Evo Networks has just upgraded its website with some great new additions.

First off, we have made our previous newsletters available. Just go here to check them out.

Secondly we have added a new area called "Evo In Action", which is also located in our resources section. "Evo In Action" is where we give examples of real world network, hardware and software combinations for both Mac and Windows environments.

Our goal here is to help our customers better understand the benefits and costs involved in implementing computing systems with Evo Networks.

What is a firewall anyway? A firewall is a piece of software or hardware that acts as a middleman between your internal (home/office) network and the outside world. It shields your internal network from unauthorized users (hackers). The firewall does this by blocking certain types of traffic. For example, some firewalls permit only electronic mail traffic to enter the network from elsewhere. This helps protect the network against attacks made to other network resources, such as sensitive files, databases, servers, and applications.

There are two main types of firewalls. Hardware firewalls and software firewalls. A hardware firewall is a physical device that sits on your network somewhere between your modem (cable/DSL/T1) and the rest of your computers. Many of the networking device manufactures build firewall functionality into their routers, so chances are if you have a late model Linksys or NETGEAR router in your home or office you are protected by a firewall already. If you think you may have a firewall solution already, just make sure it is enabled. You can do this by logging into your router via its IP address. This information is located in the documentation you received with the router or you can give us a call and we can help you. There are other stand-alone firewall devices made by companies such as WatchGuard and SonicWALL that operate separately from the router. They tend to offer more features and flexibility when it comes to how granular you want to manage traffic to and from your network.

The other types of firewall solutions are software based. Typically you would install them on each computer. This would allow to you to set each computer to accept different types of incoming traffic, but the reality is that most small businesses don't need this functionality, they just want to be assured they are protected. Software firewalls are best suited for those that don't already have a hardware-based solution (e.g., computers connected directly to a cable, DSL or dialup modem). Software firewalls are also great for when you are traveling with you laptop and connect to networks where you are unsure if a proper firewall is in place. For purposes like this the firewall that comes with Mac OS X and Windows XP should be fine.

Final words: A firewall is a must have, but you probably already have one. If you are running a hardware-based firewall, turn off your software firewall. Having the two run at the same time can cause problems for applications that connect to the web such as AIM or email. When you go out and about, use your software firewall if you are unsure about the security of the network you are connecting to.

Print servers enable you to connect printers to your network and share them among multiple PCs. Basically instead of connecting your USB or parallel based printer directly to a computer, the printer connects to a hardware device (the print server) via USB or parallel cable, then the device connects to your network either through Ethernet cable or wirelessly if you have an 802.11g or 802.11b wireless network.

You may already be sharing your printer through your computer, but this poses many limitations, which you may have already encountered. Some of these limitations are:

• Slower performance on the directly attached computer when others print.
• The directly attached computer must always be power on and connected to the network for others to print.
• It is very difficult or impossible for mixed operating system environments to print to a directly attached shared printer, such as a Mac computer trying to print to a printer shared via a windows computer.

There are a zillion print servers out there but we have some advice that will keep you from tearing your hair out when trying to decide which is the best one for your needs. First the easiest print servers to setup are the ones that come built into the printer. So if you plan on buying a printer and you plan on sharing it, spend a little more then you planed and get one with a built-in print server.

If you already have a printer that does not have a built-in print server you will need to obtain one. We recommend you purchase a print server made by the same company as your printer. If you have an HP printer get an HP print server, if you have an Epson printer get an Epson print server. You get the idea.

Print servers made by independent brands such as NETGEAR, Linksys, or IOGEAR may claim that they work with many makes and models of printers but the fact is that for every printer that is compatible, at least two more are not. If you still want to go with an independent print server, make sure to look for a compatible/incompatible printer listing on the manufacturers website.

In Summary: Print servers are the best way to share a printer, hands down. You can save quite a bit of time and energy if you buy a printer that has a built in pint server, but if a print server was an after thought, then your best bet is to buy a print server that is the same brand as your printer. Generic print servers are a possibility, but not for the technological faint of heart.