Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)

PSTN refers to the international telephone system that uses copper wires to carry analog voice data.
It consists of a collection of individual telephones that are hardwired to a public exchange.

If the devices are connected through a PSTN, the digital signals transmitted from a computer cannot be
sent as it is since the PSTN carries analog signals.
Therefore a transmitter is needed to convert digital signals into analog signals. This device is called
Modulator.
At the receiving end, the reverse process should be done. That device is called Demodulator. Normally
both are in one unit and it is called a Modem.

Types of Networks
Local Area Network (LAN)
A LAN connects network devices over a relatively short distance and within the same premises. A
networked office building, school, or cluster of buildings usually contains a single LAN, though
sometimes one building will contain a few small LANs.
Eg: network within a school

Wide Area Network (WAN)

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 Network Topologies
The physical layout of a network is called its topology. Networks can be classified based on its topology.
The basic network topologies used for LANs are star, ring, and bus.

Simple topology
point-to-point connection: A Point-to-point topology connects two networking devices such as
computers, switches, routers, or servers connected back to back using a single piece of cable.

Bus Topology
In a bus network, communications devices are connected to a common channel (backbone) with
terminators at both ends.

Access to the shared common communication medium by

Advantages:
• Easy to handle and implement.
• Best suited for small networks.
• Cheap as least amount of cabling required to connect computers.

Disadvantages:
• If backbone fails, entire network breaks down.
• The common cable length is limited and it limits the number of stations connected.
• Heavy traffic can slowdown a bus.

Star Topology
• In a star network all computers and other communications devices are not directly linked to each
other but they are connected to via a central point known hub, switch or concentrator.
• Data transmission between the nodes is done via the hub/switch.
• The hub, switch or concentrator manages and controls all functions of
the network. It also acts as a repeater for the dataflow.

Advantages:
• Failure of one node, doesn’t affect others (reliable).
• Easy to install and wire

Disadvantages:
• If central device fails, nodes attached to it are disabled.
• Expensive to install (as more cables are required for the concentrator).
• It requires a longer length of cable.

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Ring Topology
• In ring topology, all communications devices are connected in a continuous ring.
• Every node has exactly two nodes for communication.
• All messages travel through a ring in the same direction (clockwise or
counterclockwise) until it reaches its destination.

Advantages:
• A central server is not required for management of this topology.
(every computer is given equal access to the ring)
• Easy to install.

Disadvantages:
• If one node/cable fails, entire network can breakdown.
• Maximum ring length and number of nodes are limited.

Tree Topology
• A tree topology combines characteristics of bus and star topologies.
• Sometimes this can be thought of as being a "Star of Stars" network,
where each device is connected to its own port on a concentrator (hub) in
the same manner as in a Star.
• Tree topology allows for the expansion of an existing network and
enables schools to configure a network to meet their needs.

Mesh Topology
• In a mesh topology, every device has a dedicated point-to-point link to every other device.
• In a mesh topology, each computer on network has redundant data paths. Messages sent on a mesh
network can take any of several possible paths from source to destination.
• The mesh topology provides fault tolerance-if a wire, hub, switch, or other component fails, data can
travel along an alternate path.
• A fully connected mesh network has n(n-1)/2 physical links to link n
devices.

Advantages:
• One node can send data to many other nodes at once.
• The use of large number of links eliminates network congestion.
• Robust (failure of one node doesn’t affect entire system)

Disadvantages:
• Wiring can be difficult to manage.
• Installation and configuration is very difficult.
• Redundancy of many of the network connections.

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Identifying Devices in a LAN
MAC addresses are unique addresses assigned each network interface of a communicating device. MAC
addresses are 48 bits long and are divided in to 6 blocks separated by colons. Each block is 8 bits long and
is further divided in to two 4 bit blocks. Each four-bit address is converted to hexadecimal number with
each octet separated by a dash or colon.
Eg: 4A:8F:3C:4F:9E:3D
When devices send and receive data over a network, MAC addresses enable the unique identification of
the device interface and the correct delivery of the data to the receiver’s interface.

Network Interface Card is the first contact between a machine and the
network. It connects clients, servers and peripherals to the network via a
port. Most NICs come as small circuit board that can be inserted onto one
of the computer motherboard’s slots. Each NIC is associated with a unique
media access control (MAC) address. The MAC address helps in sending
information to intended destination.

Frames
A frame is data that is transmitted between network points as a unit complete with addressing and
necessary protocol control information. A frame is usually transmitted serial bit by bit.

In packet switched systems, a frame is a simple container for a single network packet.
When data is generated at the source to be sent to the receiver over the communication link, at the Data
link layer, data are encapsulated in to the Frame, where the data is inserted in to the frame and the MAC
addresses of the sending device and the MAC address of the adjacent node are included in the header of
the frame.

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Hubs and Switches can be used to simplify the wiring of a network.

Hub
The central connecting device in a computer network is known as a hub. It is a small box that connects
individual devices on a network. When data packets arrives at hub, it broadcast them to all the LAN cards
in a network and the destined recipient picks them and all other
computers discard the data packets. Hub has five, eight, sixteen
and more ports and one port is known as uplink port, which is used
to connect with the next hub. Hub can connect multiple network
segments together making them act as a single segment. Hub works
on the physical layer (layer 1) of the OSI model.

Switch
A switch is an intelligent device that maps the IP address with the MAC address of the LAN card. Unlike
the hubs, a switch does not broadcast the data to all the computers. It sends the data packets only to the
destined computer. Switches are used in the LAN, MAN and
WAN.
Switch is a device that allocates traffic from one network segment
to certain lines (intended destination(s)) which connect the segment
to another network segment. So unlike a hub a switch splits the
network traffic and sends it to different destinations rather than to
all systems on the network. Layer 2 switch works on OSI layer 2
(Data link layer) while layer 3 switch operates on OSI layer 3
(network layer).

Hub Switch
Allows to connect multiple PCs to a network Allows to connect various devices to a network
Operates at Layer 2 (Datalink layer) and
Operates at Layer 1 (Physical layer)
Layer 3 (network layer)
Data is transmitted in the form of Electrical signal Layer 2 Switch – Frame
or bits Layer 3 switch – Packet
Not an intelligent device that sends message to An intelligent device that sends message to
all ports selected destination
there is only one collision domain. different ports have own collision domain.
Transmission mode is Half duplex Transmission mode is Half/ Full duplex
Low transmission speed High transmission speed
Unicast, multicast and broadcast type
Broadcast type transmission.
transmission.

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