BCA6B13 |BCS6B13-COMPUTER

NETWORKS
[Link] to Networks
2. Type of Connection
[Link]-to-Point
[Link]
3. Topology[Bus,Star,Ring,Mesh]
4. Types of networks[PAN|LAN|MAN|WAN]
 NETWORKS
▪ A network is a set of devices (often referred to as nodes)
connected by communication links.
▪ A node can be a computer, printer, or any other device
capable of sending and/or receiving data generated by other
nodes on the network
▪ A network must be able to meet a certain number of
criteria. The most important of these are performance,
reliability, and security.
▪ Performance:It can be measured in many ways, including
transit time and response time.
▪ Transit time is the amount of time required for a message to
travel from one device to another.
▪ Response time is the elapsed time between an inquiry and a
response.
▪ The performance of a network depends on a number of
factors, including the number of users,the type of
transmission medium, the capabilities of the connected
hardware, and the efficiency of the software.
▪ Performance is often evaluated by two networking metrics:
throughput and delay.
▪ We often need more throughput and less delay.
▪ Reliability:In addition to accuracy of delivery, network
reliability is measured by the frequency of failure, the time
 it takes a link to recover from a failure, and the network's
robustness in a catastrophe.
▪ Security:Network security issues include protecting data
from unauthorized access, protecting data from damage and
development, and implementing policies and procedures for
recovery from breaches and data losses.
Type of Connection
• A network is two or more devices connected through links.
• A link is a communications pathway that transfers data
from one device to another.
• There are two possible types of connections: point-to-point
and multipoint.
• Point-to-Point :A point-to-point connection provides a
dedicated link between two devices. The entire capacity of
the link is reserved for transmission between those two
devices.
• Most point-to-point connections use an actual length of
wire or cable to connect the two ends, but other options,
such as microwave or satellite links, are also possible
• When you change television channels by infrared remote
control,you are establishing a point-to-point connection
between the remote control and the television's control
system
• Multipoint :A multipoint (also called multidrop)
connection is one in which more than two specific devices
share a single link
• In a multipoint environment, the capacity of the channel is
shared, either spatially or temporally.
• If several devices can use the link simultaneously, it is a
spatially shared connection. If users must take turns, it is a
timeshared connection.

Topology
• The way in which the nodes are physically interconnected
to form a network is called a Topology.
• Two or more devices connect to a link; two or more links
form a topology.
• The topology of a network is the geometric representation
of the relationship of all the links and linking devices
(usually called nodes) to one another.
• There are four basic topologies possible:
• Bus,Star,Ring ,Mesh.
Bus topology
• In bus topology all the nodes are connected to a main cable
called bus.
• If a node has to send data to another node, it sends data to
the bus.
• The signal travels through the entire length of the bus.
• All nodes check the bus, and only the node for which data
is addressed accepts it.
• A small device called terminator is attached at each end of
the bus.
• When the signal reaches the end of the bus, the terminator
absorbs the signal and removes it from the bus.
• Now the bus is free to carry another signal.
• This prevents the reflection of a signal back on the cable
and hence eliminates the chances of signal interference.
• The process of transmitting data from one node to all other
nodes is called broadcasting.
Characteristics of bus topology
• Easy to install.
• Requires less cable length and hence
it is cost effective.
• Failure of a node does not affect the
network.
• Failure of cable (bus) or terminator leads to a break down
of the entire network.
• Fault diagnosis is [Link] one node can transmit data
at a time.
 STAR TOPOLOGY
• In star topology each node is directly connected to a
hub/switch
• If any node has to send some information to any other node,
it sends the signal to the hub/switch.
• This signal is then broadcasted (in case of a hub) to all the
nodes but is accepted only by the intended node.
• In the case of a switch, the signal is sent only to the
intended node
Characteristics of star topology
• More efficient compared to bus topology.
• Easy to [Link] to diagnose faults.
• Easy to expand depending on the specifications of
central hub/ switch.
• Failure of hub/switch leads to failure of entire
network.
• Requires more cable length compared to bus
topology
 RING TOPOLOGY
• In ring topology, all nodes are connected using a cable that
loops in a ring or circle.
• A ring topology is in the form of a circle that has no start
and no end Terminators are not necessary in a ring
topology.
• Data travels only in one direction in a ring.
• While they are passed from one node to the next, each node
regenerates the signal.
• The node for which the signal is intended reads the signal.
• After travelling through each node, the signal reaches back
to the sending node from where it is removed
Characteristics of ring topology
• No signal amplification is required as each node amplifies
the signal.
• Requires less cable length and hence is cost effective.
• If one node fails, entire network will fail.
• Addition of nodes to the network is difficult

Figure 1types of
switching

Figure 2switched
network
 MESH TOPOLOGY
▪ In a mesh topology, every device has a dedicated point-to-
point link to every other device.
▪ The term dedicated means that the link carries traffic only
between the two devices it connects
▪ In a mesh topology, we need n(n -1) /2 duplex-mode links.
▪ So there will be more than one path between two nodes
▪ If one path fails, the data will take another path and
reach the destination.
Characteristics of mesh topology
▪ Network will not fail even if one path between the nodes
fails.
▪ Expensive because of the extra cables needed.
▪ Very complex and difficult to manage.
▪ For these reasons a mesh topology is usually implemented
in a limited fashion
▪ for example, as a backbone connecting the main computers
of a hybrid network that can include several other
topologies.
 HYBRID TOPOLOGY
• Hybrid topology is a kind of network topology that is a
combination of two or more network topologies
• It involves a mixture of tree topology, bus topology, ring
topology, and mesh topology.
• The choice and usage of hybrid topology depend on its
requirements and deployments such as the number of
servers, location, and performance of the desired network.
• A star backbone with three bus networks

TYPES OF NETWORKS
• A computer network may span any amount of geographical
area. It can be on a table, in a room, in a building, in a city,
in a country, across continents or around the world.
• On the basis of the area covered, computer networks are classified as:

• PAN - Personal Area Network

• LAN - Local Area Network
• MAN - Metropolitan Area Network
• WAN -Wide Area Network
• PERSONAL AREA NETWORK (PAN)
• PAN is a network of communicating devices (computer,
mobile, tablet, printer, etc.) in the proximity of an
individual.
• It can cover an area of a radius with few meters
• When we transfer songs from one cell phone to another or
from a PC to an MP3 player, a PAN is set up between the
two.
• PAN can be set up using guided media (USB) or unguided
media (Bluetooth, infrared).
• LOCAL AREA NETWORK (LAN)
• LAN is a network of computing and communicating
devices in a room, building,or campus.
• It can cover an area of radius with a few meters to a few
Kilometers.
• A networked office building, school or home usually
contains a single LAN, though sometimes one building can
contain a few small LANs (Like some schools have
independent LANs in each computer lab)
• Occasionally a LAN can span a group of nearby buildings.
• In addition to operating in a limited space,
a LAN is owned, controlled and managed by a
single person or an organisation.
• LAN can be set up using wired media (UTP cables,
coaxial cables, etc.) or wireless media (infrared,
radio waves, etc.).
• If a LAN is setup using unguided media, it is
known as WLAN (Wireless LAN).

METROPOLITAN AREA NETWORK (MAN)

o MAN is a network of computing and communicating
devices within a city.
o It can cover an area of a few Kilometers to a few hundred
Kilometers radius.
o MAN is usually formed by interconnecting a number of
LANs and individual computers.
• All types of communication media (guided and unguided)
are used to set up a MAN.
• MAN is typically owned and operated by a single entity
such as a government body or a large corporation
WIDE AREA NETWORK (WAN)
• WAN is a network of computing and communicating
devices crossing the limits of a city, country or continent.
• It can cover an area of over hundreds of Kilometers in
radius. WAN usually contain a number of interconnected
individual computers, LANs, MANs and maybe other
WANs.
• All types of communication media (guided and unguided)
are used to set up a WAN .
• The best known example of a WAN is the Internet. Internet
is considered as the largest WAN in the world.
• A network of ATMs, banks, government offices,
international organisations, offices, etc. spread over a
country, continent or covering many continents are
examples of WAN
 THE INTERNETWORK
o The internet(small i) is two or more networks that can
communicate with each other
HISTORY OF THE INTERNET
• The Internet is an interconnected system of computer
networks that serves the users all over the world
• The Internet started as a small network through a project by
the United States Department of Defence by the name
ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency
Network).
• During 1970s this military network was connected to the
computers of Universities and companies that worked for
the Department of Defence.
• In 1984 the military network split from ARPANET to form
MILNET to be used by the American military only.
• ARPANET which used TCP/IP protocol for communication
was thereafter used for scientific research and information
sharing.
• Later, several other networks merged with ARPANET to
form a large network.
• ARPANET is considered as the first wide area network
(WAN).
• Vinton Gray Cerf who was instrumental in the development
of Internet and TCP/IP protocol, is considered as the father
of Internet.
• Tim Berners Lee, a researcher, proposed the idea of World
Wide Web (WWW).
• Tim Berners Lee and his team invented Hyper Text Transfer
Protocol (HTTP ), HTML and the technology for a web
server and a web browser.
• Using hyperlinks embedded in hypertext the web
developers were able to connect web pages. They could
design attractive webpages containing text, sound and
graphics.
• This change witnessed a massive expansion of the Internet
in the 1990
• Various types of computers loaded with diverse operating
systems in different organisations at geographically distant
locations joined this network making it a global
phenomenon.
• TCP/IP protocl is used as the communication protocol for
Internet.
• Any computer that joins Internet should follow the TCP/IP
protocol.
• In 1998, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers (ICANN) was established.
• ICANN does not control the Internet content; rather it
develops policies on the Internet’s Uniform Resource
Locators (URL). Today,
• Internet is the largest public network that connects billions
of computers all over the world and provides several
services like searching, e-mail, file transfer, social
networking etc.
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