This chapter of the Interactive Network Design Manual is sort of a
cross between a list of links and my magazine column. It's a list, with
sometimes long annotations, of the sites I've found on the Web that seem
best to complement what the INDM is trying to do. They comprise informative,
well presented material on how to design, implement and maintain LANs and
WANs for medium to large organizations, as well as some stuff that was just
too cool to keep out.
Just below you'll find a list of the links, divided into rough categories.
The first link, with the page's name, goes to the site itself. The link
marked "To annotation" below each site link goes to my description
of that site. There's a lot of overlapping between categories, however.
The best thing to do is to read the annotations first, sort of as if you
were reading the back covers of books on a shelf. For example, you can get
to a nice list of computer networking vendors through
Yahoo
or to great information on networking standards through the
Computer
and Communication Entry Page
, but there's so much in these links, I
couldn't index everything in them. Below the list is the full, alphabetized,
annotated list, with all my little remarks.
One thing that I found while putting this chapter together is that there
are
several tons
of network computing information out on the
Web. I've intentionally left out the most copious category, information
about the Internet itself. I mean, the net is downright narcissistic! If
I got into that, I'd be writing forever. You can access the Internet stuff
pretty easily, anyway. I'd start with Yahoo.
Because of the great amount of Web-based network computing information out
there, this chapter makes no claims to be a comprehensive guide to all of
it, although it points to some indexes that can get you to much of it. My
annotated links below, however, are just my picks of things that ought to
interest you, since here you are on this page. Like the rest of the Web,
you're going to have to explore to get its full value. Good hunting.
The more I use Frequently Asked Questions lists, the more I like
them. I really like this one. The questions all seem relevant and interesting,
and there are lots of links to 100VG-AnyLan resources around the net, plus
a few links to other network technology sites and mailing lists. It's maintained
by Richard Russell, a Senior Software Engineer for Thomas-Conrad Corp.
Anixter is a big networking Value-Added Reseller. This is Anixter's
take on Token Ring Switching for Enterprise Networks, and I found it a good
introduction to the subject, with a lot of practical advice. It resembles
a lot of the chapters in our Interactive Network Design Manual, being an
illustrated essay with a hypertext table of contents that gives the basics
of a technology and discusses design and implementation.
The Black Box On-Line Catalog is a Web-based version of the well-known Black
Box Catalog, which has been selling data communication and connectivity
products for 18 years. Black Box' site goes beyond the catalog with the
reference page linked here, however. The Reference Center contains an
extensive
glossary of data communication terms, and summary and overview materials
about Ethernet, asynchronous and synchronous communications, T1 and Fractional
T1, V.34, PC Card mobile and wireless, matrix switches, VGA video splitters
and SCSI-II cabling.
If you've decided to implement a CD-ROM-based database on your network,
this site is for you. It's the Frequently Asked Questions list (FAQ) for
the CDROMLAN mailing list. YOu can get the idea from the first few questions,
which include, "How can I ccess the CDROMLAN archives? What solutiona
are available that allow me to network CD-ROM databases? How can I contace
someone who uses a particular CD networking solution?" The FAQ is updated
monthly on the 5th of the month. It's maintained by Greg Gibbs at the University
of Alaska, Anchorage.
This site hosts the archives of the cell-relay mailing list, several other
ATM-related mailing lists, and many other resources. Among these is a large
collection of ATM documents, including implementation agreements from the
ATM Forum, "HTMLized" Request for Comments (RFCs) from the IETF,
draft ITU standards, and research papers in Postscript and Adobe Acrobat
format. There is a link to AT&T's large networking bibliography, links
to trade press web pages, a list of upcoming ATM-related events and calls
for papers, and links to other ATM sites. There is also a list of sources
of free and commercial ATM software on the net.
Given the size of the site, it's a good thing it has a search dialog routine
to make searching it easier. The site is maintained by Allen Robel and Chris
Dent, of University Computing Services at Indiana University.
Anybody who has wrestled with the can of worms known as client/server will
appreciate this site, the Client/Server Coffeehouse. Basically, it says
the way to master client/server is to become a dancing goat. That's right,
dancing goat! Actually, it makes pretty good sense
. If you need more than
client/server scars and a philosophical sense of humor to get you to click
on the link, I'll mention that the site also presents discussions of the
following questions: "What are the chances of successfully implementing
client/server in my business? Where are middle management jobs going with
implementation of client/server? How much should I spend on implementing
client/server? What have been the biggest pitfalls in implementing client/server?"
In addition to material supplied by the webmasters, there are also several
threaded discussions which use e-mail. The illustrations on the dancing
goat page are nice, too.
How about a directory and search engine dedicated just to stuff about computers
and communication? This is it. I did a search for networking companies and
came up with a pretty good list. Of particular interest is the
Computer
and Communication Standards
section, which really provides a great listing
of relevant standards organizations and what they're doing. It has direct
links to standards work on ATM, Ethernet, FDDI, Fibre Channel, HIPPI, IEEE
1394, ISDN, SCI, SCSI, SMDS, and SONET, for example. It also has a list
of all the computer media on the Web, but some of the links, such as the
link to Network Computing, were out of date. Still, I liked this site a
lot.
This list of links, maintained at the University of Texas, points to "links
to research and study in Networks and Communications principles." Some
of the links include include "Introduction to SNA," "Introduction
to T1 and T1 CSU's," "Introduction to TCP/IP" and other introductory
materials. Some of the links are to
more advanced sites, however. Some of
the links were also out of date (but, of course, we all face that problem...).
A comprehensive list of links to information about 100Base-T, 100Base-T4,
100Base-FX, and a tiny bit on 100Base-VG AnyLAN. Includes a lot of links
to information from relevant vendors, but also from consortia, distributors,
etc. Lots of product information, and it looks like the list is updated
frequently and is in good repair.
If you're into isoEthernet, there's lots of help here. Isochronous Ethernet
is one of several technologies vying for the chance to transmit real-time
data, such as video, over your LAN. As Dave Hawley describes it, "isoEthernet
combines standard 10Mb/s Ethernet with 96B+D channels of standard ISDN on
the same Category 3 twisted-pair wiring already installed in most offices.
It does this by recoding the data to allow 16Mb/s of data using the same
20MHz Ethernet clock. The additional data is time-multiplexed to allow the
Ethernet and ISDN data to run concurrently without interference. This brings
high-bandwidth telephony to the enterprise desktop at a low cost, enabling
video conferencing and computer telephony integration applications."
Will the technology compete successfully with, say, ATM? Here's a chance
to look at the issues from the perspective of a supporter. It also looks
like what he does for a living, since he's currently systems engineering
manager, Interactive Multimedia Business Unit, Lan Division, National Semiconductor
Corp.
This is a basic introduction to Ethernet, written in April 1995, and focusing
on desktop connectivity with 10BaseT.
It's written like an essay, with illustrations
but no particular bells and whistles. It's a good place to get your head
straight on the basics, prior to the advent of fast Ethernet and switches.
The author is Howard Gilbert, a Senior Research Programmer at Computing
and Information Systems, Yale University.
This is the page that inspired me to write this article. I just figured
Network Computing
needed a list of links to sites like this. It's
called The Ethernet Page, regardless of what the link says, and it is maintained
by Charles Spurgeon at the University of Texas. It starts off with a reproduction
of a handwritten drawing of the first Ethernet system done by Bob Metcalfe,
Ethernet's inventor, in 1976, and the site
gets better from there!
I
know. I'm beginning to sound like a network dweeb. But this site is really
cool. Anybody who does anything with Ethernet or fast Ethernet should check
it out. Period.
Excite is another of those search engines, like Lycos and InfoSeek. Like
Yahoo, however, Excite also offers a "NetDirectory," with subject
categories. This link gets you to the one for Computer Networking. I found
it a nice jumping-off point for several sites. It's not as comprehensive
and Yahoo's, by any means, but it's annotated with descriptions, usually
about three lines long.
Any network computing technology can offer you the opportunity to do things
wrong and do them over, but cabling allows you to do
this in cramped, dirty
and sometimes downright unsafe places. This is why this site can be a godsend.
It's a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document for the comp.dcom.cabling
newsgroup. Topics include the types of cables (fiber, coax, copper, unshielded
twisted pair-UTP, shielded twisted pair), installation techniques, standards
and fire and building safety codes. There is also a nice set of places to
write or phone for further information, but no Web links.
This is a nice collection of documents and links to other sites dealing
with high performance networks and distributed systems. Here's an abridged
version of how the webmaster describes this site:
"This archive is intended to provide information relavent to researchers
interested in current developments in high performance networks and distributed
systems. I'm providing this service as voluntary effort to the Internet
community: pointers to new information and services that you've come across
would always be welcome.
This server holds copies of some technical documents collected from sites
all over the net, notices that may be of interest to this community, calls
for papers and attendence at conferences and workshops and software packages
and data sets."
The site also offers annotated links to sites in these subject areas: Gigabit
Testbeds, ATM Stuff on the Net, Distributed Systems, Multicasting, Network
Performance, resources in the U.K.
The site is maintained by John Knight, who has just finished his Ph.D. in
the Department of Computer Studies, Loughborough University of Technology
Leicestershire, UK Email: J.P.Knight@lut.ac.uk
CERN, the high-energy physics institute in Switzerland, was where the W
orld
Wide Web technology was born, as most of us know. They also do other interesting
networking things. The High Speed Interconnect project home page located
at CERN allows you to browse through some of the technologies and functions
used in high-performance data acquisition systems for high-energy physics
experiments.
"The University of New Hampshire's InterOperability Lab (IOL) is proud
to introduce its
On-Line Educational Program. Over the next few years, the staff and students
of the IOL will be working together to make this site a comprehensive educational
reference point for the computer communications industry. In-depth and original
educational tutorials in computer communications will be created (such as
our 100VG-AnyLAN Training Homepage) and other noteworthy educational sites
will be referenced."
Already, the site contains lots of nice links, many briefly annotated, about
ATM, Ethernet, FDDI, Fast Ethernet, Token Ring, 100VG-AnyLAN, Fibre Channel,
General Data Communications, IP and TCP/IP, and network management. There
are also some programming tutorials, links to standards organizations, some
system administration training courses and tutorials. Check out the 100VG-AnyLAN
Training page in particular, if that subject's of any interest to you. Nice
work.
John Wobus, of Syracuse University's Computing & Media Services organization,
has put together an interesting list of links about LANs, including general
information resources and information about subjects like protocols, remote
access, network management and routers. Links are also offered to a few
vendors and trade publications, including Network Computing. The list, like
this one, is selective, but, unlike this list, it's not anno
tated. Still,
there are some nice links on it.
"MONET, the High Data Rate MObile interNET, will demonstrate the technologies
required to develop a Department of Defense network that is interoperable
with the future public-carrier networks, and which will provide reliable
high data rate connectivity using mobile RF communication links and will
support all types of media including data, voice, imagery, fax,
and video teleconferencing. This server contains information regarding the
design and implementation of MONET at NRaD. There is no classified information
on this server."
There's just something about that paragraph that makes me want to visit
the site. How about you?
Several universities, and some other organizations offer interactive courseware
on network computing subjects. This is a good jumping off point for several
of them. Many of these are extensive and well illustrated. A lot of the
stuff starting here is similar to the essays in the Interactive Network
Design Manual. Definitely worth a look. Much of the courseware listed is
mirrored on many sites and organizations around the world for in-house training,
but almost all of it is freely available via the WWW. Upon request, and
subject to certain criteria, the material may be made available for on site
use by other organisations. Some of this courseware is coordinated by the
Global Co-operation Courseware Project. Email b_brown@staff.cit.ac.nz for
further details. You will reach Brian Brown of the Central Institute of
Technology, Heretaunga, Upper Hutt, New Zealand.
This is the popular archive-and-more site for the comp.d-
com.net-management
newsgroup. Subareas on the site include The Newsgroup, The Archives (Software),
The Books, The Mailing Lists, The Products, The Committees, The Questions
(FAQs), The Papers,The Vocabulary, Other Management Servers and Corporate
WEBs.
Nice
site! Great glossary, for example, neatly alphabetically
hyperindexed. Lots of stuff on network management, particularly SNMP-based
technologies. Well managed by Jeff Murphy, a lead programmer analyst at
SUNY at Buffalo.
IBM has put together a really nice networking Web site, not just for IBM
customers, but of use to all readers of
Network Computing.
Here's
how the site describes itself:
"The networking home page serves a respository for general information
on IBM's networking hardware and software products and solutions. Most of
the products you'll find listed in our offerings section are intended for
business customers, those who use as well as administer I/T resources in
what most trade literature now refers to as the enterprise. A couple of
notable exceptions to our focus on businesses are our WebExplorer, Internet
Connection, and modem offerings. These products are intended for both home
as well as business use.
In addition to specific product information on software and hardware, we
also have fixes, drivers, documentation, tips & techniques, technical
reports, white papers, and references to other online sites (including user
groups and associations). Look under the individual product listings or
in our support section to find those offerings.
We have several departments that are not product-specific: Our Customer
support offers multiple links to related networking sites, trade publications,
IBM servers that offer support on specific architectures and programs. The
page also lists some product ftp servers and support contacts. Y
ou'll also
find a bit of fluff in there.
The Forum is a collection of our discussions with the leaders in the field
of computer communications.They discuss the social, economic, and technological
implications of getting wired. Business Partners describes programs and
contacts for customer developers, software resellers and remarketers, Independent
Software Vendors, distributors, and large companies with whom IBM has strategic
alliances."
"The NETWORKING Page" is a pretty broad home page title, but the
site does have sections ranging from Physical Layer Protocols to E-Mail
and Video Conferencing, and from Modems to Gigabit Networks. I particularly
liked the LANs section. It has things like a list of many places you can
get LAN card drivers, as well as other drivers. (The LAN Drivers Page is
actually a backup of Mark Towfiq's SunSITE page, which you can also find
here:
LAN Drivers
Page).
Many of the links are annotated, and there are explanations in
sections and subsections. If I had the time to be more systematic, the chapter
you're in right now might look more like The NETWORKING page. It's maintained
by Chris L.G. Hendricks at Louisiana State University. The last time I was
in there, Chris said the page was moving, so you might have to update the
link by searching for it by the time you read this.
According to NewsPage, NewsPage "a single-user online information service,
designed to provide World Wide Web users with current, pre-sorted news across
a broad array of topics and industries. With more than 25,000 pages, all
refreshed daily, NewsPage is one of the deepest, most comprehensive sites
on th
e Web." To me, it's a big Web site with lots of news presented
by subject categories. You can also get custom categories set up for you.
NewsPage has a page of new stories about LANs. So if you want a quick check
of late-breaking LAN news, here's a place to look. It's a cool idea, actually.
The last time I looked, the list of categories on the LAN page looked like
this:
LAN Switching ( 0 New Stories )
Network Operating Systems ( 2 New Stories )
Network Management Hardware & Software ( 5 New Stories )
Network Management Software ( 1 New Stories )
Wireless LANs ( 1 New Stories )
LAN Hardware Overview ( 3 New Stories )
Hubs, Repeaters & MAUs' ( 0 New Stories )
Ethernet & Token Ring ( 1 New Stories )
FDDI ( 1 New Stories )
LAN Business ( 1 New Stories )
Clicking on the category takes you to a page where you get the headline
and a three-line summary of the story, with its length and source. If you
want the full text, however, you have to register with NewsPage, get a password,
and, in some cases, pay.
NetWare Users International is the association of Novell networking professionals.
It is an
independent, non-profit organization that supports NetWare user groups worldwide.
NUI has over 230 affiliated user groups worldwide. This home page provides
many useful resources for the NetWare network manager, including the online
version and archives of the group's NetWare Connection magazine, access
to Novell Press offerings through the NetWare bookstore, lists of conferences
and exhibits, lists of NUI user groups and technical forum, and more, such
as a nice list of shareware and utilities, recommended by various members,
and the links to where they can be downloaded.
As its author, Rawn Shah, says, "This list contains information that
might help you decide upon a TCP/IP or NFS product for your PC or Macintosh."
Shah is a systems consultant in Arizona who formerly managed networks at
the Arizona Research Laboratories. Despite Shah's business, he says, "The
material in this FAQ is not based on preferrence for any one product. All
questions have been drawn from the archives of comp.protocols.nfs starting
from the very beginning. To all distributers/software houses: If you feel
that there is unfair representation of your product in this list please
contact me." Looking at the list seems to confirm what Shah maintains.
The list has lots of information, from basic to advanced, on practical aspects
of working with TCP/IP, NFS, PCs and Macs, and a lot of related things like
SLIP, PPP, telnet, ftp, SOS, SOSS, MacTCP, KIP, DDP-IP, and more.
Another disasterous page title, this one even with a typo. It's on one of
IBM's servers in Raleigh, N.C. Research Triangle Park, where all that IBM
networking stuff is done. The paper is an interesting discussion of the
differences between shared and switched Ethernet LANs and half-duplex and
full-duplex LANs, and "where it makes sense to use one or the other.
Factors considered include network topology, performance improvements, and
cost." It reports some testing data from different configurations.
I didn't detect a particular IBM bias here, but maybe I didn't get the joke.
What a great title for a computing page! As it turns out, however, most
of the links here are to another site, the
Network
Administrator's Survi
val Handbook
, which is maintained by the Computing
and Communications Services Office at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The Handbook covers several networking subjects, such as networking PCs
and Macs. LAN operating systems, networking UNIX systems, and other miscellaneous
informaton. The link above takes you to a nice book-like interface from
which you can access various "chapters" which are further lists
of links to UIUC documents and helpful resources throughout the Internet.
Finally, this site isn't directly network related, although some networking
references can be found there. But network computing is part of computing,
and this site, plus the links from it, are a way for us to keep in touch
with computing's history. Believe me, in these helter-skelter times when
a year in the computer networking industry seems like seven normal years,
a little history can be helpful by providing perspective and stimulating
ideas.
This online museum, whose server is located in Oxford, England, includes
"an eclectic collection of World Wide Web (WWW) hyperlinks connected
with the history of computing and on-line computer-based exhibits available
both locally and around the world."
"Galleries" in the virtual museum include: Local virtual exhibits,
Corporate history and overviews, History of computing organizations, General
historical information, Related on-line museums, On-line exhibits and information,
Selected newsgroups, Computer simulators, The future, and Other links.
This is one entry into ISN, the Internet Shopping Network, an Internet catalog
store. Far be it from me to recommend any particular vendor, but I
find
the catalog here useful for getting an idea of what the street price of
some things is today, at least. And if you want to order something right
then and there online, you can. The section on Network Connectivity Hardware
features products from a lot of vendors. It seems more comprehensive than
most catalog ads you find in print.
Yahoo
Yahoo is one of the most popular directories and search engines on the
Internet, as you probably already know. What may not be as clear is just
how much stuff Yahoo has in its directory that is relevant to Network Computing.
There's lots.
Yahoo
- Computers and Internet:Software:Protocols
aims you at links to DNS,
FTP, HTTP, IP, NNTP, NTP, PPP, SIPP, SLIP, SMTP, SNA, SNMP, TCP/IP, Winsock,
APPC, IMAP, IMSP, IRC, MMS, SIAN, SSL. TUBA, UUCP, Z39.50... I think I'll
stop before I misspell something.
Yahoo
- Computers and Internet:Networking and Communications
is a main line
to literally hundreds of references. I got a lot of trhe ones here from
there. It's broken down into 36 categories, many of which have subcategories.
Probably a good first place to start when looking up anything about Network
Computing.
Yahoo
- Computers and Internet:Networking and Communications:User Groups
,
in contrast, is tiny, listing 5 users groups, including the Association
of Banyan Users International web site.
Yahoo
- Business and Economy:Companies:Computers:Networking
, however, is another
biggie. On my 16" monitor, I can scroll through 20 screens of alphabetically
listed companies, with short a
nnotations attached to many of them. There
are also a number of subcategories jumping from this page. For example,
there are 26 links to sources of information about EDI, 22 to Network Management,
etc. Clearly, there's lots of opportunities starting here. The basic vendor
list looked very comprehensive, to say the least.
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