LAN Network Cards

Exercise 1 - Diskless Workstations

Explain how diskless workstations handle the boot process. That is, explain what happens from when the user turns on his workstation up to when the operating system has finished downloading.

Exercise 2

Set up a prioritized list of what you think are the five most important factors when choosing a network card. Give reasons for why you added each factor to the list and why you ranked them as you did.

Exercise 3

Take a look at the product catalog for 3com (http://www.3com.com/) and find out some of the specifications for 3com's selection of network cards. Set up the answer on the following form. Cover at least the characteristics and network cards which are listed here. Listing additional cards/characteristics would be even better.

CARD	nO. OF bits	RAM-sIZE	RJ-45?	BNC?	AUI?
Fast Etherlink 10/100
Etherlink III
Token Link III

Exercise 4 - FDDI

What is FDDI and what advantages does it provide for a LAN. Use the Internet (WWW) and find prices for the FDDI card. See if you can also find out what kinds of cables can be connected to a FDDI card.