COMPUTER NETWORKING

A computer network or data network is a telecommunications networkwhich

allows computers to exchange data. In computer networks, networked computing
devices exchange data with each other along network links (data connections). The
connections between nodes are established using eithercable media or wireless
media. The best-known computer network is theInternet.

Network computer devices that originate, route and terminate the data are
called network nodes.[1] Nodes can include hosts such as personal
computers,phones, servers as well as networking hardware. Two such devices can
be said to be networked together when one device is able to exchange information
with the other device, whether or not they have a direct connection to each other.

Computer networks differ in the transmission media used to carry their signals,
the communications protocols to organize network traffic, the network's
size,topology and organizational intent. In most cases, communications protocols
are layered on (i.e. work using) other more specific or more general
communications protocols, except for the physical layer that directly deals with the
transmission media.
Computer networks support applications such as access to the World Wide Web,
shared use of application and storage servers, printers, and fax machines, and use
of email and instant messaging applications.

Characteristics of a computer network

 Share Resources from one computer to another

 Create files and store them in one computer, access those files
from the other computer(s) connected over the network

 Connect a printer, scanner, or a fax machine to one computer

within the network and let other computers of the network use the
machines available over network.

Following is the list of hardware's required to setup a computer network.

 Network Cables

 Distributors

 Routers

 Internal Network Cards

 External Network Cards

Properties
 Computer networking may be considered a branch of electrical
engineering, telecommunications, computer science, information technology
or computer engineering, since it relies upon the theoretical and practical
application of the related disciplines.
 A computer network facilitates interpersonal communications allowing people
to communicate efficiently and easily via email, instant messaging, chat
rooms, telephone, video telephone calls, and video conferencing. Providing
access to information on shared storage devices is an important feature of
many networks. A network allows sharing of files, data, and other types of
information giving authorized users the ability to access information stored on
 other computers on the network. A network allows sharing of network and
computing resources. Users may access and use resources provided by
devices on the network, such as printing a document on a shared network
printer. Distributed computing uses computing resources across a network to
accomplish tasks.

Network topology
The physical layout of a network is usually less important than the topology that
connects network nodes. Most diagrams that describe a physical network are
therefore topological, rather than geographic. The symbols on these diagrams
usually denote network links and network nodes.

Network links

The transmission media (often referred to in the literature as the physical media)
used to link devices to form a computer network include electrical
cable (Ethernet, HomePNA, power line communication, [Link]), optical fiber (fiber-
optic communication), and radio waves (wireless networking). In the OSI model,
these are defined at layers 1 and 2 — the physical layer and the data link layer.

A widely adopted family of transmission media used in local area network (LAN)
technology is collectively known as Ethernet. The media and protocol standards
that enable communication between networked devices over Ethernet are defined
byIEEE 802.3. Ethernet transmits data over both copper and fiber cables. Wireless
LAN standards (e.g. those defined by IEEE 802.11) use radio waves, or others
use infrared signals as a transmission medium. Power line communication uses a
building's power cabling to transmit data.

Wired technologies

The orders of the following wired technologies are, roughly, from slowest to fastest
transmission speed.

 Coaxial cable is widely used for cable television systems, office buildings, and
other work-sites for local area networks. The cables consist of copper or
aluminum wire surrounded by an insulating layer (typically a flexible material
with a high dielectric constant), which itself is surrounded by a conductive layer.
 The insulation helps minimize interference and distortion. Transmission speed
ranges from 200 million bits per second to more than 500 million bits per
second.

 ITU-T [Link] technology uses existing home wiring (coaxial cable, phone lines
and power lines) to create a high-speed (up to 1 Gigabit/s) local area network

 Twisted pair wire is the most widely used medium for all telecommunication.
Twisted-pair cabling consist of copper wires that are twisted into pairs. Ordinary
telephone wires consist of two insulated copper wires twisted into pairs.
Computer network cabling (wired Ethernetas defined by IEEE 802.3) consists of
4 pairs of copper cabling that can be utilized for both voice and data
transmission. The use of two wires twisted together helps to
reduce crosstalkand electromagnetic induction. The transmission speed ranges
from 2 million bits per second to 10 billion bits per second. Twisted pair cabling
comes in two forms: unshielded twisted pair (UTP) and shielded twisted-pair
(STP). Each form comes in several category ratings, designed for use in various
scenarios.

 An optical fiber is a glass fiber. It carries pulses of light that represent data.
Some advantages of optical fibers over metal wires are very low transmission
loss and immunity from electrical interference. Optical fibers can simultaneously
carry multiple wavelengths of light, which greatly increases the rate that data
can be sent, and helps enable data rates of up to trillions of bits per second.
Optic fibers can be used for long runs of cable carrying very high data rates, and
are used for undersea cables to interconnect continents.

Price is a main factor distinguishing wired- and wireless-technology options in a

business. Wireless options command a price premium that can make purchasing
wired computers, printers and other devices a financial benefit. Before making the
decision to purchase hard-wired technology products, a review of the restrictions
and limitations of the selections is necessary. Business and employee needs may
override any cost considerations.[6]
Wireless technologies

 Terrestrial microwave – Terrestrial microwave communication uses Earth-based

transmitters and receivers resembling satellite dishes. Terrestrial microwaves
are in the low-gigahertz range, which limits all communications to line-of-sight.
Relay stations are spaced approximately 48 km (30 mi) apart.

 Communications satellites – Satellites communicate via microwave radio waves,

which are not deflected by the Earth's atmosphere. The satellites are stationed
in space, typically in geosynchronous orbit 35,400 km (22,000 mi) above the
equator. These Earth-orbiting systems are capable of receiving and relaying
voice, data, and TV signals.

 Cellular and PCS systems use several radio communications technologies. The
systems divide the region covered into multiple geographic areas. Each area
has a low-power transmitter or radio relay antenna device to relay calls from one
area to the next area.

 Radio and spread spectrum technologies – Wireless local area networks use a
high-frequency radio technology similar to digital cellular and a low-frequency
radio technology. Wireless LANs use spread spectrum technology to enable
communication between multiple devices in a limited area. IEEE 802.11 defines
a common flavor of open-standards wireless radio-wave technology known
as Wifi.

 Free-space optical communication uses visible or invisible light for

communications. In most cases, line-of-sight propagation is used, which limits
the physical positioning of communicating devices.
Exotic technologies

There have been various attempts at transporting data over exotic media:

 IP over Avian Carriers was a humorous April fool's Request for Comments,
issued as RFC 1149. It was implemented in real life in 2001.[7]

 Extending the Internet to interplanetary dimensions via radio waves.[8]

Both cases have a large round-trip delay time, which gives slow two-way
communication, but doesn't prevent sending large amounts of information.
Network nodes[

Apart from any physical transmission medium there may be, networks comprise
additional basic system building blocks, such as network interface
controller (NICs), repeaters, hubs, bridges, switches, routers, modems,
and firewalls.

Network interfaces

A network interface controller (NIC) is computer hardware that provides a computer

with the ability to access the transmission media, and has the ability to process low-
level network information. For example, the NIC may have a connector for
accepting a cable, or an aerial for wireless transmission and reception, and the
associated circuitry.

The NIC responds to traffic addressed to a network address for either the NIC or
the computer as a whole.

In Ethernet networks, each network interface controller has a unique Media Access
Control (MAC) address—usually stored in the controller's permanent memory. To
avoid address conflicts between network devices, the Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers (IEEE) maintains and administers MAC address uniqueness.
The size of an Ethernet MAC address is six octets. The three most significant
octets are reserved to identify NIC manufacturers. These manufacturers, using only
their assigned prefixes, uniquely assign the three least-significant octets of every
Ethernet interface they produce.

Repeaters and hubs

A repeater is an electronic device that receives a network signal, cleans it of

unnecessary noise and regenerates it. The signal is retransmitted at a higher power
level, or to the other side of an obstruction, so that the signal can cover longer
distances without degradation. In most twisted pair Ethernet configurations,
repeaters are required for cable that runs longer than 100 meters. With fiber optics,
repeaters can be tens or even hundreds of kilometers apart.

A repeater with multiple ports is known as a hub. Repeaters work on the physical
layer of the OSI model. Repeaters require a small amount of time to regenerate the
signal. This can cause a propagation delay that affects network performance. As a
result, many network architectures limit the number of repeaters that can be used in
a row, e.g., the Ethernet 5-4-3 rule.

Hubs have been mostly obsoleted by modern switches; but repeaters are used for
long distance links, notably undersea cabling.

Bridges

A network bridge connects and filters traffic between two network segments at
the data link layer (layer 2) of the OSI modelto form a single network. This breaks
the network's collision domain but maintains a unified broadcast domain. Network
segmentation breaks down a large, congested network into an aggregation of
smaller, more efficient networks.

Bridges come in three basic types:

 Local bridges: Directly connect LANs

 Remote bridges: Can be used to create a wide area network (WAN) link
between LANs. Remote bridges, where the connecting link is slower than the
end networks, largely have been replaced with routers.
 Wireless bridges: Can be used to join LANs or connect remote devices to LANs.
Routers

A router is an internetworking device that forwards packets between networks by

processing the routing information included in the packet or datagram (Internet
protocol information from layer 3). The routing information is often processed in
conjunction with the routing table (or forwarding table). A router uses its routing
table to determine where to forward packets. (A destination in a routing table can
include a "null" interface, also known as the "black hole" interface because data can
go into it, however, no further processing is done for said data.)

Switches

A network switch is a device that forwards and filters OSI layer

2 datagrams between ports based on the MAC addresses in the packets. [9] A switch
is distinct from a hub in that it only forwards the frames to the physical ports
involved in the communication rather than all ports connected. It can be thought of
as a multi-port bridge.[10] It learns to associate physical ports to MAC addresses by
examining the source addresses of received frames. If an unknown destination is
targeted, the switch broadcasts to all ports but the source. Switches normally have
numerous ports, facilitating a star topology for devices, and cascading additional
switches.
Multi-layer switches are capable of routing based on layer 3 addressing or
additional logical levels. The term switch is often used loosely to include devices
such as routers and bridges, as well as devices that may distribute traffic based on
load or based on application content (e.g., a Web URL identifier).

Modems

Modems (MOdulator-DEModulator) are used to connect network nodes via wire not
originally designed for digital network traffic, or for wireless. To do this one or
morecarrier signals are modulated by the digital signal to produce an analog
signal that can be tailored to give the required properties for transmission. Modems
are commonly used for telephone lines, using a Digital Subscriber Line technology.
Network Cables
Network cables are used to connect computers. The most commonly used
cable is Category 5 cable RJ-45.