TCP/IP is the glue that holds together the Internet and the World Wide Web. To be well connected (network-wise, that is), sooner or later you have to become familiar with TCP/IP applications and services. If you want to understand what TCP/IP is, what it’s for, why you need it, and what to do with it, and you just don’t know where to start — this blog is for you.

If you’re on a network, whether you know it or not, odds are, you’re working with TCP/IP and its many pieces and parts. We help you understand how it all fits together. We also give you plenty of hands-on tips so that you can get all those pieces and parts set up and running.

We take the mystery out of TCP/IP by giving you down-to-earth explanations for all the buzzwords and technical jargon that TCP/IP loves.

This isn’t a formal tutorial; skip around and taste TCP/IP in little bites. If you need to impress your boss and colleagues with buzzwords, you can find out just enough to toss them around intelligently with the technocrats at meetings and parties. Or, you can go further and discover how to set up and use the most important features and tools. If you want the full TCP/IP banquet, you can explore the technical tasks that take place behind the scenes to make the Internet and the Web work. It’s right here in your hands.

We hope you find TCP/IP For Beginner, to be a fun and fast way to dive into the guts of the Internet. The blog is both an introduction to the basics and a reference to help you work with Internet applications and tools on all kinds of connected computers. We added and updated the latest Internet working protocols and servers — with examples from Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Linux, Unix, and Mac OS X. Here are just a few of the subjects we describe:

✓ Uncover the relationships among TCP/IP, the Net, and the Web.

✓ Get up and running and keep running on the Internet, whether you have a small network or a big enterprise network and whether it’s wired or wireless.

✓ Install and configure TCP/IP client and server applications and services.

✓ Phone home without the phone or the bill, thanks to VoIP.

✓ Build and enforce security everywhere on your network.

✓ Get in on all the newest Internet security protocols and trends.

✓ Boldly go to the next generation: IPv6.

This blog is loaded with information. But don’t try to read it from cover to cover in one sitting — you may hurt yourself. If your head explodes and bits and bytes go flying, please don’t blame us.