Darril Gibson - Microsoft Windows Networking Essentials

Acquisitions Editor: Jeff Kellum

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Copyright 2011 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

ISBN: 978-1-118-01685-5ISBN: 978-1-118-07716-0 (ebk.)ISBN: 978-1-118-07718-4 (ebk.)ISBN: 978-1-118-07717-7 (ebk.)

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Dear Reader,

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Acknowledgments

Books are massive projects that succeed only with the cooperation and help of several people. My name is on the cover as the author, but many, many other people contributed to its success. First, I want to thank Jeff Kellum for thinking of me for this projectI love working with the Wiley team. Im grateful for all the efforts of the technical editor, Bradley Mitchell, who provided some great feedback; I only wish there was more room in this book to implement all his suggestions. It was great to work with Tom Cirtin again, an excellent development editor who provided great editorial assistance and helped keep the book on track. I also want to thank my brother, a knowledgeable networking expert named Duane Gibson, who provided input on many of the chapters in this book. Last, thanks to Production Editor Christine OConnor and Production Assistant Nicholas Moran, who helped make sure the final production looked as good as it does.

About the Author

Darril Gibson is the CEO of Security Consulting and Training, LLC. He has written, coauthored, and contributed to more than a dozen books, and he regularly consults and teaches on a wide variety of IT topics. Most of the books hes been involved with are available on Amazon by searching for Darril Gibson . He has been a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) since 1999 and holds a multitude of certifications including MCSE (NT 4.0, Windows 2000, and Windows 2003), MCITP (Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, and SQL Server), Security+, CISSP, and ITIL Foundations. Darril lives in Virginia Beach with his wife of more than 18 years and two dogs. Whenever possible, they escape to their cabin in the country with more than 20 acres of land where his dogs wear themselves out chasing rabbits and deer.

You can reach the author by writing to .

Introduction

Computers are very common today, and just about any computer is connected to a network. People with the knowledge and expertise to configure and maintain networks are needed in any organization.

IT administration starts with network administration in most organizations. If the computers cant communicate on the network, nothing else matters. Network administrators need to be able to quickly identify any communication problems and resolve them. Of course, to do this, administrators need to understand how the network works under normal conditions.

The Microsoft Technology Associate (MTA) certification is a new certification level. It includes three separate tracks: Information Technology (IT) Professional, Developer, and Database. The IT Professional track is for individuals pursuing work as administrators. The Developer track is for individuals pursuing work as programmers and software engineers. The Database track is for individuals pursuing work as database administrators and database developers.