Chapter 2 Communication
Chapter 2 Communication
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Networking devices
A network is a number of computers linked together to allow the sharing of resources. A server usually provides services
like file storage and email. Networked computers form an infrastructure which enables internal and external
communications to take place.
The infrastructure includes the following:
Hardware Software Services
• LAN cards • operation and management of the network • DSL
• routers • operation of firewalls • satellite
• switches • security applications/utilities communication
• wireless routers channels
• cabling • wireless protocols
• IP addressing.
LAN is used for connecting two or more personal computers through a communication
medium such as twisted pair, coaxial cable, etc.
It is less costly as it is built with inexpensive hardware such as hubs, network adapters, and
ethernet cables.
Thin client: is a computer that runs from resources stored on a central server instead of a localized hard
drive. Thin clients work by connecting remotely to a server-based computing environment where most
applications, sensitive data, and memory, are stored. All web browsers and web applications such as WP,
Google Docs and numerous online games can be examples of thin clients
it is easy to install
If the main cable fails or gets damaged the whole network will fail as more workstation
connected the performance of the network will become slower because of data
collisions every workstation on the network "sees" all of the data on the network – this
is a security risk.
Network types and topologies
The ring network
In a ring network each device (workstation, server, printer) is connected to two
other devices - this forms a ring for the signals to travel around. Each packet
of data on the network travels in one direction and each device receives each packet
in turn until the destination device receives it
Network types and topologies
The ring network
Advantages and disadvantages of a ring network
This type of network can transfer data quickly, even if there are a large number of
devices connected because the data only flows in one direction, so there won’t be
any data collisions.
However, the real disadvantage is that if the main cable fails or any device is faulty,
then the whole network will fail.
Network types and topologies
The star network
In a star network each device on the network has its own cable that connects to a switch or
hub. A hub sends every packet of data to every device, whereas a switch only sends a packet
of data to the destination device.
Network types and topologies
The star network
Advantages and disadvantages of a star network
It is very reliable – if one cable or device fails then all the others will continue to work
It is expensive to install as this type of network uses the most cable (network cable is
expensive)
3) The characteristics of each topology are combined in the hybrid network and
weakness of different topologies are eliminated.
Drawbacks of hybrid topology:
1) The hubs which are attached to combine different topologies are expensive. These
hubs are different from normal hubs and are more intelligent in performance.
2) Designing hybrid networks is a complex process. Hybrid networks are difficult in
installing and configuring.
3) If the backbone of the network is damaged then network performance is affected
also.
4) A hybrid topology is used in making large networks so it needs more cables and
cooling system. These types of networks also need sophisticated network devices
Network topologies: Hybrid Topology
Examples of hybrid topology:
• School
• Business
• Office
• In university campuses
• Research organizations
• Multi-national offices
• Banks
• Automated industry
Network topologies
Past exams paper Question 1
17-Sep-22 45
Network topologies
Past exams paper Answer 1
17-Sep-22 46
Public and private cloud computing
Public and private cloud computing
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Public and private cloud computing
Public and private cloud computing
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Public and private cloud computing
Cloud storage is a method of data storage where data is stored on offsite servers – the physical
storage covers hundreds of servers in many locations. The same data is stored on more than one
server in case of maintenance or repair, allowing clients to access data at any time. This is known
as data redundancy. The physical environment is owned and managed by a hosting company.
There are three common systems, public cloud, private cloud and hybrid cloud.
Public cloud is a storage environment where the customer/client and cloud storage provider are
different companies.
Hybrid cloud is a combination of private and public clouds. Some data resides in the private
cloud and less sensitive/less commercial data can be accessed from a public cloud storage
provider.
Public and private cloud computing
Public and private cloud computing
Advantages and Disadvantages of Cloud Storage
Public and private cloud computing
Public and private cloud computing
Advantages and Disadvantages of Cloud Storage
Public and private cloud computing
Public and private cloud computing
Cloud Storage Security Risks You Need to Know About
Wired and wireless networking
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A Wi-Fi-enabled device (such as a computer or smart phone) can access, for example, the internet
wirelessly at any wireless access point (WAP) or ‘hot spot’ up to 100 metres away. Wireless connectivity
uses electromagnetic radiation: radio waves, microwaves or infrared.
Wi-Fi also uses spread spectrum technology. However, Wi-Fi is best suited to operating full-scale
networks, since it offers much faster data transfer rates, better range and better security than Bluetooth.
Note: When a device wants to communicate, it picks one of the 79 channels at random. If the channel is
already being used, it randomly picks another channel. This is known as spread spectrum frequency
hopping.
Bluetooth creates a secure wireless personal area network (WPAN) based on key encryption.
Wired and wireless networking
Wired
A wired network uses cables to connect devices, such as laptop or desktop computers, to the Internet or
another network.
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Coaxial cables
Coaxial cable, or coax is a type of electrical cable consisting of an inner conductor surrounded by a
concentric conducting shield, with the two separated by a dielectric; many coaxial cables also have a
protective outer sheath or jacket, Coaxial suffers from the greatest signal attenuation, but
offers the best anti-jamming capabilities.
Single mode means the fiber enables one type of light mode to be propagated at a time. which results in less
light reflection along the cable. This allows the data to travel faster and further, making them a
good choice for CATV and telecommunications.
While multimode means the fiber can propagate multiple modes. so they work best over shorter distances (in a LAN, for
example).
The transmitter in the router sends light pulses representing binary code. When the data is
received, it is decoded back to its binary form and the computer displays the message.
Advantages
The individual cables are thinner, so larger quantities of cable can be joined together
compared to copper
There is less interference than copper
There is less chance for degeneration
Disadvantages
the UK or any others counties telephone network still has areas that use copper cable
replacing copper with fibre optic cabling is expensive
Wired and wireless networking
Watch the video for the Radio Waves: What is a Radio Wave?
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Wired networking
• More reliable and stable network (wireless connectivity is often subjected to interference).
• Data transfer rates tend to be faster with no ‘dead spots’.
• Tends to be cheaper overall, in spite of the need to buy and install cable.
• Devices are not mobile; they must be close enough to allow for cable connections.
• Lots of wires can lead to tripping hazards, overheating of connections (potential fire risk) and
disconnection of cables during routine office cleaning.
Infrastructure mode requires WAPs (wireless access points) and all the data is transferred
using the WAP and hub/switch; all the wireless devices connect to the WAP and must use the
same security and authentication techniques.
Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) is a network protocol for
carrier transmission that operates in the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer. It senses or
listens whether the shared channel for transmission is busy or not, and defers transmissions
until the channel is free. The collision detection technology detects collisions by sensing
transmissions from other stations. On detection of a collision, the station stops transmitting,
sends a jam signal, and then waits for a random time interval before retransmission.
Carrier-sense multiple access with collision detection (CSMA/CD) is a media access control
(MAC) method used most notably in early Ethernet technology for local area networking. It
uses carrier-sensing to defer transmissions until no other stations are transmitting. This is used
in combination with collision detection in which a transmitting station detects collisions by
sensing transmissions from other stations while it is transmitting a frame. When this collision
condition is detected, the station stops transmitting that frame, transmits a jam signal, and
then waits for a random time interval before trying to resend the frame.
Hardware requirements of networks
What Is an Ethernet Switch??
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Ethernet is the traditional technology for connecting devices in a wired local area
network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN), enabling them to communicate with each
other via a protocol -- a set of rules or common network language.
You can access a website or web page by typing its URL (Uniform Resource Locator) into the address bar of
your browser. An example of a URL is https://www.epsom.com/.
URLs will have the format 'http' and a domain (such as .com).
Public Switched Telephone Network or PSTN is a telephone service that connects various
residents and businesses through underground copper wires.
The internet protocols manage the process of assigning each unique device its own IP address. (Internet
protocols do other things as well, such as routing internet traffic.) This way, it’s easy to see which devices
on the internet are sending, requesting, and receiving what information.
Each device on the internet is given a unique address known as the INTERNET PROTOCOL (IP) ADDRESS.
* For larger organizations they might have a whole IP range issued to them instead, depending on
what kind of network address translation (NAT) they are using.
Public IP addresses are the ones allocated by a user’s ISP to identify the location of their
device. Devices using these IP addresses are accessible from anybody using the internet.
Public IP addresses are used by
• DNS servers
• network routers
• directly-controlled computers.
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Networks including the internet
Private IP Addresses:
Computers within a LAN have their own private IP Address, that is different to their
Public IP Address. This private IP Address is either:
Issued by the Server / Router using Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)
Private IP addresses are usually in the 192.168.x.x range though can also be in the
10.x.x.x and 172.x.x.x
Dynamic IP address:
A dynamic IP address is a temporary address for devices connected to a network that continually changes
over time. An Internet Protocol (IP) address is a number used by computers to identify host and network
interfaces, as well as different locations on a network.
Dynamic IP addresses are pulled from a pool of other IP addresses and change anywhere from within a few
days to a few months. In contrast, static IP addresses assign a single, unchanging IP address to a home
network.
e.g. 255.255.255.255
IPv6 addresses are represented as eight groups, separated by colons, of four hexadecimal digits.
The full representation may be shortened; for example,
2001:0db8:0000:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334 becomes 2001:db8::8a2e:370:7334.
Advantages
Future proof – plenty of unique addresses for each device.
Security built in to the profile
Allows for QOS packet prioritizing.
Disadvantages
A bit more overhead in packet size
Many legacy devices and systems still don’t fully support IPv6 so we still need IPv4 backup.
Subnets were initially designed for solving the shortage of IP addresses over the Internet.
Each IP address consists of a subnet mask. All the class types, such as Class A, Class B and Class C
include the subnet mask known as the default subnet mask. The subnet mask is intended for
determining the type and number of IP addresses required for a given local network. The
firewall or router is called the default gateway. The default subnet mask is as follows:
Class A: 255.0.0.0
Class B: 255.255.0.0
Class C: 255.255.255.0 131
Networks including the internet
Sub-netting
The subnetting process allows the administrator to divide a single Class A, Class B, or Class C
network number into smaller portions. The subnets can be subnetted again into sub-subnets.
Dividing the network into a number of subnets provides the following benefits:
Helps to surpass the constraints in a local area network (LAN), for example, the maximum
number of permitted hosts.
Enables users to access a work network from their homes; there is no need to open the
complete network.
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Networks including the internet
Sub-netting
Suppose a university network has eight departments and has a netID of
192.200.20 (11000000.11001000.00010100). All of the devices on the university network will be
associated with this netID and can have hostID values from 00000001 to 1111110 (hostIDs
containing all 0s or all 1s are forbidden). The university network will look something like this:
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Sub-netting
We have seven sub-nets with the same range of hostIDs.
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Sub-netting
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Sub-netting
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Networks including the internet
Uniform resource locators (URLs)
A URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is a unique identifier used to locate a resource on the
Internet. It is also referred to as a web address. URLs consist of multiple parts -- including a
protocol and domain name -- that tell a web browser how and where to retrieve a resource.
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Networks including the internet
HTTP and HTTPS
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The Hypertext Transfer Protocol is an application protocol for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems
that allows users to communicate data on the World Wide Web.
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Networks including the internet
Domain Name Service (DNS)
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DNS servers translate requests for names into IP addresses, controlling which server an end user
will reach when they type a domain name into their web browser.
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AS Level Past Exam: Question 1