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Basics of Computer Networking

Difficulty Level : Easy ● Last Updated : 20 Mar, 2023

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Computer networking is the practice of connecting computers together to enable

communication and data exchange between them.

Here are some basic concepts of computer networking:

Network: A network is a collection of computers and devices that are connected together to
enable communication and data exchange.

Nodes: Nodes are devices that are connected to a network. These can include computers,
servers, printers, routers, switches, and other devices.

Protocol: A protocol is a set of rules and standards that govern how data is transmitted over
a network. Examples of protocols include TCP/IP, HTTP, and FTP.
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Topology: Network topology refers to the physical and logical arrangement of nodes on a
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network. The common network topologies include bus, star, ring, mesh, and tree.
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LAN: A Local Area Network (LAN) is a network that covers a small area, such as an office or
a home. LANs are typically used to connect computers and other devices within a building or
a campus.

WAN: A Wide Area Network (WAN) is a network that covers a large geographic area, such
as a city, country, or even the entire world. WANs are used to connect LANs together and are
typically used for long-distance communication.

IP Address: An IP address is a unique numerical identifier that is assigned to every device on

a network. IP addresses are used to identify devices and enable communication between
them.

DNS: The Domain Name System (DNS) is a protocol that is used to translate human-
readable domain names (such as www.google.com) into IP addresses that computers can
understand.

Firewall: A firewall is a security device that is used to monitor and control incoming and
outgoing network traffic. Firewalls are used to protect networks from unauthorized access
and other security threats.

These are just a few basic concepts of computer networking. Networking is a vast and
complex field, and there are many more concepts and technologies involved in building and
maintaining networks.

Open system: A system that is connected to the network and is ready for communication.

Closed system: A system that is not connected to the network and can’t be communicated
with.

Computer Network: An interconnection of multiple devices, also known as hosts, that are
connected using multiple paths for the purpose of sending/receiving data or media.
Computer networks can also include multiple devices/mediums which help in the
communication between two different devices; these are known as Network devices and
include things such as routers, switches, hubs, and bridges.

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Network Topology: The layout arrangement of the different devices in a network. Common
examples include Bus, Star, Mesh, Ring, and Daisy chain.

OSI: OSI stands for Open Systems Interconnection. It is a reference model that specifies
standards for communications protocols and also the functionalities of each layer. The OSI
has been developed by the International Organization For Standardization and it is 7 layer
architecture. Each layer of OSI has different functions and each layer has to follow different
protocols.

The 7 layers are:-

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1. physical layer
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3. Network layer
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4. Transport layer
5. Session layer
6. Presentation layer
7. Application layer

Protocol: A protocol is a set of rules or algorithms which define the way how two entities
can communicate across the network and there exists different protocol defined at each layer
of the OSI model. Few of such protocols are TCP, IP, UDP, ARP, DHCP, FTP, and so on.

UNIQUE IDENTIFIERS OF NETWORK

Host name: Each device in the network is associated with a unique device name known as
Hostname.
Type “hostname” in the command prompt(Administrator Mode) and press ‘Enter’, this
displays the hostname of your machine.

IP Address (Internet Protocol address): Also known as the Logical Address, the IP Address
is the network address of the system across the network.
To identify each device in the world-wide-web, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
(IANA) assigns an IPV4 (Version 4) address as a unique identifier to each device on the
Internet.
The length of an IPv4 address is 32-bits, hence, we have 232 IP addresses available. The
length of an IPv6 address is 128-bits.
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Type “ipconfig” in the command prompt and press ‘Enter’, this gives us the IP address of the
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device.
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MAC Address (Media Access Control address): Also known as physical address, the MAC
Address is the unique identifier of each host and is associated with its NIC (Network
Interface Card).
A MAC address is assigned to the NIC at the time of manufacturing.
The length of the MAC address is : 12-nibble/ 6 bytes/ 48 bits
Type “ipconfig/all” in the command prompt and press ‘Enter’, this gives us the MAC address.

Port: A port can be referred to as a logical channel through which data can be sent/received
to an application. Any host may have multiple applications running, and each of these
applications is identified using the port number on which they are running.

A port number is a 16-bit integer, hence, we have 216 ports available which are categorized
as shown below:

Port Types Range

Well known Ports 0 – 1023

Registered Ports 1024 – 49151

Ephemeral Ports 49152 –

65535

Number of post: 65,536

Range: 0 – 65535
Type “netstat -a” in the command prompt and press ‘Enter’, this lists all the ports being
used.

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Socket: The unique combination of IP address and Port number together are termed as
Socket.

Other related concepts

DNS Server: DNS stands for Domain Name system. DNS is basically a server which
translates web addresses or URLs (ex: www.google.com) into their corresponding IP
addresses. We don’t have to remember all the IP addresses of each and every website. The
command ‘nslookup’ gives you the IP address of the domain you are looking for. This also
provides the information of our DNS Server. \

RP: ARP stands for Address Resolution Protocol.

It is used to convert an IP address to its corresponding physical address(i.e., MAC Address).
ARP is used by the Data Link Layer to identify the MAC address of the Receiver’s machine.

RARP: RARP stands for Reverse Address Resolution Protocol.

As the name suggests, it provides the IP address of the device given a physical address as
input. But RARP has become obsolete since the time DHCP has come into the picture.

This article is contributed by Kundana Thiyari. If you like GeeksforGeeks and would like to
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