What actually is computer network ?
A collection of connecting computing devices which are connected in various ways in order to share and communicate resources.Generally, these connections between computer networks are made using cables and physical wires. In today’s time , there has been some wireless connections too with the help of infrared signals or radio waves.
Most important and common networking terms
Technically , devices which we connect to establish any network are termed either host or node. Like if we connect wifi broadband service to out laptop or any gadget, That particular device is considered as node or host. Key area which we should deal in a network is to make maximum utilizaton of bandwith. The speed at which data is transferred from one place to another place in any network is termed as Data transfer rate.
Two basic models of network setup
- Peer to Peer model
Its a simple network where each computer acts as a node with a connected network in which it does not have a central server because each node here acts a server. Thus each node connected in this model takes the equal work load and each working node behaves independently. Some of the peer to peer model examples includes file sharing like downloading , uploading etc.
- client server model
Two basic and important keywords to remember here is client and server , Client is someone who requests something from a network irrespective of whether he/she is dirrectly connected or not .On the other side , Server is where it takes the request from the client and gives back the response to client.
We have two main types of servers
- File server
This is where video, audio , images,documents or any type of files are stored in a computer and will be managed across multiple users on a network. File server serves the raw file to a network and uses the ftp protocol.It can be useful in a situation when any files wants to share to a huge number of users on a single network so that single user can access and modify those files as per their requirments.
- Web server
It is used to handle http requests where it serves web pages rather than the raw files like file server. Web server actual work is to respond to requests from a browser client for web pages. A dedicated computer is assigned to respond so that it handles all the http requests in single place. Unlike file server , Web server uses http protocol. For example , if we want to render or download any html web page we need to make use of web server file type instead of file server.
Network types
Generally types of networks are classified on the basis of location spread which were discussed below
LAN - Local area network
Network which we usually setup relatively in close areas like a building, any particular enterprise, a home, a private organization or any institution which can cover upto 100 sqm. This creates a dedicated network to only that particular area which makes users from outside of that area are denied to access that network.
To administer LAN’s , we have different categories termed as topologies which are Ring topology , Bus topology and Star topology. The word topology refers to the pattern or order of connnecting different nodes in any LAN network.
- Ring topology
This one connects all the nodes or hosts in a closed loop, like a circular structure where if node connection fails , data transfer has to establish from the last node because , one node is connected to another two nodes and another node is connected to two which are interlinked in a closed environment.
- Star topology
It provides a dedicated line to the server which we want to connect and request any data which is a most widely used topology in todays time. Switch / router is needed for any node / host to communicate with the server on a dedicate path. This star topology mostly used in every environments like big corporate organizations and a small house. Main key point to remember in star topology is to have knowledge about central node which takes care of data transfer to muliple nodes w.r.t the node where the request is coming from and where to send the response.
- Bus topology
This topology has a single big line where all the nodes / hosts are connected to that line. Unlike Star topology it does not have dedicated line to each device. So , Bus topology is less used in todays time as it is not safe because if the central big line fails to setup network , All the hosts/nodes which are connected to it will gets disconnected and does not establish any kind of network to them.
Ethernet is the best example which uses bus topology for local area network.
WAN - Wide area network
It usually defined as internet , Which connects multiple wide area networks across many locations like countries , continents etc. Here , Wide area network is established by connecting two or more local area networks over a large distance. All the required communications which happens between the LAN and other networks are generally done with the help of a node which served on LAN called as gateway.
MAN - Metropoliton area network
This network type stays right in the middle of LAN and WAN where It says, MAN is stronger than LAN and weaker than WAN. But technically , It is usefull in a places where we want to connect certain stations , towers etc in a specific town or city. This connection is done with the help of ISP for communicating with different nodes or hosts.
0 Comments