Title: A module on Introduction to Computer Networking

Introduction:

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. This
module will help you understand fundamental concepts on computer networking.
Functions of Network Interface (NIC) and Computer Software will be discussed. In
addition, a review on Number system conversion will be required on understanding
the ASCII code.

Objectives:

At the end of the topic module, the students should be able to:

1) discuss what computer networking is all about;

2) recognize the need for computer networking;
3) identify the components of a personal computer (PC);
4) describe an idealized computer;
5) explain the function of network interface card (NIC);
6) explain the functions of a computer software; and
7) review the conversion from decimal number base system to a binary
number base system and vice versa.

Instruction to the users:

By way of a sample, instructions for using a given module are

reproduced below:
1) Before you begin this module, take the pre-test to find out
whether or not you need to go through it. If you get a score of
80% or better in the pre-test, you need not to do the module. If
you do not, then you should go through a module carefully at
your own pace.
2) Each activity has a test. This is a test to find out what you know
already about the unit. Try to answer each exercise thoroughly
and completely. Write down your answers on the answer
sheet.
 3) If you do not know the answers, go ahead to the next part.
4) Check your answer against the answer key found in the next
page.
5) Consult your teacher only when you have a problem or difficulty
regarding the module which you cannot solve by yourself.
6) After completion of this module, ask for the post-test. You must
get a score of 80 percent or better to be able to move on to the
next module. If you do not reach this criterion for the post test,
you will have to go through the module again.
7) Now, you are ready for the next module.

Pre-test:
I. Multiple choice:
Read each statement carefully. You can write down your
answers on a separate answer sheet. (1 point each).

Answer Key:
If you get a score of 80% or better, you need not to do this module. If
you do not, then you should go through this module carefully at your own
pace. Passing Score is 0 points.
Presentation:
COMPUTER NETWORKING AND DATA COMMUNICATION

As we move towards the new millennium, computer networking (which is

used everywhere from home to large companies) has indeed come a long way. A
global computer network that links information and people known as the Internet has
become an important technological field of our time since it melds communications
and computing technology to provide users with instant connectivity and global
information services at very low cost.

Now, what is a computer network? A computer network (shown in Figure 1.1)

refers to a system consisting of computers and devices connected together via
communications devices and media (e. g. switches or router) that allows users to
share resources or exchange files. It is a means by which computers can "talk" to
one another through the use of cables, telephone lines, radio waves, satellites,
infrared light beams or WIFI that connect them.

Figure 1. 1: Typical Computer Network

Figure 1.1 shows the typical physical components of a network, including the
PCs, interconnections and switches.
 The interconnections, such as the cable network media, provide the means
by which the signals are transmitted from one networked device to another and the
connectors that provide the connection points for the media.

The switches are devices that provide network attachment to the end systems
and intelligent switching of the data within the local network.

On the other hand, data communications refer to the study on how devices,
not necessarily computers, can transfer digital information (commonly known as
“signals”) via wired or wireless transmission medium which include:

 For Electricity: copper wires, coaxial cable, twisted pair (UTP and
STP)
 For Light: infra-red through air, laser through fiberoptic cable
 For Electromagnetic radiation: broadcast radio (radio frequencies),
microwave, satellite

Data communications is sometimes confused with the words

“telecommunications” and “computer networks” since these three fields of study have
always had a number of overlapping concepts which is increasingly difficult to
separate one from the other.

The word telecommunications comes from a contraction of the Greek “tele”,

which means “far” and Latin root “communicare”, which means “discipline that
studies the principles of transmitting information and the methods by which it is
delivered”. Hence, telecommunications refers to any process that permits the
exchange of information (e. g. voice, data, text, images, and video signals) over great
distances, in the form of electromagnetic signals, through electromagnetic system (e.
g. satellite systems, broadband systems, microwave systems, digital networks,
telephone networks, radio stations, LAN, and wireless networks). Data
communications is a subset of telecommunication while computer networks are
considered a sub-discipline of both data communications and telecommunications
since it relies upon the theoretical and practical application of these disciplines.

ADVANTAGES OF COMPUTER NETWORKS

Today, computer networks are being used in every facet of life, as they
provide the following advantages.

 • Sharing Information: Sharing is the real key to networking. By means

of network, computers can share information – from files, to programs,
 to hardware devices or peripherals, regardless of the physical location
of the resource and the user. With sharing, time, effort, and money
could be saved.
 Sharing Hardware Resources: By means of network, electronic
transfer is faster since computers can share peripherals (e. g. printer
and hard disk drives) with any other computer. For example, a certain
office has only one printer and has five to ten computers. In the
absence of network, the only computer that can be used to print the
needed information is the one that is connected to the printer and the
others that need to access the device will be required to copy or
transfer their data over the aforementioned computer through the use
of removable storage media – floppy drives, jazz drives, tape drives,
etc. Hence, with networking, only a few sets of peripherals are
provided as these could be accessed or shared by the different
computer terminals, thus eliminating redundant peripherals reduces
costs.
 Sharing Software Resources: By means of network, programs, or
applications used by computers to perform any useful function or to
carry out daily basis task can be installed and configured centrally on
a server and can be shared by all. With this, more time and disk space
are saved.
 Preserve Information: Another advantage is the increase in security.
By means of networking, regular backups of data that are kept on the
server as well as on other connected computers on the network will
not immediately result in loss of information, since these data are still
accessible from other computers whenever required. Access
privileges, however, are set electronically. This protects the user files
from unauthorized accesses.
 Communication: By means of the network, the office can be a
paperless environment since users can instantly send messages to
others and even check whether or not their messages have been
received. Exchanging memos and directives on paper often involves a
lot of printing costs and delays.

On top of these basic benefits of computer networking, the lives of humans

are simplified resulting in higher throughput since computers make completing tasks
more efficient, which in turn result in better productivity.
REQUIREMENTS FOR INTERNET CONNECTION

It is important to be familiar with the services that the Internet provides us to

recognize its proper use. But first, we have to understand the structure of the Internet
as well as how to test it if you’re connected in order for you to avail its advantages.
Below are the requirements for Internet connection:

 Physical Connection – It is used to transfer signals between PCs

within the local network and to remote devices on the Internet.
 Logical connection – It uses a standard called protocol or a set of
protocols like TCP/IP.
 Application that interprets the data and display the information – It
works with protocols to send and receive data across the Internet such
as web browser, File Transfer Protocol (FTP), etc.

To verify network connectivity, a “Ping” command utility is used. It works by

sending multiple IP packets to the specified destination and waiting for the packet
replies. If the ping receives an echo reply, the connectivity is verified. If it fails, it will
show messages like destination unreachable and timeout messages. The following
examples describe the types of ping tests that are commonly used in a network:

 ping 127.0.0.1 – It is called an internal loopback test.

 ping the IP address of host computer – It verifies connectivity to the
host.
 ping default-gateway IP address – It verifies whether the router that
connects the local network to other networks can be reached.
 ping remote destination IP address – It verifies connectivity to a
remote host.

USING A PC ON A NETWORK

Computers are one of the major categories of network “building blocks,” thus,
it is important to be able to identify and describe their major components, including
both hardware and software. Those components that are contained inside the casing
and are largely involved with the internal processing include the following:

 Motherboard – It is the main printed circuit board of a computer.

 Central Processing Unit (CPU) – It is the part of a computer that
controls all the other components. It fetches instructions from memory
 and decodes them. This action may cause it to transfer data to or from
memory or to activate peripherals to perform input or output.
 Bus – It is a collection of wires through which data is transmitted from
one part of a computer to another. It connects all the internal computer
components to the CPU. The Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) and
the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) are the two (2) types of
buses.
 Random Access Memory (RAM) – It is also known as read-write
computer memory that has new data written into it as well as stored
data read from it. A drawback of RAM is that it requires electrical
power to maintain data storage. If the computer is turned OFF or loses
power, all data stored in RAM is lost, unless the data was saved to
disk.
 Read-Only-Memory (ROM) – It is a computer memory on which data
has been prerecorded. Once data has been written onto a ROM chip,
it cannot be removed and can only be read.
 Power Supply – It is a component that supplies power to a computer
and converts AC power to DC and breaks it into the amounts needed
by different devices.
 Hard Disk Drive (HDD) – It is a device that reads and writes data on a
hard disk. Two (2) main types of drive interfaces are current in today’s
computers: Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) drive and the Small
Computer System Interface (SCSI; pronounced scuzzy) drive. It is
usually referred to by interface type and capacity (MB or GB; for
example, 10 GB SCSI drive).
 Operating system – It is a software that controls the operation of the
computer (Windows, Macintosh, UNIX, and so on.)

The components of a computer that require access from the outside are as
follows:

 External Ports – These are connectors to which other devices

attached, including the following:
o Serial Port – It connects to asynchronous serial devices such
as an external modem.
o Video port – It connects to an external video monitor.
o Ethernet port – It connects to an Ethernet network data cable.
 o Universal Serial Bus (USB) Port – It is a standard connection
port designed for connecting computer peripherals such as
mouse, keyboard, joysticks, printers, scanners, digital
cameras, flash drives, and external HDDs.
o PS/2 port – It is an external keyboard and mouse connection.
 Compact disc read – only memory (CD-ROM) drive – It is a device
into which a CD can be inserted to and the data read from it.
 Compact disc read – write memory (CD-RW) drive – It is a device into
which a CD can be inserted to and the data read from it; if writable CD
media are used, data can also be stored on it.
 A USB flash drive - a data storage device that includes flash
memory with an integrated USB interface. It is typically removable,
rewritable and much smaller than an optical disc.

Figure 1. 2: An Idealized Computer: Information Flow

 The figure 1.2 above shows the basic components of an idealized computer.
As you can see, the internal components of a PC are all attached to the system bus,
wherein information and electric power constantly flow. Hence, we can say that a PC
is a miniature network, with all the various devices within the system unit attached to
and communicating with each other. Below are some of the important information
that flows through the bus:

 Boot instructions – These are stored in ROM, until they are sent out.
 Software applications – These are stored in RAM after they have been
loaded.
 RAM and ROM – These two constantly talk to the CPU through the
bus.
 Application information – These are stored in RAM while applications
are being used.
 Saved information – This flows from RAM to some form of storage
device.
 Exported information – This flows from RAM and the CPU, through the
bus and expansion slots, to the printer, video card, sound card, or
network card.

NETWORK INTERFACE CARD AND EXPLAIN ITS RELATIONSHIP TO PC

Network interface card (NIC) (a.k.a. LAN adapter) is an expansion board that
provides network communication capabilities to and from a computer system.

It is plugged into the motherboard and provides a port to connect to the

network. It communicates with the network through a serial connection and with the
computer through a parallel connection.

Each card requires an IRQ, an I/O address, and an upper memory address to
work with DOS or Windows. An IRQ or interrupt request line is a signal informing a
CPU that an event that needs its attention has occurred. An IRQ is sent over a
hardware line to the microprocessor. An example of an interrupt being issued would
be when a key is pressed on a keyboard; the CPU must move the character from the
keyboard to RAM. An I/O address is a location in memory used to enter data or
retrieve data from a computer by an auxiliary device. In DOS-based systems, upper
memory refers to the memory area between the first 640 kilobytes (K) and 1
megabyte (M) of RAM.

FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED IN CHOOSING THE NIC

 When selecting a network card, the following are to be considered:

 Bus type (PCI, ISA, EISA, and so on)

 Network topology (bus, ring, star)
 Medium type (UTP, STP, 10Base2, 10Base5, 10BaseF)
 Transport speed (1 Mbps, 4 Mbps, 10 Mbps, 16 Mbps, 100 Mbps,
1000 Mbps)

DEFINITION AND PURPOSE OF COMPUTER SOFTWARE IN NETWORKING

To ensure that the network is available to its users without interruption, a

computer software intended for managing networks is a must for us to see what is
happening with it at any time.

The types of network administration software are as follows:

 Network Operating System (NOS) – This coordinates the activities of

multiple computers across a network through the following remote
services below. These remote services enable concurrent access to
share resources, either by multiple clients (peer–to–peer networking
operating system) or server systems responding to a client request
(client/server networking operating system)
o Access to remote printers – The NOS allows one to manage
the usage of printer as to when will it be used or what printer is
connected to a certain computer. Aside from that, it also allows
how print jobs are queued and managed. Also, it recognizes
when devices are not available to the network.
o Access to files on remote systems – The NOS allows one to
determine who can and can’t access a certain data/file.
o Access to remote applications and resources (e. g. Internet) –
The NOS allows one to make the network resources
transparent and available to the user.
o Routing services (including support for major networking
protocols) – The NOS allows one to determine what and where
to send a certain data.
o System and security monitoring – The NOS provides proper
security against viruses, hackers, and data corruption.
 o Basic network administration utilities (e. g. SNMP – Simple
Network Management Protocol) – The NOS enables one to
perform task involving managing resources and users.
 Network monitoring software – This can be simple or sophisticated,
and either free or purchasable. Its two general categories are as
follows:
o Protocol analyzers – These capture packets of data that are
transmitted on the network between computers. These also
“decode” the data so that one can read it and determine what
is going on during the transmission.
o Sniffing software (a.k.a. packet sniffers) – This operates
similarly as a telephone wiretap. Through this, one can
observe the communication between designated computers on
the network to determine how the transmission is progressing,
and at the same time what is being transmitted.
 Network management software – This allows one to perform the tasks
listed below. Examples of this are the Systems Management Server
(SMS) manufactured by Microsoft, Tivoli Enterprise by IBM, and the
OpenView of Hewlett-Packard.
o Documenting the devices on a network and the status of each
device
o Managing software licenses
o Controlling computers on the network remotely
o Receiving notifications of network problems

NETWORK MATH

During the previous discussions in the previous semesters, we understand

that we, human beings normally use the decimal number system to represent
numbers while computers recognize an electrical switch state – whether a switch is in
“off state” or in an “on state”.

The “off state” stands for the numeric symbol “0” while the “on state” stands
for the numeric symbol “1”. This number representation is known as the binary
number system.
 These 0s and 1s represent the two (2) possible states of an electronic
component and are referred to as binary digits or bits. The network device addresses
as well as the Internet use this binary system to define their location on the network.

Figure 1. 3: American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) chart

Figure 1.3 shows the American Standard Code for Information Interchange
(ASCII) chart which displays the binary number representation of many keyboards
and control characters. ASCII is one of the several character encoding systems used
in LANs.

The problem with writing the binary number system is verbosity. Hence, the
octal number system and the hexadecimal number system were introduced to save
space and lessen the number of digits.

Although we use decimal numbers in networking to display information such

as IP addresses (which is to be discussed in the later part), they are transmitted as
OFF’s and ON’s that we represent in binary. Hence, a review of the binary as well as
the decimal number system is important to understand networking. We will convert
the given decimal numbers into binary for us to recall the discussion about the
number system.
 Post-test:

I. Multiple choice
Read each statement carefully. You can write down your
answers on a separate answer sheet. (1 point each)
1)
a) b)
c) d)
2)
a) b)
c) d)
3)
a) b)
c) d)
4)
a) b)
c) d)
5)
a) b)
c) d)
6)
a) b)
c) d)
7)
a) b)
c) d)
8)
a) b)
c) d)
9)
a) b)
c) d)
10)
a) b)
c) d)
11)
a) b)
c) d)
12)
a) b)
c) d)
13)
a) b)
c) d)
14)
a) b)
c) d)
15)
a) b)
c) d)
16)
a) b)
c) d)
17)
a) b)
c) d)
18)
a) b)
c) d)
19)
a) b)
c) d)
20)
a) b)
c) d)

Answer Key with explanation:

Reference:

Mueller, S. (2013). Upgrading and Repairing PC's 21st Edition. Indianapolis, Ind.:
Que.

Oliviero, A. (2014). Cabling: the complete guide to copper and fiber-optic networking,
5th ed., Indianapolis, IN: John Wiley and Sons.

Sosinsky, B. (2009). Networking bible. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Pub., Inc. Tanenbaum,
A. (2011). Computer Networks 5th Edition. Boston: Pearson Prentice Hall.