Computer Network

A computer network is a group of computers linked to each other that

enables the computer to communicate with another computer and share
their resources, data, and applications.

Types of Computer Network

A computer network can be categorized by their size. A computer
network is mainly of three types:

 LAN(Local Area Network)

 PAN(Personal Area Network)
 MAN(Metropolitan Area Network)
 WAN(Wide Area Network)

LAN (Local Area Network)

 Local Area Network is a group of computers connected to each other in
a small area such as building, office.
 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.
 The data is transferred at an extremely faster rate in Local Area
Network.
 Local Area Network provides higher security.
MAN (Metropolitan Area Network)
 A metropolitan area network is a network that covers a larger
geographic area by interconnecting a different LAN to form a larger
network.
 Government agencies use MAN to connect to the citizens and private
industries.
 In MAN, various LANs are connected to each other through a telephone
exchange line.
 The most widely used protocols in MAN are RS-232, Frame Relay,
ATM, ISDN, OC-3, ADSL, etc.
 It has a higher range than Local Area Network (LAN).
Uses of Metropolitan Area Network:
 MAN is used in communication between the banks in a city.
 It can be used in an Airline Reservation.
 It can be used in a college within a city.
 It can also be used for communication in the military.

WAN (Wide Area Network)

 A Wide Area Network is a network that extends over a large
geographical area such as states or countries.
 A Wide Area Network is quite bigger network than the LAN.
 A Wide Area Network is not limited to a single location, but it spans
over a large geographical area through a telephone line, fibre optic
cable or satellite links.
 The internet is one of the biggest WAN in the world.
 A Wide Area Network is widely used in the field of Business,
government, and education.
Examples of Wide Area Network:
 Mobile Broadband: A 4G network is widely used across a region or
country.
 Last mile: A telecom company is used to provide the internet services
to the customers in hundreds of cities by connecting their home with
fiber.
 Private network: A bank provides a private network that connects
the 44 offices. This network is made by using the telephone leased line
provided by the telecom company.

Advantages of Wide Area Network:

Following are the advantages of the Wide Area Network:
 Geographical area: A Wide Area Network provides a large
geographical area. Suppose if the branch of our office is in a different
city then we can connect with them through WAN. The internet
provides a leased line through which we can connect with another
branch.
 Centralized data: In case of WAN network, data is centralized.
Therefore, we do not need to buy the emails, files or back up servers.
 Get updated files: Software companies work on the live server.
Therefore, the programmers get the updated files within seconds.
 Exchange messages: In a WAN network, messages are transmitted
fast. The web application like Facebook, WhatsApp, and Skype allows
you to communicate with friends.
 Sharing of software and resources: In WAN network, we can share
the software and other resources like a hard drive, RAM.
 Global business: We can do the business over the internet globally.
 High bandwidth: If we use the leased lines for our company then this
gives the high bandwidth. The high bandwidth increases the data
transfer rate which in turn increases the productivity of our company.

Disadvantages of Wide Area Network:

The following are the disadvantages of the Wide Area Network:
  Security issue: A WAN network has more security issues as
compared to LAN and MAN network as all the technologies are
combined together that creates the security problem.
 Needs Firewall & antivirus software: The data is transferred on the
internet which can be changed or hacked by the hackers, so the
firewall needs to be used. Some people can inject the virus in our
system so antivirus is needed to protect from such a virus.
 High Setup cost: An installation cost of the WAN network is high as it
involves the purchasing of routers, switches.
 Troubleshooting problems: It covers a large area so fixing the
problem is difficult.

NODE
Any system or device connected to a network is also called a node. For
example, if a network connects a file server, five computers, and two
printers, there are eight nodes on the network. Each device on the network
has a network address, such as a MAC address, which uniquely identifies
each device. This helps keep track of where data is being transferred to and
from on the network.

A node can also refer to a leaf, which is a folder or file on your hard disk. In
physics, a node, or nodal point, is a point of minimum displacement or where
multiple waves converge, creating a net amplitude of zero.

HOST
A host is a computer that is accessible over a network. It can be
a client, server, or any other type of computer. Each host has a unique
identifier called a hostname that allows other computers to access it.

Depending on the network protocol, a computer's hostname may be

a domain name, IP address, or simply a unique text string. For example, the
hostname of a computer on a local network might be Tech-Terms.local, while
an Internet hostname might be techterms.com. A host can access its own
data over a network protocol using the hostname "localhost."
W o r k s t a t i o n :
A workstation refers to an individual computer, or group of computers,
used by a single user to perform work.

For example, a "workstation" may be an average-powered computer

connected to a larger network. It can also refer to a powerful computer
intended for serious academic or professional computation.

Bandwidth
In computer networking, bandwidth refers to the measurement of data that
is transferred between two points within a set amount of time. Typically
expressed in bits, megabits, or gigabits per second, bandwidth is shared
among devices connected to the same network; this means activities like
streaming video content or downloading large files can use a large amount of
bandwidth and slow down connections for other devices on the network.
Bandwidth can also pertain to some data-transferring devices themselves, as
in the case of I/O devices. For example, a fast disk drive can be hampered
by a bus with a low bandwidth. This is the main reason why buses
like AGP were developed for the PC.

In telecommunications, bandwidth refers to the range that carries a signal

within a band of frequencies. This type of bandwidth is measured in Hertz
(Hz) and is calculated by finding the difference between the upper and lower
frequency limits of a signal. It is important to note that different types of
signals (music, voice, picture, etc.) require different bandwidths.

Client
A client is a program that runs on the local machine requesting service from
the server. A client program is a finite program means that the service
started by the user and terminates when the service is completed.
Server
A server is a program that runs on the remote machine providing services to
the clients. When the client requests for a service, then the server opens the
door for the incoming requests, but it never initiates the service.

A server program is an infinite program means that when it starts, it runs

infinitely unless the problem arises. The server waits for the incoming
requests from the clients. When the request arrives at the server, then it
responds to the request.

Advantages of Client-server networks:

 Centralized: Centralized back-up is possible in client-server networks,
i.e., all the data is stored in a server.
 Security: These networks are more secure as all the shared resources
are centrally administered.
 Performance: The use of the dedicated server increases the speed of
sharing resources. This increases the performance of the overall
system.
 Scalability: We can increase the number of clients and servers
separately, i.e., the new element can be added, or we can add a new
node in a network at any time.

Disadvantages of Client-Server network:

 Traffic Congestion is a big problem in Client/Server networks. When
a large number of clients send requests to the same server may cause
the problem of Traffic congestion.
 It does not have a robustness of a network, i.e., when the server is
down, then the client requests cannot be met.
 A client/server network is very decisive. Sometimes, regular computer
hardware does not serve a certain number of clients. In such
situations, specific hardware is required at the server side to complete
the work.
  Sometimes the resources exist in the server but may not exist in the
client. For example, If the application is web, then we cannot take the
print out directly on printers without taking out the print view window
on the web.

Communication Media
The Communication Medium plays an important role in Networks. If the
medium works well and properly, then the speed of transferring data is good
but if the medium is not working properly, then your data would be delayed
or would not be sent or even can be lost during transmission. In Computer
Networks, we call this speed of transmitting data, as DATA RATE.

There are two types of networks that you can set-up.

1. Wired Network
2. Wireless Network

WIRED NETWORK
The Wired network is mostly set-up using an Ethernet Cable. This can be
done using 3 technologies.

1) Twisted Pair Wires:

This technology was invented
by Alexander Graham Bell. These wires
are the oldest means of communication in
computer networking. For more than 100
years, the phone technology has used
these wires. Most of use these twisted
wires in our homes and offices. These are
the least expensive mode of
communication used in networks.

In this, there is a pair of 2 copper wire, each 1-2 mm thick, enrolled on

each other in a spiral pattern. These are used to avoid interference from the
nearby similar pairs. There are number of pairs bundled together in a cable
by wrapping the pairs in a protective shield. A pair consists of a single
communication link.

2) Coaxial Cables
Coaxial Cables same as twisted Wire cables consists of two copper wire. But
in this, the two wires are concentric to each other. Coaxial Cables has a wire
conductor in the centre , a circumferential outer conductor known as foil
shield, and an insulating medium called the dielectric separating these two
conductors. The outer conductor is protected in an outer jacket.
Coaxial Cables with this type of
formation and special
insulation and shielding, can
achieve high data transmission
rates. Coaxial cables are common
in cable television systems.

3) Fibre Optics
An optical fibre is a flexible, thin, transparent fibre made of high quality
glass or plastic, slightly thicker
than a human hair. Or you can
also say an optical fibre is a thin,
flexible medium that conducts
pulses of light, with each pulse
representing a bit of your
data. Fibre optics can generate
high Data Rates, so these are
used for long distance
communications that require
high speed and least data loss. Optical Fibres have no electromagnetic
interference and can process data at GB/sec of speed.

This quality has made them popular in long run data transfers.
In United Kingdom and United States Of America and many other countries,
most of them use fibre optics in distance telephone networks.
But as they are very expensive also. So use of Fibre optics in local
LAN, institutions, companies etc. is still not very popular. The joining of two
or optical fibre is still more complex than joining two electrical wire or
cables.

Wireless Network
Wireless network is a network set up by using radio signal frequency to
communicate among computers and other network devices. Sometimes it’s
also referred to as WiFi network or WLAN. This network is getting popular
nowadays due to easy to setup feature and no cabling involved. You can
connect computers anywhere in your home without the need for wires.

Here is simple explanation of how it works, let say you have 2 computers
each equipped with wireless adapter and you have set up wireless router.
When the computer send out the data, the binary data will be encoded to
radio frequency and transmitted via wireless router. The receiving computer
will then decode the signal back to binary data.

It doesn’t matter you are using broadband cable/DSL modem to access

internet, both ways will work with wireless network. If you heard
about wireless hotspot, that means that location is equipped with wireless
devices for you and others to join the network.

The two main components are wireless router or access

point and wireless clients.
If you have not set up any wired network, then just get a wireless router and
attach it to cable or DSL modem. You then set up wireless client by
adding wireless card to each computer and form a simple wireless network.
You can also cable connect computer directly to router if there are switch
ports available.