Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research

University of Technology
Computer Engineering Department

Local area network

Computer Networks Lab

‫ وﺳﺎم ﻟؤي طﻲ‬: ‫اﺳم اﻟطﺎﻟب‬

‫ ﻣﻌﻠوﻣﺎت‬:‫اﻻﺧﺗﺻﺎص‬
‫ اﻟﺛﺎﻟﺛﺔ‬: ‫اﻟﻣرﺣﻠﺔ‬
‫ اﻟﻣﺳﺎﺋﻲ‬: ‫اﻟدراﺳﺔ‬
2020 / 7 / 22 : ‫ﺗﺎرﯾﺦ اﻟﺗﺳﻠﯾم‬

2019 - 2020
 ABSTRACT

A computer network is a group of computers that use a set of common communication

protocols over digital interconnections for the purpose of sharing resources located on
or provided by the network nodes.
The interconnections between nodes are formed from a broad spectrum of telecommunication
network technologies, based on physically wired, optical, and wireless radio-frequency
methods that may be arranged in a variety of network topologies .

INTRODUCTION

A computer network extends interpersonal communications by electronic

means with various technologies, such as email, instant messaging, online
chat, voice and video telephone calls, and video conferencing.
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 or use of a
shared storage device.
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.

Types Of Network

Nanoscale network . Backbone network

Personal area network (PAN) . Metropolitan area network (MAN) .

Local area network (LAN) . Wide area network (WAN) .

Home area network (HAM) . Enterprise private network

Storage area network (SAN) . Virtual private network (VPN) .

Campus area network (CAN) . Global area network (GAN) .

 Local area network (LAN)

A local area network (LAN) is a computer network that interconnects computers

within a limited area such as a residence, school, laboratory, university campus or
office building By contrast, a wide area network (WAN) not only covers a larger
geographic distance, but also generally involves leased telecommunication circuits.
Early Ethernet used coaxial cable. Shielded twisted pair was used in IBM's Token Ring LAN
implementation. In 1984, StarLAN showed the potential of simple unshielded twisted pair by
using category 3 cable—the same cable used for telephone systems.
This led to the development of 10BASE-T (and its twisted-pair successors) and structured
cabling which is still the basis of most commercial LANs today.

LANs usually are owned by the organizaon that is using the network to interconnect equipment

Example of LAN applications:

• Personal computer LAN

• Storage Area Networks
• High speed office networks

Personal Computer LANs

• low cost
• limited data rate
• back end networks
• interconnecting large systems (mainframes /servers and large storage devices)
• high data rate
• high speed interface
• distributed access
• limited distance
• limited number of devices
 Features

• high speed office networks

• desktop image processing
• high capacity local storage
• backbone LANs
• interconnect low speed local LANs
• reliability
• capacity
• cost

Bus and Tree

• used with multipoint medium

• transmission propagates throughout medium
• heard by all stations
• full duplex connection between station and tap
• allows for transmission and reception
• need to regulate transmission
• to avoid collisions and hogging
• terminator absorbs frames at end of medium
• tree a generalization of bus
• headend connected to branching cables

LAN Standards

• LAN standards for different topologies

• IEEE Standard 802.3
• Ethernet
• Bus topology
• IEEE Standard 802.5
• Token Ring
• Ring topology
• IEEE Standard 802.4 (obsolete)
• Token Bus
• Bus topology
A network, in general, is composed of a wide variety of nodes that are connected by
transmission media which may be point-to-point or broadcast. Networks supply their
users with communication channels. The exchange of messages is controlled by communication
protocols.
In a typical network, PCs, minicomputers or mainframes have direct access to the network,
while dumb terminals are wired into terminal servers that are connected to the network.
The most obvious threats to information security are those concerning data while being
transmitted over a network.
There is a long standing tradition of methods and techniques for
communications security (COMSEC), most of which involve the use of cryptography.
In traditional applications of cryptography the main objective used to be data confidentiality.
For many commercial network users, however, confidentiality is of secondary importance.
A secure network for business applications must rather provide for authentication of the
originator of' a message and for protection against unauthorized changes of the data
transmitted (data integrity).
For a number of years local area networks (LANs) have become very widespread, since
they provide a cost effective way of connecting hosts, PCs, terminals, and peripheral
devices to each other.
LANs used to be confined to small areas and, therefore, did not seem to be much exposed
to outsider's attacks. Therefore, security has not been an issue for most of their 212 users.
It is, however, important to note that nowadays in many cases LANs extend to much
wider areas than the very term indicates.
By using repeaters and bridges in order to achieve connectivity between "LAN islands"
many installations have grown into very complextopologies covering fairly large areas.
This is one of the reasons why the need for LAN security has become more commonly
recognized.
Only a few vendors of networking equipment have responded yet to this need by offering
concepts and products achieving a high level of security.
As progress in network security standards is relatively slow [Kirk 88], many organisations
have to implement security measures ahead of those standards.
Network Security Issues
In a computer network, one must expect several sorts of malicious activities.
Some of them exist with no premeditated intent. Examples of such accidental threats are
system malfunctions and software bugs.
Major intentional network security threats include:
9 Wire Tapping. Network media can be tapped. Some media are more, some are less tap
resistant. Network media may also radiate information which is a typical weakness of
electromagnetic media.
It is generally regarded a simple matter to record the data passing through a communications
line without detection by the communicating parties.
Because in many systems, passwords for access to computers and applications are transmitted
over the network in clear, an unprotected communications line is likely to establish a
considerably weak spot in an organisation's information security practice.
Masquerading. A masquerade is where an entity pretends to be a different entity.
In many networks, nodes can masquerade as other nodes and may then introduce invalid
messages into the network that are delivered as if they were genuine.
9 Modification of Messages. Modification of a message occurs when the content of a
data transmission is altered without detection and results in an unauthorized effect.
9 Replay of Messages.
A replay occurs when a message, or part of it, is repeated to produce an unauthorized
effect.
If it is both possible to record and to introduce messages into a network, nodes may
retransmit previously transmitted messages (modified or unmodified).
9 Denial of Service. Denial of service occurs when a node fails to perform its proper
function or acts in a way that prevents other nodes from performing their proper functions.
Examples are the suppression of selected messages (e.g. of those directed to a security
audit device) or the generation of extra traffic to slow down or disrupt communications.
9 Trapdoors and Trojan Horses. When an entity is modified to allow an attacker to
produce an unauthorized effect on command or at a predetermined event (e.g. a specific
date and time), the result is called a trapdoor.
A trojan horse also introduces unauthorized functionality into a system. An example
for a trojan horse is a relay that copies messages to an unauthorized channel.
Network protocols often rely on the fact that every node is honest. Common mechanisms
assume that only the addressed devices will respond to a request for information and that no
 References

A Review of the Basic Components of

a Local Area Network (LAN)

Scott, W. Ross; Cavedo, Robert F. (1984-09-01),

Local Area Network Demonstration Procedures

Networking Fundamentals: Wide, Local and Personal Area Communications

Kaveh Pahlavan, Prashant Krishnamurthy

Networking Fundamentals: Wide, Local and Personal Area Communications

Kaveh Pahlavan, Prashant Krishnamurthy

CRC Handbook of Local Area Network Software : Concepts and Technology

Fortier, Paul L

Ethernet: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition: Designing and Managing Local Area Networks
Charles Spurgeon, Joann Zimmerman

Local Area Network Management, Design & Security

Arne Mikalsen, Per Borgesen