The following article is excerpted from Chapter Two, \u201cNetworking Basics,\u201d of
the book Microsoft Technology: Networking, Concepts, Tools, by Woordard, Gat-
tuccio and Brain (Copyright \u00a9 1999 by Prentice Hall PTR, Prentice-Hall, Inc.)
Reprinted by permission.

A network is two things \u2013 technology and business. While the first of these is quite obvious, network technology is sometimes so overwhelming to non-technical managers that they lose sight of its basic role \u2013 to perform as a business tool. This is a classic case of losing the forest for the trees. While network technol- ogy is very important, its complexity should not obscure its role as a business tool.

In this chapter, our goal is twofold. First, we hope to demystify network technology by painting a
detailed picture of its key pieces and defining the technology\u2019s key vocabulary. While a great deal of tech-
nology is involved, it all comes together in a straightforward way. Understanding the vocabulary clarifies
nine-tenths of the technology. In Chapter One we introduced network technology in terms of the network
services it provides. While this is the plan we\u2019ll follow throughout the book, it is nevertheless important to
understand network technology nuts and bolts. Our goal in this chapter, then, is to address network technol-
ogy at its most fundamental layer \u2013 the wires, data, and connections.

The basic unit of network organization is the LAN \u2013 the Local Area Network. This is very important. Nearly everything in network architecture and design builds on the fundamental principle that a LAN is the network building block. While in practice, LANs are typically broken up into smaller units \u2013 LAN segments or workgroups, for example \u2013 this does not alter the LAN\u2019s status as the fundamental unit of network order.

(printers, for example) within a limited area (for example, within a department or on a floor of a multistory building). Then, using these LANs for building blocks, networks can expand to virtually any scale by simply linking together the individual LANs. This allows you to link floors of a building (each with its own LAN) into a company-wide network, or link several buildings on a campus, or even link up sites around the world into a powerful enterprise-wide network. This LAN-based model lets you build networks on virtually any geographical scale.

In a network, information (data) traverses a communications medium (typically a wire) as electrical sig- nals that originate and terminate in computing devices like computers and printers. To visualize the process, picture a busy freeway as seen from the air. Traffic flows smoothly and vehicles enter and exit at ramps located every few miles along the route. Viewed from above, the traffic appears to be a single continuous stream. Upon closer inspection, however, you notice that vehicles enter and leave the freeway in a seemingly random fashion. But this is not the case. The motion is not random. Each vehicle has its own point of origin and its own destination, irrespective of the streaming flow of traffic.

The analogy is not perfect, but it successfully isolates three basic elements of a network: its communica- tion medium (typically a cable, but radio frequency and infrared transmissions can also serve as a data com- munications medium); its data (which flows in its most elementarybin a ry form \u2013 essentially zeros and

ones); and the points of contact between network wires and the computing devices to which they are con- nected. These latter are called network interface cards (NICs). These three are the highway, the traffic, and the entry/exit ramps. (There is a fourth critical piece on this layer, the connection devices like hubs and switches; we\u2019ll discuss these shortly.)

insulated wires are twisted, then encased in a sheath. Coaxial, on the other hand, has a solid wire at its center which is surrounded by insulation, then an outer metal screen. Both transmit data in the form of electrical signals. With fiber-optic cable, however, data is transmitted as modulated light waves traveling through a glass medium.

These different types of cable vary in cost and transmission capacity, and each typically serves a spe- cific network role. For example, on LANs, unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cable is most commonly used because it is inexpensive, easy to work with (it is thin and flexible, much like telephone wire), and it per- forms well over a typical LAN\u2019s short distances. On the other hand, a high-speedb ac k b o ne (high-capacity cables that connect LANs together) might use a fiber optic cable because of its large transmission capacity. Fiber optic cable has the added advantage of being non-conductive, which is advantageous for external cables (between buildings, for example) that are vulnerable to lightening strikes. Coaxial cable (thick, stiff

Network devices make their physical connections to network cable through a special adapter called a
network interface card (NIC). The network transfers data over cable in its most elementary form \u2013 as a
stream of bits (zeros and ones). The NIC takes in data and converts it to a form that fis the transmission
medium \u2013 the cable. Computers hand their data over to the NIC, which chops them into small segments and

puts them into \u201cenvelopes\u201d called packets. Then, the NIC moves the packets onto the network. The NIC also does the reverse \u2013 picks incoming packets off the network and hands them over to the computer. NICs are standard on many computers, printers, and other devices designed for network use, or else one can be installed.

Data passes over the network inside electronic envelopes calledp a cket s. (We\u2019ll discuss packets and packet switching in more detail in Chapter Ten.) Quite simply, though, when a user at one workstation wishes to exchange information with a user at another, network software on the first user\u2019s workstation

the local network \u201csees\u201d it. If the device is not the intended destination, it ignores the packet. If, however, the address on the packet matches that of the network device, the NIC at the receiver\u2019s end copies the packet and removes the data from the packet and hands it over to the computer, whose own software takes over.

The above illustration simplifies the exchange somewhat, but it nevertheless paints a sensible picture of how a network functions at its basic level \u2013 at the layer of the wire. The principles of packets and addressing, and the view of a network as fundamentally wire, and the role that software plays in adding \u201cintelligence\u201d to the flow of network communication are among networking\u2019s core principles.

handle the task of physically moving the data over the wires and regulating the characteristics of the electri- cal signals that carry it. The most common of these is Ethernet, in place in a reported 80% of LANs. Other technologies include Token Ring, FDDI (fiber distributed data interface), LocalTalk (for Apple Macin- toshes), and some others. Each of these standards governs several key features of how data moves around a network. Two technical aspects involve the physical characteristics of the electrical signals themselves, and the manner in which the data is packaged (the look and feel of thep a c ket s we spoke of). Other issues involve the speed at which data can flow, the physical length of wire it can support, and the network\u2019sto po lo gy (that is, the physical layout of the network, as in a star, ring, or straight-line bus). Finally, there is the very impor- tant issue of how it brokers shared access to the network medium \u2013 the cable \u2013 to avoid data \u201ccollisions.\u201d

Ethernet is the most popular option for controlling this physical layer of data flow because it offers an excellent balance of cost, speed, and ease of implementation. Relatively inexpensive, Ethernet supports data flowing at a rate of 10 million bits per second (10 Mbps), although an improved Ethernet, called Fast Ether- net, supports speeds up to 100 Mbps. Its main weakness shows up on busy or crowded LAN segments,

network. When a workstation, for example, wants to send data over the network, its NIC \u201clooks\u201d to see if the line is free. If it detects another signal on the wire, it waits a short interval, then tries again. When it sees the line is clear, it sends its packets. The problem occurs when more than one network node tries to access the network at precisely the same time. Both see a free network, so both dispatch their packets, which then col- lide.

altogether because it uses a different access method that doesn\u2019t allow devices to initiate their access inde- pendently. In a Token Ring network, a special data packet called atoken passes around the ring from device to device in just one direction. If a device wishes to access the network to transmit data, it must first wait until it receives the token. It cannot initiate access without it. Once it obtains the token, it dispatches its data, along with the token, out onto the ring. The destination receives the message, pulls it from the network, then releases the token and the process repeats.

On a corporate LAN, Fast Ethernet is typically the standard of choice \u2013 in part because it is the market leader, and in part due to its great value as a cost-effective, relatively high-speed option. Beyond the scope of LANs, however, networks may require even higher-speed connections and more reliable data flow. These