What is actually occuring when I log into the Novell network?

Objectives
- Understand the functional necessity for the login process
- Understand the concept of drive mapping
- Associate network services such as printing with logging in

What are the NETS standards applicable to the concept?
Teachers: 1A - demonstrate introductory knowledge, skills, and understanding of concepts related to technology.

Word File

Tutorial Home

The purpose of a network is to utilize limited resources in a manner that provides a benefit to a large number of users.

Networks are all about connections. When you log on to the district network via the Novell login screen, you are being connected to various resources.

Your account is configured to provide access to specific data locations and services, such as printing.

During the login, the computer you are using at that time uses a connection process called drive mapping to provide you with access to specific data locations on the network. Drive mapping does exactly what it sounds like; it establishes a path, or map, to a particular data folder on the network. That folder is represented as an additional letter, beyond the usual locations where you can store or retrieve information.

Just about every computer for the past ten years has the following drives:
The "A" drive, or the floppy drive, for which you use disks.
The "C" drive, or hard drive, which is the computer's internal storage device.
The "D" drive, or CD-ROM, which uses CD media for data storage and retrieval.

When you log onto the network, other drives are present. All staff, for instance, have access to an "H" or "I" drive that represents the network folder that has been created specifically and exclusively for their use.

Go to Part 2 of this Tutorial