What are computer networks?

Computer networking refers to interconnected computing devices that can exchange data and share
resources with each other. These networked devices use a system of rules, called communications
protocols, to transmit information over physical or wireless technologies.

Advantages of computer networking

The main benefits of networks include:

File sharing - you can easily share data between different users, or access it remotely if you keep it
on other connected devices.

Resource sharing - using network-connected peripheral devices like printers, scanners and copiers,
or sharing software between multiple users, saves money.

Sharing a single internet connection - it is cost-efficient and can help protect your systems if you
properly secure the network.

Types of Computer Networks

Personal Area Network (PAN)

Local Area Network (LAN)

Wide Area Network (WAN)

Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN)

Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)

1. Personal Area Network (PAN) :

PAN is the most basic type of computer network. This network is restrained to a single person, that
is, communication between the computer devices is centred only to an individual’s work space. PAN
offers a network range of 10 meters from a person to the device providing communication.

Examples of PAN are USB, computer, phone, tablet, printer, PDA, etc.

Chapter. 2. LAN (Local Area Network):-

In a LAN, a group of computers and other devices are connected over a relatively short distance.
Generally, it is a privately owned networks within a single building or campus, upto a few kilometers
in size. Users can share expensive devices, such as laser printers, as well as data on LAN and can also
use the LAN to communicate with each other, by sending mails or engaging in chat sessions.

Mostly, cables are used to connect the computers in LANs. However, there is also a limit on the
number of computers that can be attached to a single LAN.
WAN(Wide Area Network) :-

WAN spans a large geographical area, often a country or a continent and uses various commercial
and private communication lines to connect computers. Typically, a WAN combines multiple LANs
that are geographically separated. Like the LAN, most WANs are not owned by any organisation, but
rather exist under collective or distributed ownership and management. The world's most popular
WAN is the Internet.

MAN(Metropolitan Area Network) :-

This is basically a bigger version of LAN and normally uses similar technology. It might cover few
buildings in a city and might either be private or public. This is a network which spans a physical
area(in the range of 5km to 50km) that is larger than a LAN but smaller than a WAN.

MANs are usually characterised by very high-speed connections using optical fibres or other digital
media and provides uplink services to Wide Area Networks (WANs) and the Internet. Eg., in a city, a
MAN, which can support both data and voice might even be related to local cable television
network.

It is also frequently used to provide a shared connection to other networks using a link to a WAN.

VPN(Virtual Private Network) :-

VPN is an encrypted connection over the Internet from a device to a network. It can be used to
access region-restricted websites, shield your browsing activity from prying eyes on public WiFi and
more.

It prevents unauthorised people from eavesdropping on the traffic and allows the user to conduct
work remotely. VPN technology is widely used in coporate environments.

Transmission Media:- The media through which data is transferred in a network from one computer
to other is called transmission or communication media. Transmission media is grouped into two
types:-

1.Guided media or wired technologies

2.Unguided media Or wireless technologies.

Guided Media or Wired Technologies:-

In guided or wired technologies, the computers in a network are connected through wire or cable.
The data signal physically gets transferred from the transmitting computer to th receiving computer
through the wired transmission medium.

Some of the guided media are given below:-

1.Ethernet cable or Twisted Pair Cable:-

In this cable, wires are twisted together, which are surrounded by an insulating material and an
outer layer called Jacket. One of the wire is used to carry signals to the receiver and the other is used
only as a ground reference. eg., Local Area Networks (LANs) are used in twisted pair cable.

2.Co-axial Cable:-

It consists of a solid wire core surrounded by foil shields or conducting braid or wire mesh, each
separated by some kind of plastic insulator. The inner solid wire core carries the signal through the
network and shield is used to provide earthing or ground. Co-axial cable is commonly used in
transporting multi-channel television signals in cities.

3.Optical Fibre:-

Optical fibre or Fiber optic cable consists of thin threads made up of glass or glass-like material,
which are capable of carrying light signals from a source at one end to another end. At the source,
there are either Light Emitting Diodes(LEDs) or Laser Diodes(LDs) present which modulates the data
into light beam using frequency modulation techniques. At the receiver's end, the signals are
demodulated.

Unguided Media:- When the computers in a network are interconnected and data is transmitted
through waves, then they are said to be connected through unguided media.

1) Bluetooth: - It is used for exchanging data over a short distance from fixed and mobile
devices. The name Bluetooth is derived from Harald Bluetooth, a king in Denmark.
2) Infrared: - It is the frequency of light that is not visible to human eye. These high frequencies
allow high speed data transmission. Infrared communication requires a transceiver ( a
combination of transmitter and receiver) in both devices that communicate. Infrared
communication is playing an important role in wireless data communication due to the
popularity of laptop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs) , digital camera, mobile
phones.
3) Radio wave: - When two terminals communicate by using radio frequencies, then such type
of communication is known as radio wave transmission.
Radiowave transmission set-up has two parts:- Transmitter and Receiver.
*Devices which transmits signals are termed as transmitter.
*Devices which receives signals are termed as receiver.

Both the transmitter and receiver uses antennas to radiate and capture the radio signal.

4) Microwave:- Microwave is a line-of-sight wireless communication technology that uses high

frequency beams of radio waves to provide high speed wireless connections that can send
and receive voice, video, and data information.
5) Satellite Communication: - A communication satellite is a microwave repeater station in a
space that is used for telecommunication, radio and television signals. A communication
satellite processes the data coming from one earth station and it converts the data into
another form and send it to the second earth station.
How a Satellite Works
Two stations on earth want to communicate through radio broadcast but are too far away to
use conventional means. The two stations can use a relay station for their communication.
One earth station transmits the signal to the satellite.

Uplink frequency is the frequency at which ground station is communicating with satellite.
The satellite transponder converts the signal and sends it down to the second earth station,
and this is called Downlink frequency. The second earth station also communicates with the
first one in the same way.

What is a point-to-point network connection?

Point-to-point connections are typically used to connect two systems together over a wide
area network (WAN). You can use a point-to-point connection to get data from your local
system to a remote system or to get data from a local network to a remote network.

Client-server technology:- Client-server is a computer model that separates client and

server, and usually interlinked using a computer network. Each instance of a client can send
data requests to one of the servers online and expect a response.
In turn, some of the available servers can accept these requests, process them and return
the result to the client.

What is a repeater?
In digital communication systems, a repeater is a device that receives a digital signal on an
electromagnetic or optical transmission medium and regenerates the signal along the next
leg of the medium.

Hubs
A hub is a physical layer networking device which is used to connect multiple devices in a
network. They are generally used to connect computers in a LAN.
A hub has many ports in it. A computer which intends to be connected to the
network is plugged in to one of these ports. When a data frame arrives at a port, it is
broadcast to every other port, without considering whether it is destined for a particular
destination or not.

What are Switches in Computer Network?

Switches are networking devices operating at layer 2 or a data link layer of the OSI model.
They connect devices in a network and use packet switching to send, receive or forward data
packets or data frames over the network.
A switch has many ports, to which computers are plugged in.

Gateway: - A gateway is a network node used in telecommunications that connects two

networks with different transmission protocols together. Gateways serve as an entry and
exit point for a network as all data must pass through or communicate with the gateway
prior to being routed.
Bridges:-A bridge is a network device that connects multiple LANs (local area networks)
together to form a larger LAN. The process of aggregating networks is called network
bridging. A bridge connects the different components so that they appear as parts of a single
network.

Router:-
A router receives and sends data on computer networks. Routers are sometimes confused
with network hubs, modems, or network switches. However, routers can combine the
functions of these components, and connect with these devices, to improve Internet access
or help create business networks.

Modem:-
A modem is a network device that both modulates and demodulates analog carrier signals
(called sine waves) for encoding and decoding digital information for processing. Modems
accomplish both of these tasks simultaneously and, for this reason, the term modem is a
combination of "modulate" and "demodulate."

What is a RJ45 connector?

An 8-pin/8-position plug or jack is commonly used to connect computers onto Ethernet-
based local area networks (LAN). Two wiring schemes–T568A and T568B–are used to
terminate the twisted-pair cable onto the connector interface.

What is a RJ11 connector?

(Registered Jack-11) A telephone interface that uses a cable of twisted wire pairs and a
modular jack with two, four or six contacts. RJ-11 is the common connector for plugging a
telephone into the wall and the handset into the telephone.

Ethernet card:-
An Ethernet card is the communications hub for your computer; it connects to a network
using a network cable. Ethernet cards can also communicate one-on-one with another
Ethernet card, allowing for peer-to-peer network connections -- these are useful for direct
file sharing.

WiFi card:-
A Wi-Fi card connects to your laptop either in your USB port or a wider card slot. This card
generally is geared to a particular Wi-Fi network, so to use it you must be in range of a
wireless Internet signal dedicated to that network. In this way, the Wi-Fi card acts as both a
receiver and transmitter.