no control over they need to start thinking about security because as always there are some people out there looking to capture usernames and passwords etc.

ExtremeTech.com has a short explaination of VPN and the Hamachi solution online at the moment if you want to find out more information. A secure VPN solution is at the top of my to-do-list as I do use open WiFi and am now more concerned about the security of my data.

Posted by The Technician at 08:26 PM | Comments (0)

January 17, 2006

DHCP Protocol (Part 2)

To complete your understanding of DHCP, check out Part II of WindowsNetworking.com's article.
Understanding the DHCP Protocol (Part 2)

Posted by The Technician at 07:56 PM | Comments (0)

January 10, 2006

DHCP Protocol (Part 1)

While studying Semester 4 of my CCNA I learnt a lot about DCHP and how to configure it on Cisco routers. It is also mentioned in Module 10 of Semester 1 which my Cisco students have recently covered. WindowsNetworking.com have the first part of a two part article online explaining DHCP, so if you are studying for your CCNA or are just interested in how your computer gets an IP address then I recommend this article.

WindowsNetworking.com - Understanding the DHCP Protocol (Part 1)

Posted by The Technician at 09:21 PM | Comments (0)

November 24, 2005

Cisco Resources Updated

I have added more information to the Cisco section of the site. There are some good links explaining subnets and ethernet and also useful files are now available to download.

Posted by The Technician at 10:29 PM | Comments (0)

August 14, 2005

A network called 'Internet'

Back in 1993 the Canadian Broadcasting Company did a report on a new network called 'Internet' that people were connecting to. I heard about this video a few months ago but it has recently been dugg again on digg.com.


Today we take 'Internet' for granted and enjoy highspeed connections and streaming media, but back then it was dial-up and text based. I first experienced 'Internet' back in 1995 while visiting a friend in Texas who had AOL, what was your first 'Internet' experience?

Posted by The Technician at 06:49 PM | Comments (0)

June 30, 2005

Network Diagrams

Network diagrams are essential for companies to aid in administration and to have good documentation if staff change. Network diagrams are not only for large companies and www.ratemynetworkdiagram.com allows users to post images of their own home networks and then let other users rate them. It is amazing to see how much equipment some people have. Talking about having a lot of equipment look at the diagram below to see my home network. It is just a quick diagram and I plan to add more information at a later date. I used icons from the Cisco site under Powerpoint icons.

Click for a larger image

Posted by syndicateone at 08:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 13, 2005

Free Network Utilities

Following on from yesterdays post about Lan Tools I discovered some more free tools today with the help of PocketPCThoughts.com. eEye Digital Security a company which develop Vulnerability Management Solutions offer some free tools after free registration. The tools are designed to search networks for machines with known vulnerabilities and also for wireless Access Points. There is a PocketPC version of the wireless Access Point discovery tool which could prove useful when WarDriving.

Posted by The Technician at 08:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 12, 2005

Network tools at LanTricks.com

Having the right tools can make any job easier and for a Network Technician having tools that save you leaving your office and swivel chair are a godsend. There are a good collection of Lan Tools available at LanTricks.com which include a calculator to work out network addresses and a program to remotely shutdown workstations.

Please post in the comments if you know of any other useful Lan Tools.

Posted by The Technician at 08:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 13, 2005

General Network Security

IronGeek.com has some great resources about War Driving with a Linux PDA and also lots of tutorials regarding network security. The most interesting item on the site is Flash and video 'How to's' he has created. It is good to read about something, but seeing is even better. General Network Security

The most interesting video is 'Install VNC Remotely'. I had recently been ask how to do this and I did not know, but from the video is looks simple and IronGeek have all the files needed on there site.

I would recommend only to try and install it remotely on a machine I owned and not to try it at work or school as the Network Administrator may permently remove you from the network and you will have to work with a pen and paper.

Posted by The Technician at 08:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 22, 2005

Network Magic helps set up home network

I first heard about this application on jkOnTheRun.com and now Engadget have a good review of it. I have not tried it myself as I have not had time to experiement with it, but it certainly looks good and I am sure it will make operating a home network a lot easier for people. Especially if they are new to networking. The Family is the Network: Pure Networks’ Network Magic wants to make things simple.

Posted by The Technician at 10:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack