Nic -cst
- 1. The Basics By:- TUBA FALAK
- 2. The NIC is a Hardware device that installs in a pc. It provide an interface from pc to the Transmission media. Most pc networks for EX- Ethernet, Token Ring & ARCNet use NIC. A NIC links a Computer with the Network cabling system. The NIC fits into one of the PC’s Expansion Slots.
- 3. The card has one or more user accessible ports to which the network cabling medium is connected. The NIC’s are responsible for Translating data from a device on the network & converting this data into some form of signals that can be Transmitted across the Transmission media. All Network Interface Cards perform the function of Preparing & sending data.
- 4. This data ,when it is inside the Computer ,Travels in parallel from on the Bus. This data can moves at 8,16 or 32 bits at a time. The NIC must convert these signals into a Serial signals that can travels across the transmission medium. When data is received , this serial form of data must be converted into parallel form for matching the bus type of the Computer.
- 5. The mechanism of this data conversion is handled in two ways : 1) When data is coming from the computer to send out on the network, the NIC driver or software is responsible for converting this data into the format that can be understood by NIC. 2) the second part of data conversion is perform by physical NIC itself. In NIC card data is converted into a serial format using either digital, analog or light signals.
- 6. The details of how to install NIC might depend on the Nic Card, Operating System or a hardware platform. But some Basic Steps are some. The following are steps to install NIC : 1) Plug the card into Expansion Slots, Configure Jumpers & DIP switches as required. 2) Install NIC driver Or software. 3) configure the O.S so that the NIC doesn't conflict with other devices.
- 7. 4) Bind NIC to the required Protocol. 5) Attach the network cable to the card. The NIC is Plug n Play hardware device , O.S itself asked the further process of using NIC when it is plugged.
- 8. The O.S must configure so that it can communicate with NIC. In many cases, you must manually configure the NIC. These settings are configured through Jumpers or DIP switch settings or by using some form of software. To communicate the O.S & NIC they must agree on certain important parameters called resource setting.
- 9. Some common resource setting for NIC are as follows : 1) IRQ 2) Base IO port address 3) Base memory address 4)DMA channel 5) Boot PROM 6) MAC address 7) Ring Speed (Token Ring Cards) 8) Connector Type
- 10. 1) IRQ : The IRQ (Interrupt Request Line) setting reserves a IRQ for the NIC to use when contacting the CPU. Devices makes a request to CPU using a signal called an interrupt. 2) Base I/O Port Address : Base I/O Port Address defines a memory address through which data flows to & from the NIC. Base I/O Port Address function like a port & it defines a channel between Processor & NIC.
- 11. 3) Base memory address : Base memory address is the place in the computers memory that indicate the beginning of Buffers area reserved for NIC. All NIC cards use computers RAM, therefore not all NIC requires Base memory address settings. 4)DMA channel : DMA (Direct Memory Access) channel is an address used for quicker access to the CPU by the NIC.
- 12. 5) Boot PROM : Some NIC cards are equipped with Boot PROM. This Boot PROM enables the NIC to Boot Up & connect over the network. This feature is often used by diskless workstations because they don’t have hard drives to store connection software. 6) MAC address : The IEEE is responsible for assigning these address to each NIC during manufacturing. In some cases you can reassign a new MAC address for NIC.
- 13. 7) Ring Speed (Token Ring Cards) : In Token Ring networks the ring speed must be set on the token ring card. The possible values for this are either 4 Mbps or 16 Mbps. 8) Connector Type : Some network cards have different connectors from which you can choose. A common example is an Ethernet card with both a BNC connector & RJ45.