Finding for Someone Online

Finding a way to contact someone has gotten a lot easier: just type their name into Google and follow a few links. For many people, you’ll quickly find a profile on Facebook, a blog or even an email address you can use to get in touch. But a Google search doesn’t turn up good results for everyone. Maybe the person you’re trying to reach has a fairly common name. You may need a tool a little better than a simple Google search to find him.

1. 123people
123people provides a good start when you’re looking for someone online. You can type in just a first name and a last name and get pictures, phone numbers, email addresses, Amazon wishlists, websites, documents and more. It turns up a lot of search results for relatively common names — or names that refer to someone famous in addition to the person you’re looking for. The only drawback to so much information is that it can take a little while to search through it all and find the specific person you’re searching for.

2. Pipl
Pipl is a free search tool, although it brings in results from several other sites which do charge for access to particular records. Between those various sources, Pipl turns up a good number addresses and phone numbers, along with links to public records, online mentions and other useful pieces of information. Particularly helpful is Pipl’s ability to search withing a specific city, state or zip code. If you know the geographic location of the person in question, you’ll be able to narrow down search results to that area.

3. YoName
If you’re confident the person you want to find has a profile on some social networking site, a good search tool is YoName. The site searches across a whole list of different social networking sites, from big names like MySpace to less common options like Webshots. The results can take a little time to look through, but the process is made easier by the fact that they’re laid out in a table — you can browse through it quickly.


4. Zoom Info
Zoom Info is particularly useful if you’re looking to connect with someone at their job. Search results include job titles and employers, along with locations. The site offers a ‘contact this person’ button, but requires you to sign up for a free trial in order to use it. After the free trial, using that button and some of the site’s other features cost $99 per month. If you’re willing to do a little more legwork by calling up the company listed and seeing if you can ask for a direct number or email address, you can generally skip paying that fee.

5. Jobster
Jobster’s main focus is searching for jobs, but it also offers a tool to search for individuals. In most cases, it’s used for employers and recruiters looking for leads — but it can offer up some contact information that can help your search. A few other job sites offer a similar opportunity, as well.

6. Inmate Search
Unfortunately, you may find yourself in need of Inmate Search — while the site isn’t pretty, it includes a list of contact information for each state’s system for finding inmates, as well as the federal system. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of options for searching all states at once, but if you know the state the person you’re looking for might be incarcerated in, you can speed up the search process.

7. Intelius
To access most of the information available through Intelius, you’ll be asked to pay a fee. The site offers everything from phone numbers to complete background checks and actually can have useful information. I have purchased information from Intelius in the past and it did lead me to exactly the person I was looking for. However, I know the price tag (often starting around $40) can be off-putting, especially if you’re only casually searching or if you need to find information on a long list of people.

8. Zaba Search
I know many people who swear by Zaba Search when it comes to searching public records for free. I’ve had minimal luck on it myself, but if you’re having some difficulty, it may be worth a try. The reverse phone look on Zaba Search is particularly problematic — the site actually uses Intelius to look up phone numbers, which charges for the information.

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Customise Your 404 Page

At some stage in your internet surfing, you will have landed on a web page that says Error 404 Page Not Found. It can be annoying for visitors, but with a bit of care and attention, you can create a page that may intrigue your visitors and make them like you even more!

What is a 404 Page?

A 404 page is a HTTP standard response code indicating that the client was able to communicate with the server but the server could not find what was requested. This can happen for several reasons;
1. The page has been moved
2. A link from another site is incorrect
3. The visitor may have made a mistake typing in a URL

What Makes a Good 404 Error Page?

Think of the 404 as taking your lost visitor’s hand and guiding them gently to another part of your site.

1. Explain what the page is. Don’t assume that everyone is familiar with the term 404. The average lay person might think something has gone dramatically wrong (and I’m thinking of my parents here) when they see ERROR 404 in big letters on their screen.

2. Don’t let the visitor feel like it’s their fault that the page can’t be found, and don’t just tell them to correct their spelling. Odds are they won’t be back.

3. To improve their experience you should always allow them to go somewhere other than back using the browser Back button. Do not create dead ends.

4. Include links to other parts of your site.

5. Offer visitors a way to contact the webmaster to let them know a link is broken. Visitors are more likely to do this if offered a form.

6. Use Search boxes

7. An interesting or humorous graphic goes a long way towards creating goodwill.

By customising your 404 Error Page using some or all of these tips, you are going a long way towards keeping people on your site.


Some Examples

There are some wonderful showcases of 404 Pages on the web. I’ve picked out 10 examples that I felt were eyecatching and useful.

Unfinity Design gives a short explanation that the page can’t be found and a number of links back to various parts of their site.












CSS Scoop serves up a melting scoop of ice-cream which is a link back to the homepage. The navigation bar at the top allows visitors to jump to those sections of the site.











DigiGuru has a very interesting 404 page, which transitions through a number of pictures, whilst giving links back to the main site, his email and phone number, AND information about a walk through the South Pole.











Roymond.com – I have to admit I included this one because it made me laugh. As well as displaying a humorous (in a slightly twisted way) image on the 404 page, there are a full set of links back to the main site.


















Ultrapop shows a nice image with an order to return to base.
















Moo has a simple and “caring” message with links to its products and to the homepage.

















Hootsuite.com has a missing fowl theme with a brief explanation of why the page was not found and a link back to the homepage.












As well as sharks with lasers, on the Renkoo Error Page you get links back to various parts of the site.













Clean, witty and offering lots of ways out of the 404 page including the search box, the Tinted Pixelsite also adds a nice little touch saying “It’s most certainly not your fault”











The 404 page for Blue Daniel is exceptional. While it only offers one link back to the main site, It’s made in Flash and is very imaginative.













Out of interest, when you accidentally land on a 404 Error page, do you hit the back button without thinking any more about it? Or do you try some of the suggested links? Which 404 pages have you seen recently that impressed you?

read also similiar page : Common Problems with 404 Error Pages

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Promote your Book ...Ten Great Ways

So you have written a book and had it published. Congratulations. Now you face the challenge of what to do next. Many authors think that marketing is a job for the publisher so they sit back and wait for the royalties to roll in. You might have a very long wait. The market for books is extremely crowded and most books do not sell well. However, there are a number of things that the author can do that will really help to promote your book. so make the move from writing to marketing and take these actions:



1.Promote your Book by Sending review copies to all the journals and magazines that review books in your genre. This is something that most publishers do for you but there is no harm in sharing lists and helping out. If you have self-published you will certainly have to focus on this. Don’t forget the many online sites that review books.

2. Promote your Book by Getting friends, colleagues, clients or anyone who likes your book to place reviews on Amazon and other online book stores. Amazon is highly influential and the reviews matter so encourage anyone who says they enjoyed your book to place a review.

3. Promote your Book Offering yourself for interview on radio stations. Most radio stations are looking for interesting interviews and the author of a newly published book has a good chance of getting on air. You need a publicity letter which says something interesting or controversial about the book and off you go. If you have the budget you can use a professional PR company to target radio and TV programs.

4. Promote your Book Creating a web page for the book. Ideally you should have a separate website with an address that features the book title. Now you can exchange links and drive traffic to the site with comments, blogs, quotes and extracts. Be sure to show people how they can buy the book. Encourage user feedback, comments and reviews.

5. Promote your Book Offering sample chapters as free downloads. Take a couple of your best chapters and turn them into pdf files. Let people download them for free. Think of this as the equivalent of letting people browse through your book at a bookstore.

6. Promote your Book Using material from the book in your blog. Start a blog and quote from the book. Lift sections and acknowledge the book as the source. Build a community of interest around the topics in the book.

7. Review other books in this field. Promote your Book by Become a reviewer on Amazon. Use your own name accompanied by ‘author of the book……’. Review other books and when people read your reviews some will click through to your book.

8. Promote your Book using an email newsletter. Encourage people to subscribe on the website and then send out an occasional newsletter with interesting new material in this book’s field. But you cannot just plug your book – you have to add value with new information and comment.

9. Promote your Book by Give away copies to the right people. Use the book as your calling card. Give copies to potential and existing clients. Encourage them to read it and pass it on.

10. Promote your Book by Offering books as prizes. Local radio shows, magazines or societies will often be interested in running competitions and will give you valuable publicity if you give them a few books to give away as prizes.

Some authors do book signings in local bookstores but, unless you are very well-known, this activity is unlikely to produce worthwhile results. Finally, you could consider using the book as a platform for launching your speaking career. You will need a different set of skills to succeed here but the book can make an excellent starting point and every talk will help sell more books.

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Google Ventures Looks to Invest Millions in Software, Green IT, Health Care

Google is setting up Google Ventures, a venture capital fund with the capacity to invest in consumer Internet, software, clean-tech, bio-tech, health care, and whatever other areas that might harbor the “next big thing.” Although Google claims its new fund is not an acquisition vehicle, the company has a history of purchasing startups such as YouTube and then integrating them into its core businesses.

Google announced the creation of Google Ventures on March 30, a venture capital fund designed to invest in startups across the technology spectrum.

By doing so, Google joins Intel and other companies in establishing a venture-capital arm for investment in smaller firms with potential. Google already has a philanthropic arm, Google.org, that has focused on investments in global health and clean energy.

"We'll be focusing on early stage investments across a diverse range of industries, including consumer Internet, software, clean-tech, bio-tech, health care and, no doubt, other areas we haven't thought of yet," Rich Miner and Bill Maris, managing partners of Google Ventures, wrote on the official Google blog. "If anything, we think the current downturn is an ideal time to invest in nascent companies that have the chance to be the ‘next big thing,’ and we'll be working hard to find them."

Rich Miner helped develop Google’s Android platform and ecosystem; before joining Google, he was a vice president at Orange, overseeing research and development activities in North America.

Before joining Google, Bill Maris founded Burlee.com, a Web hosting company, and was a portfolio manager for Investor AB, a Swedish industrial holding company.

While Maris and Miner will judge and manage the investments, The New York Times reports that David Drummond, senior vice president of corporate development and chief legal officer at Google, will oversee the project.

News reports peg the amount of money Google Ventures plans to spend in its first year at $100 million.

On its new Google Ventures Website, the company suggested that it would be willing to invest up to "tens of millions of dollars" in startups, "depending on the stage of the opportunity and the company’s need for capital." Google also held open the door to co-investing in opportunities with other venture firms.

On the same site, Google also asserted that its new venture – so to speak – wasn't merely a new acquisition tool: "Acquisitions by Google of portfolio companies are possible, but this is not the goal or focus of our investment activities. Our focus is building great companies and generating long-term financial return."

However, Google has a long history of purchasing startups and then integrating their technology into its core businesses. As far back as 2005, with its acquisition of Dodgeball.com, Google was building its portfolio of social-networking technologies; a year later, it purchased YouTube for $1.65 billion.

On March 11, Google released Google Voice, an updated version of GrandCentral, which Google acquired in July 2007. Google Voice allows users to condense his or her various phone numbers into a single one, among other phone-related services.

"The $100 million or so is not the type of funding they would need to go out and make acquisitions of major companies; it’s basically seed money," Charles King, an analyst with Pund-IT Research, said in an interview. "I would expect them to proceed in much the same way as Intel Capital and IBM, in that they’ll find interesting companies and throw them a financial lifeline in order to help them survive, and then have a seat at the table."

Google Venture’s public stance against being an acquisition vehicle, King continued, "may be a matter of political expediency."

"There are any number of startups whose main reason for existing is to be acquired by a larger organization, but that’s not always the case," he said. "So from a socio-political standpoint, it’s better for Google to say they’re heading out there simply to provide guidance. If eventual acquisition was an explicit goal, they might risk scaring off more companies than they would attract."

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Earth Hour ignored by internet user

While nearly 1,000 global landmarks went dark for Earth Hour and uncounted individuals turned off lights in a symbolic gesture endorsing climate change action, Internet usage continued to suck down power with no slowdown before, during and after Earth Hour. Power for servers and associated cooling equipment took up 1.2 percent of the entire U.S. power consumption in 2005 at a cost of $2.6 billion.

The much ballyhooed March 28 Earth Hour called for individuals, businesses and governments across the globe to turn off unused appliances and computers for 1 hour as a show of support for climate change action. The World Wildlife Foundation, the sponsor of the event, went so far as to call Earth Hour "the world's first-ever global vote about the future of our planet."

Internet users, it seems, could not have cared less.

The monitoring service Pingdom, which tracks 35,000 sites and servers across 125 countries, measured Internet activity during the Earth Hour time range. Compared with the same period for the three previous weeks, Pingdom found no decrease in Internet use.

"There was no noticeable difference, which means that Earth Hour had no impact on the Internet," Pingdom wrote on its blog. The company was disappointed with the results.

"The Internet today takes up a significant amount of the global power output and considerably more of our collective attention," Peter Alguacil, a Pingdom Web analyst, said in a statement. "All servers and web sites are not business critical, and we sincerely wish more companies, organizations and individuals will join us in pledging to shut down any infrastructure they can spare next year to make Earth Hour 2010 a virtual event as well as a physical one."

According to an AMD-sponsored study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, power for servers and their cooling equipment took up 1.2 percent of the entire U.S. power consumption in 2005 at a cost of $2.6 billion. The numbers don't include power for data storage and network equipment.

Pingdom promised to shut down as much as possible without compromising its main monitoring and notification services for Earth Hour 2010, and urged individuals and Internet companies to do the same.

"Earth Hour is intended to mobilize and manifest support for action on climate change. What if Facebook, after notifying users, decided to shut down for 60 minutes next year? That would be an unprecedented global manifestation in itself," said Alguacil.

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Acrobat.com Sends Large Files Through Outlook for Free [Downloads]

Windows only: Adobe's Acrobat.com web site gives you 5GB of online file hosting for free, and their new Office add-in lets you easily upload and share your documents directly within Outlook 2007.

Once you've installed the add-on and signed up for an account, attaching files to email messages is easy—just use the Upload File buttons on the Ribbon and the file link will be added inline to your message, taking the recipient to the Acrobat.com site where they can preview the file contents before downloading. Files that you've already uploaded can be easily added to a new message with the Insert Link button, which opens up a pane on the right-hand side listing your previously uploaded files—making this a great utility anytime you want to send a large file through email.

The Acrobat.com Outlook Add-on is a free download, only works in Windows with Outlook 2007. The Acrobat.com document hosting service is free up to 5GB, works with any browser.
File Sharing from Microsoft Outlook® 2007 [Acrobat.com]

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YouTube to Block UK Music Video Users

YouTube, the popular Google-owned video sharing site, has announced it will block access to UK residents wanting to watch online music videos. The statement was issued after the company failed to agree new licensing terms with the Performing Right Society (PRS).

The PRS collects royalties on behalf of 50,000 composers and artists. The organisation was negotiating a new deal with YouTube that is rumoured to be many times more than the previously agreed terms which expired recently.

Both parties blame each other for the breakdown.

YouTube’s Director, Patrick Walker, stated that the move was regrettable:
We feel we are so far apart that we have to remove content while we continue to negotiate with the PRS. We are making the message public because it will be noticeable to users on the site.

The company’s blog also stated:
The costs are simply prohibitive for us - under PRS’s proposed terms we would lose significant amounts of money with every playback.

Whatever the outcome, the only clear losers at this time are the UK public.

Is this a last desperate attempt from the ‘old’ economy to hold on to power? Or can we expect increased litigation from the traditional distribution channels against new media companies? The web is a worldwide network; can organisations realistically dictate what individual territories are permitted to view when it is technically possible to bypass those restrictions?

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EDiscovery - Preparing Information For Court in the Information Age

Discovery has always been important to legal proceedings. Poring through papers to find relevant documents was a huge part of what litigation support services offered in the days before computers. Discovery still matters, but ediscovery -- the searching of electronic records -- has a few critical differences from its paper counterpart. Email is used as an example since it is a common target of ediscovery but this could apply to word processor documents, CAD drawings, or any other computer file.

Volume of Information

Electronic documents are easy to create, much easier than paper. Communicating by letter involves a formal tone and specific formatting. Even dictating to a secretary takes more effort than typing a few sentences into an email program.

Email is often used not only to replace letters, but also to replace phone calls. Email has the advantage of being convenient to both parties since either can answer when time is available. But email can be much more complicated than a phone call.

You might save a copy of the message in another folder. You might forward it to other people who might in turn forward it to others and so on. Since no paper is generated it becomes easy to CC everyone from the CEO to the janitor. Ediscovery cases usually involve far more information than paper discovery would.

Metadata

Metadata is data about the data. Your email contains more than just the message. The original message shows every recipient including blind CCs. It shows when the message was sent, not just when the author claimed it was sent. It shows the computer it was sent from which could reveal whether it was sent from work or home and might establish or discredit an alibi.

Metadata is sometimes more important in ediscovery than the document itself, akin to dusting a letter for fingerprints to verify who really wrote it. Other types of documents can reveal even more information such as whether the document was changed since its creation. It puts the information in context in an objective fashion.

Computerized Sorting

Despite the fact that ediscovery typically involves a larger volume of information than paper discovery does, it proceeds much faster. The fact that the data is already in electronic format, plus the attachment of metadata, allows all documents to be organized in almost any way imaginable.

Once collected, if a person needs all emails sent in March that mention a certain client by name, they can be pulled up in an instant. This is unlike paper discovery where the documents need to be laboriously sorted by hand and finding all information on a particular subject requires a hand search.

The unique nature of ediscovery has made it a key part of modern litigation. It has led to changes in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and has changed the way some cases have been prosecuted.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

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EnGenius Technologies releases long range Super G Wifi router with PoE

EnGenius, just introduced their most powerful Wireless Access Point/Client Bridge for the business network environment. The ECB3500 is a high-powered 802.11 Super G long range WiFi device that was designed to offer consistently robust communication over wide areas and long distances, while also being highly adaptable and easy to use.


"Businesses are becoming increasingly dependent on wireless communication. However, employees don't always sit in the same office or even the same building anymore. The ECB3500 was designed to offer the wireless coverage needed to productively reach all employees," remarks Roger Chien, Product Manager.

The ECB3500 provides strong, uninterrupted coverage up to 108 Mbps over a wide area using high 600mW of wireless output power. It operates at the 2.4 GHz frequencies in both the 802.11 b/g (11/ 54 Mbps) or Super G (108 Mbps) wireless standards. And, with the use of QoS (Quality of Service) technology, the ECB3500 optimizes all data transmissions; thereby, maximizing its ability to handle heavy loads of traffic. This includes all forms of wireless video streaming, VoIP (Voice-over IP), and other multimedia business applications.

"We've engineered the ECB3500 to ensure superior long range WiFi coverage to all the leading brands in its class," added Chien.

The key features of the new, powerful ECB3500 are:

* High 600mW Wireless Power - guarantees a robust signal over long-distances
* Super G 108 Mbps Support - enables high-transfer speeds for large data transmissions
* Dual High-Gain Detachable Antennas - optimizes wireless traffic with Antenna Diversity Technology and transmits higher power up to 2000 mW EIRP using a 5dbi antenna
* Multiple Wireless Names - permits different access levels within one device
* Multi-Functional Device (7 operation modes) - performs multiple uses for different network topologies
* Intelligent Quality of Service (QoS) Technology - orders bandwidth priority for high-demand transmissions
* Power-Over-Ethernet (802.3af) - allows power and data to come over one cable for ease of installation


Almost any enterprise can take advantage of the ECB3500's remarkable power and range because the device is adaptable to most network environments. For example, in AP mode, the ECB3500 can broadcast multiple WiFi networks (SSID); allowing for numerous security levels within one device. In fact, ECB3500 can serve different functions:

1. Wireless Access Point - network connectivity for multiple wireless clients
2. Client Bridge - wireless network connectivity for a single wired client
3. Universal WiFi Repeater - wireless range extender that reaches dead-spots
4. WiFi Router - wired internet or network connectivity for multiple wireless clients
5. Client WiFi Router - wireless network connectivity for multiple wired clients
6. WDS (Wireless Distribution System) - wireless connectivity to expand an established network

In addition, EnGenius solved one of the biggest problems when installing a new wireless networking product: proximity to outlets. The ECB3500 supports 802.3af PoE (Power-over-Ethernet) which allows power and data to be accessed over a single cable. This feature helps to speed up deployment time and reduces network down time.
The EnGenius ECB3500 Super G, Long Range WiFi 802.11g Wireless Access Point/Client Bridge is a high-powered, efficient wireless product that can adapt to any network topology or business environment. It is available at select value added distributors, direct marketers, e-commerce sites and value-added resellers at a retail price of $119.00.

For addition information about the ECB3500 or other EnGenius products, please visit www.engeniustech.com.

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Rapidshare Hack – Kill Download Waiting Time

Its been some time now Rapidshare has removed CATPHA ( entering the code shown in the image to download file). But another very annoying thing you see while downloading any file from rapidshare is the annoying download time before getting the download link.

Today, we will tell you a simple hack which lets you kill the rapidshare download timer and lower it down to zero with in a second. After the timer is zero you will see the Download Link immediately to download your file.

Let’s see how can you make the rapidshare download counter to zero instantly with in a second.
1. Copy the rapidshare link of the file to be downloaded in the address bar

2. Click on free user button, and after clicking it the download timer will get started.

3. Copy and Paste the following to the browser Address Bar

javascript:alert(c=0)

4. and Press Enter

5. That’s it the download timer is gone and you will the download link immediately to download the file.


You can also drag and drop this link to your firefox toolbar to save this text as bookmark, which you can press to kill the download time on rapidshare.

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The Complaint Almost Filed Against Facebook

Even after bloggers and consumer rights groups kicked up a cloud of suspicion around changes Facebook quietly made to its service agreement in weeks prior, the social networking site didn’t back down. Instead, CEO Mark Zuckerberg stuck up for these changes on the company’s blog.

But a day later, on Feb. 17, word that Washington-based consumer watchdog Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) was preparing to file a formal complaint to the Federal Trade Commission sent Facebook scrambling to the defense. Representatives from the company called up numerous privacy experts for advice, including EPIC executive director Marc Rotenberg. What Facebook wanted to know, according to Rotenberg: if they reverted to their old terms of use, would EPIC drop the FTC complaint? Sure thing, Rotenberg said.

As PC World reported, EPIC’s compliance appears to have heavily influenced Facebook’s stance. On Feb. 18, the company dropped the new terms, and EPIC dropped its complaint. But what was EPIC prepared to tell the FTC?

BusinessWeek has obtained excerpts from a draft of EPIC’s complaint that shed light on the beef privacy experts had with the changes to Facebook’s terms of service (in addition to EPIC, the draft was signed by the Center for Digital Democracy, PIRG, Patient Privacy Rights, and others). EPIC took issue with widely criticized changes that, in effect, gave Facebook rights to your content even after you stop using the site. But the group also faulted another move, which got considerably less attention, but that may also undermine a user’s privacy. Specifically, the removal of this line:

When you post User Content to the Site, you authorize and direct us to make such copies thereof as we deem necessary in order to facilitate the posting and storage of the User Content on the Site.

By removing this line, EPIC believes Facebook may have been trying to open the door for other uses of these archived “copies” of information. According to Rotenberg, one such use could be to allow users’ status messages to be reproduced on other sites through its Facebook Connect service. The draft of EPIC’s complaint makes explicit reference of the site’s Application Program Interface, or API, which is the means by which Facebook Connect partner sites can send information to and from the social networking site.

Still, the document states that the terms were changed “prior to” the decision to launch Facebook Connect, which is inaccurate, as Facebook spokesperson Barry Schnitt points out: “We had Facebook Connect partners months ago and we’ve had APIs for years,” Schnitt says. He asserts that the purpose of changing the site’s terms of use was “not to give us new rights or open new business possibilities.”

The draft introduction and conclusion of EPIC’s complaint, which was never filed to the FTC:

Complaint and Request for Injunction, Request for Investigation and for Other Relief

INTRODUCTION
This complaint concerns several material changes in the Terms of Service for Facebook, the largest social network service in the United States, which adversely impacts Facebook customers, eviscerates privacy rights recognized in most states in the U.S., increases the risk of identity theft, and unilaterally and retroactively transfers control and ownership of user generated content to Faceboook. It was quietly established by Facebook shortly after the company reached 175 million users and became the fastest growing social network service in the United States and prior to a decision to launch a new Application Program Interface that would provide Facebook developers access to detailed user data. The change is an Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practice, subject to review by the Federal Trade Commission (the “Commission”) under section 5 of The Federal Trade Commission Act, and should be reversed.

CONCLUSION
There are many privacy issues that arise with social network services, such as Facebook. Some may be addressed through user control, user education, or change in business practices. But other matters go to the very foundation of the service, the rights and responsibilities that are assigned to the company and the users by the terms of service. This petition concerns one such matter. It simply cannot be correct that Facebook, having induced millions of Internet users to provide detailed personal information to share with their friends and colleagues, can now transform the terms of service under a take-it-or-leave-it edict that does not even allow users who choose to cancel the service the opportunity to recapture the data they provided. It is precisely in such circumstances that agencies charged with protecting consumers and safeguarding a fair and transparent marketplace must intervene.

by: Douglas MacMillan from http://www.businessweek.com

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Consolidate and Streamline Messaging Activities Using Mozilla’s Snowl

Website has developed from a pre-defined information presentation platform in those early days to a more dynamic and communicative place. It has become a trend in this techno era whereby users are enjoying conversing or messaging facilities available online such as leaving comment threads, RSS feeds, forum, Twitter, etc. With an increasing variety of protocols and providers on this conversing activity, monitoring or keeping track of individual’s own conversations is harder. To make life easier, Mozilla labs have brought to Firefox users a new messaging experience via its newly released plugin, Snowl.
As highlighted by Mozilla Labs, Snowl is a prototype Firefox extension that integrates messaging into the browser based on a few key ideas:
1. It doesn’t matter where messages originate. They’re alike, whether they come from traditional email servers, RSS/Atom feeds, web discussion forums, social networks, or other sources.

2. Some messages are more important than others, and the best interface for actively reading important messages is different from the best one for casually browsing unimportant ones.

3. A search-based interface for message retrieval is more powerful and easier to use than one that makes you organize your messages first to find them later.

4. Browser functionality for navigating web content, like tabs, bookmarks, and history, also works well for navigating messages.

The overall idea of Snowl is quite creative and interesting. Mozilla has studied users’ need and it is of the opinion the marriage between messaging and feed reading will help users to streamline their conversing activities and make it more efficient. At this current experimental stage, the latest version of Snowl can only allow users to view their Twitter messages and RSS feeds. If you have downloaded and installed Snowl, you will notice Snowl allows users to view and read their messages in two ways: a traditional three-pane view which looks quite similar to most email clients format; and a River of news style view. See the photo below. Users can download this add-on via the link here.

Since this product is in its inception stage (version 0.1), problems are inevitable. Users should not be surprised if they have compatibility or other technical problems while using Snowl. There are bugs to be fixed and defects to be rectified.

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Hadoop: Powerful Software. its Funny Name

Behind Yahoo's (Nasdaq: YHOO) Latest News about Yahoo push to open up Web search and advertising Learn how you can enhance your email marketing program today. Free Trial - Click Here. is software powerful enough to sort through the entire Library of Congress in less than half a minute.

The software, called "Hadoop," is part of Yahoo's massive computing grid and is transforming the way that Yahoo and corporate giants like IBM (NYSE: IBM) Latest News about IBM extract meaning from enormous streams of data. Universities are also using the code -- an open source Rackspace is the expert when it comes to delivering Windows and Linux hosting solutions. Click here to learn more. Latest News about open source version of software Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Latest News about Google relies on for daily operation -- to train a new generation of computer scientists and engineers.

"It makes it possible to actually take advantage of all the computers that we have hooked together," said Larry Heck, vice president of search and advertising sciences at Yahoo.

Data Sniffer
Hadoop improves the relevance of ads Yahoo shows on the Internet by analyzing the company's endless flow of data -- now well over 10 terabytes a day -- on the fly. As users click from Yahoo Mail to Yahoo Search to Yahoo Finance and back again, Hadoop helps figure out what ad, if any, is likely to catch someone's attention.

The key lies in mining insights from mind-boggling amounts of data. If a woman repeatedly reads reviews of sport-utility vehicles, then clicks on automotive classifieds and then orders a book about helping a child adjust to kindergarten, she might be in the market for a new family-size car, according to a Yahoo sales presentation.

As part of the push for more openness, Yahoo will be using the technology not only to boost ad sales on its own Web sites, but on sites owned by the 796 members of a newspaper consortium that is working with the search giant to sell more advertising at better prices. The San Jose Mercury News and its parent company, MediaNews, are members of the partnership.

"In some ways, perhaps it is even more targeted than search advertising," said Leon Levitt, vice president of digital media for Cox Newspapers, a consortium member.

Search Builder
For Yahoo, the rollout of an innovative approach to Internet advertising is a major accomplishment. When Yahoo launched its Hadoop project in January 2006 it was selling search advertising for half of what Google charged and watching its share of Internet searches dwindle.

Hadoop was first put to work building Yahoo's Web index -- the biggest computing problem inside Yahoo. Since then, a team of engineers tuned the software, and researchers inside and outside of Yahoo began using it to experiment on giant data sets.

"All of a sudden, instead of waiting overnight people could get the results of their experiments in a minute," said Doug Cutting, a work-at-home dad who hacked out the first version of Hadoop in his spare bedroom in Sonoma County, Calif., as part of an open source search project.

Code Legacy
Cutting, a 44-year-old programmer who had helped build search engines at Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Latest News about Apple and Excite, had started the search project in 2000 because he wanted his code to live on. He knew that closed-source projects, where software is treated as a corporate secret, had a way of dying. With open source, the code is published and other programmers can contribute suggestions and help fix bugs.

"It was a pretty ambitious goal, destined for failure in the short term but still worth pursuing in the long term," Cutting said. Plugging away with a core group of volunteers and with support World Class Managed Hosting from PEER 1, Just $299. Click here. from the Apache Foundation, Cutting created a library of code he called "Lucene" and a Web crawler he called "Nutch."

Meanwhile, he earned a living as a consultant for organizations like the Internet Archive and companies like Yahoo. Cutting made some progress but was stymied by the sheer size of the Web. He was able to index only several hundred million Web pages, a fraction of the Web that was already billions of pages and expanding quickly.

Light-Bulb Moment
It was Google that inadvertently supplied the solution. In 2004, Google fellows Jeffrey Dean and Sanjay Ghemawat published a paper about MapReduce, the secret software that Google uses to process raw data using thousands of computers. "It pretty much directly addressed the scaling issue we were having," Cutting said.

Using the clues provided by the Google paper, Cutting wrote Hadoop, which was named after his son's toy elephant. Yahoo saw the code and offered Cutting a job.

While a team of engineers adapted Hadoop to run reliably on tens of thousands of computers, researchers embraced the software as a new data mining Latest News about data mining tool. Word about the brawny program spread rapidly. Early this year, developers at Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) Latest News about Amazon.com, Facebook Latest News about Facebook and Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) Latest News about Intel were using Hadoop for everything from log analysis to modeling earthquakes.

"Hadoop gave me, an ordinary developer, the ability to do something extraordinary," said Jinesh Varia, a Web services evangelist at Amazon.

Google quickly got on board, launching an initiative with IBM to provide universities like Stanford, UC-Berkeley, MIT and Carnegie Mellon with clusters of several hundred computers so students could learn new techniques for parallel programming. Since Google's MapReduce was a trade secret, Google and IBM announced that the students would be taught on Hadoop.

"We are leveraging not only the contribution that we are giving to the software, but the contributions from the larger community as well, and everybody wins from it," said Heck of Yahoo.

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IT Training Can Be Delivered Using a Variety of Methods

IT training is essential in ensuring a person's total productivity and efficiency when it comes to using computer hardware, programs, applications, and systems. In the case of business entities, IT training is necessary to make sure that the company maximizes the potentials of its labor resource and the information technology tools and equipment.

In choosing the type of training that the employees should receive, the company should first explore the various forms by which such the training can be delivered. Basically, the form and methods that will be used in the training will be based on the learning needs, capabilities, and styles of the employees to be trained.

Three ways of providing IT Training :

Self-study training:
This is for employees who find it easier to learn new innovations on their own. This is for people who learn easily if they are left with their own study pace and their own step by step procedures in acquiring the necessary skills and knowledge in IT. Usually, employees who opt for such method will be provided by the company with the necessary books, software, and other materials for self-study purposes.

Formal courses:
Such type of training provides the employees with a consistent and organized method of learning. Such type of training should be used when the employees need to acquire the necessary skills in a short period of time. Furthermore, this is preferred in cases where the company wants to ensure the expertise of its employees in a certain field in IT.

One-on-one training:
This method is usually used when the company makes use of internal source of training, wherein they will ask an expert employee to train newly hired or promoted personnel. In this case, the company should exempt the requested trainer from his regular responsibilities as he focuses on training the other employee. This type of training is more cost-effective.

Three forms for IT training

Classroom set-up:
This is usually the case for public courses or in house courses delivered by IT professionals, consultants, and experts. This is applicable for large groups of training attendees. On the average, the ideal range for a classroom set-up is between five to twenty employees. In case the number exceeds twenty, the participants should be divided so as to ensure training efficiency. Such form of IT training is considered formal as it provides IT certifications and qualifications.

CDs, Books and Manuals:
Such form is used when the training is conducted on a self-study basis, or on a one-on-one basis. These days, such form of IT training is highly available in the Internet as there are many downloadable e-books or tutorials that not only provides lectures but also includes demonstrations on the actual use of certain computer applications. Such forms of training may also come with learning assessment tools.

Work experience:
This is basically the most affordable form of IT training. Such form of IT training is used when the training is provided on a one-one basis. Often, it is used alongside with books and computer-based education tools. Aside from being cost-effective, this type of training allows the employee to explore, use, and improve his skills and knowledge through the "real world" experience.

New Horizons Northern Ireland is a class leading IT training company specialising in Microsoft and Adobe training such as Excel, Word, Access, Dreamweaver and Photoshop training. Comm-Store.co.uk is a leading supplier of IT equipment including Data Cabinets and Cat5e Cable.

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Introduction To IP Addressing And Networking

NETWORKING BASICS

A network can be defined as the interconnection of autonomous computers linked together to facilitate communication while networking is the simple concept of connected computers.

Networks and networking have grown exponentially over the last 15years; they have evolved at light speed just to keep up with huge increases in basic critical user needs such as sharing data and printers, as well as more advanced demands such as video conferencing.

TYPES OF NETWORKS

LOCAL AREA NETWORK (LAN)

A LAN (Local Area Network) is a group of computers and network devices connected together, usually within the same building. A Local Area Network (LAN) is a high-speed communication system designed to link computers and other data processing devices together within a small geographical area, such as a workgroup, department, or building. Local Area Networks implement shared access technology. This means that all the devices attached to the LAN share a single communications medium, usually a coaxial, twisted pair or fibre optic cable.

METROPOLITAN AREA NETWORK (MAN)

Metropolitan area networks or MANs are large computer networks usually spanning a city or a town. They typically use wireless infrastructure or optical fibre connections to link their sites.

The IEEE 802-2001 standard describes a MAN as being: "A MAN is optimized for a larger geographical area than is a LAN, ranging from several blocks of buildings to entire cities. MANs can also depend on communications channels of moderate to high data rates. A MAN might be owned and operated by a single organization, but it usually will be used by many individuals and organizations. MANs might also be owned and operated as public utilities. They will often provide means for internetworking of local networks. Metropolitan area networks can span up to 50km."

WIDE AREA NETWORK (WAN)

Wide Area Network (WAN) is a computer network that covers a broad area. A WAN in compares to a MAN, is not restricted to a geographical location, although it might be restricted to a geographical locations, it might also be confined within the bounds of a state or country. A WAN connects several LANs, and may be limited to an enterprise (a corporation or organization) or accessible to the public.

The technology is high speed and relatively expensive. The INTERNET is an example of a worldwide public WAN.

NETWORKING DEVICES

ROUTERS

Routers are used to connect networks together and route packets of data from one network to another. Routers, by default break up a broadcast domain, which is the set of all devices on a network segment that hear all broadcasts sent on that segment.

Routers also break up collision domains. This is an Ethernet term used to describe a network scenario where one particular device sends a packet on a network segment, forcing every other device on that segment to pay attention to it. At the same time, a different device tries to transmit, leading to a collision, after which both devices must retransmit one at a time.

Routers run on the layer 3 of the OSI (Open System Interconnection) reference model.

SWITCHES

Switches are used for network segmentation based on the MAC addresses. Switches look at the incoming frame's hardware addresses before deciding to either forward the frame or drop it.

Switches break up collision domains but the hosts on the switch are still members of one big broadcast domain.

HUB

A hub is really a multiple port repeater. A repeater receives a digital signal and re-amplifies or regenerates that signal, and then forwards the digital signal out all active ports without looking at any data. An active hub does the same thing. This means all devices plugged into a hub are in the same collision domain as well as in the same broadcast domain, which means that devices share the same bandwidth. Hubs operate at the physical layer of the OSI model.

IP ADDRESSING

An IP address is a numeric identifier assigned to each machine on an IP network. It designates the specific location of a device on the network. An IP address is a software address and designed to allow host on one network to communicate with a host on a different network regardless of the type of LANs the hosts are participating in.

IP TERMINOLOGIES

Bit: A bit is one digit, either a 1 or a 0.

Byte: A byte is 7 or 8 bits, depending on whether parity is used.

Octet: An octet, made up of 8 bits is just an ordinary 8 bit binary number. In most cases byte and octet are completely interchangeable.

Network address: This is the designation used in routing to send packets to a remote network. For example 10.0.0.0, 172.16.0.0, and 192.168.10.0 are network addresses.

Broadcast address: The address used by applications and hosts to send information to all nodes on a network is called the broadcast address. Examples include 255.255.255.255 which is all networks, all nodes; 172.16.255.255, which is all subnets and hosts on network 172.16.0.0.

HEIRARCHICAL IP ADDRESSING SCHEME

An IP address consists of 32 bits of information (IPV4). IPV6, a new version of IP consists of 128 bits of information. The 32 bits IP is divided into four sections referred to as octet or bytes each containing 1 byte (8bits).

An IP address is depicted using any of these 3 methods.

Dotted decimal, as in 172.16.30.56

Binary, as in 10101100.00010000.00011110.00111000

Hexadecimal, as in AC.10.1E.38

All this examples represent the same IP address. But the most commonly used is the dotted decimal. The Windows Registry stores a machine's IP address in hex.

The 32 bit IP address is a structured or hierarchical address, as opposed to a flat non hierarchical address. Although either type of addressing scheme could have been used, hierarchical addressing was chosen for a good reason. The advantage of this scheme is that it can handle a large number of addresses, namely 4.3 billion (a 32 bit address space with two possible values for each position that is either 1 or 0 gives 237, or 4,294,967,296).

The disadvantage of the flat addressing scheme relates to routing. If every address were unique, all routers on the internet would need to store the address of each and every machine on the internet. This would make efficient routing impossible.

NETWORK ADDRESS RANGE

The network address uniquely identifies each network. Every machine on the same network shares that network address as part of its IP address. In the IP address of 172.16.30.56, 172.16 is the network address.

The node address is assigned to and uniquely identifies each machine on a network. This number can also be referred to as host address. In 172.16.30.56, 30.56 is the node address. Class A network is used when a small number of networks possessing a very large number of nodes are needed. Class C network is used when numerous networks with a small number of node is needed.

CLASS A ADDRESSES

The first bit of the first byte in a class A network address must always be off or 0. This means a class A address must be between 0 and 127, inclusive.

0xxxxxxx.hhhhhhhh.hhhhhhhh.hhhhhhhh

If we turn the other 7 bits all off and then turn them all on, we'll find the class A range of network addresses.

00000000 = 0

01111111 = 127

Class A format is network.node.node.node, so for example in the IP address 49.22.102.70, the 49 is the network address and 22.102.70 is the node address. Every machine on this particular network would have the distinctive network address of 49.

CLASS B ADDRESSES

The first bit of the first byte must always be turned on, but the second bit must always be turned off.

01xxxxxx.xxxxxxxx.hhhhhhhh.hhhhhhhh

If we can turn the first bit on and the second bit off and if the other 6 bits all off and then all on, we'll find the class B range of network addresses.

10000000 = 128

10111111 = 191

Class B format is network.network.node.node, so far in the IP address 132.163.40.57, the 132.163 is the network address and 40.57 is the node address.

CLASS C ADDRESSES

The first and second bit of the first byte must always be turned on, but the third bit can never be on.

110xxxxx.xxxxxxxx.xxxxxxxx.hhhhhhhh

If we turn the first and second bit on and the third bit off and then all other 5 bits all off and all on, we'll find the class C range of network address.

11000000 = 192

11011111 = 223

Class C format is network.network.network.node, for example in the IP address 195.166.231.75, the 195.166.231 is the network address and 75 is the node address.

CLASS D AND CLASS E ADDRESSES

The address between 224 and 255 are reserved for class D and E networks. Class D (224-239) is used for multicast addresses and class E (240-255) for scientific purposes.

PRIVATE IP ADDRESSES

Private IP addresses are those that can be used on a private network, but they're not routable through the internet. This is designed for the purpose of creating a measure of well-needed security, but it also conveniently saves valuable IP address space. If every host on every network had to have real routable IP addresses, we would have run out of IP addresses to hand out years ago.

Class A 10.0.0.0 through 10.255.255.255

Class B 172.16.0.0 through 172.31.255.255

Class C 192.168.0.0 through 192.168.255.255

TROUBLESHOOTING IP ADDRESSING

Here are the troubleshooting steps in resolving a problem on an IP network.

1. Open a DOS window and ping 127.0.0.1. This is the diagnostic or loopback address, and if you get a successful ping, your IP stack is considered to be initialized. If it fails, then you have an IP stack failure and need to reinstall TCP/IP on the host.

2. From the DOS window, ping the IP addresses of the local host. If that's successful, then your Network Interface Card (NIC) card is functioning. If it fails, then there is a problem with the NIC card. This doesn't mean that a cable is plugged into the NIC, only that the IP protocol stack on the host can communicate to the NIC.

3. From the DOS window, ping the default gateway. If the ping works, it means that the NIC is plugged into the network and can communicate on the local network. If it fails, then you have a local physical network problem that could be happening anywhere from the NIC to the gateway.

4. If steps 1 through 3 were successful, try to ping the remote server. If that works then you have IP communication between then local host and the remote server, you also know that the remote physical network is working.

5. If the user still can't communicate with the server after steps 1 through 4 were successful, then there's probably a resolution problem and there is need to check the Domain Name Server (DNS) settings.

NETWORK ADDRESS TRANSLATION

Network Address Translation (NAT) is used mainly to translate private inside addresses on a network to a global outside address. The main idea is to conserve internet global address space, but it also increases network security by hiding internal IP addresses from external networks.

TABLE 3: NAT ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

ADVANTAGES

Conserves legally registered addresses.

Reduces address overlap occurrence.

Increases flexibility when connecting to internet.

Eliminates address renumbering as network changes.

Translation introduces switching path delays

DISADVANTAGES

Loss of end-to-end traceability

Certain applications will not function with NAT enabled.

TYPES OF NAT

Static NAT: This type of NAT is designed to allow one-to-one mapping between local and global addresses. Static NAT requires that there is one real internet IP address for every host on your network.

Dynamic NAT: This version gives one the ability to map an unregistered IP address to a registered IP address from out of a pool of registered IP addresses.

Overloading: This is also known as Port Address Translation (PAT). It is the most popular type of NAT configuration. Overloading is a form of dynamic NAT that maps multiple unregistered IP address to a single registered IP address by using different ports. With overloading thousands of users can connect to the internet using only one real global IP address.

NAT TERMINOLOGIES
Local addresses: Name of local hosts before translation.

Global addresses: Name of addresses after translation.

Inside local: Name of inside source address before translation.

Outside local: Name of destination host before translation.

Inside global: Name of inside hosts after translation

Outside global: Name of outside destination host after translation.

LAYER2 SWITCHING

Layer2 switching is the process of using the hardware address of devices on a LAN to segment a network. The term layer2 switching is used because switches operate on the data-link layer which is the second layer of the OSI reference model.

Layer2 switching is considered hardware-based bridging because it uses specialized hardware called an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). ASICs can run up to gigabit speeds with very low latency rates.

Switches read each frame as it passes through the network, the layer2 device then puts the source hardware address in a filter table and keeps track of which port the frame was received on. The information (logged in the switch's filter table) is what helps the machine determine the location of a specific sending device. After a filter table is built on the layer2 device, it will only forward frames to the segment where the destination hardware is located. If the destination device is on the same segment as the frame, the layer2 device will block the frame from going to any other segments. If the destination is on a different segment, the frame can only be transmitted to that segment. This is called TRANSPARENT BRIDGING.

When a switch interface receives a frame with a destination hardware address that isn't found in the device filter table, it will forward the frame to all connected segments. If the unknown device that was sent the frame replies to this forwarding action, the switch updates its filter table regarding that device's location.

ADVANTAGES OF LAYER2 SWITCHING

The biggest benefit of LAN switching over hub-centred implementations is that each device on every segment plugged into a switch can transmit silmatenously whereas hubs only allow one device per network segment to communicate at a time.

Switches are faster than routers because they don't take time looking at the Network layer header information. Instead, they look at the frame's hardware address before deciding to either forward the frame or drop it.

Switches create private dedicated collision domains and provide independent bandwidth on each port unlike hubs. The figure below shows five hosts connected to a switch, all running 10Mbps half-duplex to the server. Unlike the hub, each host has 10Mbps dedicated communication to the server.

LIMITATIONS OF LAYER2 SWITCHING

Switched networks break up collision domains but the network is still one large broadcast domain. This does not only limits your network's size and growth potential, but can also reduce its overall performance.

FUNCTIONS OF LAYER2 SWITCHING

There are three distinct functions of layer2 switching, these are

Address learning.

Forward/filter decision

Loop avoidance.

ADDRESS LEARNING

When a switch is first powered on, the MAC forward/filter table is empty. When a device transmits and an interface receives the frame, the switch places the frame source address in the MAC forward/filter table, allowing it to remember which interface the sending device is located on. The switch then has no choice but to flood the network with this frame out of every port except the source port because it has no idea where the destination device is actually located.

If a device answers the flooded frame and sends a frame back, then the switch will take source address from that frame and place that MAC address in its database as well, associating this address with the interface that received the frame. Since the switch now has both of the relevant MAC addresses in its filtering table, the two devices can now make a point to point connection. The switch doesn't need to flood the frame as it did the first time.

If there is no communication to a particular address within a certain amount of time, the switch will flush the entry from the database to keep it as current as possible.

FORWARD/FILTER DECISIONS

When a frame arrives at a switch interface, the destination hardware address is compared to the forward/filter MAC database. If the destination hardware address is known and listed in the database, the frame is sent out only the correct exit interface.

The switch doesn't transmit the frame out any interface except for the destination interface. This preserves bandwidth on the other network segments and is called FRAME FILTERING.

LOOP AVOIDANCE

When two switches are connected together, redundant links between the switches are a good idea because they help prevent complete network failures in the event one link stops working.

Redundant links are extremely helpful but they often cause more problems than they solve, this is because frames can be flooded down all redundant links silmatenously creating network loops.

Switches use a protocol called STP (Spanning Tree Protocol) created by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) now Compaq to avoid network loops by shutting down redundant links. With STP running, frames will be forwarded only on the premium STP-picked link.

CONFIGURING THE CISCO 2950 CATALYST SWITCH FAMILY.

The 2950 switch is one of the Cisco Catalyst switch family's high-end model. The 2950 comes in many flavours and run 10Mbps all the way up to 1Gbps switched ports with either twisted-pair or fibre. They can provide basic data, video and voice services.

2950 SWITCH STARTUP

When the 2950 switch is first powered on, it runs through a Power-on-Self-test (POST). At first all port LEDs are green, and if upon completion the post determines that all ports are in good shape, all the LEDs blink and then turn off. But if the POST finds a port that has failed both the system's LED and the port's LEDs turn amber.

However, unlike a router, the switch is actually usable in Fresh-out-of-the-box condition. You can just plug the switch into your network and connect network segment together without any configuration.

To connect to the Cisco switch, use a rolled Ethernet cable to connect a host to a switch console serial communication port. Once you have the correct cable connected from your PC to the Cisco switch, you can start HyperTerminal to create a console connection and configure the device as follows:

1. Open HyperTerminal by clicking on start button and then All programs, then Accessories, then Communication, then click on HyperTerminal. Enter a name for the connection. It is irrelevant what you name it. Then click OK.

2. Choose the communication port either COM1 or COM2, whichever is open on your PC.

3. Now at the port settings. The default values (2400bps and no flow control hardware) will not work, you must set the port settings as shown in the figure below.

Notice that the bit rate is set to 9600 and the flow control is set to none. At this point click OK and press the Enter key, and you should be connected to your Cisco switch console port.

Here's the 2950 switch's initial output:

--- System Configuration Dialog ---

Would you like to enter the initial configuration dialog? [Yes/no]: no

Press RETURN to get started!

00:04:53: %LINK-5-CHANGED: Interface Vlan1, changed state to administratively down

00:04:54: %LINEPROTO-5-UPDOWN: Line protocol on Interface Vlan1, changed state to down
Switch>

THE CONFIGURATION

The switch> prompt is called the user exec mode and it's mostly used to view statistics. You can only view and change configuration of a Cisco switch in privileged exec mode which you get into with the enable command.

Switch>

Switch> enable

Switch#

Switch# disable

Switch>

The global configuration mode can be entered from the privileged mode by using the configure terminal command or config t for short.
Switch# config t
Enter the configuration commands, one per line, End with CNTL/Z.
Switch(config)# hostname zenith
Zenith(config)#

The hostname command is used in naming the switch. The hostname of a switch is only locally significant but it's still helpful to set a hostname on a switch so that you can identify the switch when connecting to it.

SETTING THE ENABLE MODE PASSWORDS AND LINE PASSWORD.

Zenith> enable

Zenith# config t

Enter the configuration commands, one per line, End with CNTL/Z.

Zenith(config)# enable password bank

Zenith(config)# enable secret middle

The enable password bank command sets the enable password as bank and the enable secret middle command sets the enable secret password as middle. The enable secret password is more secure and it supersedes the enable password if it is set. The enable secret password and the enable password cannot be the same on the 2950 switch.

Zenith(config)# line ?

<0-16> First line number

console Primary terminal line

vty Virtual terminal

Zenith(config)# line vty ?

<0-15> First line number

Zenith(config)# line vty 0 15

Zenith(config-line)# login

Zenith(config-line)# password alex

Zenith(config-line)# line con 0

Zenith(config-line)# login

Zenith(config-line)# password malouda

Zenith(config-line)# exit

Zenith(config)# exit

Zenith#

The line vty 0 15, login and password alex commands set the telnet password to alex and the line con 0, login, and password malouda commands sets the console password to malouda.

SETTING IP INFORMATION

You don't have to set any IP configuration on the switch to make it work. You can just plug it in. But there are two reasons we set IP address information on the switch.

To manage the switch via Telnet or other management software.

To configure the switch with different VLANs and other network functions.

Zenith(config)# int vlan 1

Zenith(config-if)# ip address 172.16.10.17 255.255.255.0

Zenith(config-if)# no shutdown

Zenith(config-if)# exit

Zenith(config)# ip default-gateway 172.16.10.1

Zenith(config)#

The IP address is set to 172.16.10.17 and the no shutdown command must be applied to enable the interface.

CONFIGURING INTERFACE DESCRIPTIONS

You can administratively set a name for each interface on the switches with the description command.

Zenith(config)# int fastethernet 0/ ?

<0-12> FastEthernet Interface number.

Zenith(config)# int fastethernet 0/1

Zenith(config-if)# description Sales LAN

Zenith(config-if)# int f0/12

Zenith(config-if)# description Connection to Mail server

Zenith(config-if)# CNTL/Z
Zenith#

You can look at the descriptions at any time with either the show interface command or the show running-config command from the global configuration mode.

ERASING AND SAVING THE SWITCH CONFIGURATION
Zenith# copy running-config startup-config
Zenith# erase startup-config

The first command copies the configuration into the NVRAM (Non-volatile RAM) while the erase startup-config command erases the switch configuration.

Zenith# erase startup-config

Erasing the nvram filesystem will remove all files! Continue? [confirm] [Enter]

[OK]

Erase of nvram: complete

Zenith#

VIRTUAL LAN (VLAN)

A Virtual LAN (VLAN) is a logical grouping of network users and resources connected to administratively defined ports on a switch. When one create VLANs, one creates smaller broadcast domains within a switched internetwork by assigning different ports on the switch to different subnetworks. A VLAN is treated like its own subnet or broadcast domain, which means that frames broadcast onto the network are only switched between ports logically grouped within the same VLAN.
By default, no hosts in a specific VLAN can communicate with any other hosts that are members of another VLAN.
5.1 ADVANTAGES OF VLAN

A group of users needing security can be put into a VLAN so that no user outside the VLAN can communicate with them.

As a logical grouping of users by function, VLANs can be considered independent from their physical or geographical locations.

VLANs can enhance network security.

It can block broadcast storms caused by a faulty NIC (Network Interface Card) card.

VLANs increase the number of broadcast domains while decreasing their sizes.

VLAN MEMBERSHIP

VLANs are usually created by the administrator, who then assigns switch ports to each VLAN. Such a VLAN is called a static VLAN. If the administrator wants to do a little more work up front and assign all the host devices hardware addresses into a database, then the switch can be configured to assign VLANs dynamically whenever a host is plugged into a switch. This is called dynamic VLAN.

STATIC VLANs

Static VLANs are the usual way of creating VLANs, and they're also the most secure. The switch port that you assign a VLAN association to always maintain that association until an administrator manually changes that port assignment.

DYNAMIC VLANs

A dynamic VLAN determines a node's VLAN assignment automatically. Using intelligent management software, you can base assignment on hardware addresses, protocols, or even applications to create dynamic VLANs.

An example is the VLAN Management Policy Server (VMPS) service used to set up a database of MAC addresses that can be used for dynamic addressing of VLANs. A VMPS database maps MAC addresses to VLANs.

FRAME TAGGING

As frames are switched through the network, switches must be able to keep track of all the frames. Frames are handled differently according to the type of link they are traversing. The frame identification method uniquely assigns user defined ID to each frame. This is sometimes referred to as the "VLAN ID".

Each switch that the frame reaches must first identify the VLAN ID from the frame tag, and then it finds out what to do with the frame by looking at the information in the filter table. If the frame reaches a switch that has another trunked link, the frame will be forwarded out the trunk-link port.

Once the frame reaches an exit to an access link matching the frame's VLAN ID, the switch removes the VLAN identifier. This is so the destination device can receive the frame without having to understand their VLAN identification.

There are two different types of links in a switched environment, they are:
Access links: This type of link is only part of one VLAN. Any device attached to an access link is unaware of a VLAN membership; the device just assumes its part of a broadcast domain. Access link devices cannot communicate with devices outside their VLAN unless the packet is routed.
Trunk links: Trunk links can carry multiple VLANs. A trunk link is a 100 or 1000Mbps point to point link between two switches, between a switch and server. These carry the traffic of multiple VLANs from 1 to 1005 at a time. Trunking allows you to make a single port part of multiple VLANS at the same time. It also allows VLANs to span across multiple switches.

VLAN IDENTIFICATION METHODS

There are basically two ways of frame tagging.

Inter-Switch Link (ISL)

IEEE 802.1Q

The main purpose of ISL and 802.1Q frame tagging methods is to provide interswitch VLAN communication.

Inter-switch Link (ISL) Protocol: This is proprietary to Cisco switches, and it is used for fast Ethernet and gigabit Ethernet links only. ISL routing can be used on a switch port, router interfaces and server interface cards to trunk a server.

IEEE 802.1Q: Created by the IEEE as a standard method of frame tagging, it isn't Cisco proprietary so if you're trunking between a Cisco switched link and a different brand of switch; you have to use 802.1Q for the trunk link to work.

VLAN TRUNKING PROTOCOL (VTP)

This protocol was created by Cisco but it is not proprietary. The basic goals of VLAN Trunking protocol (VTP) are to manage all configured VLANs across a switched internetwork and to maintain consistency through the network. VTP allows an administrator to add, delete and rename VLANs on a switch, information that is then propagated to all other switches in the VTP domain.

Before one can get VTP to manage VLANs across the network, one has to create a VTP server. All switches sharing the same VLAN information must be in the same VTP domain.

One can use a VTP domain if there is more than one switch connected in a network, but if all the switches are in only one VLAN, there is no need to use VTP. VTP information is set between switches via trunk port.

This report exposes one to various aspects of computer networking, IP routing and IP switching and how to manage a network from an office network to larger networks. Areas covered in this report includes IP addressing, Network Address Translation (NAT), IP switching and Virtual Private Network (VPN).

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