ASUS P7P55D-E Premium Motherboard Review

Features:
* LGA-1156 CPU Support
* Intel P55 Chipset
* DDR3-2200 (OC)
* SATA 6Gb/second
* Dual Gigabit LAN
* 10 Channel Audio
* USB 3.0
* T.Probe
* Unique Layout
* TurboV EVO
* Precision Tweaker 2
* MemOK!
* StackCool 3
* Q-Design
* 48 Hybrid Phase Design
* Windows 7 Ready
* TurboV Remote
* SLI and CrossfireX support
* 100% Ultra-Long-Life Japan-made Solid Cap
* NVIDIA PhysX ready

The ASUS P7P55D-E Premium is based upon Intel’s P55 chipset. The LGA-1156 CPU interface has moved the PCI Express lanes to the CPU from the Northbridge where they were previously. This means that the Northbridge and Southbridge combination found in earlier motherboards has been replaced by the CPU+Platform Controller Hub combination.

The memory controller on this new platform is on the CPU itself, meaning that the memory supported by the P7P55D-E Premium is up to DDR3-1333 (CPU). Faster speeds are possible and with overclocking the board can support up to DDR3-2200MHz memory. The ASUS motherboard also supports Intel’s eXtreme Memory Profiles allowing the memory to use the higher settings stored in SPD.

Part Number P7P55D-E Premium
Manufacturer ASUS
Chipset P55 Express
North Bridge N/A
Socket LGA-1156
Memory speed DDR3 2200 (OC)/1600/1333/1066
Processor Types Core i7, Core i5
Number of CPUs 1
QPI Up to 4.8GT/second
Memory Type DDR3
Memory Channels Double
Maximum Memory 16GB
External Graphics PCI Express x16 2.0 x2
IGP N/A
South Bridge P55 Express
Audio 8-channel
IDE 133/100/66
SCSI None
SATA 3.0 GB/s, 6.0Gb/s on two ports
RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5, 10
LAN 10/100/1000 4 LAN Ports
Firewire IEEE 1394a
USB USB 3.0
BIOS AMIBIOS
Form Factor ATX

Windows Server 2008

Windows Server 2008 is one of Microsoft Windows' server line of operating systems. Released to manufacturing on February 4, 2008, and officially released on February 27, 2008, it is the successor to Windows Server 2003, released nearly five years earlier. A second release, named Windows Server 2008 R2, was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009.Like Windows Vista and Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 is built on Windows NT 6.x.

Originally known as Windows Server Codename "Longhorn", Microsoft chairman Bill Gates announced its official title (Windows Server 2008) during his keynote address at WinHEC 16 May 2007Beta 1 was released on 27 July 2005, Beta 2 was announced and released on 23 May 2006 at WinHEC 2006 and Beta 3 was released publicly on 25 April 2007. Release Candidate 0 was released to the general public on 24 September 2007and Release Candidate 1 was released to the general public on 5 December 2007. Windows Server 2008 was released to manufacturing on 4 February 2008 and officially launched on 27 February 2008.
Features
Windows Server 2008 is built from the same code base as Windows Vista; therefore, it shares much of the same architecture and functionality. Since the code base is common, it automatically comes with most of the technical, security, management and administrative features new to Windows Vista such as the rewritten networking stack (native IPv6, native wireless, speed and security improvements); improved image-based installation, deployment and recovery; improved diagnostics, monitoring, event logging and reporting tools; new security features such as BitLocker and ASLR; improved Windows Firewall with secure default configuration; .NET Framework 3.0 technologies, specifically Windows Communication Foundation, Microsoft Message Queuing and Windows Workflow Foundation; and the core kernel, memory and file system improvements. Processors and memory devices are modelled as Plug and Play devices, to allow hot-plugging of these devices. This allows the system resources to be partitioned dynamically using Dynamic Hardware Partitioning; each partition has its own memory, processor and I/O host bridge devices independent of other partitions.[
Server Core
Windows Server 2008 includes a variation of installation called Server Core. Server Core is a significantly scaled-back installation where no Windows Explorer shell is installed. All configuration and maintenance is done entirely through command line interface windows, or by connecting to the machine remotely using Microsoft Management Console. However, Notepad and some control panel applets, such as Regional Settings, are available.

Server Core does not include the .NET Framework, Internet Explorer, Windows PowerShell or many other features not related to core server features. A Server Core machine can be configured for several basic roles: Domain controller/Active Directory Domain Services, ADLDS (ADAM), DNS Server, DHCP Server, file server, print server, Windows Media Server, IIS 7 web server and Hyper-V virtual server. Server Core can also be used to create a cluster with high availability using Failover Clustering or Network Load Balancing.

Andrew Mason, a program manager on the Windows Server team, noted that a primary motivation for producing a Server Core variant of Windows Server 2008 was to reduce the attack surface of the operating system, and that about 70% of the security vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows from the prior five years would not have affected Server Core.
Failover Clustering

Windows Server 2008 offers high-availability to services and applications through Failover Clustering. Most server features and roles can be kept running with little to no downtime.

In Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2, the way that clusters are qualified is changing significantly with the introduction of the cluster validation wizard
The cluster validation wizard is a feature that is integrated into failover clustering in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2. With the cluster validation wizard, you can run a set of focused tests on a collection of servers that you intend to use as nodes in a cluster. This cluster validation process tests the underlying hardware and software directly, and individually, to obtain an accurate assessment of how well failover clustering can be supported on a given configuration.It is done by "dcpromo" command in windows server
Windows PowerShell
Windows Server 2008 is the first Windows operating system to ship with Windows PowerShell, Microsoft's new extensible command line shell and task-based scripting technology.[PowerShell is based on object-oriented programming and version 2.0 of the Microsoft .NET Framework and includes more than 120 system administration utilities, consistent syntax and naming conventions, and built-in capabilities to work with common management data such as the Windows Registry, certificate store, or Windows Management Instrumentation. PowerShell's scripting language was specifically designed for IT administration, and can be used in place of cmd.exe and Windows Script Host.
Self-healing NTFS

In previous Windows versions, if the operating system detected corruption in the file system of an NTFS volume, it marked the volume "dirty"; to correct errors on the volume, it had to be taken offline. With self-healing NTFS, an NTFS worker thread is spawned in the background which performs a localized fix-up of damaged data structures, with only the corrupted files/folders remaining unavailable without locking out the entire volume and needing the server to be taken down. The operating system now features S.M.A.R.T. detection techniques to help determine when a hard disk may fail. This feature was first presented within Windows Vista.
Hyper-V
Hyper-V is a hypervisor-based virtualization system, forming a core part of Microsoft's virtualization strategy. It virtualizes servers on an operating system's kernel layer. It can be thought of as partitioning a single physical server into multiple small computational partitions. Hyper-V includes the ability to act as a Xen virtualization hypervisor host allowing Xen-enabled guest operating systems to run virtualized. A beta version of Hyper-V ships with certain x86-64 editions of Windows Server 2008. Microsoft released the final version of Hyper-V on 26 June 2008 as a free download. Also, a standalone version of Hyper-V exists. This version also only supports the x86-64 architectureWhile the x86 editions of Windows Server 2008 cannot run the Hyper-V integrations, they can run the Manager Console and Hyper-V tools.

OVERVIEW:AutomatedVotinSystem-AVS

Proposed

The Automated Voting System is a computerized voting mechanism that enables user to vote for any candidate in an easier and more convenient way. This system will be implemented in a small scale environment more specifically Universities and Schools. AVS prevents multiple voting entries from same user via user identity scanning. A user presents a unique voter’s ID and is recorded in a database. Thus, all voters in the vicinity are recorded in one database as records of their existence. In a university/school in particular, a voter that is not recorded in the schools database is an invalid entry and AVS will not accept any point/s from unknown voter/s.
The database that is the back-end of AVS is impossible to have redundant entry of same ID or user information since the ID is the primary key of an individual and tracks any kind of entry that resembles that of another data. AVS is database dependent that it is functional with the correct record connected to its mechanism.
AVS provides a user-friendly user interface that enables users to have an easy voting process. It has buttons and dialogue boxes that prompt errors of progresses to ensure user stability and consistency. AVS is a distributive system, in cases the AVS is divided into two major sectors: the Administrator’s and the User’s. The Administrator is the main server of the AVS and it will be connected to two (2) or more nodes via LAN connection. All entry and result will be passed on to the server where the moderator is the only one to see the partial or the final result of the election. The user’s accessibility is limited such that the system installed to a node separated from the server offers voting functionality only and doesn’t have any viewing or advance way in, neither they can re-vote or re-edit any of their entry unless prompted by the system to do so. As a start, the candidate also has to fill up a form in the system, serves as a candidacy form for the program to initiate the proper student or candidate to receive a point.
In the Administrators part, the main functionality that is able in administration is the viewing of results, posting the final tally of votes and resetting the system for system reuse. The Moderator cannot modify any entry from the user nor change the existing result from the system. In cases such that the system will be used for another set of candidates, the moderator has a function in resetting the system to its default settings. Where everything is blanked, from candidates up to the points produced, and will need to re-enter another set of election candidates and in some cases another set of data or database to connect to the AVS.

Updates: Gadgets 2010

Apple iTablet
Currently, there are some rumors about two new “tablet” projects: Apple iTablet and Microsoft Courier.



As for the Microsoft Courier, apparently, this Tablet PC is in the last stage of development and its features would make it look more like a Booklet than a Tablet PC. Although an official introduction of this device has not been carried out, Microsoft is already studying impressions of some users that have used a Tablet PC, which is a term that refers to computers equipped with a touchscreen (or graphics tablet/screen hybrid) and complex settings, applications and modes.



At the moment it is known that (with regard to the features of the new Microsoft product) it will have a dual 7-inch display with multitouch support where the user will be able to turn over pages, write, and draw by using the fingers or a stylus pen. The display also will show the battery level and the internet connection status on a side area. In addition, the Microsoft Courier will come with a photo camera on the back of the device, but it is unknown how many pixels will be featured.

Patch Panel and Modular Jacks

There are Passive Components that are unfamiliar to IT professionals and even to Industry related personnel.

patch panel or patch bay is a panel, typically rackmounted, that houses cable connections.
Diagram:

Sample Image:


Modular Jacks
Modular jack connectors, a cornerstone of communications technology, have been used in the telecommunications and ethernet industry for many years. The main reasons for this are the simplicity and reliability of these products. Whether integrated in a simple telephone system, or in a gigabit application, “mod. jacks” represent the standard for network connections. Mod. jacks can be obtained in many different versions. Increasing data rates and space-saving requirements are driving increasing requests for these connectors with integrated filter components.
Modular Jacks:

Differentiating Routers and Switches

As for switches, it's main function is to only connect networking segments to create communication between nodes through computer gateways like the Ethernet. Switches commonly processes data at the OSI layer 2 or the data link layer. Since Switches typically transfers data from interconnected nodes in a networked area. Switches is a Point-to-Point or Point-to-Multipoint data transfer and a PPP or Point to Point Protocol.

Switch

While Routers are the kind of Active networking Component that connects multiple extended networks together. It sends packets of data from multiple sources and sends it to addressed destinations.

Router


That is Routers belongs to the Layer of the OSI Layer (Networking Layer). It transfers length of data from point-to-destination via one or more networks with quality service required by the transport layer.

In Conclusion, as what I've understood--Switches are for LAN purposes or distribution for internet connection since it is only concerned with the Layer 2 of the OSI model which is the Data Link Layer or transferring of data.
And Routers are more to network-to-network (WAN or MAN) connectivity rather than LAN.

Routers

For us to differentiate Routers to Switches, read.

Routers are physical devices that join multiple wired or wireless networks together. Technically, a wired or wireless router is a Layer 3 gateway, meaning that the wired/wireless router connects networks (as gateways do), and that the router operates at the network layer of the OSI model.
More technically, a router is a networking device whose software and hardware are usually tailored to the tasks of routing and forwarding information. Routers connect two or more logical subnets, which do not necessarily map one-to-one to the physical interfaces of the router. The term "layer 3 switching" is often used interchangeably with routing, but switch is a general term without a rigorous technical definition. In marketing usage, a switch is generally optimized for Ethernet LAN interfaces and may not have other physical interface types. In comparison, the network hub (predecessor of the "switch" or "switching hub") does not do any routing, instead every packet it receives on one network line gets forwarded to all the other network lines.

Home networkers often use an Internet Protocol (IP) wired or wireless router, IP being the most common OSI network layer protocol. An IP router such as a DSL or cable modem broadband router joins the home's local area network (LAN) to the wide-area network (WAN) of the Internet.

Routers operate in two different planes:
* Control plane, in which the router learns the outgoing interface that is most appropriate for forwarding specific packets to specific destinations,
* Forwarding plane, which is responsible for the actual process of sending a packet received on a logical interface to an outbound logical interface.

Routers may provide connectivity inside enterprises, between enterprises and the Internet, and inside Internet Service Providers (ISPs). The largest routers (for example the Cisco CRS-1 or Juniper T1600) interconnect ISPs, are used inside ISPs, or may be used in very large enterprise networks. The smallest routers provide connectivity for small and home offices.
[edit] Routers for Internet connectivity and internal use

Routers intended for ISP and major enterprise connectivity will almost invariably exchange routing information with the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). RFC 4098[3] defines several types of BGP-speaking routers:

* Edge Router: Placed at the edge of an ISP network, it speaks external BGP (eBGP) to a BGP speaker in another provider or large enterprise Autonomous System(AS) .
* Subscriber Edge Router: Located at the edge of the subscriber's network, it speaks eBGP to its provider's AS(s). It belongs to an end user (enterprise) organization.
* Inter-provider Border Router: Interconnecting ISPs, this is a BGP speaking router that maintains BGP sessions with other BGP speaking routers in other providers' ASes.
* Core router: A router that resides within the middle or backbone of the LAN network rather than at its periphery.

Within an ISP: Internal to the provider's AS, such a router speaks internal BGP (iBGP) to that provider's edge routers, other intra-provider core routers, or the provider's inter-provider border routers.
"Internet backbone:" The Internet does not have a clearly identifiable backbone, as did its predecessors. See default-free zone (DFZ). Nevertheless, it is the major ISPs' routers that make up what many would consider the core. These ISPs operate all four types of the BGP-speaking routers described here. In ISP usage, a "core" router is internal to an ISP, and used to interconnect its edge and border routers. Core routers may also have specialized functions in virtual private networks based on a combination of BGP and Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS).
Routers are also used for port forwarding for private servers.

Data Source

Networking SWITCHES

A network switch is a computer networking device that connects network segments.
The term commonly refers to a network bridge that processes and routes data at the data link layer (layer 2) of the OSI model. Switches that additionally process data at the network layer (layer 3 and above) are often referred to as Layer 3 switches or multilayer switches.
The term network switch does not generally encompass unintelligent or passive network devices such as hubs and repeaters.



Function:
The network switch, packet switch (or just switch) plays an integral part in most Ethernet local area networks or LANs. Mid-to-large sized LANs contain a number of linked managed switches. Small office/home office (SOHO) applications typically use a single switch, or an all-purpose converged device such as gateway access to small office/home broadband services such as DSL router or cable Wi-Fi router. In most of these cases, the end user device contains a router and components that interface to the particular physical broadband technology, as in the Linksys 8-port and 48-port devices. User devices may also include a telephone interface to VoIP.

In the context of a standard 10/100 Ethernet switch, a switch operates at the data-link layer of the OSI model to create a different collision domain per switch port. If you have 4 computers A/B/C/D on 4 switch ports, then A and B can transfer data between them as well as C and D at the same time, and they will never interfere with each others' conversations. In the case of a "hub" then they would all have to share the bandwidth, run in Half duplex and there would be collisions and retransmissions. Using a switch is called micro-segmentation. It allows you to have dedicated bandwidth on point to point connections with every computer and to therefore run in Full duplex with no collisions.
Roles:
In the context of a standard 10/100 Ethernet switch, a switch operates at the data-link layer of the OSI model to create a different collision domain per switch port. If you have 4 computers A/B/C/D on 4 switch ports, then A and B can transfer data between them as well as C and D at the same time, and they will never interfere with each others' conversations. In the case of a "hub" then they would all have to share the bandwidth, run in Half duplex and there would be collisions and retransmissions. Using a switch is called micro-segmentation. It allows you to have dedicated bandwidth on point to point connections with every computer and to therefore run in Full duplex with no collisions.

Network switch is a marketing term rather than a technical one.[citation needed] Switches may operate at one or more OSI layers, including physical, data link, network, or transport (i.e., end-to-end). A device that operates simultaneously at more than one of these layers is called a multilayer switch, although use of the term is diminishing.[citation needed]

In switches intended for commercial use, built-in or modular interfaces make it possible to connect different types of networks, including Ethernet, Fibre Channel, ATM, ITU-T G.hn and 802.11. This connectivity can be at any of the layers mentioned. While Layer 2 functionality is adequate for speed-shifting within one technology, interconnecting technologies such as Ethernet and token ring are easier at Layer 3.

Interconnection of different Layer 3 networks is done by routers. If there are any features that characterize "Layer-3 switches" as opposed to general-purpose routers, it tends to be that they are optimized, in larger switches, for high-density Ethernet connectivity.

In some service provider and other environments where there is a need for a great deal of analysis of network performance and security, switches may be connected between WAN routers as places for analytic modules. Some vendors provide firewall,network intrusion detection,and performance analysis modules that can plug into switch ports. Some of these functions may be on combined modules.

In other cases, the switch is used to create a mirror image of data that can go to an external device. Since most switch port mirroring provides only one mirrored stream, network hubs can be useful for fanning out data to several read-only analyzers, such as intrusion detection systems and packet sniffers.

Source

TCP/IP Networking

Although UUCP may be a reasonable choice for low-cost dial-up network links, there are many situations in which its store-and-forward technique proves too inflexible, for example in Local Area Networks (LANs). These are usually made up of a small number of machines located in the same building, or even on the same floor, that are interconnected to provide a homogeneous working environment. Typically, you would want to share files between these hosts, or run distributed applications on different machines.

These tasks require a completely different approach to networking. Instead of forwarding entire files along with a job description, all data is broken up in smaller chunks (packets), which are forwarded immediately to the destination host, where they are reassembled. This type of network is called a packet-switched network. Among other things, this allows to run interactive applications over the network. The cost of this is, of course, a greatly increased complexity in software.

For something concrete to look at as we discuss TCP/IP throughout the following sections, we will consider Groucho Marx University (GMU), situated somewhere in Fredland, as an example. Most departments run their own local area networks, while some share one, and others run several of them. They are all interconnected, and are hooked to the Internet through a single high-speed link.

Suppose your box is connected to a LAN of hosts at the Mathematics Department, and its name is erdos. To access a host at the Physics Department, say quark, you enter the following command:

$ rlogin quark.physics
Welcome to the Physics Department at GMU
(ttyq2) login:

At the prompt, you enter your login name, say andres, and your password. You are then given a shell on quark, to which you can type as if you were sitting at the system's console. After you exit the shell, you are returned to your own machine's prompt. You have just used one of the instantaneous, interactive applications that TCP/IP provides: remote login.