Wireless Home Networking - Index of

Chapter 5: Choosing Wireless Home Networking Equipment
� Wall-mountability: If you plan to mount the device on the wall or ceiling,
make sure that the unit is wall mountable, because many are not.
� Outdoor versus indoor use: Finally, some devices are designed for outdoor
— not indoor — use. If you’re thinking about installing it outside,
look for devices hardened for environmental extremes.
Bundled Functionality: Servers,
Gateways, Routers, and Switches
Wireless APs are readily available that perform only the AP function; but for
home use, APs that bundle additional features are much more popular,
for good reason. In most cases, you should shop for an AP that’s also a network
router and a network switch — a wireless home router like the one we
define in Chapter 2. To efficiently connect multiple computers and to easily
share an Internet connection, you need devices to perform all these functions,
and purchasing one multipurpose device is the most economical way
to accomplish that.
DHCP servers
To create an easy-to-use home network, your network should have a Dynamic
Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server. A DHCP server dynamically assigns
an IP address to each computer or other device on your network. This function
relieves you from having to keep track of all the devices on the network and
assign addresses to each one manually.
Network addresses are necessary for the computers and other devices on
your network to communicate. Because most networks now use a set of protocols
(Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, or TCP/IP) with
network addresses (Internet Protocol, or IP, addresses), we refer to network
addresses as IP addresses in this book. In fact, the Internet uses the TCP/IP
protocols, and every computer connected to the Internet must be identified
by an IP address.
When your computer is connected to the Internet, your Internet service
provider (ISP), such as Time Warner Road Runner or Verizon FiOS, assigns
your computer an IP address. However, even when your computer isn’t connected
to the Internet, it needs an IP address to communicate with other
computers on your home network.
The DHCP server can be a stand-alone device, but it’s typically a service provided
by either a computer on the network or a network router. The DHCP
server maintains a database of all the current DHCP clients — the computers
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