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Drag an Ethernet shape from
the Network and Peripherals
stencil onto the drawing page and position it a couple of gridlines
in from the left edge of the page.
-
Drag the resize handle on the right end of the Ethernet shape
until the network segment is approximately 100 mm (4 inches)
long.
Tip
Remember that the Width button on the status bar
displays the current length of any selected shape, so you can use
it as a guide as you drag the resize handle.
-
With the Ethernet shape still selected, type Branch Office
1 to label the network segment, and then click
anywhere on the background of the page.
-
Drag a Server shape onto
the page and place it above and toward the left end of the Ethernet
shape.
-
Click once on the Ethernet shape to select it, and then drag
any yellow control handle toward the center of the server until a
red square appears around the control handle (there’s a connection
point in the center of all of the computer and network shapes you
will use in this exercise).
Notice that the connector line remains attached to the
Ethernet as you drag the control handle left or right.
Important
Because there are only seven yellow handles on the Ethernet
shape, you might think that you can only connect seven devices.
However, each of the two control handles in the middle of the
Ethernet segment actually hides more than two dozen additional
handles. In fact, the Ethernet shape can accept up to 64
connections.
-
Drag a Printer shape above
and toward the right end of the Ethernet, and then connect the
printer to the network by dragging a yellow handle and gluing it to
the printer.
-
Drag two PC shapes and one
Laptop computer shape from the
Computers and Monitors stencil
and drop them below the Ethernet shape.
-
Drag a yellow control handle and glue it to the first
PC.
-
Repeat Step 8 with the second PC.
Your next task will be to connect the laptop to the
network but there aren’t any more control handles below the Ethernet
segment.
-
Drag a control handle from the middle of the Ethernet shape
and glue it to the laptop.
As you can see in the following figure, dragging a control
handle from the middle of the Ethernet segment successfully
connected the laptop to the network, but there are still additional
control handles available for future use.
Tip
In this graphic, there is an unused control handle/connector
line just above the center of the Ethernet segment. If you don’t
want it there, don’t try to delete it—you’ll end up deleting the
entire Ethernet segment. Instead, if you want to hide the unused
connection, drag its control handle back into the interior of the
Ethernet shape. Then it won’t be visible unless the network
segment is selected.
-
Drag another Ethernet shape
into the upper-right corner of the page, leaving enough room to add
shapes above it.
-
While the Ethernet shape is still selected, type Branch Office
2, and then click anywhere on the background
of the page.
-
Drag a Printer shape, two
PC shapes, and three Laptop computer shapes, and attach them to
the new network segment so you have a network that looks like the
one on the right side of the graphic in Step 16.
-
Drag a Router shape from
the Network and Peripherals
stencil into the center of the page.
-
Drag the remaining unused connector from the Branch Office 1 network and glue it to the
router. Notice that the connector repositions itself so the end
attached to the Ethernet is closer to the router.
-
Drag a connector from the Branch
Office 2 network and glue it to the router.
The connector bends as you drag it toward the router—it
behaves more like a dynamic connector than just a line.
Your finished network diagram should look something like the
following graphic.