Building networks – LANs, WANs and VPNs
A network is simply two or more computers connected together to share information. Networks can help nonprofit organisations work collaboratively and share information efficiently access the internet.
Besides the computers themselves, a network typically includes the following.
- A hub – the hardware that carries out the traffic control for the network
- Protocol – a set of communication rules used by the network
- Network interface cards that plug into the back (or side) of your computers and lets them send and receive messages from other computers
- The medium to connect all of the computers together (this can either be some sort of cable or wireless)
It is important for you to know which technologies will work for your organisation and which won't.
In terms of size, networks are generally lumped into two categories, local area networks (LANs) and wide area networks (WANs).
For more general information about networks
see the US TechSoup site for nonprofits.
True story
Make sure contractors understand your organisation
I was recently working with a small nonprofit organisation that was using a brand new but completely unsuitable network environment. This had been set up by IT support people who had assumed the workers knew exactly what they needed. As a result they implemented what had been requested, and the workers were left not knowing or understanding what had been set up and as a result were unable to use the system. If the network contractors had understood the nonprofit organisation, they would have realised that most of the workers were asking for things they did not have experience using, no one would physically be at the service to do things like backups and the turnover was so high that the next group of workers didn't have a clue how to operate the system. So make sure your contractors have experience and understanding of the community sector.
Christine Eastman, Western Sydney Community Forum
Local area networks
A LAN (local area network) is generally a network covering computers in one building or group of adjacent buildings. LANs are usually either peer-to-peer or client server networks.
- Peer-to-peer network: This network doesn't have any dedicated servers or hierarchy among the computers. All of the computers on the network handle security and administration for themselves. The users must make the decisions about who gets access to what.
- Client-server network: A client-server network works the same way as a peer-to-peer network except that there is at least one computer that is dedicated as a server. The server stores files for sharing, controls access to the printer, and generally acts as the dictator of the network.
More information
See TechSoup article Networking 101: Peer-to-Peer Networks.
See TechSoup article Networking 101: Client-Server Networks.
Wide area networks
A WAN (wide area network) is a network that joins many LANs together over long distances via telephone lines or satellite links. In a WAN, the computers are physically and sometimes geographically far apart.
Virtual private networks (VPNs)
Virtual private networking, or VPN, is a technology that lets people access their office's computer network over the internet while at home or travelling. This is more useful than just accessing your email via webmail, because it also allows you to use all the documents and files that you keep on your office computer network. If your organisation has a staff intranet, a VPN would also give you access to this.
With a VPN, the integrity and security of your office network remains intact, but you can allow remote users to act as part of the office network. After connecting via a VPN, remote users can access files, print to printers, and generally do anything with their computers that they would be able to do in the office.
True story
Using a VPN to cut costs
One of the ways we've kept our IT costs down is to have a VPN network that allows our IT support provider to get straight into our systems remotely. That way they can fix things without having to come into the office.
Linda McClelland, Women's Health Queensland Wide Inc
But VPN is useful for more than just remote access. It can also be used to link two separate offices over a distance. This is sometimes called a ‘persistent VPN tunnel', or a wide-area network link.
You need to remember that accessing your network through a VPN will not be as fast as the office network itself. This is because VPNs work through internet connections.
More information
- PCWorld on building secure connections
- VPN Audio Primer from NetworkWorldFusion
- How to set up a VPN connection on Windows XP Professional
- Virtual Private Networks for Windows Server 2003
- VPN software for Macs