Session 02

What is a Computer Network?

A computer network is two or more computers connected

together for the purpose of resource sharing and information
transfer.
There are many components that can be part of a network and
these components can be grouped into four main categories:
Hosts

: Servers, Desktops, Workstations.

Shared peripherals : Printers, Scanners, Multimedia projectors
Networking devices : Hubs and Switches
Networking media: Wires or any other mechanism to transfer
data

 The equipment that interconnect computers and shared

peripherals such as printers are called networking

devices.
Cables that are used in connecting the network is called
network media.
In early days it was removable media such as floppy disks
and magnetic tapes used to carry and transfer the data
from computer to computer.

 The need for connecting multiple computers was always

in mind with computer manufacturers

They have used various methods in connecting computers
The most adopted technique is Ethernet technology which

was developed over decades now.

Computer networks can be built and connected using

either wired medium or wireless medium.

Wired medium is well developed and fastest way of
forming a computer network.
Wireless medium is increasingly getting popular due to
distance and terrain challenges.

 It is also useful in places like seminars where temporary

way of establishing a network to provide services without

structured cables.
Use of Computer Networks
Today, based on the requirements of users and
companies, computer networks can be located
Within a building,
Within premises that is multiple buildings are connected,
Within branches of same company which are far away by

miles and may go across several countries.

 The Internet is the Worlds largest computer network which

have millions of computers connected together permanent or

non permanent basis.
It was initially started by connecting computers of few

universities in United States.

Types of Computer Networks?

Computer networks can be classified in several ways.

Classification of Computer Networks According to its
Ownership
Classification of Computer Networks based on Geographical
Location
Classification of Computer Networks based on operations

Classification of Computer Networks According to its

Ownership
Private networks
Private networks are networks owned by an institution and the

functions belonging to an organization only handled within the

network.
No outsiders are allowed to use the company network. All
resources belong to the institution.

Public networks
Public networks are networks that are used by many people
and organizations in order to communicate with each other.
Internet is a good example of public network.

 People pay money to different organizations who handle

portions of public network to connect and obtain the services

provided by the network.
Example
You might be paying Sri Lanka Telecom to get connected to Internet.

virtual private networks (VPN).

Larger private organizations which have several branches far
away can create a private tunnel across public network to
make all the branches connected.
To form this kind of network company has to pay the owner of
that network.
Example
If a bank having branches in Jaffna, Galle, Kandy and head office is in
Colombo they can easily form a virtual private network with the help of
telephone operators if they have the service working within those
areas.

Classification of Computer Networks based on Geographical

Location
Local Area Network (LAN).
If computers are organized within a room, or within a floor
of a building or in a entire building which belong to same
institution it is called a Local Area Network (LAN).
This LANs also can be distributed across several buildings in
same vicinity which belong to same institution.
Example
A company may have office building and factory building
reside in same premises and the Computer network is
expanded across these two buildings.

Advantages of LAN:
Very high network speeds and data transfer rates
Protection from the outside world, thus creating a trusted
computing environment.
No need to lease telecommunication lines, such as those
used for telephone, data and Internet services, once the
hardware for connecting all the machines has been
bought

Wide Area Network (WAN).

If the connectivity of computers is maintained across
public access telephone lines or other wired or wireless
communication mechanisms and far away from one
location to another is called Wide Area Network (WAN).
As you can see in the figure below two networks are
connected using telephone lines. There can be multiple
LANs connected forming a group (network) of LANs.

Metropolitan area network (MAN)

The networks that connected across busy suburban areas,
belonging to large institutions where offices located
across different locations across same city.
Larger than the area covered by a local area network
(LAN) but smaller than the area covered by a wide area
network (WAN).

Campus Area Network (CAN)

Campuses are having larger LAN networks they are also
called as CAN (Campus Area Network).
Larger than the area covered by a local area network (LAN)
but smaller than the area covered by a metropolitan area
network (MAN).

Classification of Computer Networks based on operations

The host in computer networks can be connected in two
methods namely
peer to peer networks
Client / Server networks

peer to peer networks

 In a peer to peer network there is no central administrator

to the system the host can share its resources with other
hosts in the network.
This can be used to build a network with very low cost.
When the number of hosts in network is getting increased,
more and more equipment required to connect hosts.
The connected PCs can experience slowness in
connectivity.

client server network

In client server network, dedicated computer called

server is making its services available for many clients

(hosts) in the network.

 Since the server is dedicated to a special purpose it can

serve many clients without affecting performance.

Since there is no reason for clients to do its resource
sharing client computers also give a better performance.
Network Topologies
Topology refers to the shape of a network, or the

network's layout.
A computer or equipment connected to computer
network is called a node of a network.
How different nodes in a network are connected to each
other and how they communicate is determined by the
network's topology.

 Topologies are either physical or logical.

Physical Topology
Physical Topology means that the way that computers are
physically connected will look like description of the
topology.
Logical topology
Logical topology is a way that computers communicate
via signals or data transmitted irrespective of physical
arrangement.

The five most common network topologies

Bus Topology
Ring Topology
Star Topology
Mesh Topology
Tree Topology

Bus Topology
Bus topology uses a common backbone (single wire) to
connect all the network devices in a network in a linear
shape.

 A single cable functions as the shared communication

medium for all the devices attached with this cable with
an interface connector.
The device, which wants to communicate send the
broadcast message to all the devices attached with the
shared cable but only the intended recipient actually
accepts and process that message.

Ring Topology

All devices are connected to one another in the shape of a

closed loop, so that each device is connected directly to

two other devices, one on either side of it.
In ring Network, every computer or devices has two
adjacent neighbors for communication.
In a ring network, all the communication messages travel
in the same direction whether clockwise or anti clockwise.

 Any damage of the cable or device can result in the

breakdown of the whole network.

Ring topology now has become almost obsolete.
FDDI, SONET or Token Ring Technology can be used to
implement Ring Technology.
Ring topologies can be found in office, school or small
buildings.

Star Topology

In computer networking the world most commonly used

topology for LAN is star topology.

Star topology can be implemented in home, offices or
even in a building.
All the computers in the star topology are connected to
central device like hub, switch or router.

 Computers in a network are usually connected with the

hub, switch or router with the Unshielded Twisted Pair

(UTP) or Shielded Twisted Pair Cables.
As compared to the bus topology, a star network requires
more devices & cables to complete network.
The failure of each node or cable in a star network, wont
take down the entire network as compared to the Bus
topology.
However if the central connecting devices such as hub,
switch or router fails due to any reason, then ultimately
all the network can come down

Mesh Topology

Devices are connected with many redundant interconnections

between network nodes.

In a true mesh topology every node has a connection to every
other node in the network.
Mesh topology work on the concept of routes.

 In Mesh topology, message sent to the destination can

take any possible shortest, easiest route to reach its

destination.
Router works in find the routes for the messages and in
reaching them to their destinations.
The topology in which every device connects to every
other device is called a full Mesh topology

Tree Topology

A hybrid topology.
Groups of star-configured networks are connected to a

linear bus backbone.

Only the hub devices can connect directly with the tree
bus

 This bus/star/hybrid combination supports future

expandability of the computer networks, much better

than a bus or star.