Chapter 8 – Computer Network

Computer Network
A Computer network is a group of computing devices that are
connected together to share resources.

Benefits of Networking
It is used for communication and data sharing. It allows access to
remote database or computer. Networking reduces hardware cost.

Evolution/History of Networking Arpanet

In 1969 US defence department sponsored a agency called ARPA and
the network created by this agency was known as Advance Research
Project Agency Network (ARPANET). In mid 80’s the national
science foundation (NSF) created a new network called NSFNet
which was more capable than ARPANET.
Internet
Internet is the global system of interconnected computer networks and
computers. It used TCP/IP protocol for communication.

Interspace
It is a client server software/program that allows multiple users to
communicate online with real time audio, video, text chat features.

Data Communication Terminologies Data

Communication
Data Communication is defined as exchange of data between two
devices via some form of transmission media such as a cable, wire or
it can be air or vacuum also.

Components of data communication

Message
It is the data that needs to be delivered. It can consist of text,
audio, document or any other multimedia.

Sender
It is a device that sends data message.

Receiver
I t is a device that receives the data message.

Transmission Media
It is a communication channel that carries the information from
the sender to the receiver.

Network Protocols
A protocol is a set of rules that governs the communication
between computers on a network.
Switching Techniques
Circuit Switching
It is a technique which directly connects sender and receiver in an
unbroken path. The main advantage of circuit is guaranteed delivery.
Example – Telephone Communication

Message Switching
This type of network is also called store and forwarded switching. In
this technique the source compute sends data to intermediate
switching device which stores the data in its buffer. It then looks for
next switching device or destination computer. Example – Messaging
service.

Packet Switching
In this technique data is broken into smaller parts called data packets.
Each packet contains address and data. It uses TCP/IP protocol. After
travelling from network these packets are rearranged at destination
computer.
Example – Downloading or uploading from internet.

Data Channel
Data channel is the medium used to carry data or information from
one point to another in a network.

Bandwidth
Bandwidth is the frequency range of a channel measured between the
highest and lowest frequencies that channel supports. The larger the
bandwidth the higher the transmission speed. Frequency is measured
in cycle per second i.e. hertz (Hz) kilohertz (KHz) – Thousand cycles
per seconds, Megahertz – Thousand kilohertz
Data Transfer Rate
DTR is the amount of digital data that is moved from one place to
another in per second time. It measurement units are

Bits Per Second (BPS)

Number of data bits per second where a binary signal is being used 1
KB – 1024bps, 1mb – 1024kb, 1gb – 1024Mb. 1tb – 1024 gb

Transmission media
The media through which data is transferred from point to another in a
network.

Guided media (Bounded/Wired) and unguided media

(Unbounded/Wireless)

Guided/Wired/bounded Technologies
Twisted Pair or Ethernet Cable
In this two identical copper wires are twisted around each other. It is
light weight, easy to install, inexpensive and supports different type of
network.
Bandwidth – 100 to 500 mbps

Coaxial cable
It consist of copper wire surrounded by foil shields or wire mesh, each
separated by plastic insulator
Bandwidth – 400 to 500 mbps

Optical Fibre
It is made of glass like material which is capable of carrying light
signals from source to destination. It consist of core, cladding, and
protective coding. Bandwidth upto 2gb.

Unguided /Wireless/Unbounded technologies

Radio Waves
When two terminals communicate by using radio frequencies. Its set
up has two parts transmitter and receiver. It is cheaper than wired
technologies.

Infrared waves
Infrared is the frequencies of light that is not visible to human eye. It
is mainly used for shorter distances like remotes, digital camera etc.
Microwave
These are similar to radio signal. These use high frequency radio
signal for transmission. The transmitter and receiver of microwave
system are mounted on very high tower and both should be visible to
each other.

Satellite Communication
It use microwave transmission system a satellite is place over 4000
km above the earth's surface. Satellite dish is used to send data to a
satellite (uplink) and receive (downlink) satellite signal.

Network Devices
Modem (Modulator/Demodulator)
It is a networking device that converts digital signal to analog signal
at sender’s side and convert back analog to digital at receiver’s side in
order to make communication possible via telephone lines.

RJ-45 Connector
Registered Jack 45 is 8 wire connecter. It is used to connect Ethernet
cable on local area network.
Ethernet Card
It is used to connect Ethernet cable for high speed internet. This card
is mainly installed by the manufacturer inside computer system.

WiFi Card
These are the small portable card that allows us to connect to the
internet through a wireless network. Radio waves are used for data
transmission.
Router
It is a networking device that forward data packets between computer
network. It performs traffic directing function on the Internet.
i.e. Analyzing the packets (Web page, email etc)

Repeater
It is used to amplify signals when they are transported over a long
distance. It amplifies the incoming signal and retransmits it to other
device.
Hub
It is a used to connect several computers together. It forwards each
incoming packet (data) to all the hub ports. It acts as a centralized
connection to several computer. It can be active or passive.

Switch
It receives the incoming data packets and redirects them to the
destination computer. The main purpose of switch is to prevent the
traffic overloading in a network.

Gateway
It is a hardware device which is used to connect different networks. It
may be a router, firewall or server.

Network Topology and Types of Network

Network Topology
Network Topology refers to the physical or logical layout of a network
(i.e. computers, terminals, nodes etc). Topology is selected based on
cost, flexibility and reliability.
Bus Topology
The Bus topology uses a common single cable to connect all
computers/terminals. Its easy to connect and extend, involves a low
installation time, failure of single terminal will not effect the entire
network.

Star Topology
Star topology is based on a central node which acts a hum or server.
Nodes communicate across the network by passing data through
central hum easy to connect and extend. Single terminal failure will
not effect the entire network. where root acts as a server. we can easily
extend this network.

Mesh Topology
Each node is connected to all other nodes. It is also called point to
point network. High speed communication. It is suitable for small
network.

Ring or Circular Topology

In ring topology each node is connected to two and only two
neighboring nodes. The data travels in one direction only from node to
node around a network. Short cable length, suitable for small network.

Tree Topology
It combines the characteristics of the bus and star topology. Its basic
structure is like an inverted tree.
Types of Network
Local Area Network (LAN)
It is a network that connects computers in a limited geographical/area
such as schools, office buildings etc. A LAN is useful for sharing
resources like file, printer and communication we use Ethernet cables,
hubs etc to create a local area network.

Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)

It is a computer network that usually comes a large area than LAN. It
covers a large area (5 to 50 km). A MAM is typically owed and
operated by a single entity such as a government body or large
corporation.

Wide Area Network (WAN)

It is a computer network that covers a large geographical area such as
a city, country or continents. It combines many smaller networks. The
Internet is the largest WAN.

Personal Area Network (PAN)

It refers to small network of communication. It is a computer network
organized around an individual person like data sharing through WiFi
and Hotspot.

Network Protocols
A protocol is a set of rules that governs the communication between
computers on a network.
HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol)
HTTP is a set of rules for transferring hypertext (i.e. text, audio, video
and graphics) on WWW. HTTP defines how messages are formatted,
transmitted and what actions web servers and browsers should take in
response to various commands.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)

It is used for exchanging files across internet. FTP is used for upload
in a web page to a web server.

TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet

Protocol)
It is a communication protocol on the Internet. TCP splits the data into
several packets and assigns number to each packet and IP used
numeric IP addresses for moving data from source to destination.

Telnet (Remote Login)

Telnet is a protocol used for creating a connection with a remote
computer. Once our telnet client establishes a connection to the remote
host telnet client becomes a virtual terminal allowing us to
communicate with the remote host from our computer.

PPP (Point to Point Protocol)

Point to point protocol used to connect telephone dial-up lines to
Internet. The communication takes place through a high speed
modem.
The user needs to install a PPP drives at the time creating a dial up
connection.

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)

It is used to send electronic mail over the internet. It is based on E-
Mail address, E-mail Client like outlook uses SMTP to send messages
to the mail server.

VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol)

VOIP is a technology that enables voice communication over the
internet through the compression of voice into data packets that can be
efficiently transmitted over data network and then converted back into
voice at the other end.

Web Services
WWW
World Wide Web or simply web that combines web pages or other
resources. It is used to access any document on net through naming
system URL.

Website
It is a collection of web pages served from a web domain.
Web browser
It is a software application for retrieving, presenting and traversing
information resources on WWW.

Web Server
A web server is WWW server that respond to the request send by web
browser.

Web Hosting
Web Hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows
individuals and organization to make their website accessible via
www.

URL (Uniform Resource Locator)

It specifies the distinct address for each resource on the internet.

HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language)

It is a Markup Language for creating web pages. It defines the
structure and layout of a web document by using a Varity of tags and
attributes.

XML (Extensible Markup Language)

It is a markup language used to store and tranport data. We have to
create our own tags and attributes in XML.