Poor Richard's Home and Small Office Networking: Room-to-Room or Around the World [Paperback]

John Paul Mueller (Author)

Book Description

Series: Poor Richard's Series | Publication Date: February 2001

Today's businesses have multiple offices, mobile workers, telecommuters, and virtual offices. How do they all keep in touch, share information, and collaborate? This book offers an easy-to-understand explanation of the technology available for connecting employees. Readers will learn about inexpensive networking alternatives, software, installation, types of connections, security, and administration. The book also discusses how to use the Internet to communicate with instant messaging and file sharing. With the geek-free advice in this book, readers will discover the most economical and efficient way to keep in touch with employees and business contacts.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John Paul Mueller is a freelance author and technical editor. He has produced 48 books and almost 200 articles to date. The topics range from networking to artificial intelligence and from database management to heads down programming. Some of his current books include a COM+ programmer's guide and a Windows 2000 performance, tuning, and optimization book.

His technical editing skills have helped over 24 authors refine the content of their manuscripts, some of which are certification related. In addition to book projects, John has provided technical editing services to both Data Based Advisor and Coast Compute magazines. A recognized authority on computer industry certifications, he has also contributed articles to magazines including SQL Server Professional, Visual C++ Developer, and Visual Basic Developer.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

15 TIPS FOR A SUCCESSFUL NETWORK

(the book lists 35 more in the appendix: 50 Tips for a Successful Network)

1. Spend time deciding whether you really need a network. While a network is a highly practical tool for most small businesses, it turns into financial nightmare for others.

2. Design your network carefully. The more time you spend looking at various needs before you spend any money, the less money you'll waste on items you didn't need in the first place.

3. Be prepared to work at your network. No one is going to offer to perform the required work for free and consultants are extremely expensive. Relying on your own abilities is one way to reduce the total cost of the installation and ensure you can maintain the network once installed.

4. Always look at your needs before you decide on software. Use the software as a basis for other items like the operating system and hardware.

5. Don't bite off more networking that you can chew. A network you don't complete is money wasted. Even a small network will save money and you can always expand it later if necessary.

6. You don't need to have a vast knowledge of computers to repair system problems. Consultants fix many problems with careful observation and patience, not with technical expertise.

7. Networks require consistent care. Perform maintenance tasks as often as required to assure worry free operation.

8. Always look for the low-cost solutions to your networking problems. For example, alternative networking technologies provide flexible networking support for home offices and other small networks.

9. Use the right networking technology for the job. An infrared connection works great for line-of-sight applications, like transferring data from your laptop to your desktop machine, but won't work for other applications.

10. Avoid getting a central server unless you need one. Peer-to-peer networks operate efficiently and cost less to maintain than client/server networks do. However, once you do decide on a client/server configuration, ensure you spend enough to create a workable network.

11. Allocate bandwidth wisely. Don't allow users to waste bandwidth on collaboration or video applications unless the user needs these applications to perform useful work.

12. Make sure all users will have the bandwidth required to get their work done and that you keep some bandwidth in reserve for future needs.

13. Consider an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) as cheap insurance against lightning strikes and power outages. The data you save may be your own.

14. Look for the best deal when buying software. Sometimes last year's product contain all of the features you need and at bargain bin prices.

15. Computers don't understand or care that you're frustrated. Getting angry with a will only wears you out and thwarts any effort at repair.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Top Floor Pub (February 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1930082037
• ISBN-13: 978-1930082038
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,571,174 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John Mueller is a freelance author and technical editor. He has writing in his blood, having produced 87 books and over 300 articles to date. The topics range from networking to artificial intelligence and from database management to heads down programming. His most recent book is "Windows Command Line Administration Instant Reference" (Sybex, ISBN: 978-0-470-65046-2). His technical editing skills have helped over 52 authors refine the content of their manuscripts. You can reach John on the Internet at [e-mail] and his Web site at: http://www.mwt.net/~jmueller/.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars really simplistic, February 12, 2002

By 

Thomas D. Gulch "tdgulch" (Pennsauken, New Jersey United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Poor Richard's Home and Small Office Networking: Room-to-Room or Around the World (Paperback)

Nothing on routers,switches,broadband. Although the ccopyright
is 2001, this book could have been written 10 years ago.
HOWEVER, if all you have is a dial-up modem, this book will help you.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Networking Made Easy!, June 14, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Poor Richard's Home and Small Office Networking: Room-to-Room or Around the World (Paperback)

I own a small business. Every networking book that I bought before this one insisted that I must be a large corporation and that I was a computer major as well. All I ever wanted was a book that explained how to put a network together in terms that I could understand. This book does all that and more.

Some consultant came in, charged me lots of money, and then didn't get a network set up. This book showed me how to avoid consulting fees and still save money putting a network together. I was able to put something together in just about a week and it cost less than half what the consultant said it would. Better still, this book gave me the confidence to install everything myself.

I don't know if this book will help everyone, but I consider it an essential book if you own a small business. I'm just sorry that I didn't find it earlier.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book for novice & intermediate users, November 16, 2001

By 

Edward Alexander Gerster "miamibooks" (South Miami, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Poor Richard's Home and Small Office Networking: Room-to-Room or Around the World (Paperback)

If you are computer literate yet lack the fundamentals on assembling a small to medium size network, then this is the book for you. It is a very readable source of information that helps you determine your needs and then presents a variety of options--from common to sometimes bizarre. There is a lot of good advice on conserving costs while optimizing performance and chapters that explore the basics of network security, software, first aid and performance issues. The text has appropriately necessary diagrams & illustrations, an excellent glossary & appendix of tips, and generous references to online sources for further information. This is probably the best beginner to intermediate level book on the subjects covered, at a reasonable price.