Introduction

A computer network allows sharing of resources and information among devices connected to the network. The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) funded the design of the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) for the United States Department of Defense. It was the first operational computer network in the world. Development of the network began in 1969, based on designs developed during the 1960s.

Purpose
Computer networks can be used for several purposes: Facilitating communications. Using a network, people can communicate efficiently and easily via

e-mail, instant messaging, chat rooms, telephone, video telephone calls, and video conferencing. Sharing hardware. In a networked environment, each computer on a network can access and use

hardware on the network. Suppose several personal computers on a network each require the use of a laser printer. If the personal computers and a laser printer are connected to a network, each user can then access the laser printer on the network, as they need it. Sharing files, data, and information. In a network environment, any authorized user can access

data and information stored on other computers on the network. The capability of providing access to data and information on shared storage devices is an important feature of many networks. Sharing software. Users connected to a network can access application programs on the

network.

Network classification
The following list presents categories used for classifying networks.

Connection method

Computer networks can be classified according to the hardware and software technology that is used to interconnect the individual devices in the network, such as optical fiber, Ethernet, Wireless LAN, HomePNA, Power line communication or G.hn. Ethernet uses physical wiring to connect devices. Frequently deployed devices include hubs, switches, bridges and/or routers. Wireless LAN technology is designed to connect devices without wiring. These devices use radio waves or infrared signals as a transmission medium. ITU-TG.hn technology uses existing home wiring (coaxial cable, phone lines and power lines) to create a high-speed (up to 1 Gigabit/s) local area network.

Wired technologies
Twisted pair wire is the most widely used medium for telecommunication. Twisted-pair wires are

ordinary telephone wires which consist of two insulated copper wires twisted into pairs and are used for both voice and data transmission. The use of two wires twisted together helps to reduce crosstalk and electromagnetic induction. The transmission speed ranges from 2 million bits per second to 100 million bits per second. Coaxial cable is widely used for cable television systems, office buildings, and other worksites for

local area networks. The cables consist of copper or aluminum wire wrapped with insulating layer typically of a flexible material with a high dielectric constant, all of which are surrounded by a conductive layer. The layers of insulation help minimize interference and distortion. Transmission speed range from 200 million to more than 500 million bits per second. Optical fiber cable consists of one or more filaments of glass fiber wrapped in protective layers. It

transmits light which can travel over extended distances without signal loss. Fiber-optic cables are not affected by electromagnetic radiation. Transmission speed may reach trillions of bits per second. The transmission speed of fiber optics is hundreds of times faster than for coaxial cables and thousands of times faster than for twisted-pair wire.

Wireless technologies
Terrestrial Microwave Terrestrial microwaves use Earth-based transmitter and receiver. The

equipment look similar to satellite dishes. Terrestrial microwaves use low-gigahertz range, which limits all communications to line-of-sight. Path between relay stations spaced approx. 30 miles apart. Microwave antennas are usually placed on top of buildings, towers, hills, and mountain peaks. Communications Satellites The satellites use microwave radio as their telecommunications

medium which are not deflected by the Earth's atmosphere. The satellites are stationed in space,

typically 22,000 miles (for geosynchronous satellites) above the equator. These Earth-orbiting systems are capable of receiving and relaying voice, data, and TV signals. Cellular and PCS Systems Use several radio communications technologies. The systems are

divided to different geographic area. Each area has low-power transmitter or radio relay antenna device to relay calls from one area to the next area. Wireless LANs Wireless local area network use a high-frequency radio technology similar to

digital cellular and a low-frequency radio technology. Wireless LANs use spread spectrum technology to enable communication between multiple devices in a limited area. An example of open-standards wireless radio-wave technology is IEEE 802.11b. Bluetooth A short range wireless technology. Operate at approx. 1Mbps with range from 10 to

100 meters. Bluetooth is an open wireless protocol for data exchange over short distances.

Scale
Networks are often classified as local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), metropolitan area network (MAN), personal area network (PAN), virtual private network (VPN), campus area network (CAN), storage area network (SAN), and others, depending on their scale, scope and purpose. (e.g., Controller Area Network (CAN)) Usage, trust level, and access right often differ between these types of networks. For example, LANs tend to be designed for internal use by an organization's internal systems and employees in individual physical locations (such as a building), while WANs may connect physically separate parts of an organization and may include connections to third parties.

Functional relationship (network architecture)

Computer networks may be classified according to the functional relationships which exist among the elements of the network, e.g., active networking, clientserver and peer-to-peer (workgroup) architecture.

Network topology
Computer networks may be classified according to the network topology upon which the network is based, such as bus network, star network, ring network, mesh network, star-bus network, tree or hierarchical topology network. Network topology is the coordination by which devices in the network are arranged in their logical relations to one another, independent of physical arrangement. Even if networked computers are physically placed in a linear arrangement and are connected to a hub, the network has a star topology, rather than a bus topology. In this regard the visual and operational characteristics of a network are distinct. Networks may be classified based on the method of data used to convey the data, these include digital and analog networks.

Types of networks
Common types of computer networks may be identified by their scale.

Personal area network

A personal area network (PAN) is a computer network used for communication among computer and different information technological devices close to one person. Some examples of devices that are used in a PAN are personal computers, printers, fax machines, telephones, PDAs, scanners, and even video game consoles. A PAN may include wired and wireless connections between devices. The reach of a PAN typically extends to 10 meters.[2] A wired PAN is usually constructed with USB and Firewire connections while technologies such as Bluetooth and infrared communication typically form a wireless PAN

Local area network

A local area network (LAN) is a network that connects computers and devices in a limited geographical area such as home, school, computer laboratory, office building, or closely positioned group of buildings. Each computer or device on the network is a node. Current wired LANs are most likely to be based on Ethernet technology, although new standards like ITU-T G.hn also provide a way to create a wired LAN using existing home wires (coaxial cables, phone lines and power lines).[3]

Typical library network, in a branching tree topology and controlled access to resources

All interconnected devices must understand the network layer (layer 3), because they are handling multiple subnets (the different colors). Those inside the library, which have only 10/100 Mbit/s Ethernet connections to the user device and a Gigabit Ethernet connection to the central router, could be called "layer 3 switches" because they only have Ethernet interfaces and must understand IP. It would be more correct to call them access routers, where the router at the top is a distribution router that connects to the Internet and academic networks' customer access routers. The defining characteristics of LANs, in contrast to WANs (Wide Area Networks), include their higher data transfer rates, smaller geographic range, and no need for leased telecommunication lines. Current

Ethernet or other IEEE 802.3 LAN technologies operate at speeds up to 10 Gbit/s. This is the data transfer rate. IEEE has projects investigating the standardization of 40 and 100 Gbit/s.[4]

Home area network

A home area network is a residential LAN which is used for communication between digital devices typically deployed in the home, usually a small number of personal computers and accessories, such as printers and mobile computing devices. An important function is the sharing of Internet access, often a broadband service through a CATV or Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) provider.

Campus network
A campus network is a computer network made up of an interconnection of local area networks (LANs) within a limited geographical area. The networking equipments (switches, routers) and transmission media (optical fiber, copper plant, Cat5 cabling etc.) are almost entirely owned (by the campus tenant / owner: an enterprise, university, government etc.). In the case of a university campus-based campus network, the network is likely to link a variety of campus buildings including; academic departments, the university library and student residence halls.

Wide area network

A wide area network (WAN) is a computer network that covers a large geographic area such as a city, country, or spans even intercontinental distances, using a communications channel that combines many types of media such as telephone lines, cables, and air waves. A WAN often uses transmission facilities provided by common carriers, such as telephone companies. WAN technologies generally function at the lower three layers of the OSI reference model: the physical layer, the data link layer, and the network layer.

Global area network

A global area network (GAN) is a network used for supporting mobile communications across an arbitrary number of wireless LANs, satellite coverage areas, etc. The key challenge in mobile communications is handing off the user communications from one local coverage area to the next. In IEEE Project 802, this involves a succession of terrestrial WIRELESS local area networks (WLAN).[5]

Enterprise Private Network

An Enterprise Private Network is a network build by an enterprise to interconnect the various company sites (production sites, head offices, remote offices, shops etc.) in order to share computer resources over the network.

Sample EPN made of Frame relay WAN connections and dialup remote access.

Beginning with the digitalisation of telecommunication networks started in the 70's in the USA (by AT&T) and propelled by the growth in computer systems availability and demands private networks have been built for decades without the need to append the term private to them. The networks were operated over telecommunication networks and as per voice communications a certain amount of security and secrecy was expected and assumed. But with the Internet in the 90's came a new type of network built over this Public infrastructure, using encryption to protect the data traffic from eaves-dropping (VPN). So the enterprise networks are now commonly referred toEnterprise Private Network in order to clarify that these are private networks (in opposition to public networks).

Virtual private network

Sample VPN used to interconnect 3 office and Remote users

A virtual private network (VPN) is a computer network in which some of the links between nodes are carried by open connections or virtual circuits in some larger network (e.g., the Internet) instead of by physical wires. The data link layer protocols of the virtual network are said to be tunneled through the larger network when this is the case. One common application is secure communications through the public Internet, but a VPN need not have explicit security features, such as authentication or content encryption. VPNs, for example, can be used to separate the traffic of different user communities over an underlying network with strong security features. A VPN may have best-effort performance, or may have a defined service level agreement (SLA) between the VPN customer and the VPN service provider. Generally, a VPN has a topology more complex than point-to-point.

Internetwork
An Internetwork is the connection of two or more private computer networks via a common switching (OSI Layer 2) or routing technology (OSI Layer 3) and owned by separate entities (public or private). The result is called an internetwork. The Internet is an aggregation of many internetworks, hence its name was shortened to Internet. Any interconnection between public, private, commercial, industrial, or governmental networks may also be defined as an internetwork or (more often) an extranet.

Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected governmental, academic, corporate, public, and private computer networks. It is based on the networking technologies of the Internet Protocol Suite. It is the successor of the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network(ARPANET) developed by DARPA of the U.S. Department of Defense. The Internet is also the communications backbone underlying theWorld Wide Web (WWW). The 'Internet' is most commonly spelled with a capital 'I' as a proper noun, for historical reasons and to distinguish it from other generic internetworks. Participants in the Internet use a diverse array of methods of several hundred documented, and often standardized, protocols compatible with the Internet Protocol Suite and an addressing system (IP Addresses) administered by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority and address registries. Service providers and large enterprises exchange information about the reachability of their address spaces through the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), forming a redundant worldwide mesh of transmission paths.

Intranets and extranets

Intranets and extranets are parts or extensions of a computer network, usually a local area network. An intranet is a set of networks, using the Internet Protocol and IP-based tools such as web browsers and file transfer applications, that is under the control of a single administrative entity. That administrative

entity closes the intranet to all but specific, authorized users. Most commonly, an intranet is the internal network of an organization. A large intranet will typically have at least one web server to provide users with organizational information. An extranet is a network that is limited in scope to a single organization or entity and also has limited connections to the networks of one or more other usually, but not necessarily, trusted organizations or entities (e.g., a company's customers may be given access to some part of its intranet creating in this way an extranet, while at the same time the customers may not be considered 'trusted' from a security standpoint). Technically, an extranet may also be categorized as a CAN, MAN, WAN, or other type of network, although, by definition, an extranet cannot consist of a single LAN; it must have at least one connection with an external network.

Overlay Network
An overlay network is a computer network that is built on top of another network. Nodes in the overlay can be thought of as being connected by virtual or logical links, each of which corresponds to a path, perhaps through many physical links, in the underlying network.

A sample overlay network: IP over SONET over Optical

Nodes in the overlay can be thought of as being connected by virtual or logical links, each of which corresponds to a path, perhaps through many physical links, in the underlying network. For example, many peer-to-peer networks are overlay networks because they run on top of the Internet. Internet was built as an overlay on the telephone network [7]. Overlay networks have been around since the invention of networking when computer systems were connected over telephone lines using modem, before any data network existed. Nowadays the Internet is the basis for many overlaid networks that can be constructed to permit routing of messages to destinations not specified by anIP address. For example, distributed hash tables can be

used to route messages to a node having a specific logical address, whose IP address is not known in advance. Overlay networks have also been proposed as a way to improve Internetrouting, such as through quality of service guarantees to achieve higher-quality streaming media. Previous proposals such as IntServ,DiffServ, and IP Multicast have not seen wide acceptance largely because they require modification of all routers in the network. On the other hand, an overlay network can be incrementally deployed on end-hosts running the overlay protocol software, without cooperation from ISPs. The overlay has no control over how packets are routed in the underlying network between two overlay nodes, but it can control, for example, the sequence of overlay nodes a message traverses before reaching its destination.

Basic hardware components

All networks are made up of basic hardware building blocks to interconnect network nodes, such as Network Interface Cards (NICs), Bridges, Hubs, Switches, and Routers. In addition, some method of connecting these building blocks is required, usually in the form of galvanic cable (most commonly Category 5 cable). Less common are microwave links (as in IEEE 802.12) or optical cable ("optical fiber"). An Ethernet card may also be required.

Network interface cards

A network card, network adapter, or NIC (network interface card) is a piece of computer hardware designed to allow computers to communicate over a computer network. It provides physical access to a networking medium and often provides a low-level addressing system through the use of MAC addresses.

Repeaters
A repeater is an electronic device that receives a signal, cleans it of unnecessary noise, regenerates it, and retransmits it at a higher power level, or to the other side of an obstruction, so that the signal can cover longer distances without degradation. In most twisted pair Ethernet configurations, repeaters are required for cable that runs longer than 100 meters. Repeaters work on the Physical Layer of the OSI model.

Hubs
A network hub contains multiple ports. When a packet arrives at one port, it is copied unmodified to all ports of the hub for transmission. The destination address in the frame is not changed to a broadcast address.[8] It works on the Physical Layer of the OSI model.

Bridges

A network bridge connects multiple network segments at the data link layer (layer 2) of the OSI model. Bridges do send broadcasts to all ports except the one on which the broadcast was received. However, bridges do not promiscuously copy traffic to all ports, as hubs do, but learn which MAC addresses are reachable through specific ports. Once the bridge associates a port and an address, it will send traffic for that address to that port only. Bridges learn the association of ports and addresses by examining the source address of frames that it sees on various ports. Once a frame arrives through a port, its source address is stored and the bridge assumes that MAC address is associated with that port. The first time that a previously unknown destination address is seen, the bridge will forward the frame to all ports other than the one on which the frame arrived. Bridges come in three basic types: Local bridges: Directly connect local area networks (LANs) Remote bridges: Can be used to create a wide area network (WAN) link between LANs. Remote

bridges, where the connecting link is slower than the end networks, largely have been replaced with routers. Wireless bridges: Can be used to join LANs or connect remote stations to LANs.

Switches
A network switch is a device that forwards and filters OSI layer 2 datagrams (chunk of data communication) between ports (connected cables) based on the MAC addresses in the packets.[9] This is distinct from a hub in that it only forwards the frames to the ports involved in the communication rather than all ports connected. A switch breaks the collision domain but represents itself as a broadcast domain. Switches make forwarding decisions of frames on the basis of MAC addresses. A switch normally has numerous ports, facilitating a star topology for devices, and cascading additional switches.
[10]

Some switches are capable of routing based on Layer 3 addressing or additional logical levels; these

are called multi-layer switches. The term switch is used loosely in marketing to encompass devices including routers and bridges, as well as devices that may distribute traffic on load or by application content (e.g., a Web URL identifier).

Routers
A router is an internetworking device that forwards packets between networks by processing information found in the datagram or packet (Internet protocol information from Layer 3 of the OSI Model). In many situations, this information is processed in conjunction with the routing table (also known as forwarding table). Routers use routing tables to determine what interface to forward packets (this can include the

"null" also known as the "black hole" interface because data can go into it, however, no further processing is done for said data). [edit]References

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

^ Chris Sutton. "Internet Began 35 Years Ago at UCLA with First Message Ever Sent Between Two

Computers". UCLA. Retrieved 2008-11-06. ^ http://searchmobilecomputing.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid40_gci546288,00.html ^ New global standard for fully networked home, ITU-T Press Release ^ IEEE P802.3ba 40Gb/s and 100Gb/s Ethernet Task Force ^ Mobile Broadband Wireless connections (MBWA) ^ AT&T Network History ^ D. Andersen, H. Balakrishnan, M. Kaashoek, and R. Morris. Resilient Overlay Networks. In Proc.

ACM SOSP, Oct. 2001. ^ Pountain, Dick (2001). The New Penguin Dictionary of Computing. New York: Penguin

Books. ISBN 0-14-051-4376. ^ "Define switch.". www.webopedia.com. Retrieved 2008-04-08. ^ "Basic Components of a Local Area Network (LAN)". NetworkBits.net. Retrieved 2008-04-08.

A router is a device that interconnects two or more computer networks, and selectively interchanges packets of data between them. Each data packet contains address information that a router can use to determine if the source and destination are on the same network, or if the data packet must be transferred from one network to another. Where multiple routers are used in a large collection of interconnected networks, the routers exchange information about target system addresses, so that each router can build up a table showing the preferred paths between any two systems on the interconnected networks. A router is a networking device whose software and hardware are customized to the tasks ofrouting and forwarding information. A router has two or more network interfaces, which may be to different physical types of network (such as copper cables, fiber, or wireless) or different network standards. Each network interface is a small computer specialized to convert electric signals from one form to another. Routers connect two or more logical subnets, which do not share a common network address. The subnets in the router do not necessarily map one-to-one to the physical interfaces of the router.[1]The term "layer 3 switching" is used often interchangeably with the term "routing". The termswitching is generally

used to refer to data forwarding between two network devices that share a common network address. This is also called layer 2 switching or LAN switching. Conceptually, a router operates in two operational planes (or sub-systems):[2] Control plane: where a router builds a table (called routing table) as how a packet should be

forwarded through which interface, by using either statically configured statements (called static routes) or by exchanging information with other routers in the network through a dynamical routing protocol; Forwarding plane: where the router actually forwards traffic (called packets in IP) from ingress

(incoming) interfaces to an egress (outgoing) interface that is appropriate for the destination address that the packet carries with it, by following rules derived from the routing table that has been built in the control plane. [edit]Types

of routers

A demonstration of a router forwarding information to many clients.

Routers may provide connectivity inside enterprises, between enterprises and the Internet, and inside internet service providers (ISPs). The largest routers (for example the CiscoCRS-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 almost invariably exchange routing information using the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). RFC 4098[3] defines several types of BGP-speaking routers according to the routers' functions:

Edge Router: An ER is placed at the edge of an ISP network. The router speaks

external BGP (EBGP) to a BGP speaker in another provider or large enterpriseAutonomous System(AS). This type of routers is also called PE (Provider Edge) routers. Subscriber Edge Router: An SER is 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. This type of routers is also called CE (Customer Edge) routers. 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 Core router is one that resides within an AS as back bone to carry traffic between

edge routers. 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 andMulti-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS).[4] Routers are also used for port forwarding for private servers.

Linksys by Cisco WRT54GL SoHo Router

A screenshot of the LuCI web interface used by OpenWrt. Here it is being used to configure Dynamic DNS.

A Cisco ASM/2-32EM router deployed atCERN in 1987.

Juniper SRX210 service gateway router

Repeater
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Repeater (disambiguation).

A wireless repeater.

A repeater is an electronic device that receives a signal and retransmits it at a higher level and/or higher power, or onto the other side of an obstruction, so that the signal can cover longer distances.

[edit]Description
The term "repeater" originated with telegraphy and referred to an electromechanical device used to regenerate telegraph signals. Use of the term has continued in telephony and data communications. In telecommunication, the term repeater has the following standardized meanings:

1. 2.

An analog device that amplifies an input signal regardless of its nature (analog or digital). A digital device that amplifies, reshapes, retimes, or performs a combination of any of these

functions on a digital input signal forretransmission.[1] Because repeaters work with the actual physical signal, and do not attempt to interpret the data being transmitted, they operate on the Physical layer, the first layer of the OSI model.