COMMUNICATION AND NETWORK CONCEPTS

Network
□ The collection of interconnected computers is
called a computer network.
□ Two computers are said to be interconnected if they
are capable of sharing and exchanging information.
Need
□ Resource Sharing
□ Reliability
□ Cost Factor
□ Communication Medium

Resource Sharing means to make all programs, data and peripherals available to anyone on the network
irrespective of the physical location of the resources and the user.
Reliability means to keep the copy of a file on two or more different machines, so if one of them is
unavailable (due to some hardware crash or any other) them its other copy can be used.
Cost factor means it greatly reduces the cost since the resources can be shared
Communication Medium means one can send messages and whatever the changes at one end are
done can be immediately noticed at another.

Evolution of Networking:

1. ARPANET:In 1969, The US govt. formed an agency named ARPANET (Advanced Research
Projects Agency NETwork) to connect computers at various universities and defense agencies. The
main objective of ARPANET was to develop a network that could continue to function efficiently even
in the event of a nuclear attack.

2. Internet (INTERconnection NETwork): The Internet is a worldwide network of computer

networks. It is not owned by anybody.

3. Interspace:InterSpace is a client/server software program that allows multiple users to

communicate online with real – time audio, video and text chat in dynamic 3D environments.

SWITCHING TECHNIQUES
Switching techniques are used for transmitting data across networks.
Different types are :

 Circuit Switching: In the circuit switching first the complete end to end transmission path between
source to destination computer is established and then message is transmitted through the path.
 The main advantage of this technique is guaranteed delivery of the message.
 Mostly used for voice communication.
 In circuit switched networks, a set of switches are connected by physical links. A connection
between two stations is a dedicated path made of one or more links.
 The dedicated path established between the sender and the receiver is maintained for entire
duration of conversation.
 This link or path is released only when data transmission between sender and receiver is over.
 In telephone systems circuit switching is used.

 The communication in a circuit switched network takes place in three phases:

1. Circuit establishment or setup phase.
2. Data transfer phase.
 3. Circuit disconnects or tears down phase.
Advantages of Circuit Switching
 The advantages of circuit switching are:
 1. The dedicated path/circuit established between sender and receiver provides a guaranteed data
rate.
 2. Once the circuit is established, data is transmitted without any delay as there is no waiting time
at each switch.
 3. Since a dedicated continuous transmission path is established, the method is suitable for long
continuous transmission.
Disadvantages of Circuit Switching
 The various disadvantages of circuit switching are:
 1. As the connection is dedicated it cannot be used to transmit any other data even if the channel is
free.
 2. It is inefficient in terms of utilization of system resources. As resources are allocated for the
entire duration of connection, these are not available to other connections.
 3. Dedicated channels require more bandwidth.
 4. Prior to actual data transfer, the time required to establish a physical link between the two
stations is too long.
1.

2. Message Switch:

In this switching method, no dedicated physical path is established in advance. Instead, it is based on a
technique called store and forward switching. When the source station has a message block to send, it is
stored in the first switching node. Each node in the network is an electronic switching device. Nodes are
equipped with enough buffers to hold the incoming message. As soon as a free channel is seized, the first
node sends a copy of the stored message to the next node on the path through the communication channel,
just seized. At each hop, the message is examined for errors. The message hops from one node to another
node until it reaches the destination. It uses store-and-forward
• A message is a logical unit of information and can be of any length.
In message switching, if a station wishes to send a message to another station, it first adds the destination
address to the message.
• Each message is treated as an independent unit.
• In message switching, each complete message is then transmitted from device to device through the
internetwork i.e. message is transmitted from the source node to intermediate node.
• The intermediate node stores the complete message temporarily, inspects it for errors and transmits the
message to the next node based on an available free channel and its routing information. Because of this
reason message switched networks are called store and forward network as shown in fig.
The actual path taken by the message to its destination is dynamic as the path is established as it travels
along.
• When the message reaches a node, the channel on which it came is released for use by another message.
The first electromechanical telecommunication system used message switching for telegrams. The message
was punched on paper tape off-line at the sending office and then read in and transmitted over a
communication line to the next office along the way, where it was punched out on paper tape. An operator
there tore the tape off and read it in on tape readers.

AdvantagesofMessageSwitching:

The various advantages of message switching are:

• Efficiency is improved by sharing a single channel by many messages.
• Source and destination stations are not simultaneously required to be ready. The network can store the
message in case the receiver is not ready.
• Message switching systems can transmit single message to several destinations; however, in circuit
switching this facility is not permitted.
• Message transfer is possible even when the transfer rates of the source and destinations differ circuit
switching does not support this feature.
• Storing or re-routing the message may be used to restore it from node or link failure occurring during data
transfer.
The primary drawback of message switching is that it is not suitable for real time or interactive traffic. It is
not suitable for voice transmission.
DisadvantagesofMessageSwitching:

The various disadvantages of message switching are:

1. As message length is unlimited, each switching node must have sufficient storage to buffer message.
2. Storing & forwarding facility introduces delay thus making message switching unsuitable for real time
applications like voice and video.
3.Package Switch:
 When the message block size is large, message switching suffers with long transmission delays.
 To overcome this problem, packet switching technique is used.
 Packet switching limits the length of the message to a fixed size.
 A long message in the message-switching scheme will be split into a sequence of fixed sized
packets.
 The size or length of a packet may be between 1000 to a few thousand bits.
 Hence, the transmission time is usually short. Apart from the data field, a packet also contains a
header and a trailer field. The header field consists of the source and destination addresses, and
sequence number of the packet. The trailer field consists of checksum that is used for error control.
 The packet switched networks allow any host to send data to any other host without reserving the
circuit. Multiple paths between a pair of sender and receiver may exist in a packet switched
network.
 One path is selected between source and destination. Whenever the sender has data to send, it
converts them into packets and forwards them to next computer or router. The router stores this
packet till the output line is free.
 this packet is transferred to next computer or router (called as hop).

Advantage of package switch:

 The main advantage of packet switching is the efficiency of the network.
 In circuit switching network, a reserved circuit cannot be used by others, till the sender and
receiver leave it. Even if no data is being sent on a reserved circuit, no one else can access the
circuit. This results in network bandwidth wastage. The packet switching reduces network
bandwidth wastage.
 The other advantage is that the packet switching is more faults tolerant. In case of circuit
switching, all the packets are lost if a router in the circuit is down as all the packets follow the
same route. But, in case of packet switching network, the packets can be routed over the
malfunctioning component of the network. This is because all the packets may follow a different
route to the destination.
DisadvantagesofPacketSwitching

The various disadvantage of Packet switching

1. Packets may be lost on their route, so sequence numbers are required to identify missing packets.
2. Switching nodes requires more processing power as the packet switching protocols are more complex.
3. Switching nodes for packet switching require large amount of RAM to handle large quantities of
packets.
4. A significant data transmission delay occurs – Use of store and forward method causes a significant
data transmission
Circuit switching is the most appropriate technique for continuous transmission of data between source
and destination. However, there are some drawbacks as listed below:

 Source and destination must be available at the time of data transfer.

 Nodes and links must be available in advance before the start of transmission and dedicated
 Until the data transfer is completed.

Comparison between the Various Circuit Message Packet

Switching Techniques: Criteria Switching Switching Switching
Path established in advance Yes No No
Store and forward technique No Yes Yes
Message follows multiple routes No Yes Yes
 DATA COMMUNICATION TERMINOLOGIES

1. Data channel :- The information / data carry from one end to another in the network by channel.

2. Baud & bits per second (bps) :- It’s used to measurement for the information carry of a
communication channel.
Measurement Units :-
bit 1 Byte= 8 bits
1 KBPS ( Kilo Byte Per Second)= 1024
Bytes 1 Kbps (kilobits Per Second) = 1024
bits
1 Mbps ( Mega bits Per Second )=1024 Kbps
Bandwidth :- It is amount of information transmitted or receives per unit time.

3. Transmission media:
 Transmission media is a communication channel that carries the information from the sender to the
receiver. Data is transmitted through the electromagnetic signals.
 The main functionality of the transmission media is to carry the information in the form of bits
through LAN(Local Area Network).
 It is a physical path between transmitter and receiver in data communication.
 In a copper-based network, the bits in the form of electrical signals.
 In a fibre based network, the bits in the form of light pulses.
 The electrical signals can be sent through the copper wire, fibre optics, atmosphere, water, and vacuum.
 Transmission media is of two types are wired media and wireless media. In wired media, medium
characteristics are more important whereas, in wireless media, signal characteristics are more important.
 Different transmission media have different properties such as bandwidth, delay, cost and ease of
installation and maintenance.

o Attenuation: Attenuation means the loss of energy, i.e., the strength of the signal decreases with
increasing the distance which causes the loss of energy.
o Distortion: Distortion occurs when there is a change in the shape of the signal. This type of
distortion is examined from different signals having different frequencies. Each frequency
component has its own propagation speed, so they reach at a different time which leads to the delay
distortion.
o Noise: When data is travelled over a transmission medium, some unwanted signal is added to it
which creates the noise.

Guided Transmission Media: It is defined as the physical medium through which the signals are
transmitted. It is also known as Bounded media.
  Twisted pair:

Twisted pair is a physical media made up of a pair of cables twisted with each other. A twisted pair cable
is cheap as compared to other transmission media. Installation of the twisted pair cable is easy, and it is a
lightweight cable. The frequency range for twisted pair cable is from 0 to 3.5KHz.

A twisted pair consists of two insulated copper wires arranged in a regular spiral pattern.

The degree of reduction in noise interference is determined by the number of turns per foot. Increasing the
number of turns per foot decreases noise interference.

 It consists of two identical 1 mm thick copper wires insulated and

twisted together. The twisted pair cables are twisted in order to
reduce crosstalk and electromagnetic induction.
Advantages:
(i) It is easy to install and maintain.
(ii) It is very inexpensive
Disadvantages:
(i) It is incapable to carry a signal over long distances without the use of repeaters.
(ii) Due to low bandwidth, these are unsuitable for broadband applications.

 Coaxial Cable:

o Coaxial cable is very commonly used transmission media, for example, TV wire is usually a
coaxial cable.
o The name of the cable is coaxial as it contains two conductors parallel to each other.
o It has a higher frequency as compared to Twisted pair cable.
o The inner conductor of the coaxial cable is made up of copper, and the outer conductor is made up
of copper mesh. The middle core is made up of non-conductive cover that separates the inner
conductor from the outer conductor.
 o The middle core is responsible for the data transferring whereas the copper mesh prevents from
the EMI(Electromagnetic interference).

Advantages:
(i) Data transmission rate is better than twisted pair cables.
(ii) It provides a cheap means of transporting multi-
channel television signals around metropolitan areas.
(iii) The data can be transmitted at high speed.
(iv) It has better shielding as compared to twisted pair cable.
(v) It provides higher bandwidth.

Disadvantages:

(i) Expensive than twisted pair cables.

(ii) Difficult to manage and reconfigure.
(iii) If any fault occurs in the cable causes the failure in the entire network.

o Fibre Optic
o Fibre optic cable is a cable that uses electrical signals for communication.
o Fibre optic is a cable that holds the optical fibres coated in plastic that are used to send the data by
pulses of light.
o The plastic coating protects the optical fibres from heat, cold, electromagnetic interference from
other types of wiring.
o Fibre optics provide faster data transmission than copper wires.

Diagrammatic representation of fibre optic cable:

Basic elements of Fiber optic cable:

o Core: The optical fiber consists of a narrow strand of glass or plastic known as a core. A core is a
light transmission area of the fiber. The more the area of the core, the more light will be transmitted
into the fiber.
 o Cladding: The concentric layer of glass is known as cladding. The main functionality of the
cladding is to provide the lower refractive index at the core interface as to cause the reflection
within the core so that the light waves are transmitted through the fibre.
o Jacket: The protective coating consisting of plastic is known as a jacket. The main purpose of a
jacket is to preserve the fibre strength, absorb shock and extra fibre protection.

Advantages:

(i) Greater Bandwidth: The fibre optic cable provides more bandwidth as compared copper.
Therefore, the fibre optic carries more data as compared to copper cable. Bandwidth is up to 10
Gbps.
(ii)
(iii) Faster speed: Fibre optic cable carries the data in the form of light. This allows the fibre optic
cable to carry the signals at a higher speed.
(iv) Longer distances: The fibre optic cable carries the data at a longer distance as compared to copper
cable.
(v)Better reliability: The fibre optic cable is more reliable than the copper cable as it is immune to any
temperature changes while it can cause obstruct in the connectivity of copper cable.
(vi) Thinner and Sturdier: Fibre optic cable is thinner and lighter in weight so it can withstand more
pull pressure than copper cable.

Disadvantages:
(i) Expensive as compared to other guided media.
(ii) Need special care while installation?

UnGuided Transmission Media:

1. Infrared
o An infrared transmission is a wireless technology used for communication over short ranges.
o The frequency of the infrared in the range from 300 GHz to 400 THz.
o It is used for short-range communication such as data transfer between two cell phones, TV remote
operation, data transfer between a computer and cell phone resides in the same closed area.

Characteristics Of Infrared:

o It supports high bandwidth, and hence the data rate will be very high.
o Infrared waves cannot penetrate the walls. Therefore, the infrared communication in one room
cannot be interrupted by the nearby rooms.
o An infrared communication provides better security with minimum interference.
o Infrared communication is unreliable outside the building because the sun rays will interfere with
the infrared waves.
 2. Radio waves
o Radio waves are the electromagnetic waves that are transmitted in all the directions of free space.
o Radio waves are omnidirectional, i.e., the signals are propagated in all the directions.
o The range in frequencies of radio waves is from 3Khz to 1 khz.
o In the case of radio waves, the sending and receiving antenna are not aligned, i.e., the wave sent by
the sending antenna can be received by any receiving antenna.
o An example of the radio wave is FM radio.

Applications Of Radio waves:

o A Radio wave is useful for multicasting when there is one sender and many receivers.
o An FM radio, television, cordless phones are examples of a radio wave.

Advantages Of Radio transmission:

o Radio transmission is mainly used for wide area networks and mobile cellular phones.
o Radio waves cover a large area, and they can penetrate the walls.
o Radio transmission provides a higher transmission rate.

Disadvantages:
(i) Radio wave communication is insecure communication.
(ii) Radio wave propagation is susceptible to weather effects like rains, thunder storms etc.

3. Microwave Wave: - The Microwave transmission is a line of sight transmission. Microwave

signals travel at a higher frequency than radio waves and are popularly used for transmitting
data over long distances.
 o Terrestrial Microwave transmission is a technology that transmits the focused beam of a radio
signal from one ground-based microwave transmission antenna to another.

Advantages:
(i) It is cheaper than laying cable or fiber.
(ii) It has the ability to communicate over oceans.
Disadvantages:
(i) Microwave communication is an insecure communication.
(ii) Signals from antenna may split up and transmitted in different way to different antenna which leads
to reduce to signal strength.
(iii) Microwave propagation is susceptible to weather effects like rains, thunder storms etc.
(iv) Bandwidth allocation is extremely limited in case of microwaves.

4. Satellite link: -
 The satellite transmission is also a kind of line of sight transmission that is used to
transmit signals throughout the world.
  A satellite is a physical object that revolves around the earth at a known height.
 Satellite communication is more reliable nowadays as it offers more flexibility than cable and
fibre optic systems.
 We can communicate with any point on the globe by using satellite communication.

How Does Satellite work?

 The satellite accepts the signal that is transmitted from the earth station, and it amplifies the
signal. The amplified signal is retransmitted to another earth station.

Advantages:
(i) Area covered is quite large.
(ii) No line of sight restrictions such as natural mountains, tall building, towers etc.
(iii) Earth station which receives the signals can be fixed position or relatively mobile.

Disadvantages:-
(i) Very expensive as compared to other transmission mediums. Satellite designing and development
requires more time and higher cost.
(ii) Installation is extremely complex.
(iii) Signals sent to the stations can be tampered by external interference.
(iv) The Satellite needs to be monitored and controlled on regular periods so that it remains in orbit.
(v)The life of the satellite is about 12-15 years. Due to this reason, another launch of the satellite has to
be planned before it becomes non-functional.

Network devices:
 1. Modem: A MODEM (MOdulator DEModulator) is an electronic device that enables a computer
to transmit data over telephone lines. There are two types of modems, namely, internal modem
and external modem.

o A modem is a hardware device that allows the computer to connect to the internet over the existing
telephone line.
o A modem is not integrated with the motherboard rather than it is installed on the PCI slot found on
the motherboard.
o It stands for Modulator/Demodulator. It converts the digital data into an analog signal over the
telephone lines.

Based on the differences in speed and transmission rate, a modem can be classified in the following
categories:

o Standard PC modem or Dial-up modem

o Cellular Modem
o Cable modem

2. RJ45 connector: -

 The RJ-45(Registered Jack) connectors are the plug-in devices used in the networking and
telecommunications applications. They are used primarily for connecting LANs, particularly
Ethernet.

3. Hub:
 A hub is a common connection point, also known as a network hub, which is used for
connection of devices in a network.
 It works as a central connection for all the devices that are connected through a hub.
 The hub has numerous ports. If a packet reaches at one port, it is able to see by all the
segments of the network due to a packet is copied to the other ports.
 A network hub has no routing tables or intelligence (unlike a network switch or router),
which is used to send information and broadcast all network data across each and every
connection.

 The network hubs were popular in the past time as they were cheaper as compared to a switch
or router.
 Nowadays, switches are much cheaper than a hub and provide a better solution for any
network.
 Furthermore, a hub is no IP address, as it is a dumb device.
 Types of Hub :
There are three types of the hub that are given below:

1. Passive Hub: Talking about passive hubs, it simply distributes the signal coming from the
previous ports. Passive hub neither regenerates any signal nor amplifies, therefore it does
not require electricity to work.
2. Active Hub : These hubs regenerate our signals as well as amplify the signal. Active hubs
need electricity to work.
3. Intelligence hub: This helps the administrator to monitor network traffic, and you can
configure each port on it individually, also known as a manageable hub.

4. Gateway:
 A gateway is a device that connects dissimilar networks.
 A gateway is essentially a system used to communicate between networks with different
protocols and are responsible for converting one protocol into another.
 The gateway is a computer device that's responsible for routing traffic from the primary
workstation to the outside network for every workplace form.

Difference between hub and switch

A table below contains the major difference between hub and switch:

Hub Switch

A hub works at the physical layer of the OSI model. A switch works at the data link layer of the OSI model.

A hub contains a single domain of collision. In switch, several ports include separate collision domains.

It performs frame flooding, which can be broadcast, It mainly performs broadcast, and also performs unicast and multicast
unicast, or multicast. when required.

In the hub, the transmission mode is In switch, the transmission mode is full-duplex.
Half-duplex

It uses electrical signal orbits. It uses frame & packet.

It does not support the Spanning-Tree protocol. It supports Multiple Spanning-Tree.

In the hub, mostly collisions occur in setup. In full-duplex switch does not occur collisions.
 It is a passive device. It is an active device.

A hub is not capable of storing MAC addresses. It uses accessible content memory, which can be accessed by
application-specific integrated chips (ASIC).

It is not an intelligent device. A switch is an intelligent device.

The speed of the hub network is up to The speed of switch is 10/100 Mbps, 1 Gbps, and 10
10 Mb per second. Gbps.

5. Repeater:
 A repeater is a network device that amplifies and restores signals for long distance transmission.
 Repeaters are network devices operating at physical layer of the OSI model that amplify or regenerate an
incoming signal before retransmitting it.
 They are incorporated in networks to expand its coverage area. They are also known as signal boosters.

Mbps stands for Megabits per second. MBps stands Megabytes per second. The two terms are similar, but
Mbps is used to specify Internet connection speeds, whereas MBps is used to specify how much of a file is
downloaded/uploaded per second.

Broadcast messages are sent to all stations in the network.

Whereas an unicast message is only sent to one station on the network.

Multicast messages are sent to a group of stations,

6. NIC/Ethernet card : Network Interface Card is also known as Network Interface Controller, Network

Adapter, Ethernet card, Connection card, and LAN (Local Area Network) Adapter.
o NIC stands for network interface card.
o NIC is a hardware component used to connect a computer with another computer onto a network
 o It can support a transfer rate of 10- 1000 M b/s.
o The MAC address or physical address is encoded on the network card chip which is assigned by
the IEEE to identify a network card uniquely. The MAC address is stored in the PROM
(Programmable read-only memory).

There are two types of NIC:

1. Wired NIC
2. Wireless NIC

Wired NIC: The Wired NIC is present inside the motherboard. Cables and connectors are used with
wired NIC to transfer data.

Wireless NIC: The wireless NIC contains the antenna to obtain the connection over the wireless
network. For example, laptop computer contains the wireless NIC.

7. Switch

 A switch is a hardware device that connects multiple devices on a computer network.

 A Switch contains more advanced features than Hub.

 The Switch contains the updated table that decides where the data is transmitted or not.

 Switch delivers the message to the correct destination based on the physical address present in the
incoming message.

 A Switch does not broadcast the message to the entire network like the Hub.

 It determines the device to whom the message is to be transmitted.

 Therefore, we can say that switch provides a direct connection between the source and
destination.

 It increases the speed of the network.

 8. Router
o A router is a hardware device which is used to connect a LAN with an internet connection. It is
used to receive, analyze and forward the incoming packets to another network.
o A router works in a Layer 3 (Network layer) of the OSI Reference model.
o A router forwards the packet based on the information available in the routing table.
o It determines the best path from the available paths for the transmission of the packet.

Advantages of Router:
o Security: The information which is transmitted to the network will traverse the entire cable, but the
only specified device which has been addressed can read the data.
o Reliability: If the server has stopped functioning, the network goes down, but no other networks
are affected that are served by the router.
o Performance: Router enhances the overall performance of the network. Suppose there are 24
workstations in a network generates a same amount of traffic. This increases the traffic load on the
network. Router splits the single network into two networks of 12 workstations each, reduces the
traffic load by half.
o Network range:
 Network topologies and types
Topology :
 Topology refers to the way in which the workstations attached to the network are
interconnected.
 The term Network Topology defines the geographic Physical or logical arrangement
of computer networking devices .
 The term Topology refers to the way in which the various nodes or computers of a network are linked
together.
 It describes the actual layout of the computer network hardware.
 Two or more devices connect to a link; two or more links form a topology. Topology determines the data
paths that may be used between any pair of devices of the network.

1. The BUS Topology: -

 The bus topology uses a common single cable to connect all the workstations
 . Each computer performs its task of sending messages without the help of the central server.
 However, only one workstation can transmit a message at a particular time in the bus topology.
 It is one of the simple forms of networking where a failure of a device does not affect the other devices.
 But failure of the shared communication line can make all other devices stop functioning.
 Both ends of the shared channel have line terminator. The data is sent in only one direction and as soon as it
reaches the extreme end, the terminator removes the data from the line.


Advantages:
(i) Easy to connect and install.
(ii) Involves a low cost of installation time.
(iii) Can be easily extended.

Disadvantages:-
(i) The entire network shuts down if there is a failure in the central cable.
(ii) Only a single message can travel at a particular time.
(iii) Difficult to troubleshoot an error.

2. The STAR Topology: -

 A STAR topology is based on a central node which acts as a hub, using a point-to-point connection
 A STAR topology is common in homes networks where all the computers connect to the single
central computer using it as a hub.
 If hub fails, connectivity of all hosts to all other hosts fails.
 Every communication between hosts, takes place through only the hub.

Advantages:
(i) Easy to troubleshoot
(ii) A single node failure does not affect the entire network.
(iii) Fault detection and removal of faulty parts is easier.
(iv) In case a workstation fails, the network is not affected.

Disadvantages:-
(i) Difficult to expand.
(ii) Longer cable is required.
(iii) The cost of the hub and the longer cables makes it expensive over others.
(iv) In case hub fails, the entire network fails.

3. Ring Topology
 In ring topology, each host machine connects to exactly two other machines, creating a circular network
structure.
 When one host tries to communicate or send message to a host which is not adjacent to it, the data travels
through all intermediate hosts.
 To connect one more host in the existing structure, the administrator may need only one more extra cable.
  Failure of any host results in failure of the whole ring.
 Thus, every connection in the ring is a point of failure. There are methods which employ one more backup
ring.

Advantages of Ring Topology

The advantages of Ring Topology are:

 They are very easy to troubleshoot because each device incorporates a repeater.
 A special internal feature called beaconing allows troubled workstations to identify themselves quickly.
 There is no master computer on controller. Every computer has equal chance to place the data and access the
token.
 There are no collisions.
 Data packets travel at greater speeds.
 It is easier to locate the problems with device and cable i.e. fault isolation is simplified. If one device does
not receive a signal within a specified time, it can issue an alarm. This alarm alerts the network operator to
the problem and its location.

Disadvantages of Ring Topology

 A ring network requires more cable than a bus network.

 A break in cable ring brings down entire network (in case of single ring).
 Adding or removing the node disturbs the network activity.
 In ring network, communication delay is directly proportional to the number of nodes in the network. Hence
addition of new nodes in the network also increases communication delay.
 It is considerably difficult to install and reconfigure ring Topology
 Media failure on unidirectional or single loop causes complete network failure.

4. Mesh Topology
In this type of topology, a host is connected to one or multiple hosts.This topology has hosts in point-to-point
connection with every other host or may also have hosts which are in point-to-point connection to few hosts only.
Hosts in Mesh topology also work as relay for other hosts which do not have direct point-to-point links. Mesh
technology comes into two types:

Full Mesh: All hosts have a point-to-point connection to every other host in the network. Thus for every new host
n(n-1)/2 connections are required. It provides the most reliable network structure among all network topologies.
Partially Mesh: Not all hosts have point-to-point connection to every other host. Hosts connect to each other in
some arbitrarily fashion. This topology exists where we need to provide reliability to some hosts out of all.

Advantages of Mesh Topology

1. It is robust as the failure of one node does not collapse the entire system. If one link fails, the entire
system continues to work.
2. There is no traffic congestion problem as dedicated links are being used.
3. Dedicated links ensure faster transmission without any delay.
4. Dedicated links also ensure data privacy and security.
5. Point to point links makes fault identification and isolation easier.
Disadvantages of Mesh Topology

1. Connecting each device to every other device in the network makes installation and reconfiguration
difficult.
2. It has high cabling cost as n (n-l)/2 links are required to connect n nodes.

5. The TREE Topology: -

 The tree topology combines the characteristics of the linear bus and the star topologies. It
consists of groups of star – configured workstations connected to a bus backbone cable.
Advantages:
(i) Eliminates network congestion.
(ii) The network can be easily extended.
(iii) Faulty nodes can easily be isolated from the rest of the network.
Disadvantages:
(i) Uses large cable length.
 (ii) Requires a large amount of hardware components and hence is expensive.
(iii) Installation and reconfiguration is very difficult.

Types of Networks:
Personal Area Network
1. A Personal Area Network (PAN) is smallest network which is very personal to a user.
2. This may include Bluetooth enabled devices or infra-red enabled devices.
3. PAN has connectivity range up to 10 meters.
4. PAN may include wireless computer keyboard and mouse, Bluetooth enabled headphones, wireless printers
and TV remotes.

For example, Piconet is Bluetooth-enabled Personal Area Network which may contain up to 8 devices connected
together in a master-slave fashion.
Local Area Network
 A computer network spanned inside a building and operated under single administrative system is generally
termed as Local Area Network (LAN). Usually,LAN covers an organization’ offices, schools, colleges or
universities.
 Number of systems connected in LAN may vary from as least as two to as much as 16 million.
 LAN provides a useful way of sharing the resources between end users.
 The resources such as printers, file servers, scanners, and internet are easily sharable among computers.

 LANs are composed of inexpensive networking and routing equipment.

 It may contain local servers serving file storage and other locally shared applications.
 It mostly operates on private IP addresses and does not involve heavy routing. LAN works under its own
local domain and controlled centrally.
  LAN uses either Ethernet or Token-ring technology. Ethernet is most widely employed LAN technology
and uses Star topology, while Token-ring is rarely seen.
 LAN can be wired,wireless, or in both forms at once.

Metropolitan Area Network

 The Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) generally expands throughout a city such as cable TV network. It
can be in the form of Ethernet,Token-ring, ATM, or Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI).
 Metro Ethernet is a service which is provided by ISPs. This service enables its users to expand their Local
Area Networks. For example, MAN can help an organization to connect all of its offices in a city.

 Backbone of MAN is high-capacity and high-speed fiber optics. MAN works in between Local Area
Network and Wide Area Network.
 MAN provides uplink for LANs to WANs or internet.

Wide Area Network:

 As the name suggests,the Wide Area Network (WAN) covers a wide area which may span across provinces
and even a whole country.
 Generally, telecommunication networks are Wide Area Network.
 These networks provide connectivity to MANs and LANs.
 Since they are equipped with very high speed backbone, WANs use very expensive network equipment.

 WAN may use advanced technologies such as Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Frame Relay, and
Synchronous Optical Network (SONET).
 WAN may be managed by multiple administration.
Comparison between LAN v/s WAN :

LAN WAN

It is spread over a small area It spraed over a very large area

Set up cost is less Set up cost is High
It is usually a single network It is usually a network of network

Network protocol

 A protocol means the rules that are applicable for a network.

 It defines the standardized format for data packets, techniques for detecting and correcting
errors and so on.
 A protocol is a formal description of message formats and the rules that two or more
machines must follow to exchange those messages.
 For interaction among these some rules are applied like how and when a device can send
and receive data how to send data packet and how to receive.
 E.g. communication between two students.

Types of protocols are:

1. HTTP
2. FTP
3. SMTP
4. TCP/IP
5. IMAP
6. SLIP/PPP
7. POP3
8. VoIP
9. TELNET

1. Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP):

a. It is a communications protocol for the transfer of information on the internet and the
World Wide Web.
b. HTTP is a request/response standard between a client and a server. A client is the end-
user; the server is the web site.
c. HTTP is used to transfer all the files and other data from one computer to another on
the world wide web
d. Client send request to the web server using HTTP protocol and server respond back to
client using HTTP
e. Client and server over web communication using HTTP protocol
2. FTP (File Transfer Protocol): (download and upload)
a. It is the simplest and most secure way to exchange files over the Internet. The
objectives of FTP are:
b. To promote sharing of files (computer programs and/or data).
c. To encourage indirect or implicit use of remote computers. “A remote computer is a computer that a
user has no access to physically, but may be able to access it remotely via a network link from another computer”
d. To shield a user from variations in file storage systems among different hosts.
e. To transfer data reliably, and efficiently.
f. It allows transferring of files from one system to another uploading file from local machine
to web server using FTP client.

3. TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol):

 TCP - is responsible for verifying the correct delivery of data from client to server.(in package
switching)
 Data can be lost in the intermediate network. TCP adds support to detect errors or lost data
and to trigger retransmission until the data is correctly and completely received.
 TCP is responsible for correct reassembling of data package.
 TCP is connection oriented protocol that is first the connection is established between sender
and the receiver.
 TCP divide large package into smaller data package called datagram.
 At the receiving end, it also reassemble the packet from original message.

IP - is responsible for moving packet of data from node to node. (Reach on same destination)
 IP forwards each packet based on a four byte destination address (the IP number).
 The Internet authorities assign ranges of numbers to different organizations.
 The organizations assign groups of their numbers to departments.
 IP operates on gateway machines that move data from department to organization to region
and then around the world.
4. PPP: It stands point to point protocol.
 It is communication protocol of the data link layer that is used to transmit multi-protocol data
between two directly connected point to point computers.
 It is byte oriented protocol that is widely used in broadband combination having heavy loads
and high speed.
5. SMTP : stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol.
 SMTP is a set of communication guideline that allows software to transmit an electronic mail
over the internet.
 It is program used for sending message to other computer users based on email address.

6. IMAP: stands for Internet Message Access Protocol(Mails are save over local server)
 a. It is standard protocol for accessing email from local server.
b. It is client server protocol in which E-Mail is received and held for the user by Internet
servers.
c. As this requires only a small data transfer, this works well over a slow connection such as
modem.
d. Only if a user request to read a specific message, then it will be downloaded from server.

7. POP3: stands for post office protocol version 3

 It is a client server protocol in which email is received and held for you by your internet
server(on behalf of user server will receive mail)
 Periodically, you check your mailbox on the server and download any email probably using
POP3.
 It also allows to download the received message on local machine using Outlook so that user
can read them even when they are not connected to the internet.
 The user chooses to leave copies of the mails on the server as well.
 The advantage is that once message are downloaded, the user can cut the internet connection
and read his/her Email offline also.

8. VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol.

a. It is a protocol that enables voice communication over the internet through the compression
of voice into the data package that can be efficiently transmitted over data network and then
convert back into voice at receiving end.
b. It uses package switching (store and forward).
c. It is an alternative to traditional telephone Network

9. Telnet(Remote login)- Telnet is an abbreviation for Terminal Network.

 Remote login is a network application that permits a user sitting at a different location to work
on a specific program on another computer
 The user needs ID of that computer generated by remote login application.
 It is done when both of the PCs are connected to the internet.
 The main software used for remote login are : Telnet,AnyDesk,TeamViewer.
 Telnet is an older internet utility that lets us log on to remote computer system.
 Through Telnet, an administrator or another user can access someone as computer remotely.
 On the web, HTTP and FTP protocol allow you to request specific files from remote computers
but not to actually be log on as a user of that computer.
 With Telnet, you logon as a regular user with whatever privileges you may have been granted to specific
application and data on that computer.

Wireless/Mobile Communication protocols

Wireless communication is simply data communication without the use of landlines. Mobile
computing means that the computing device is not continuously connected to the base or central
network.
1. GSM(Global System for Mobile communication):
 GSM stands for Global System for Mobile communications.
 GSM is one of the most widely used digital wireless telephony system. It was developed in Europe in 1980s and is now international standard
in Europe, Australia, Asia and Africa.
 Any GSM handset with a SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card can be used in any country that uses this standard.
 Every SIM card has a unique identification number.
 It has memory to store applications and data like phone numbers, processor to carry out its functions and software to send and receive
messages
 GSM technology uses TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) to support up to eight calls simultaneously. It also uses encryption to make the
data more secure.

2. CDMA(Code Division Multiple Access):

 CDMA stands for Code Division Multiple Access.
 It was first used by the British military during World War II. After the war its use spread to civilian areas due to high service quality.
 As each user gets the entire spectrum all the time, voice quality is very high.
 Also, it is automatically encrypted and hence provides high security against signal interception and eavesdropping.
 3. WLL(Wireless in Local Loop) :
 WLL stands for Wireless in Local Loop.
 It is a wireless local telephone service that can be provided in homes or offices.
 The subscribers connect to their local exchange instead of the central exchange wirelessly.
 Using wireless link eliminates last mile or first mile construction of network connection, thereby reducing cost and set up time.
 As data is transferred over very short range, it is more secure than wired networks.
 WLL system consists of user handsets and a base station.
 The base station is connected to the central exchange as well as an antenna.
 The antenna transmits to and receives calls from users through terrestrial microwave links.
 Each base station can support multiple handsets depending on its capacity.

4. GPRS
 GPRS stands for General Packet Radio Services.
 It is a packet based wireless communication technology that charges users based on the volume of data they send rather than the time duration
for which they are using the service.
 This is possible because GPRS sends data over the network in packets and its throughput depends on network traffic.
 As traffic increases, service quality may go down due to congestion,
 hence it is logical to charge the users as per data volume transmitted.
 GPRS is the mobile communication protocol used by second (2G) and third generation (3G) of mobile telephony.
 It pledges a speed of 56 kbps to 114 kbps, however the actual speed may vary depending on network load.

Mobile Communication Technologies

Since the introduction of first commercial mobile phone in 1983 by Motorola, mobile technology has come a long way. Be it technology, protocols,
services offered or speed, the changes in mobile telephony have been recorded as generation of mobile communication. Here we will discuss the basic
features of these generations that differentiate it from the previous generations.

1G Technology
1G refers to the first generation of wireless mobile communication where analog signals were used to transmit data. It was introduced in the US in early
1980s and designed exclusively for voice communication. Some characteristics of 1G communication are −

 Speeds up to 2.4 kbps

 Poor voice quality
 Large phones with limited battery life
 No data security

2G Technology
2G refers to the second generation of mobile telephony which used digital signals for the first time. It was launched in Finland in 1991 and used GSM
technology. Some prominent characteristics of 2G communication are −

 Data speeds up to 64 kbps

 Text and multimedia messaging possible
 Better quality than 1G

When GPRS technology was introduced, it enabled web browsing, e-mail services and fast upload/download speeds. 2G with GPRS is also referred as
2.5G, a step short of next mobile generation.

3G Technology
Third generation (3G) of mobile telephony began with the start of the new millennium and offered major advancement over previous generations. Some of
the characteristics of this generation are −

 Data speeds of 144 kbps to 2 Mbps

 High speed web browsing
 Running web based applications like video conferencing, multimedia e-mails, etc.
 Fast and easy transfer of audio and video files
 3D gaming

Every coin has two sides. Here are some downsides of 3G technology −

 Expensive mobile phones

 High infrastructure costs like licensing fees and mobile towers
 Trained personnel required for infrastructure set up

The intermediate generation, 3.5G grouped together dissimilar mobile telephony and data technologies and paved way for the next generation of mobile
communication.
 4G Technology
Keeping up the trend of a new mobile generation every decade, fourth generation (4G) of mobile communication was introduced in 2011. Its major
characteristics are −

 Speeds of 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps

 Mobile web access
 High definition mobile TV
 Cloud computing
 IP telephony

Network Security Concepts:

1. Viruses: Viruses are programs which replicate and attach to other programs in order to corrupt
the executable codes. Virus enters the computer system through an external source and become
destructive.
2. Worms: Worms are also self- replicating programs that do not create multiple copies of itself on
one computer but propagate through the computer network. Worms log on to computer systems
using the username and passwords and exploit the system.
3. Trojan horse: - Though it is a useful program, however, a cracker can use it to intrude the
computer system in order to exploit the resources. Such a program can also enter into the
computer through an e- mail or free programs downloaded through the Internet.
4. Spams: Unwanted e-mail (usually of a commercial nature sent out in bulk)
5. Cookies: Cookies are the text messages sent by a web server to the web browser primarily for
identifying the user.
6. Firewall: A firewall is used to control the traffic between computer networks. It intercepts the
packets between the computer networks and allows only authorized packets to pass.
7. Cyber Law: Cyber law refers to all the legal and regulatory aspects of Internet and the World
Wide Web.
8. Cyber Crimes: Cyber crime involves the usage of the computer system and the computer
network for criminal activity.
9. Hacking: Hacking is an unauthorized access to computer in order to exploit the resources.

Web Services(Internetworking Terminologies)

1. WWW:
 The World Wide Web or W3 or simply the Web is a collection of linked documents or
pages, stored on millions of computers and distributed across the Internet.
 The term WWW was coined by Tim Berners Lee
It is a set of protocol that allow you to access any document on the net through a naming
system called the URL(Uniform resources locators)
Attributes of WWW
 User friendly
 Multimedia documents.
 Hyperlinks and hyper text.
 Interactive
 Include Frames.
2. HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language):-
 HTML is a computer language that describes the structure and behavior of a web page.
This language is used to create web pages.
 The web content are written in special language called HTML.
 It tells the browser, how the data ,text, image, should be displayed.
 In HTML, we have predefined text.

3. XML (eXtensible Markup Language):-

 Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a meta language that helps to describe the
markup language.
 It is a language for defining structured information.
 In, XML we create our own tags.
 As the word extensible indicates, XML provides users with a tool to define their own language, especially to display documents on
the Internet.

4. DHTML: (Dynamic Hypertext Markup language)


Refer to the web content that changes each time it is reviewed (Time of the
day,Goegraphical location of user ,News ,share market)
5. HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol):-
 A protocol to transfer hypertext requests and information between servers and browsers.
 HTTP stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol. It is the most fundamental protocol used for transferring text, graphics, image,
video and other multimedia files on the World Wide Web.
 HTTP is an application layer protocol of the TCP/IP suite in client-server networking model and was outlined for the first time by
Time Berners-Lee, father of World Wide Web.
 HTTP is a request-response protocol. Here is how it functions −

i. Client submits request to HTTP.

ii. TCP connection is established with the server.
iii. After necessary processing server sends back status request as well as a message. The message may have the
requested content or an error message.
6. Domain Names:
 Domain name is a unique name given to a server to identify it on the World Wide Web. In the example request given earlier −

https://www.Demopoint.com/videotutorials/index.htm

 Demopoint.com is the domain name.

 Domain name has multiple parts called labels separated by dots.
 Let us discuss the labels of this domain name. The right most label .com is called top level domain (TLD).
 Other examples of TLDs include .net, .org, .co, .au, etc.
  The label left to the TLD, i.e. Demopoint, is the second level domain.
 In the above image, .co label in .co.uk is second level domain and .uk is the TLD.
 www is simply a label used to create the subdomain of Demopoint.com.
 Another label could be ftp to create the subdomain ftp.Demopoint.com.
 This logical tree structure of domain names, starting from top level domain to lower level domain names is called domain name
hierarchy. Root of the domain name hierarchy is nameless. The maximum length of complete domain name is 253 ASCII
characters.

7. URL
 URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator. URL refers to the location of a web resource on computer network and mechanism for retrieving
it. Let us continue with the above example −

https://www.Demopoint.com/videotutorials/index.htm

This complete string is a URL. Let’s discuss its parts −

 index.htm is the resource (web page in this case) that needs to be retrieved
 www.Demopoint.com is the server on which this page is located
 videotutorials is the folder on server where the resource is located
 www.Demopoint.com/videotutorials is the complete pathname of the resource
 https is the protocol to be used to retrieve the resource
 URL is displayed in the address bar of the web browser.

8. Webpage: A single page in website is called webpage.

9. Website: A collection of related web pages stored on a web server is known as a website.

10. Homepage: The first page is opened in a website is called as Home page

11. Web browser:

 A software application that enables to browse, search and collect information from
the Web is known as Web browser.
 A web browser is a WWW client that navigate through the world wide wed ang
display pages.

 Eg: Internet Explorer,Firefox,Google Chrome, Apple Safari,Opera


12. Web Servers:
 The web pages on the Internet are stored on the computers that are connected to the
Internet. These computers are known as web servers.
 Server responds to the request made by web browser.
13. Web Portal:
 It is website that hosts other websites.
 In other words a web portal has hyperlinks to many other websites.
 Eg yahoo.com , google.com ,indiatimes.com (we will get link of other website)

14. Web Hosting: -

 Web hosting is an Internet service that enables individuals, organizations or businesses to store web
pages that can be accessed on the Internet.
 Web hosting service providers have web servers on which they host web sites and their pages. They
also provide the technologies necessary for making a web page available upon client request, as
discussed in HTTP above.

15. Web Scripting: -

 Script is a set of instructions written using any programming language and interpreted (rather than compiled) by another
program. Embedding scripts within web pages to make them dynamic is called web scripting.

 As you know, web pages are created using HTML, stored on the server and then loaded into web browsers upon client’s
request.
 Earlier these web pages were static in nature, i.e. what was once created was the only version displayed to the users.
 However, modern users as well as website owners demand some interaction with the web pages.
 Examples of interaction includes validating online forms filled by users, showing messages after user has registered a choice, etc.
All this can be achieved by web scripting.

Web scripting is of two types −

 Client side scripting − Here the scripts embedded in a page are executed by the client computer itself using web browser. Most popular client
side scripting languages are JavaScript, VBScript, AJAX, etc.
 Server side scripting − Here scripts are run on the server. Web page requested by the client is generated and sent after the scripts are run.
Most popular server side scripting languages are PHP, Python, ASP .Net, etc.

16. Web 2.0:

 Web 2.0 is the second stage of development in World Wide Web where the emphasis is
on dynamic and user generated content rather than static content.
 As discussed above, World Wide Web initially supported creation and presentation of
static content using HTML. However, as the users evolved, demand for interactive
content grew and web scripting was used to add this dynamism to content.
 Examples of user generated content in Web 2.0 include social media websites,
virtual communities, live chats, etc. These have revolutionized the way we
experience and use the Internet.
 Features of web 2.0
 Makes web more interactive through online social media
 Supports online information exchange.
 Interoperability on the Internet.
 Video sharing is possible on the website.

OPEN SOURCE TERMINOLOGIES

■ Free Software: The S/W’s is freely accessible and can be freely used ,changed improved
copied and distributed by all and payments are needed to make for free S/W.
■ Open Source Software: S/w whose source code is available to the customer and it can be
modified and redistributed without any limitation .OSS may come free of cost but nominal
charges has to pay nominal charges (Support of S/W and development of S/W).
■ FLOSS (Free Libre and Open Source Software) : S/w which is free as well as open source
S/W. ( Free S/W + Open Source S/W).
■ GNU (GNU’s Not Unix) : GNU project emphasize on the freedom and its objective is to
create a system compatible to UNIX but not identical with it.
■ FSF (Free Software Foundation) : FSF is a non –profit organization created for the purpose
of the free s/w movement. Organization funded many s/w developers to write free software.
■ OSI (Open Source Initiative) : Open source software organization dedicated to cause of
promoting open source software it specified the criteria of OSS and its source code is not
freely available.
■ W3C(World Wide Web Consortium) : W3C is responsible for producing the software
standards for World Wide Web.
■ Proprietary Software: Proprietary Software is the s/w that is neither open nor freely
available, normally the source code of the Proprietary Software is not available but further
distribution and modification is possible by special permission by the supplier.
■ Freeware: Freeware are the software freely available , which permit redistribution but not
modification (and their source code is not available). Freeware is distributed in Binary Form
(ready to run) without any licensing fees.
■ Shareware: Software for which license fee is payable after some time limit, its source code
is not available and modification to the software are not allowed.
■ Localization: localization refers to the adaptation of language, content and design to reflect
local cultural sensitivities .e.g. Software Localization: where messages that a program
presents to the user need to be translated into various languages.
■ Internationalization: Opposite of localization.

OPEN SOURCE / FREE SOFTWARE

■ Linux : Linux is a famous computer operating system . popular Linux server set of
program –
LAMP(Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP)
■ Mozilla : Mozilla is a free internet software that includes
  a web browser
 an email client
 an HTML editor
 IRC client
■ Apache server: Apache web server is an open source web server available for many
platforms such as BSD, Linux, and Microsoft Windows etc.

 Apache Web server is maintained by open community of developers of Apache software

foundation.
■ MYSQL : MYSQL is one of the most popular open source database system. Features of
MYSQl :
 Multithreading
 Multi –User
 SQl Relational Database Server
 Works in many different platform
■ PostgreSQL : Postgres SQL is a free software object relational database server .
PostgresSQL can be downloaded from www.postgressql.org.
■ Pango : Pango project is to provide an open source framework for the layout and rendering
of internationalized text into GTK + GNOME environment.Pango using Unicode for all of its
encoding ,and will eventually support output in all the worlds major languages.
■ OpenOffice : OpenOffice is an office applications suite. It is intended to compatible and
directly complete with Microsoft office.
OOo Version 1.1 includes:
 Writer (word processor)
 Calc(spreadsheet)
 Draw(graphics program)etc
■ Tomcat : Tomcat functions as a servlet container. Tomcat implements the servlet and
the JavaServer Pages .Tomcat comes with the jasper compiler that complies JSPs into
servlets.
■ PHP(Hypertext Preprocessor) : PHP is a widely used open source programming language
for server side application and developing web content.
■ Python: Python is an interactive programming language originally as scripting language for
Amoeba OS capable of making system calls.

Tips to solve Questions based on Networking

1. Where Server should be placed: Server should be placed in the building where the number
of computers is maximum.

2. Suggest a suitable cable layout of connection: A suitable cable layout can be suggested in
the following two ways:-
(i) On the Basis of Server: First the location of the Server is found out. Server is placed in that
building where the number of computers are maximum (According to 80 – 20 rule). After finding the
server position, each building distance is compared with the Server building directly or indirectly
(taking other building in between). The shortest distance is counted whether it is through directly or
indirectly.
(ii) On the Basis of Distance from each building: The distance between the each building is compared
to all other buildings either directly or indirectly. The shortest distance is counted whether it is directly
or through some other building.

3. Where the following devices be placed:

(i) MODEM:-
(ii) HUB / SWITCH:- In all the wings
(iii) BRIDGE:
(iv) REPEATER: It is used if the distances higher than 70 m. It regenerates data and voice signals.
(v) ROUTER: When one LAN will be connected to the other LAN.
 4 Marks Questions (Communication and Network Concepts)
1. Knowledge Supplement Organisation has set up its new center at Mangalore for its office and web
based activities. It has 4 blocks of buildings as shown in the diagram below:

Center to center distances between various blocks

Block A to Block B 50 m
Block B to Block C 150 m
Block C to Block D 25 m
Block A to Block D 170 m
Block B to Block D 125 m
Block A to Block C 90 m

Number of Computers
Black A 25
Block B 50
Block C 125
Block D 10
 Suggest a cable layout of connections between the blocks.
 Suggest the most suitable place (i.e. block) to house the server of organisation with a suitable
reason.
 Suggest the placement of the following devices with justification
 Repeater
 Hub/Switch
 The organization is planning to link its front office situated in the city in a hilly region where cable
connection is not feasible, suggest an economic way to connect it with reasonably high speed?
2. Ravya Industries has set up its new center at Kaka Nagar for its office and web based
activities. The company compound has 4 buildings as shown in the diagram below:
Center to center distances between various buildings is as follows:
Harsh Building to Raj Building 50 m
Raz Building to Fazz Building 60 m
Fazz Building to Jazz Building 25 m
Jazz Building to Harsh Building 170 m
Harsh Building to Fazz Building 125 m
Raj Building to Jazz Building 90 m
Number of Computers in each of the buildings is follows:
Harsh Building 15
Raj Building 150
Fazz Building 15
Jazz Bulding 25
e1) Suggest a cable layout of connections between the buildings.
e2) Suggest the most suitable place (i.e. building) to house the server of this organisation with a suitable
reason.
e3) Suggest the placement of the following devices with justification:
(i) Internet Connecting Device/Modem
(ii) Switch
e4) The organisation is planning to link its sale counter situated in various parts of the same city, which
type of network out of LAN, MAN or WAN will be formed? Justify your answer.

3. “China Middleton Fashion” is planning to expand their network in India, starting with two cities
in India to provide infrastructure for distribution of their product. The company has planned to set
up their main office units in Chennai at three locations and have named their offices as “Production
Unit”, “Finance Unit” and “Media Unit”. The company has its corporate unit in New Delhi.
A rough layout of the same is as follows:

Approximate distances between these Units is as follows:

From To Distance
Production Unit Finance Unit 70 Mtr
Production Unit Media Unit 15 KM
Production Unit Corporate Unit 2112 KM
Finance Unit Media Unit 15 KM
In continuation of the above, the company experts have planned to install the following number of
computers in each of their office units:
 Production Unit 150
Finance Unit 35
Media Unit 10
Corporate Unit 30
i) Suggest the kind of network required (out of LAN,MAN,WAN) for connecting each of the following
office units:
• Production Unit and Media Unit
• Production Unit and Finance Unit
ii) Which one of the following devices will you suggest for connecting all the computers within each of
their office units?
• Switch/Hub
• Modem
• Telephone
iii) Which of the following communication media, will you suggest to be procured by the company for
connecting their local offices in Chennai for very effective (High Speed) communication?
• Ethernet cable
• Optical fiber
• Telephone cable
(iv) Suggest a cable/wiring layout for connecting the company’s local office units located in Chennai.
Also, suggest an effective method/technology for connecting the company’s office unit located in Delhi.

Answers: 4 Marks (Communication and Network Concepts)

1. (e1) (Any of the following
option) Layout Option 1

Layout Option 2

(e2) The most suitable place / block to house the server of this organisation would be Block C, as this
block contains the maximum number of computers, thus decreasing the cabling cost for most of the
computers as well as increasing the efficiency of the maximum computers in the network.
(e3) (i) For Layout 1, since the cabling distance between Blocks A and C, and that between B and C are
quite large, so a repeater each, would ideally be needed along their path to avoid loss of signals during
the course of data flow in these routes. For layout 2, since the distance between Blocks A and C is large
so a
repeater would ideally be placed in between this path.
(ii) In both the layouts, a hub/switch each would be needed in all the blocks, to interconnect the group
of cables from the different computers in each block.
(e4) The most economic way to connect it with a reasonable high speed would be to use radio wave
transmission, as they are easy to install, can travel long distances, and penetrate buildings easily, so they
are widely used for communication, both indoors and outdoors. Radio waves also have the advantage of
being omni directional, which is they can travel in all the directions from the source, so that the
transmitter and receiver do not have to be carefully aligned physically.

2. (e1) Any one layout

Layout option1
Layout option 2

(e2) The most suitable place / block to house the server of this organisation would be Raj Building, as
this block contains the maximum number of computers, thus decreasing the cabling cost for most of the
computers as well as increasing the efficiency of the maximum computers in the network.
(e3)(i) Raj Building
(ii) In both the layouts, a hub/switch each would be needed in all the buildings, to interconnect the
group of cables from the different computers in each block e4) MAN, because MAN (Metropolitan
Area Networks) are the networks that link computer facilities within a city.
3. (i)(a) Production Unit and Media Unit
:MAN (b)Production Unit and Finance
Unit:LAN
(ii) Switch/Hub
(iii) Optical fiber
(iv) Optical Fiber/Star Topology Wireless/Satellite Link/Leased Line
 1 and 2 Marks Questions
Q(1) What do you mean by a computer network?
Ans:- Computer network is an interconnection of autonomous computers connected together using
transmission media.
Q(2) What is the need for networking the computers?
Ans:- 1. Sharing of Information, 2. Reliability, 3. Reduces cost
4. Time saving
Q(3) What is the full form of ARPANET?
Ans:- Advanced Research Projects Agency
Network Q(4) What are various data
transmission modes?
Ans:- There are three modes of data transmission
 Simplex
 Half-duplex
 Full-duplex
Q(5) What is the difference between Simplex and half duplex transmission?
Ans:- In simples transmission mode, the data can be transferred in only one direction where as in half
duplex transmission mode, the data can be transmitted in both directions but one at a time.
Q(6) What do you mean by MODEM?
Ans:- MODEM stands for MODulatorDEModuator. It is a device that can convert an analog signal into
digital signal and vice versa.
Q(7) Define the terms Bandwidth.
Ans:- Bandwidth is the range of frequencies that is available for the transmission of data. Wider the
bandwidth of a communication channel, the more data it can transmit in a given period of time.
Q(8) What are various types of transmission media?
Ans:- There are two broad categories of transmission media
 Guided media
 Unguided Media
Q(9) Explain in brief the advantages and disadvantages of Twisted pair
Cable. Ans:- Advantages
 Inexpensive
 Often available in existing phone system
 Well tested and east to
get Disadvantages
 Susceptible to noise (sound, energy etc.)
 Not as durable as coaxial cable
 Does not support high speed
Q(10) What do you mean by communication protocol?
Ans:- A protocol is a set of rules to enable computers to connect with one another and to exchange
information with minimum possible error.
Q(11) List various functions of Communication protocol.
Ans:- Data sequencing, Data Formatting, Flow control, Error Control,Connection Establishment and
termination,Data Security
Q(12) List commonly used protocols.
Ans:- HTTP, TCT/IP, FTP, SLIP, PPP, SMTP, POP, ICMP
Q(13) What are the main functions of TCP
Ans:- The TCP does the following
activities
 It breaks the data into packets that the network
 Verifies that all the packets arrived at the destination
 Reassembles the data
Q(14) What do you mean by network topology?
Ans:- Topology is how the nodes/computers are interconnected together.
Q(15) List various types of Networks.
Ans:- LAN, MAN, WAN
Q(16) Give names of various networking topologies in LAN.
Ans:- 1.Star Topology, 2.Ring topology, 3.Bus topology 4.Mesh
Topology Q(17) Write two advantages and two disadvantages of STAR topology.
Ans:- Advantages of STAR topology
 It is easy to modify and add new computers to a star network without disturbing the rest of
the network.
 Troubleshooting a star topology network is
easy Disadvantages
 All the nodes are dependent on the central system. Hub. Failure of hub result in shutting
down of whole of the system
 Long cable length is
required Q(18) What is NFS?
Ans:- NFS stands for Network File System. NFS is a protocol that allows a set of computers to access
each others files.

HIGHER ORDER THINKING QUESTIONS

What is protocol? How many types of protocols are there?

Ans. When computers communicate each other, there needs to be a common set of rules and
instructions that each computer follows. A specific set of communication rules is called a protocol.
Some protocol: PPP, HTTP, SLIP, FTP, TCP/IP

What is the difference between Networking and Remote Networking?

Ans. The main difference between Networking and Remote Networking, is the network which we
use in offices or other places locally such LAN or INTERNET and remote networking is one which we
use TERMINAL Services to communicate with the remote users such WAN.
 What is point-to-point protocol?
Ans. A communication protocol used to connect computer to remote networking services include
Internet Service Providers. In networking, the Point-to-Point protocol is commonly used to establish a
direct connection between two nodes. Its primary use has been to connect computers using a phone line.
How gateway is different from router?
Ans. A gateway operates at the upper levels of the OSI model and translates information between
two completely different network architectures. Routers allow different networks to communicate with
each other. They forward packets from one network to another based on network layer information. A
gateway can interpret and translate the different protocols that are used on two distinct networks. Unlike
routers that successfully connect networks with protocols that are similar, a gateway perform an
application layer conversion of information from one protocol stack to another.
What is the role of network administrator?
Ans. Basic tasks for which a network administrator may be responsible:
 Setting up and configuring network hardware and software.
 Installing and configuring network media and connections.
 Connecting user nodes and peripherals of all kinds to the network.
 Adding users to and removing users from the network.
 Managing user account.
 Ensuring the security of the network.
 Provide training to the users to utilize the network’s resources.
What is the difference between baseband and broadband transmission?
Ans. Baseband is a bi-directional transmission while broadband is a unidirectional transmission.
No Frequency division multiplexing possible in base band but possible in broadband.
SNo Baseband Broadband
1 Entire bandwidth of the cable is consumed broadband transmission, signals are sent on
by a signal multiple frequencies, allowing multiple
signals to be sent simultaneously.
2 Digital signals Analog signals
3 bi-directional transmission unidirectional transmission
4 No Frequency division multiplexing possible Frequency division multiplexing possible
5 Uses for short distance Uses for long distance

What are the difference between domain and workgroup?

Ans.
SNo Domain Workgroup
1. One or more computers are servers All Computers are peers.
2. If you have a user account on the domain, you Each computer has a set of accounts.
can logon to any computer on the domain.
3. There can be 100+ computers Typically not more then 20-30 computers
4. The computers can be on different local All computers must be on the same local
network netork.
 What is the differences between POP3 and IMAP Mail Server?
Ans. IMAP is a standard protocol for accessing e-mail from a local server. A simpler e-mail protocol is
Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3), which download mail to the computer and does not maintain the mail on
the server. IMAP, e-mails are stored on the server, while in POP3, the messages are transferred to the
client’s computer when they are read.

Name different layer of the ISO OSI Model.

Ans. International Standard Orrganisation – Open Systems Interconnection has seven layers;
Physical Layer,Data Link Layer,Network Layer,Transport Layer,Session Layer,Presentation
Layer Application Layer

What is client server architecture?

Ans. To designated a particular node which is well known and fixed address, to provide a service to the
network as a whole. The node providing the service is known as the server and the nodes that use that
services are called clients of that server. This type of network is called Client-Server Architecture.

What is FDM? Give example.

Ans. FDM-Frequency Division Multiplexing is used in analog transmission. It is often used in short
distance. It is code transparent and any terminal of the same speed can use the same sub-channel after
the sub-channel is established. The best example if FDM is the way we receive various stations in a
radio.

Describe the following in brief:

i) MOSAIC ii) USENET iii) WAIS
Ans. i) MOSAIC: is the program for cruising the internet. The National centre wrote this program for
Super Computer application at the university of Illinois. It has a simple window interface, which creates
useful hypertext links that automatically perform some of the menu bar and button functions.
ii) USENET: is the way to meet people and share information. Usenet newsgroup is a special group set
up by people who want to share common interests ranging from current topic to cultural heritages.
iii) WAIS: is a WIDE AREA INFORMATION SERVER.

**********************
Abbreviations:
1. HTML
2. XML
3. GNU’s
4. FTP
5. FSF
6. GSM
7. WIFI
8. CDMA
9. HTTP
10. ARPANET
11. MODEM
12. WLL
13. TCP/IP
14. PPP
15. WWW
16. URL
17. GPRS
18. VoIP
19. SMTP
20. POP
21. TELNET
22. 4G
23. ASP
24. JSP
25. VB
26. PHP
27.