• Networking

 A group of computer’s and other

devices connected in a way, so as to be
able to exchange data and share the
resources like printer, scanner etc.
• Benefits of Networking :-
 Computer network is very useful in modern
environment. Some of the benefits of networks are :-

 File Sharing :- Networking of computers help the user to share

data file.

 Hardware Sharing :- User can share devices such as printer,

scanner, hard drive etc.

 Application Sharing :- Application can shared over the

network and their allows implementation of client/server
applications.
 User Communication :- This allows user to
communicate using e-mail, news groups, video
conferencing within the networking.

 Access to remote database :- This allows users to

access remote database, i,e. Airline reservation
database may be access for ticket booking.
• Evolution of Networking :-
 ARPANET :- The Advanced Research Project Agency
Network was the world’s first operational packet switching
network, the first network to implement TCP/IP
(Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol).

 WWW :- The World Wide Web is a system of inter-linked

hypertext documents access via internet with a web
browser, one can access web pages that may content text,
images, videos and other multi media and can navigate
between them via hyperlink.
• Transmission Media :-
 There are two types of transmission media :-

i) Guided media / wired technology

ii) Unguided media / wireless technology
 Guided media / wired technology :- In guided
media, the computers in a network are connected
through wire or cable. The data signal physically gets
transferred from the transmitting computer to the
receiving computer through the wired transmission
media.

 Some guided media are :-

i) Ethernet cable / Twisted pair cable
ii) Co-axial cable
iii) Optical fibre
 Ethernet cable / Twisted pair cable :- There are two
identical 1 mm thick copper wire wrapped together
and twisted around each other.
 Advantages :-
i) Simple in it’s structure.
ii) Physically flexible.
iii) Easy to install and maintain.
iv) It has a low weight.
v) It is very inexpensible.

 Disadvantages :-
i) Due to high attentation, signals connect to be
transported over a long distance without using a
repeaters.
ii) Due to low bandwidth, it is unsuitable for broad
band application.
iii) Data rates supported are 1 mbps to 10 mbps.
 Co-axial Cable :- Co-axial cable is commonly used in
transporting multi channel television signals in cities.
 Advantages :-
i) Transmission quality of co-axial cable is better than
twisted pair cable.
ii) It can be successfully used for shared cable network.
iii) It can transmit several channels simultaneously, so
it can be used for broadband transmission.
iv) It offers high bandwidth.

 Disadvantages :-
i) It is expensive compare to twisted pair cable.
ii) These are difficult to manage and reconfigure as
compare to twisted pair cable.
 Optical Fiber :- Optical fiber consists of thin threads
made up of glass or glass like material which are
capable of carrying light signals from a source at one
end to another end.
 Advantages :-
i) Highly suitable for harsh industrial environment.
ii) It is immune to electrical and magnetic fields so the data does
not get distributed and pure data is retrieved on the other end.
iii) It guarantees secure transmission and has a very high
transmission capacity.
iv) It can be used for broadband transmission, where several
channels are handled in parallel.
v) Bandwidth is upto 10 Gbps.

 Disadvantages :-
i) Fiber-optic cables are more expensive to install.
ii) Fiber-Optical cables require more protection around the
cable.
iii) Connecting two fibers or light sources to a Fiber is difficult.
 Unguided media or wireless technology :- When
the computer in a network are interconnected and data
is transmitted through waves then they are said to be
connected through unguided media. Some of the
unguided media are given below :-

 Bluetooth :- Bluetooth is used for exchanging

data over a short distance from fired and mobile
device. This comes under personal area network
(PAN) the name Bluetooth in derived from
Harald Bluetooth, a king in Denmark. The range
of the Bluetooth is 10m.
 Infrared :- Infrared is the frequency of light that is not
visible to human eye. It has a range of wavelengths just
like visible light has wavelengths from red light to
violet light for Infrared waves are thermal.
 Radio wave :- When two terminals communicate by
using radio frequency then such type of
communication is known as radio wave transmission.
 Microwave :- Another popular transmission medium
is the microwave which permits data transmission
rates of about 16 GBps. This type of transmission used
high frequency radio signals to transmit data through
space like radiowaves, microwave can pass through
obstacles, buildings, mountain etc.
 Satellite Communication :- Satellite are an essential
part of telecommunication system worldwide today.
They can carry a large amount of data in addition to tv
signals. When the data is transmitted using Satellite
then it is said to be Satellite communication.
• Types of Computer Network
 Network can be widely divided into 5 types :-

 LAN (Local Area Network)

 MAN (Metropolitan Area Network)
 WAN (Wide Area Network)
 PAN (Personal Area Network)
 CAN (Campus Area Network)
 Local Area Network (LAN) :- In LAN, a group of
computers and its devices are connected over a
relatively short distances generally it is a privately
owned network within single building or campus
upto a few mm in size.
 Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) :- This is
basically a bigger version of LAN and normally uses
similar technology. It might cover few building in a city
and might either be private or public. This is a network
span of physical area in the range of 5km and 50km
diameter that is larger than LAN but smaller than
WAN.
 Wide Area Network (WAN) :- A large geographical
area after a country or a continent and uses various
commercial and private communication lines to
connect computer typically. A WAN combining
multiple LAN that are geographical separated.
 Personal Area Network (PAN) :- PAN refers to a
small Network of communication. It is a computer
network organized around an individual person. This
network typically invalue a mobile computer all
phone and/or a hand held computing device such as
PAN.
 Campus Area Network (CAN) :- A perfect example of
CAN is in a university, where the network
interconnects the administrative block, academic
building, library and other buildings in the institution.
The CAN definition is quite similar to the MAN with
specific settings of a small network.
• Network Devices :-
 Network devices and communication devices are the
units that mediate data in a computer network and
also called network equipment. Some network devices
are :-

 HUB :- A HUB is a device used with computer system

to connect several computers together. It acts as a
centralised connection to several computers with the
centranode or server.
 There are two types of HUB :-

 i) Active HUB :- An active HUB acts as repeaters. It

amplifies the signal as it moves from our device to
another.

 ii) Passive HUB :- A passive HUB simply passes the

signal from one connected device to another.
 Switch :- A switch is a hardware device, which is used
to connect devices or segments of the network into
smaller subnets of LAN segments. The main
segmenting is to prevent the traffic overloading in a
network.
 Repeater :- Repeater is a hardware device. It is used to
amplify the feeble signals when they are transported
over a long distance. The basic function of a Repeater
is to amplify incoming signal and retransmit it, to the
other device.
 NOTE :- If you want to connect two computer, which
are more than 100 metres a part you need Repeater.
 Repeaters are of two types :-

i) Amplifier :- It amplifies or boost the incoming

signals. So, it amplifies both the signal and any
concurrent noise.

ii) Signal repeater :- Only amplifies the signal and

filters out the noise signals. So, we get only the clear
signals at the receiver end.
 Gateway :- A Gateway is a device, which is used to
connect dissimilar networks. The Gateway establishes
an intelligent connection between a local network and
external network, which are completely different in a
structure.
 Bridge :- It is a networking device that connect two
LANs whether or not they use the same protocol. It
allows information to flow between the connected
device.
 Router :- Router is a hardware device which is
designed to take incoming packets, analyze the
packets moving the packets to another network,
converting the packets to another network, dropping
the packets, directing packets to the appropriate
location etc. Routers are called hop in the series.
 MODEM (Modulator Demodulator) :- MODEM is a
device that converts digital signal to analog signal
(Modulator) at the sender side and coverts back analog
signal to digital signal (Demodulator) at the receiver
end, in order to make communication possible via
telephone line. It enables a computer to transmit data
over telephone or cable lines.
• Network Topology
 Network topology is the arrangement of various
elements (line, node, etc) of a computer network. The
main network topology are as follows :-
 Bus Topology :- Bus Topology is an arrangement in
which the computer and a peripheral devices are
connected to a common signal length data line.
 Advantages :-
i) All the nodes are connected directly, so very short cable
length is required.
ii) The architecture is very simple, reliable and linear.
iii) Bus topology can be extended easily on either sides.

 Disadvantages :-
i) In case of any fault in data transmission, fault isolation
is very difficult. We have to check the entire network to find
the fault.
ii) Become slow with increase in the number of nodes.
iii) Only a single message can travel at a particular time.
 Ring / Circular Topology :- In this type of topology
the node is connected to two and only two
neighbouring nodes to node around the ring.
 Advantages :-
i) Short cable length is required.
ii) Suitable for optical fiber as the data flow in one
direction.

 Disadvantages :-
i) In ring topology each node is connected in a
circular way with its two neighbouring nodes, so when
their is transmission problem anywhere in the network,
entire network stop functioning.
ii) Fault diagnosis is very difficult in a network formed
using ring topology.
 Star Topology :- In star topology there persists a
central node hub, which is connected to all other
nodes directly.
 Advantages :-
i) Installation of star topology is very easy as all the nodes
are directly connected to the central node or server.
ii) Easy to detect fault and remove it.
iii) Failure of signal system will not break down the entire
network.
iv) Allows several types of cable in same network.

 Disadvantages :-
i) Requires more cable length than bus topology.
ii) If HUB or server fails, the entire network will be
disabled.
iii) Difficult to expand as the new node has to connected all
the way to central node.
 Tree Topology :- A Tree Topology is an extension and
variation of bus Topology. It‘s basic structure is like an
inverted Tree where the root as a server. In Tree
topology, the nodes are interlinked in the form of tree.
 Advantages :-
i) The tree topology simulates hierarchical flow of
data.
ii) We can easily extend the network.
iii) Faulty nodes can easily be isolated from the rest of
the network.

 Disadvantages :-
i) Long cables are required.
ii) There are dependencies on the root node.
iii) Installation and reconfiguration is very difficult.
 Mesh Topology :- In Mesh Topology each node is
connected to all other nodes, so tat it provides
alternative route. We can also call its an extension of
point-to-point (P2P) network.
 Advantages :-
i) Excellent for long distance networking.
ii) Communication possible through alternative route,
if one path is busy.

 Disadvantages :-
i) Long cable length is required.
ii) Case of installation and maintenance is very high.