As you know Windows 7 is going to be released on 10/22/09. Now is a good time to review some of the new features that make Windows 7 an “improved” OS. Look at the comparison on the Microsoft site as well as some of the industry reviews. What do you think is the most useful improvement in Windows 7? Do you think the Windows 7 will take off or be another dud?
We are learning about routers this week. For this blog entry please review your home router configuration. How is your router similar or different from the Microsoft software router? If you are not using a router at home, just review one of the commercially available routers, for example, Linksys or DLink.
We are learning about performance counters used in the Performance Monitor tool. As you noticed, there are dozens of objects and probably hundreds possible counters. You also noticed that there is NO easy way to learn about when to use each counter.
For this post please research a web site (or two) designed to help you learn and use the Performance Counters.
This week we were learning about Vista firewall. How do you think this firewall compares to other commercially available software-based firewalls. Would you pay money for another firewall product?
Wikipedia is a good place to start your research.
I came across an interesting blog discussion of IPSec and VPN. Can a VPN security be cracked? Is it possible to hack though the IPSec defenses? Read the responses to the original post (link bellow). Do some research, has IPSec encryption ever been cracked? What do you think?
http://www.computing.net/answers/networking/ipsec-over-vpn/30045.html
Here is a more technical article about a possible way to crack (PSK) Pre-Shared-Key, the least secure Authentication method of IPSec.
http://ikecrack.sourceforge.net/
In class I compared subnetting to slicing up a pizza pie. Another way to visualize subnetting is comparing it to the way phone # is divided into area code and local prefix.
Can you think of another analogy to help you understand the concept and steps of subnetting?
Here are additional links to help you with subnetting:
http://www.subnetting-secrets.com/easy_way_to_subnet.html
http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-6089187.html
Found a better site? Post the URL here.
On Wednesday, we were discussing the network security features. One of the most important aspects of security is Authentication. As you now know, the NTLM is not as good as Kerberos.
Here is an older, but still very valid article about deficiencies of NTLM.
http://www.minasi.com/newsletters/nws0304.htm
What do you think?
Since we just covered the backup subject in class. Here is an interesting article about Vista Complete PC Backup, and how to use it to restore a Vista instalation to another drive.
http://www.minasi.com/newsletters/nws0801.htm
You should attempt to do this on your lab computer at home. Post your questions and comments here.
Since we are covering DNS in class, I thought this article might help you better understand one of the very important DNS design considerations: Split-Brain DNS.
This newsletter was from 2003, but the techniques described here are still very much current today.
http://www.minasi.com/newsletters/nws0301.htm
This week we are dealing with DHCP server configurations. However, the book only talks about DHCP for IPv4. As we all know, there is another “improved” protocol IPv6. There is also a new DHCPv6 extension.
Please research how does DHCP protocol deal with IPv6.
Wikipedia article on DHCPv6 is a good place to start.
