Chapter 5

Computer Networks
A computer network consists of two or more computing devices that
are connected in order to share the components of your network (its
resources) and the information you store there, as shown in Figure
1.1. The most basic computer network (which consists of just two
connected computers) can expand and become more usable when
additional computers join and add their resources to those being
shared. The first computer, yours, is commonly referred to as your
local computer. It is more likely to be used as a location where you do
work, a workstation, than as a storage or controlling location, a
server. As more and more computers are connected to a network and
share their resources, the network becomes a more powerful tool,
because employees using a network with more information and more
capability are able to accomplish more through those added
computers or additional resources. The real power of networking
computers becomes apparent if you envision your own network
growing and then connecting it with other distinct networks, enabling
communication and resource sharing across both networks. That is,
one network can be connected to another network and become a
more powerful tool because of the greater resources.

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In addition, a companys cost of doing business can be reduced as a

result of sharing data (defined as a piece or pieces of information) and
resources. Instead of having individual copies of the data at several
locations around the company, and needing to keep all of them
similarly updated, a company using a network can have just one
shared copy of that data and share it, needing to keep only that one
set of data updated. Furthermore, sharing networked resources (like
printers) means that more people can use a particular resource and a
wider variety of resources (like different printers) can be used by each
network user. Any time a company can do more with less, or buy
fewer items to do the same job, its total costs are reduced, and it is
able to make more money per dollar spent.

Uses of Networking
Communication and Access to Information
The primary purpose of computer networking is to facilitate
communication. A network allows a user to instantly connect with
another user, or network, and send and receive data. It allows remote

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users to connect with one other via videoconferencing, virtual

meetings and digital emails.
Computer networks provide access to online libraries, journals,
electronic newspapers, chat rooms, social networking websites, email
clients and the World Wide Web. Users can benefit from making online
bookings for theaters, restaurants, hotels, trains and airplanes. They
can shop and carry out banking transactions from the comfort of their
homes.
Computer networks allow users to access interactive entertainment
channels, such as video on demand, interactive films, interactive and
live television, multiperson real-time games and virtual-reality
models.
Resource Sharing
Computer networks allow users to share files and resources. They are
popularly used in organizations to cut costs and streamline resource
sharing. A single printer attached to a small local area network (LAN)
can effectively service the printing requests of all computer users on
the same network. Users can similarly share other network hardware
devices, such as modems, fax machines, hard drives and removable
storage drives.
Networks allow users to share software applications, programs and
files. They can share documents (such as invoices, spreadsheets and
memos), word processing software, videos, photographs, audio files,
project tracking software and other similar programs. Users can also
access, retrieve and save data on the hard drive of the main network
server.
Communication and collaboration:
It's hard for people to work together if no one knows what anyone
else is doing. A network allows employees to share files, view other
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people's work, and exchange ideas more efficiently. In a larger

office, you can use e-mail and instant messaging tools to
communicate quickly and to store messages for future reference.

There are three types of network Installation

1) centralized network
In the centralized network computing model, the clients use
the resources of high-capacity servers to process
information. In this model, the clients are also referred to as
dumb terminals with very low or no processing capability.
The clients only connect to the server and not to each
other. The following figure shows the centralized network
computing model:

2)

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Advantages
Some of the advantages of the centralized network computing
model are:
Centralized data management: In a centralized network computing
model, data is stored on the server. This increases the reliability of
data because all data modifications are stored at a central location.
High level of security: The centralized network computing model
is a highly secure network model. This is because network
security can be implemented and monitored centrally from the
server.
Cost effectiveness: High-end investment is required for
establishing a high-capacity and secure server. On the other
hand, clients require very low investment. This reduces the
overall cost of setting up a centralized network.

2) Distributed network
A distributed network is a type of computer network that is
spread over different networks. This provides a single data
communication network, which can be managed jointly or
separately by each network. Besides shared communication
within the network, a distributed network often also distributes
processing.
In distributed computing, processing and data are spread out
over multiple computers, usually over a network. Years ago -prior to low-cost computer power on the desktop -- computing
was organized in centralized "glass houses" (so-called because
the computers were often shown to visitors through picture
windows). Today, most enterprises locate applications and data
where they can operate most efficiently, to some mix of desktop

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workstations, local area network servers, regional servers, Web

servers, and other servers.
A few examples of distributed systems:
In a distributed database, portions of the database are stored on
multiple computers within a network. Users have access to the
portion of the database at their location so that they can access
the data relevant to their tasks without interfering with the work
of others.
3) Collaborative network
A collaborative network is a network consisting of a variety
of entities (e.g. organizations and people) that are largely
autonomous, geographically distributed, and heterogeneous in
terms of their operating environment, culture, social
capital and goals, but that collaborate to better achieve
common or compatible goals, and whose interactions are
supported by computer networks.

Types of Networks
There are several different types of computer networks. Computer
networks can be characterized by their size as well as their purpose.
The size of a network can be expressed by the geographic area they
occupy and the number of computers that are part of the network.
Networks can cover anything from a handful of devices within a
single room to millions of devices spread across the entire globe.
Some of the different networks based on size are:
Local area network, or LAN
Metropolitan area network, or MAN
Wide area network, or WAN

LAN (Local Area Network)

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A local area network, or LAN, consists of a computer network at a

single site, typically an individual office building. A LAN is very useful
for sharing resources, such as data storage and printers. LANs can be
built with relatively inexpensive hardware, such as hubs, network
adapters and Ethernet cables.
The smallest LAN may only use two computers, while larger LANs can
accommodate thousands of computers. A LAN typically relies mostly
on wired connections for increased speed and security, but wireless
connections can also be part of a LAN. High speed and relatively low
cost are the defining characteristics of LANs.
LANs are typically used for single sites where people need to share
resources among themselves but not with the rest of the outside
world. Think of an office building where everybody should be able to
access files on a central server or be able to print a document to one
or more central printers. Those tasks should be easy for everybody
working in the same office, but you would not want somebody just
walking outside to be able to send a document to the printer from
their cell phone! If a local area network, or LAN, is entirely wireless, it
is referred to as a wireless local area network, or WLAN.
Advantages of LAN
Speed
Cost
Security
E-mail
Resource Sharing
Disadvantages of LAN
Expensive To Install
Requires Administrative Time

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 File Server May Fail

Cables May Break

Metropolitan Area Network

A metropolitan area network, or MAN, consists of a computer
network across an entire city, college campus or small region. A MAN
is larger than a LAN, which is typically limited to a single building or
site. Depending on the configuration, this type of network can cover
an area from several miles to tens of miles. A MAN is often used to
connect several LANs together to form a bigger network. When this
type of network is specifically designed for a college campus, it is
sometimes referred to as a campus area network, or CAN. A MAN
often acts as a high speed network to allow sharing of regional
resources. A MAN typically covers an area of between 5 and 50 km
diameter.
Examples of MAN: Telephone company network that provides a high
speed DSL to customers and cable TV network.

Disadvantages of MAN
1)more cable required for a man connection from one place to
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another
2)the large the network becomes difficult to mange
3)it is difficult to make the system secure from hackers and industrial
espionageeographical regions...

Wide Area Network

A wide area network, or WAN, occupies a very large area, such as
an entire country or the entire world. A WAN can contain multiple
smaller networks, such as LANs or MANs. The Internet is the bestknown example of a public WAN.

Advantages Of WAN
Covers a large geographical area so long distance businesses
can connect on the one network
Shares software and resources with connecting workstations
Messages can be sent very quickly to anyone else on the
network. These messages can have pictures, sounds, or data
included with them (called attachments).
Expensive things (such as printers or phone lines to the internet)
can be shared by all the computers on the network without
having to buy a different peripheral for each computer.
Everyone on the network can use the same data. This avoids
problems where some users may have older information than
others.
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 Share information/files over a larger area

Disadvantages Of WAN
Are expensive and generally slow
Need a good firewall to restrict outsiders from entering and
disrupting the network
Setting up a network can be an expensive and complicated
experience. The bigger the network the more expensive it is.
Security is a real issue when many different people have the
ability to use information from other computers. Protection
against hackers and viruses adds more complexity and expense.

Network security
It consists of the provisions and policies adopted by a network
administrator to prevent and monitor unauthorized access, misuse,
modification, or denial of a computer network and network-accessible
resources. Network security involves the authorization of access to
data in a network, which is controlled by the network administrator.
Users choose or are assigned an ID and password or other
authenticating information that allows them access to information and
programs within their authority. Network security covers a variety of
computer networks, both public and private, that are used in
everyday jobs conducting transactions and communications among
businesses, government agencies and individuals. Networks can be
private, such as within a company, and others which might be open to
public access. Network security is involved in organizations,
enterprises, and other types of institutions. It does as its title explains:
It secures the network, as well as protecting and overseeing
operations being done. The most common and simple way of

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protecting a network resource is by assigning it a unique name and a

corresponding password.

Network configuration
1 . Peer-to-Peer Networks
In a peer-to-peer network, there are no dedicated servers,
and there is no hierarchy among the computers. All the
computers are equal and therefore are known as peers. Each
computer functions as both a client and a server, and there is
no administrator responsible for the entire network. The user
at each computer determines what data on that computer is
shared on the network.

Peer-to-peer networks are good choices for environments where:

There are 10 users or fewer.
Users share resources, such as files and printers, but no
specialized servers exist.
Security is not an issue.

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 The organization and the network will experience only limited

growth within the foreseeable future.
2. Server-Based Networks
In an environment with more than 10 users, a peer-to-peer network
with computers acting as both servers and clientswill probably not
be adequate. Therefore, most networks have dedicated servers. A
dedicated server is one that functions only as a server and is not used
as a client or workstation. Servers are described as "dedicated"
because they are not themselves clients, and because they are
optimized to service requests from network clients quickly and to
ensure the security of files and directories.

Client/server architecture is a producer-consumer computing

architecture where the server acts as the producer and the client as a
consumer. The server houses and provides high-end, computingintensive services to the client on demand. These services can include
applications access, storage, file sharing, printer access and/or direct
access to the servers raw computing power.
Client/server architecture works when the client computer sends a
resource or process request to the server over the network
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connection, which is then processed and delivered to the client. A

server computer can manage several clients simultaneously, whereas
one client can be connected to several servers at a time, each
providing a different set of services. In its simplest form, the Internet
is also based on client/server architecture where the Web server
serves many simultaneous users with Web page and or website data.

Network application
1. Email
Electronic mail, most commonly referred to as email or email since c 1993,[2] is a method of exchanging digital messages
from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates
across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early
email systems required that the author and the recipient both
be online at the same time, in common with instant messaging.
Today's email systems are based on a store-and-forward model.
Emailservers accept, forward, deliver, and store messages.
Neither the users nor their computers are required to be online
simultaneously; they need connect only briefly, typically to
a mail server, for as long as it takes to send or receive
messages. Historically, the term electronic mail was used
generically for any electronic document transmission. For
example, several writers in the early 1970s used the term to
describe fax document transmission.[3][4] As a result, it is difficult
to find the first citation for the use of the term with the more
specific meaning it has today.
An Internet email message consists of three components, the
message envelope, the message header, and the message body.
The message header contains control information, including,
minimally, an originator's email address and one or more
recipient addresses. Usually descriptive information is also
added, such as a subject header field and a message submission
date/time stamp.

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2. Voice mail
Voicemail (also known as voice mail, voice
message or voice bank) is a computer based system that
allows users and subscribers to exchange personal voice
messages; to select and deliver voice information; and to
process transactions relating to individuals, organizations,
products and services, using an ordinary telephone. The term is
also used more broadly to denote any system of conveying a
stored telecommunications voice messages, including using
an answering machine. Most cell phone services offer voice-mail
as a basic feature, many corporate PBXs include versatile
internal voice-messaging services
3. FTP
The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard network
protocol used to transfer computer files from one host to another
host over a TCP-based network, such as the Internet.
FTP is built on a client-server architecture and uses separate
control and data connections between the client and the server.
[1]
FTP users may authenticate themselves using aclear-text signin protocol, normally in the form of a username and password,
but can connect anonymously if the server is configured to allow
it. For secure transmission that protects the username and
password, and encrypts the content, FTP is
often secured with SSL/TLS (FTPS). SSH File Transfer
Protocol (SFTP) is sometimes also used instead, but is
technologically different.

4. WWW
The World Wide Web (www, W3) is an information
system of interlinked hypertext documents that are accessed
via the Internet and built on top of the Domain Name System.
[1]
It has also commonly become known simply as the Web.
Individual document pages on the World Wide Web are
called web pages and are accessed with a software
application running on the user's computer, commonly called

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a web browser. Web pages may contain text, images, videos,

and other multimedia components, as well as web
navigationfeatures consisting of hyperlinks.
5. E-commerce
Electronic commerce, commonly known as Ecommerce or eCommerce, is trading in products or services using
computer networks, such as the Internet. Electronic commerce draws
on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds
transfer,supply chain management, Internet marketing, online
transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory
management systems, and automated data collection systems.
Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide Web for at
least one part of the transaction's life cycle, although it may also use
other technologies such as e-mail.
E-commerce businesses may employ some or all of the following:
Online shopping web sites for retail sales direct to consumers
Providing or participating in online marketplaces, which process
third-party business-to-consumer or consumer-to-consumer sales
Business-to-business buying and selling
Gathering and using demographic data through web contacts
and social media
Business-to-business electronic data interchange
6. Chat
chat may refer to any kind of communication over
the Internet that offers a real-time transmission
of text messages from sender to receiver. Chat messages are
generally short in order to enable other participants to
respond quickly. Thereby, a feeling similar to a spoken
conversation is created, which distinguishes chatting from
other text-based online communication forms such
as Internet forums and email. Online chat may address pointto-point communications as well as multicastcommunications
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from one sender to many receivers and voice and video chat,
or may be a feature of a web conferencingservice.
Online chat in a less stringent definition may be primarily any
direct text-based or video-based (webcams), one-on-one chat
or one-to-many group chat (formally also known
as synchronous conferencing), using tools such as instant
messengers, Internet Relay Chat (IRC), talkers and
possibly MUDs. The expression online chat comes from the
word chat which means "informal conversation".
7. BBS
A bulletin board system, or BBS, is a computer
server running custom software that allows users to connect
to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, the
user can perform functions such as uploading and
downloading software and data, reading news and bulletins,
and exchanging messages with other users through email,
publicmessage boards, and sometimes via direct chatting.
Many BBSes also offer on-line games, in which users can
compete with each other, and BBSes with multiple phone
lines often provide chat rooms, allowing users to interact with
each other. Bulletin board systems were in many ways a
precursor to the modern form of the World Wide Web, social
networksand other aspects of the Internet.
8. User groups
A computer user group (also known as a computer club)
is a group of people who enjoy
using microcomputers or personal computers and who meet
regularly to discuss the use of computers, share knowledge
and experience, hear from representatives of hardware
manufacturers and software publishers, and hold other
related activities. They may host special interest workgroups,
often focusing on one particular aspect of computing. A user
account can be a member of more than one group. The two
most common user groups are the standard user group and
the administrator group, but there are others. A user account
is often referred to by the user group it's in (for example, an

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account in the standard user group is called a standard

account). If you have an administrator account, you can
create custom user groups, move accounts from one group to
another, and add or remove accounts from different groups.
When you create a custom user group, you can choose which
rights to assign.

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