CHAPTER ONE

NETWORKING
FUNDAMENTALS

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 Outline

Introduction
Networking fundamentals
Network Types
Network components
Network Operating Systems

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 Introduction

Computers are now found in every walk of life:

in the office, in the school, in the home, and so
on.
In today’s world it is important to know what
networks are and how they can help us.
As the computer network industry grows in
both size and complexity, the need for proven
ability is becoming more important.
To address this need, the first step is to
understand the basic concepts, as presented in
this module.

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 What is a computer network?

A computer network is a group of computers

and associated peripheral devices connected
by a communication channel capable of
sharing files and other resources among
several users.
Personal computers are powerful tools that
can process and manipulate large amounts
of data quickly.

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Connecting of computers with each other and
other peripheral devices known as Network.
The concept of connected computers sharing
resources is called networking.

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Benefits of Network Computing

Networks
increase efficiency and
reduce costs.
Computer networks achieve these goals in
four primary ways:-
Sharing Information (or Data)
Sharing Hardware(Peripheral Devices)
Sharing Programs/Software
Centralized Administration And Support
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More specifically, computers that are part
of a network can share:
Documents (memos, spreadsheets)
E-mail messages.
Word-processing software.
Illustrations, photographs, videos, and
audio files.
Live audio and video broadcasts.
Printers.
Fax machines.
Modems.
CD-ROM drives and other removable
drives,
Hard drives.
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Sharing Programs/Software
Application (software) sharing occurs when
several users at different locations run
application programs that are installed
centrally in one location.
Ex: DB, application server.

Sharing programs on a network :-

 Saves disk space
 Reduces maintenance
 Reduce licensing cost

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Sharing Hardware
1 - Peripheral devices
Computer networks enable us to share
expensive hardware resource among several
computers.
Example:- Printer
2 - Central Disk storage
Network system provide the possibility of
using a dedicated file server to store all data
in one location.
Example: Thin client
Advantage: Data backuping in case of system failure

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3 - Sharing Information/data
Users in a certain network environment
have the ability to share data /information
across the network.
Data sharing enables different users to work
on a certain file concurrently/at same time.
Few examples of data sharing are:
- Database
- Intranet ( by making use of FTP)

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 Network Types
Network can be grouped in three major
categories depending on the geographical
scope they cover.

1- Local Area Network (LAN)

LAN refers to networks that have small
geographical coverage usually within a
building or a campus.
LANs are found in most organizations,
businesses, government offices, educational
institutions, and in home computing
environment.
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2- Wide Area Network (WAN)
Wide area networks are networks that cover
very large geographical area such as a
country or the whole world.
Examples:-
- telephone networks operated by most long
distance telephone companies.
- Large companies having offices scattered
around the world use WAN to connect their
computers.
WAN usually use combination of several types
of communication media such as cables,
satellites, microwaves, and fiber-optics.
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3- Metropolitan Area Network (MAN):
•It is a network that transmits data and info.
over citywide distance.

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 Network components
The Network Interface Card
Network interface cards (NICs) provide the
interface between cables, and computers.
The cards are installed in an expansion slot in
each computer and server on the network.

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The role of the NIC is :-

It makes the physical connection to the

cable.
Generates the electrical signals that travel
over the cable.
The translation of the computer's parallel
signals into serial signals that can travel
on the network's cables is accomplished by
transceiver (transmitter/receiver).

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NIC, Bus, and Cable Compatibility

To ensure compatibility between the computer

and the network, the NIC must:
- Fit with the computer's internal
structure
(data bus architecture).
- Have the right type of cable connector
for the
cabling.

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Connection Hardware
Twisted-pair cabling uses RJ-45 telephone
connectors to connect to a computer.
Coaxial cable uses BNC conector.

Distribution racks and rack shelves

Distribution racks and rack shelves can
create more room for cables where there
isn't much floor space. Using them is
a good way to organize a network that has
a lot of connections.

Expandable patch panels:

These come in various versions with a
transmission speeds of up to 100 Mbps. 1717
Jack couplers: These single or double RJ-45 jacks
snap into patch panels and wall plates and support
data rates of up to 100 Mbps.
Wall plates: These support two or more couplers.

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Modem
A modem is a device that makes it possible
for computers to communicate over a
telephone line.

Modem Converting Digital Signal into Analog and Analog back to Digital.
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 Network Operating Systems

Operating System Definition

In simple terms, an operating system is a
manager of all devices in a computer.
It manages all the available resources on a
computer.
A computer system can be divided roughly
into four parts:-
- The Hardware
- The Operating System
- Utilities and Tools
- Application Programs
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Hardware
- Central Processing Unit(s) (CPU)
- Memory
- Random Access Memory
- Bulk Memory
- Input/Output Devices

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Application Programs & Utilities
- Compilers
- Text editor
- Graphics
- Database system
- Games
Users
- People
- Other Applications
- Other Computers

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Main GOALS of an OS:-
To make the computer system convenient to
use
The OS is to hide the internal complexity of
the hardware
The OS is to provide some tools (APIs) so that
a user/programmer can exploit the services of
the hardware
To use the computer hardware in an efficient
manner
The OS controls different resources of the
hardware so that users can utilize them to the
maximum
Resources can be utilized in a fair and
efficient manner 2323
Network Operating Systems
Designed to include networking protocol at the
lower level.
Optimized for resource sharing.
Multitasking, concurrency.

Server operating system

They run on servers, which are very large
personal computers, workstations, or even
mainframes.
They serve multiple users at once over a network
and allow the users to share HW and SW
resources.
Eg. Server can provide print service, file
service, or web service.
Typical server operating systems are UNIX,
Window 2003, Linux 2525
 Chapter Two
Data Communication

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 Outline
Introduction
Fundamentals of Data Communication
Data/Signal transmission
Switching
Network topology

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 Introduction
Data communication is the process of transmitting and
receiving data in an orderly way.
When the data travels a short distance, the communication
is referred to as local communications.
When the data travels a long distance, the communication
is referred to as telecommunications.

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Five components of data communication
 Data Communication Signals

Data can be analog or digital.

Analog data are continuous and take
continuous values.
Digital data have discrete states and
take discrete values.

Therefore there are two types of

Communication Signals. These are:-
- Analog Signal and
- Digital Signal
 Analog signal
Analog signals can have an infinite number of values
in a range;

• Frequency is the number of times per second that the

wave cycle repeats or oscillates.

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The unit used to measure the frequency is Hertz
which means cycles/second.
The unit can be expanded by adding prefixes as
follows.
1kilohertz = 1000 Cycles/Second
1 Megahertz = 1000,000 Cycles/Second
1Gigahertz = 1000,000,000 Cycles/Second

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 Digital signal
A signal which is discrete / completely separate /
finite with respect to time is called digital signal.
Such signal can be modeled using binary number
system as shown in the figure below.

Digital signal

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The unit can be expanded by adding prefixes as
follows:-
1KiloBPS = 1 KBPS =1000 BPS
1 MegaBPS = 1 MBPS=1000,000 BPS
1GigaBPS = 1 GBPS=1000,000,000 BPS

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Bandwidth Capacity

BANDWIDTH is the transmission capacity of a

communication channel.
It is measured in terms of megabits per second.
Note:
The bandwidth of analog signal is measured in HERTZ.
The bandwidth of digital signals is usually measured in bits
per second (BPS).

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 Data/ Signal Transmission

There are two types of signal transmission:-

A) Baseband transmission
B) Broadband transmission
Base Band Transmission
Commonly used transmission technique in the LAN
environment
This technique allocates the entire bandwidth to a
single channel.
It is best suited for LAN.
Only supports digital signaling.

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Broadband Transmission

It divides the available bandwidth into multiple

channels.
There are many channels available for
transmission.
Simultaneous transmissions can occur without
collisions.
Broadband transmission can transfer large
quantities of information at a time.
 It is not limited to handling only digital
transmission but also can support analog traffic.
Making it capable of handling traditional voice and
video signals simultaneously with data.
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 Packet Switching versus Circuit
Switching
What is switching?
Simply put, it describes how data finds a path from
its source to its destination.
1 – Circuit Switching
A ``dedicated'' circuit is set up for each connection.
The communicating parties use this fixed circuit
during the conversation.
Once the communication is finished, the circuit can
be released for other uses.

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Advantages:
Fixed bandwidth, guaranteed capacity (no
congestion)
Low varians in end-to-end delay (delay is almost
constant)
Disadvantages:
Connection set-up and termination introduces
extra overhead (thus initial delay)
User pay for circuit, even when not sending data
Other users can't use the circuit even if it is free of
traffic
statistics show that during a typical phone
conversation:-
- 64-73% of the time one speaker talking3939
2 - Packet Switching
Packet switching refers to protocols in which
messages are broken up into small packets before
they are sent.
Each packet is transmitted individually across the net.
Packets may even follow different routes to the
destination.
Thus, each packet has a header information about
the source, destination, packet numbering, etc.
Packet Switching is more efficient and robust for data
that can withstand or be resistant to delays in
transmission.
example:- e-mail messages and
Web pages.
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4141
 NETWORK TOPOLOGY
Introduction
Generally, there are two types of topologies:
Physical and Logical.
The physical topology of a network refers to the
layout of cables, computers and other peripherals.
It describes the layout of the network.
Logical topology is the method used to pass the
information between the computers.
It describes how the data is sent across the network.

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The most common types of standard physical
topologies, which we are going to see, are:-
Bus, Star, Ring and Mesh.
1- Bus topology
With the Bus topology, all workstations are
connected directly to the main backbone that
carries the data.
Traffic generated by any computer will travel
across the backbone and received by all
workstations.
This works well in a small network of 2-5
computers.
As the no of computers increases,
performance will be degraded.(Available
bandwidth decreases) 4343
The following are list of factors affect the
performance of a network:
- No of computers
- Types of cable used on the network
- Distances between computers on the network
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Signal Bounce: packet travels from one end of
the cable to the other.
Terminator: To stop the signal from bouncing, a
component called a terminator is placed at each end
of the cable to absorb free signals.

Terminators absorb free signals

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Network Expansion
Cable in the bus topology can be extended by one of
the following methods:
1- Barrel connector can connect two pieces of
cable together to make a longer piece of cable.
2- Repeater can be used to connect two cables.

 Advantages of Bus Topology

Connecting a computer or peripheral to a linear bus is
easy.
This topology requires least amount of cabling .
It is easy to extend a bus since two cables can be
joined into longer cable with a connector. 4646
Disadvantages of Bus Topology
Entire network shuts down if there is a failure on the
backbone.
Heavy traffic can slow down a bus because
computers on such networks do not coordinate with
each other to reserve time to transmit.

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 2- Star Topology
It is one of the most common network topologies found in most
offices and home networks.

•Cable segments from each computer are connected to a

centralized component called a hub.
•Signals are transmitted from the sending computer through the
hub to all computers on the network.
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Advantages of Star Topology
•Star topology is easy to install and wire.
•The network is not disrupted even if a node fails or is
removed from the network.
•Fault detection and removal of faulty parts is easier in
star topology.
Disadvantages of Star Topology
•It requires a longer length of cable.
•If the hub fails, nodes attached to it are disabled.
•The cost of the hub makes the network expensive as
compared to bus and ring topology.

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 3- Ring Topology
Computers are connected on a single circle of
cable.
The signals travel around the loop in one
direction and pass through each computer.
Each computer acts as a repeater.

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Token Passing
One method of transmitting data around a ring is
called token passing.
A token is a special series of bits that travels around
a token-ring network.
Advantage of Ring Topology
Ring topology is easy to install and reconfigure.
Every computer is given equal access to the ring.
Hence, no single computer can monopolize/
dominate selfishly the network.
Disadvantages of Ring Topology
Failure in any cable or node breaks the loop and can
take down the entire network.
Maximum ring length and number of nodes are
limited. 5151
 4- Mesh Topology
In a mesh topology, each computer is connected to
every other computer by separate cabling.
A fully connected mesh network has n(n-1)/2 physical
links to link n devices.

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Advantages of Mesh Topology
The use of large number of links eliminates network
congestion.
If one link becomes unusable, it does not disable
the entire system.

Disadvantages of Mesh Topology

The amount of required cabling is very large.
As every node is connected to the other,
installation and reconfiguration is very difficult.
The amount of hardware required in this type of
topology can make it expensive to implement.

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 5- Hybrid Topology

With the hybrid topology, two or more standard

topologies are combined to form a complete network.
Star - bus

A hybrid topology: a star backbone with three bus networks

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Star-Ring

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 6- Other Types of Practically Used Hybrid
Topologies
Hybrid-Tree Physical Topology

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Clustered Star Topology

•Hierarchical Star Topology

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THANK YOU!!!

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