Introduction to

networks
01.

Network types
Personal Area A Personal Area Network (PAN) is smallest
network which is very personal to a user.

Network This may include Bluetooth enabled devices or

infra-red enabled devices. PAN has connectivity
range up to 10 meters. 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 A computer network spanned inside a building and operated under
single administrative system is generally termed as Local Area

Network
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.
Virtual Local A VLAN is a LAN where the isolation at layer 2 is handled by
software/firmware rather than physically. This means that some

Area Network
switches can be segmented into separate networks with some
systems on one network segment (VLAN) and some systems on
another network segment (VLAN). To get from one VLAN to
another, the traffic would have to cross over a layer 3 boundary
(router). This sort of segregation helps to maintain network
performance. It also helps with logical organization of the net-work
so the same set of traffic policies can be applied across the entire
VLAN. Finally, there are some security considerations. With a
VLAN, you can place a firewall between your network segments.
While you can run host-based firewalls, it’s far easier to maintain a
single network firewall and restrict traffic based on the needs of
each network to cross the layer 3 boundary.
Virtual LAN is a solution to divide a single Broadcast domain into
multiple Broadcast domains. Host in one VLAN cannot speak to a
host in another.
Metropolitan Area
A WAN is a network whose nodes are more than 10 or so
miles apart. A Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) is a type of
network that spans a metropolitan area, such as a city or a

Network (WAN)
large campus. It is larger than a Local Area Network (LAN)
but smaller than a Wide Area Network (WAN). MANs are
designed to provide high-speed connectivity across multiple
locations within a city or metropolitan area.
Wide Area A WAN is a network whose nodes are more than 10 or so miles
apart. Any Internet service provider would have a WAN.

Network (WAN)
Additionally, businesses may have WANs where they have network
connections that provide links between their different office
locations. There are a number of ways to provide that sort of
connectivity between geographically dispersed locations, including
virtual private networks, private network circuits, or just tunneling
traffic without encrypting it as a virtual private network would do.
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.
Isolation
Network isolation is an important concept. It’s a widely recognized
approach to separating network elements in order to protect
sensitive data. Additionally, it would be used to separate externally
accessible systems from those that are strictly internal. There are
several ways to achieve this isolation. A common approach is to
use a demilitarized zone (DMZ). This is a network segment where
any untrusted system would be placed. Access to this network
segment could be tightly controlled using a firewall or access
control lists. The DMZ may hold systems like the web server, for
example. It may also hold an email gateway to filter messages
coming in before sending them on to the internal email server.
There are many uses for a DMZ to isolate untrusted systems from
the remainder of the network. Firewalls and/or access control lists
prevent people from the outside getting access to internal systems.
It also prevents any system inside the DMZ from communicating
with systems inside the enterprise
Internet
A network of networks is called an internetwork, or simply the internet. It is
the
largest network in existence on this planet. The internet hugely connects all
WANs and it can have connection to LANs and Home networks. Internet
uses TCP/IP protocol suite and uses IP as its addressing protocol. Present
day, Internet is widely implemented using IPv4. Because of shortage of
address spaces, it is gradually migrating from IPv4 to IPv6. Internet enables
its users to share and access enormous amount of information worldwide. It
uses WWW, FTP, email services, audio, and video streaming etc. At huge
level, internet works on Client-Server model. Internet uses very high speed
backbone of fiber optics. To inter-connect various continents, fibers are laid
under sea known to us as submarine communication cable. Internet is widely
deployed on World Wide Web services using HTML linked pages and is
accessible by client software known as Web Browsers. When a user requests
a page using some web browser located on some Web Server anywhere in
the world, the Web Server responds with the proper HTML page. The
communication delay is very low.
Types of
communication
Unicast Multicast Broadcast

• One-to-one transmission from one • Multicast is group communication • Broadcasting is a method of

point in the network to another where data transmission is transferring a message to all
point; that is, one sender and one addressed to a group of destination recipients simultaneously.
receiver, each identified by a computers simultaneously. Broadcasting can be performed as a
network address. Multicast can be one-to-many or high-level operation in a program or
many-to-many distribution. it may be a low-level operation.
02.

Network topologies
Point-to-point Point-to-point networks contains exactly
two hosts such as computer, switches,
routers, or servers connected back to back
using a single piece of cable. Often, the
receiving end of one host is connected to
sending end of the other and vice versa. If
the hosts are connected point-to-point
logically, then may have multiple
intermediate devices. But the end hosts are
unaware of underlying network and see
each other as if they are connected directly.
Bus Topology In case of Bus topology, all devices share single
communication line or cable. Bus
topology may have problem while multiple hosts sending
data at the same time.
Therefore, Bus topology either uses CSMA/CD
technology or recognizes one host as Bus Master to solve
the issue. 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.
Star Topology All hosts in Star topology are connected to a central device,
known as hub device, using a point-to-point connection. That is,
there exists a point to point connection between hosts and hub.
The hub device can be any of the following:
- Layer-1 device such as hub or repeater
- Layer-2 device such as switch or bridge
- Layer-3 device such as router or gateway

As in Bus topology, hub acts as single point of failure. If hub

fails, connectivity of all
hosts to all other hosts fails. Every communication between hosts
takes place through only the hub. Star topology is not expensive
as to connect one more host, only one cable is required and
configuration is simple.
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
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 with 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.
Tree Topology Also known as Hierarchical Topology, this is the most common
form of network topology in use presently. This topology imitates
as extended Star topology and inherits properties of Bus topology.
This topology divides the network into multiple levels/layers of
network. Mainly in LANs, a network is bifurcated into three types
of network devices. The lowermost is access-layer where
computers are attached. The middle layer is known as distribution
layer, which works as mediator between upper layer and lower
layer. The highest layer is known as core layer, and is central point
of the network, i.e. root of the tree from which all nodes fork. All
neighboring hosts have point-to-point connection between them.
Similar to the Bus topology, if the root goes down, then the entire
network suffers even though it is not the single point of failure.
Every connection serves as point of failure, failing of which divides
the network into unreachable segment
Daisy Chain This topology connects all the hosts in
a linear fashion. Similar to Ring
topology, all hosts are connected to
two hosts only, except the end hosts.
Means, if the end hosts in daisy chain
are connected then it represents Ring
topology. Each link in daisy chain
topology represents single point of
failure. Every link failure splits the
network into two segments. Every
intermediate host works as relay for
its immediate hosts.
Hybrid Topology A network structure whose design contains more
than one topology is said to be hybrid topology.
Hybrid topology inherits merits and demerits of all
the incorporating Topologies. The combining
topologies may contain attributes of Star, Ring,
Bus, and Daisy-chain topologies. Most WANs are
connected by means of Dual-Ring topology and
networks connected to them are mostly Star
topology networks. Internet is the best example of
largest Hybrid topology
04.

OSI & TCP/IP models

OSI Model The Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model
describes seven layers that computer systems use to
communicate over a network. It was the first standard
model for network communications, adopted by all
major computer and telecommunication companies in
the early 1980s
The modern Internet is not based on OSI, but on the
simpler TCP/IP model. However, the OSI 7-layer
model is still widely used, as it helps visualize and
communicate how networks operate, and helps isolate
and troubleshoot networking problems.
 The physical layer is responsible for the physical
cable or wireless connection between network

OSI:
nodes. It defines the connector, the electrical cable
or wireless technology connecting the devices, and
is responsible for transmission of the raw data,

The physical layer which is simply a series of 0s and 1s, while taking
care of bit rate control.

(Layer 1)
OSI:
The data link layer establishes and terminates a

The data link layer connection between two physically-connected

nodes on a network. It breaks up packets into

(Layer 2) frames and sends them from source to destination.

This layer is composed of two parts—Logical
Link Control (LLC), which identifies network
protocols, performs error checking and
synchronizes frames, and Media Access Control
(MAC) which uses MAC addresses to connect
devices and define permissions to transmit and
receive data.
 The network layer has two main functions. One is
breaking up segments into network packets, and

OSI:
reassembling the packets on the receiving end.
The other is routing packets by discovering the
best path across a physical network. The network

The network layer layer uses network addresses (typically Internet

Protocol addresses) to route packets to a
destination node.

(Layer 3)
 Transport layer is responsible for end-to-end communication
between the two devices. This includes taking data from the
session layer and breaking it up into chunks called segments

OSI: before sending it to layer 3. The transport layer on the

receiving device is responsible for reassembling the
segments into data the session layer can consume.

The transport layer The transport layer is also responsible for flow control and
error control. The transport layer performs error control on
the receiving end by ensuring that the data received is

(Layer 4)
complete, and requesting a retransmission if it isn’t.
Transport layer protocols include the Transmission Control
Protocol (TCP) and the User Datagram Protocol (UDP).
 This is the layer responsible for opening and closing
communication between the two devices. The time between when
the communication is opened and closed is known as the session.

OSI:
The session layer ensures that the session stays open long enough
to transfer all the data being exchanged, and then promptly closes
the session in order to avoid wasting resources.

The session layer The session layer also synchronizes data transfer with checkpoints.
For example, if a 100 megabyte file is being transferred, the session
layer could set a checkpoint every 5 megabytes. In the case of a

(Layer 5)
disconnect or a crash after 52 megabytes have been transferred, the
session could be resumed from the last checkpoint, meaning only
50 more megabytes of data need to be transferred. Without the
checkpoints, the entire transfer would have to begin again from
scratch.
 This layer is primarily responsible for preparing data so that it can
be used by the application layer; in other words, layer 6 makes the
data presentable for applications to consume. The presentation

OSI:
layer is responsible for translation, encryption, and compression of
data.
Two communicating devices communicating may be using
different encoding methods, so layer 6 is responsible for translating

The presentation incoming data into a syntax that the application layer of the
receiving device can understand.
If the devices are communicating over an encrypted connection,

layer (Layer 6)
layer 6 is responsible for adding the encryption on the sender’s end
as well as decoding the encryption on the receiver's end so that it
can present the application layer with unencrypted, readable data.
 This is the only layer that directly interacts with data from
the user. Software applications like web browsers and email
clients rely on the application layer to initiate

OSI: communications. But it should be made clear that client

software applications are not part of the application layer;
rather the application layer is responsible for the protocols

The application and data manipulation that the software relies on to present
meaningful data to the user.

layer (Layer 7)
Application layer protocols include HTTP as well as SMTP
(Simple Mail Transfer Protocol is one of the protocols that
enables email communications).
TCP/IP Model TCP/IP was designed and developed by the
Department of Defense (DoD) in the 1960s and is
based on standard protocols. It stands for Transmission
Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. The TCP/IP model
is a concise version of the OSI model. It contains four
layers, unlike the seven layers in the OSI model.

The number of layers is sometimes referred to as five

or four. The Physical Layer and Data Link Layer are
referred to as one single layer as the ‘Physical Layer’
or ‘Network Interface Layer’ in the 4-layer reference.
03.

Switches & routers

Hub – Layer 1 A hub is a simple network device that splits and
repeats the signal it receives. It operates at the
physical layer (Layer 1), as it simply repeats the
electric signal without processing it whatsoever.
Hubs often lead to high widthband load in
networks and collisions.
Additionally, hubs have no security controls and
easily lead to Man-in-the-Middle attacks.
Switch – Layer 2 A switch is networking hardware that connects
devices on a computer network by using packet
switching to receive and forward data to the
destination device. Unlike hubs, switches operate
on the Data Link layer (second layer of the OSI
model). Switches use CAM tables to map MAC
addresses to IP addresses & send packets only to
their intended destination (unicast). Switches use
many protocols, such as Stackwise, EtherChannel
and so on
Router – Layer 3
Routers are network devices that forward data
packets between computer networks. Routers
operate at the Network layer (Layer 3). Routers
handle routing between network, using protocols
for static and dynamic routing protocols. Routers
can also use rudimentary access control lists for
filtering incoming and outgoing traffic, although
that is usually handled by firewalls.
Additionally, routers can often be extended with
modules with additional ports, and can also utilize
Console and Serial ports.
Ethernet Generations
- Ethernet was first standardized in the early 1980s as IEEE 802.3, initially supporting data rates of 10 Mbps.
- Fast Ethernet: Introduced in the mid-1990s, Fast Ethernet operates at 100 Mbps and remains compatible with the original
10 Mbps Ethernet. It uses twisted pair copper cables and supports full-duplex communication.
- Gigabit Ethernet: Introduced in the late 1990s, Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) operates at 1000 Mbps (1 Gbps) and provides a
significant increase in network speed. It can use both copper and fiber optic cables.
- 10-Gigabit Ethernet: Introduced in the early 2000s, 10-Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) operates at 10,000 Mbps (10 Gbps). It
is commonly used in data centers, high-performance computing, and backbone networks.
- Higher Speeds: Ethernet has continued to evolve, with subsequent generations supporting even higher speeds, such as
40-Gigabit Ethernet (40GbE), 100-Gigabit Ethernet (100GbE), 400-Gigabit Ethernet (400GbE), and beyond. These higher
speeds often rely on fiber optic cables.
Giga-Ethernet
After being introduced in 1995, Fast-Ethernet
retained its high speed status only for three
years till Giga-Ethernet introduced. Giga-
Ethernet provides speed up to 1000
mbits/seconds. IEEE802.3ab standardizes
Giga-Ethernet over UTP using Cat-5, Cat-5e
and Cat-6 cables. IEEE802.3ah defines Giga-
Ethernet over Fiber.
05.

Ethernet cables
Types of cables
- Ethernet Cables: The most commonly used type of network cabling is Ethernet cables. The two main
categories of Ethernet cables are:
- Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP): UTP cables are widely used for Ethernet networks. They consist of
twisted pairs of copper wires and are available in various categories such as Cat5e, Cat6, Cat6a, and
Cat7, each offering different levels of performance.
- Shielded Twisted Pair (STP): STP cables are similar to UTP cables but have additional shielding to
provide better protection against electromagnetic interference.
- Fiber Optic Cables: Fiber optic cables use thin strands of glass or plastic to transmit data using light
signals. They offer high data transfer rates, longer transmission distances, and better resistance to
interference. Fiber optic cables are commonly used in high-speed networks, data centers, and long-
distance communications.
 There are 2 main types of
ethernet cables: Crossover and
Straight-through
Crossover
An Ethernet crossover cable is a crossover cable
for Ethernet used to connect computing devices
together directly. It is most often used to connect
two devices of the same type, e.g. two computers
(via their network interface controllers) or two
switches to each other.

Intentionally crossed wiring in the crossover cable

connects the transmit signals at one end to the
receive signals at the other end.
Straight-through
By contrast, straight-through cable is used to
connect two devices of different types, such as a
computer and a switch.
Unlike in crossover cables, the wiring isn’t
crossed in straight-through cables.
Many network devices today support auto MDI-X
(aka "auto crossover") capability, wherein a
straight-through cable can be used in place of a
crossover cable, or vice versa, and the receive and
transmit signals are reconfigured automatically
within the device to yield a working connection.
06.

IP addressing
Ipv4 = 32 bits
Binary = 0 and 1
192.168.1.1
11000000.10101000.00000001.00000001
1.Class A:
1. Range: 1.0.0.0 to 126.0.0.0
2. Subnet Mask: 255.0.0.0 (/8 prefix)
3. Number of Networks: 128 (2^7)
4. Number of Hosts per Network: Approximately 16,777,214 (2^24 - 2)
2.Class B:
1. Range: 128.0.0.0 to 191.255.0.0
2. Subnet Mask: 255.255.0.0 (/16 prefix)
3. Number of Networks: 16,384 (2^14)
4. Number of Hosts per Network: Approximately 65,534 (2^16 - 2)
3.Class C:
1. Range: 192.0.0.0 to 223.255.255.0
2. Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0 (/24 prefix)
3. Number of Networks: 2,097,152 (2^21)
4. Number of Hosts per Network: Approximately 254 (2^8 - 2)
4.Class D (Multicast addresses):
1. Range: 224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255
2. Class D addresses are used for multicast traffic, and they are not divided into networks or hosts in the
traditional sense.
5.Class E (Experimental addresses):
1. Range: 240.0.0.0 to 255.255.255.255
2. Class E addresses are reserved for experimental purposes, and they are not divided into networks or
hosts.
1) Private vs public ip addresses
 Assigning IPv4 Addresses

• 1.Manually
• 2.DHCP (dynamic host configuration protocol)
• 3.APIPA (autimatic private ip addressing) (169.254.51.* 255.255.0.0)
Hide Zero numbers

2001:0050:0000:0000:0000:0aB4:1E2B:98AA

2001:0050::0aB4:1E2B:98AA

2001: 50:: aB4:1E2B:98AA

İpv6 unicast. Multicast, anycast

DHCP: FF02::1:2

Global 3 bit start with 2000:: 48 bit + 16 subnet + 64 host

interface ID

Link-local: FE80

FFFE – apipa

Site-Local – private ip : FEC0::

 Ports
There are 65,536 ports numbered from 0 to 65535.

Ports 0 through 1023 are called the well-known ports and are assigned to commonly used services,

1024 through 49151 are called the registered ports.

Anything from 49152 to 65535 is free to be used by application vendors. (Dynamic ports)
• 1.Network address translation
• 2.Port address translation