CLASS-XII

COMPUTER SCIENCE

COMPUTER NETWORK

NOTES

The term computer networks resulted from the 'combination of two major areas,
namely computers and communications.

The term network is defined as a set of computers of different types, terminals,

telephones, and other communication equipment, connected by data
communication links, which allow the network components to work together. The
network components may be located within a small area or spread over many
remote locations. In any case, data communications hold the network together.

• Two computers are said to be interconnected if they interchange information. The

connection between the separate computers can be done via a copper wire, fiber
optics, microwaves or communication satellite.

• A printer, computer, or any machine that is capable of communicating on the

network is referred to as a device or node.

•We can also say that computer network is an interconnection of various computers
to share software, hardware and data through a communication medium between
them. The computers connected in a network share files, folders, applications and
resources like scanner, web-cams, printers etc.

The best example of computer network is the Internet.

A computer network is an interconnection of various computers to share

software, hardware, resources and data through a communication medium between
them.

Uses of Computer Networks :

The computer networks are playing an important role in providing services to large
organizations as well as to the individual common man.

1. Resource sharing.
2. For providing high reliability.

3. To save money.

4. It can provide a powerful communication medium.

Resource sharing

• It allows all programs, equipments and data available to anyone on the network
irrespective of the physical location of the resource and the user.

• Show in Fig (a) and (b) which shows a printer being shared and different
information being shared.

High reliability due to alternative sources of data

• It provides high reliability by having alternative sources of data. For e.g. all files
could be replicated on more than one machines, so if one of them is unavailable
due to hardware failure or any other reason, the other copies can be used.

• The aspect of high reliability is very important for military, banking, air traffic
control, nuclear reactor safety and many other applications where continuous
operations is a must even if there are hardware or software failures.
Money saving

• Computer networking is an important financial aspect for organizations because it

saves money.

• Organizations can use separate personal computer one per user instead of using
mainframe computer which are expensive.

The organizations can use the workgroup model (peer to peer) in which all the PCs
are networked together and each one can have the access to the other for
communicating or sharing purpose.

• The organization, if it wants security for its operation it can go in for the domain
model in which there is a server and clients. All the clients can communicate and
access data through the server.

• The whole arrangement is called as client -server model.

Client: The individual workstations in the network are called as clients.

Server: The central computer which is more powerful than the clients and
which allows the clients to access its software and database is called as the
server .

Communication in client-server configuration:

• The client places a request on the server machine when he wants an access to the
centralized resources.

• The server responds to this request and sends the signal accordingly to the client.

• The software run at the client computer is called as client program. This software
configures the computer to act as a client.

• Similarly the software run on the server computer IS called as server program. It
configures a computer to act as a server.

• The computer networks offer the following services to an individual person:

1. Access to remote information

2. Person to person communication

3. Interactive entertainment.

Access to remote information

Access to remote information involves interaction· between a person and a remote

database. Access to remote information comes in many forms like:

(i) Home shopping, paying telephone, electricity bills, e-banking, on line share
market etc.

(ii) Newspaper is. On-line and is personalized, digital library consisting of books,
magazines, scientific journals etc.

(iii) World wide web which contains information. about the arts, business, cooking,
government, health, history, hobbies, recreation, science, sports etc.

Person to person communication

Person to person communication includes:

(i) Electronic-mail (e-mail)

(ii) Real time e-mail i.e. video conferencing allows remote users to communicate
with no delay by seeing and hearing each other. Video-conferencing is being used
for remote school, getting medical opinion from distant specialists etc.
(iii) Worldwide newsgroups in which one person posts a message and all other
subscribers to the newsgroup can read it or give their feedbacks.

Interactive entertainment

Interactive entertainment includes:

(i) Multiperson real-time simulation games.

(ii) Video on demand.

(iii) Participation in live TV programmers likes quiz, contest, discussions etc.

In short, the ability to merge information, communication and entertainment will

surely give rise to a massive new industry based on computer networking.

Communication Channels: These are the medium on which data,

instructions, or information can travel. Most commonly used media are physical
and wireless.

Physical Transmission Media: use wires or cables to send

communication signals.

o Twisted-Pair Cable: It consists of one or more twisted-pair wires bundled

together. Each twisted-pair wire consists of two separate insulated copper wires
that are twisted together and is colour coded for identification. Example- Landline
phone wire.

o Coaxial Cable: It consists of a single copper wire surrounded by at least three

layers. The first one is an insulating material, the second is a wire mesh, and the
third is plastic outer coating. Example- Cable TV wire.

o Fiber-Optic Cable: It consists of hundreds of thin strands of glass or plastic that

use light to transmit signal. Many big companies use fiber-optic cables in high
traffic networks.

Wireless Transmission Media: send communication signals through air.

o Infrared (IR): sends signals using infrared light waves.
o Broadcast Radio: distributes radio signals through the air over long distances.
Bluetooth and Wi-Fi use broad radio signals.

o Cellular Radio: Used for mobile communications. It is a form of broadcast

radio. Several categories of cellular radio transmission exist, such as 1G (first
generation of cellular transmission), 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G.

o Wi-Fi: Wi-Fi is short for wireless Fidelity, which is popular wireless networking
technology that uses radio waves to provide wireless high-speed network
connections.

o Microwave: provides a high-speed wireless signal transmission. A microwave

station is an earth-based dish that contains the antenna and other equipment
necessary for microwave transmission.

o Communication Satellite: It is a space station that receives microwave signals

from an earth-based station, strengthens the signals, and broadcast the signals back
over a wide area to any number of earth-based stations. Example: Television

Network Devices (Hub, Repeater, Bridge, Switch,

Router, Gateways and Brouter)
1. Repeater – A repeater operates at the physical layer. Its job is to regenerate the
signal over the same network before the signal becomes too weak or corrupted so
as to extend the length to which the signal can be transmitted over the same
network. An important point to be noted about repeaters is that they do not amplify
the signal. When the signal becomes weak, they copy the signal bit by bit and
regenerate it at the original strength. It is a 2 port device.

2. Hub – A hub is basically a multiport repeater. A hub connects multiple wires

coming from different branches, for example, the connector in star topology which
connects different stations. Hubs cannot filter data, so data packets are sent to all
connected devices. In other words, collision domain of all hosts connected through
Hub remains one. Also, they do not have intelligence to find out best path for data
packets which leads to inefficiencies and wastage.
Types of Hub
 Active Hub:- These are the hubs which have their own power supply and can
clean, boost and relay the signal along with the network. It serves both as a
 repeater as well as wiring centre. These are used to extend the maximum
distance between nodes.
 Passive Hub :- These are the hubs which collect wiring from nodes and
power supply from active hub. These hubs relay signals onto the network
without cleaning and boosting them and can’t be used to extend the distance
between nodes.

3. Bridge – A bridge operates at data link layer. A bridge is a repeater, with add on
the functionality of filtering content by reading the MAC addresses of source and
destination. It is also used for interconnecting two LANs working on the same
protocol. It has a single input and single output port, thus making it a 2 port device.
Types of Bridges
 Transparent Bridges:- These are the bridge in which the stations are
completely unaware of the
bridge’s existence i.e. whether or not a bridge is added or deleted from the
network, reconfiguration of
the stations is unnecessary. These bridges make use of two processes i.e.
bridge forwarding and bridge learning.
 Source Routing Bridges:- In these bridges, routing operation is performed by
source station and the frame specifies which route to follow. The hot can
discover frame by sending a special frame called discovery frame, which
spreads through the entire network using all possible paths to destination.

4. Switch – A switch is a multiport bridge with a buffer and a design that can boost
its efficiency(a large number of ports imply less traffic) and performance. A switch
is a data link layer device. The switch can perform error checking before
forwarding data, that makes it very efficient as it does not forward packets that
have errors and forward good packets selectively to correct port only. In other
words, switch divides collision domain of hosts, but broadcast domain remains
same.

5. Routers – A router is a device like a switch that routes data packets based on
their IP addresses. Router is mainly a Network Layer device. Routers normally
connect LANs and WANs together and have a dynamically updating routing table
based on which they make decisions on routing the data packets. Router divide
broadcast domains of hosts connected through it.
 6. Gateway – A gateway, as the name suggests, is a passage to connect two
networks together that may work upon different networking models. They
basically work as the messenger agents that take data from one system, interpret it,
and transfer it to another system. Gateways are also called protocol converters and
can operate at any network layer. Gateways are generally more complex than
switch or router.

7. Brouter – It is also known as bridging router is a device which combines

features of both bridge and router. It can work either at data link layer or at
network layer. Working as router, it is capable of routing packets across networks
and working as bridge, it is capable of filtering local area network traffic.

8.Modem

Another significant network component is modern. The term Modem is the

shortened version of the name modulator-demodulator. Modern provides two-way
communication facility between a computer network and telephone network. As
Wide Area Network uses the existing telephone network to connect to a distant
network, it always uses a modern to dial-up the telephone network. The modem
converts the digital data from the computer into useful analog signals that can
transmit through a telephone network. Similarly, signals from the telephone
channels are converted back into digital data s1suitable for a computer
Network Hardware
These are the devices used to interconnect the components of the network,
basically the network cards, the cabling between servers and workstations, as well
as the cables to connect the peripherals.

Resources to Share

They are resources of both Software and Hardware devices. The most common
hardware devices are printers, hard drives, drives, CD ROM drives. Among the
Software resources that are shared are programs, files, applications, etc.

File Server

The primary goal of a computer network is to share data among several users. They
also make their attached disk drives, printers, modems, and unique communication
links available to the various client stations. Providing one computer with one or
more hard disks facilitates this. All client stations share these hard disks. Clients
can make their requests to access any of the shared facility to the server. The file
server is a powerful computer, which runs special software. It provides the files
and other shared resources to different users in the network. It provides facilities
like user authentication, security to various user programs, and data.

Worksation

Another critical component of a network is the workstation or a client. A

workstation is an individual computer with capabilities to communicate with other
machines. It must equip with the hardware and software necessary to connect to a
LAN. Usually, a Network Interface Card (NIC) or an Ethernet card or an Arc net
card use for this purpose. Part of the network operating system is also available in
the workstation. A workstation can communicate with other workstations or to the
server.

Network Operating Systems

Network operating systems (NOS) is the logical component that controls

communications, shared resources on the network, and provides distributed
processing capacity. At first, the network operating systems only allowed to share
printers and disks. A single station could access a disk volume at a time. Currently,
network operating systems provide the basis for creating client/server applications,
integrating different types of computers, and forming workgroups.
Network Interface Unit

Every computer on the network needs one add-on card called the Network
Interface Card (NIC) or Ethernet adapter or Network Interface Adapter. The role of
NIC is to move the serial signals on the network cables or media into parallel data
stream inside the Pc. In some cases, two or more such NIC’s are used in the server
to split the load. These interface units also have important jobs of controlling
access to the media.

Protocol: A protocol is a set of rules that outlines characteristics of how two

devices communicate over the network.

HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol): This is a set of rules that defines how pages
transfer on the internet. Many web addresses begin with http:// as the protocol.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol): This is a set of rules that allows file uploading and
downloading from other computers on the internet. Web page developers often use
FTP to upload their Web Pages to web server.

TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol): This is a network

protocol that defines how the information are routed from one end of a network to
the other.

POP3 (Post Office Protocol version 3): This is an email protocol that stores mail
messages on a mail server and allows the user to view, access and manipulate the
messages after downloading or storing it on their computer.

IMAP (Internet Massage Access Protocol): This is an email protocol that stores
mail messages on a mail server and allows the user to view access and manipulate
the messages on the mail server from their computer. You are not actually
downloading or storing it on your computer, instead you are reading it on the mail
server from your computer.

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol): This is an email protocol for sending
email messages across the world.
Basic Network Topology :
The three simple Topology that are combined to form a basic Network Topology.
They are, Bus Topology, Ring and Star Topology.

Bus Topology

The physical Bus Network Topology is the simplest and most widely used of the
network designs. It consists of one continuous length of cable (trunk) that is
shared by all the nodes in the network and a terminating resistor (terminator) at
each end that absorbs the signal when it reaches the end of line. Without a
terminator the electrical signal would reach the end of copper wire and bounce
back, causing errors on the network.

Advantages of Bus Topology

The advantages of physical bus topology are:

1. It uses established standards and it is relatively easy to install and the use for
small networks.
2. It requires less media than other topologies.
3. Failure of one node does not affect the network functioning.

2. Cost is less as only one main cable is required and least amount of cable is
required to connect computers.

4. Expansion is easier. New node can be easily added by using a connector.

Disadvantages of Bus Topology

The disadvantages of bus Topology are:

1. If the main central line fails the entire network collapses.

2. The bus networks are difficult to reconfigure, especially when the acceptable
number of connections or maximum distances have been reached.
3. They are also difficult to troubleshoot because everything happens on a
single media segment. This can have dangerous consequences because any
break in the cabling brings the network to its knee.
4. Sharing a single communication channel results in slower access time.

Ring Topology
The physical ring Topology is a circular loop of point-to-point links. Each
device connects directly to the ring or indirectly through and interface device or
drop cable. Message travel around the ring from node to node in a very organized
manner. Each workstation checks the message for a matching destination address.
If the address doesn't match the node simply regenerates the message and sends it
on its way. If the address matches, the node accepts the message and sends a reply
to the originating sender.

• In ring topology, the various nodes are connected in form of a ring or circle
(physical ring), in which data flows in a circle, from one station to another station.

Advantages of Ring Topology

The advantages of Ring Topology are:

1. 1.They are very easy to troubleshoot because each device incorporates a

repeater.
2. 2.A special internal feature called beaconing allows troubled workstations to
identify themselves quickly.

3. There is no master computer on controller. Every computer has equal chance

to place the data and access the token.
4. There are no collisions.
5. Data packets travel at greater speeds.
6. It is easier to locate the problems with device and cable i.e. fault isolation is
simplified. If one device does not receive a signal within a specified time, it
can issue an alarm. This alarm alerts the network operator to the problem
and its location.

Disadvantages of Ring Topology

The disadvantages of ring topologies are:

1. A ring network requires more cable than a bus network.

2. A break in cable ring brings down entire network (in case of single ring).
3. Adding or removing the node disturbs the network activity.
4. In ring network, communication delay is directly proportional to the number
of nodes in the network. Hence addition of new nodes in the network also
increases communication delay.
5. It is considerably difficult to install and reconfigure ring Topology
 6. Media failure on unidirectional or single loop causes complete network
failure.

Star Topology

The physical star Topology uses a central controlling or hub with dedicated legs
pointing in all directions – like points of a star. Each network device has a
dedicated point-to-point link to the central hub. There is no direct link between
these computers and the computers can communicate via central controller only.
This strategy prevents troublesome collisions and keeps the lines of
communications open and free of traffic. Since in the star topology each computer
on the network uses a different cable connection, this type of topology is
expandable, only limited by the number of ports available in the hub (although it is
possible to join several hubs to increase the number of ports ). The expansion of a
star topology network does not present any difficulty, since adding another
computer to the network means nothing more than placing a cable between the
computer and the hub. In fact, the rest of the network users will not even notice the
extension.

Advantages of Star Topology

The benefits of star topology are:

1. It is easier to add new node or modify any existing node without disturbing
network i.e. expansion is easier.

2. Addition of new node does not increase communication delay.

3. If any local computer or link fails, the entire system does not collapse. Only that
link or computer is affected.

4. It is easy to find device and cable problems i.e. fault identification and isolation
is easier.

5. Media faults are automatically isolated to the failed segment.

Disadvantages of Star Topology

The disadvantages are considered as follows:

1. If the central controller or hub fails, entire system collapses.

2. Cabling cost is more as each node is connected individually to the hub.

3. Requires more cable than most topologies.

4. Moderately difficult to install .

TYPE OF COMPUTER NETWORK

Some of the most popular network types are:

 PAN
 LAN
 MAN
 WAN

What is PAN (Personal Area Network)?

PAN is a computer network formed around a person. It generally consists of a

computer, mobile, or personal digital assistant. PAN can be used for establishing
communication among these personal devices for connecting to a digital network
and the internet.

Characteristics of PAN

 It is mostly personal devices network equipped within a limited area.

 Allows you to handle the interconnection of IT devices at the surrounding of
a single user.
 PAN includes mobile devices, tablet, and laptop.
 It can be wirelessly connected to the internet called WPAN.
 Appliances use for PAN: cordless mice, keyboards, and Bluetooth systems.

Advantages of PAN

Here, are important pros/benefits of using PAN network:

 PAN networks are relatively secure and safe

 It offers only short-range solution up to ten meters
 Strictly restricted to a small area

Disadvantages of PAN

Here are important cons/ drawback of using PAN network:

 It may establish a bad connection to other networks at the same radio bands.
 Distance limits.

What is LAN?

A Local Area Network (LAN) is a group of computer and peripheral devices

which are connected in a limited area such as school, laboratory, home, and office
building. It is a widely useful network for sharing resources like files, printers,
games, and other application. The simplest type of LAN network is to connect
computers and a printer in someone's home or office. In general, LAN will be used
as one type of transmission medium.

It is a network which consists of less than 5000 interconnected devices across

several buildings.

Characteristics of LAN

Here are important characteristics of a LAN network:

 It is a private network, so an outside regulatory body never controls it.

 LAN operates at a relatively higher speed compared to other WAN systems.
 There are various kinds of media access control methods like token ring and
ethernet.

Advantages of LAN

Here are pros/benefits of using LAN:

 Computer resources like hard-disks, DVD-ROM, and printers can share

local area networks. This significantly reduces the cost of hardware
purchases.
 You can use the same software over the network instead of purchasing the
licensed software for each client in the network.
 Data of all network users can be stored on a single hard disk of the server
computer.
 You can easily transfer data and messages over networked computers.
 It will be easy to manage data at only one place, which makes data more
secure.

Disadvantages of LAN

Here are the important cons/ drawbacks of LAN:

 LAN will indeed save cost because of shared computer resources, but the
initial cost of installing Local Area Networks is quite high.
 The LAN admin can check personal data files of every LAN user, so it does
not offer good privacy.
 Unauthorized users can access critical data of an organization in case LAN
admin is not able to secure centralized data repository.
  Local Area Network requires a constant LAN administration as there are
issues related to software setup and hardware failures

What is WAN?

WAN (Wide Area Network) is another important computer network that which is
spread across a large geographical area. WAN network system could be a
connection of a LAN which connects with other LAN's using telephone lines and
radio waves. It is mostly limited to an enterprise or an organization.

Characteristics of LAN:

 The software files will be shared among all the users; therefore, all can
access to the latest files.
 Any organization can form its global integrated network using WAN.

Advantages of WAN

Here are the benefits/ pros of using WAN:

 WAN helps you to cover a larger geographical area. Therefore business

offices situated at longer distances can easily communicate.
  Contains devices like mobile phones, laptop, tablet, computers, gaming
consoles, etc.
 WLAN connections work using radio transmitters and receivers built into
client devices.

Disadvantage of WAN

Here are drawbacks/cons of using WAN:

 The initial setup cost of investment is very high.

 It is difficult to maintain the WAN network. You need skilled technicians
and network administrators.
 There are more errors and issues because of the wide coverage and the use
of different technologies.
 It requires more time to resolve issues because of the involvement of
multiple wired and wireless technologies.
 Offers lower security compared to other types of networks.

What is MAN?

A Metropolitan Area Network or MAN is consisting of a computer network across

an entire city, college campus, or a small region. This type of network is large than
a LAN, which is mostly limited to a single building or site. Depending upon the
type of configuration, this type of network allows you to cover an area from
several miles to tens of miles.
Characteristics of MAN

Here are important characteristics of the MAN network:

 It mostly covers towns and cities in a maximum 50 km range

 Mostly used medium is optical fibers, cables
 Data rates adequate for distributed computing applications.

Advantages of MAN

Here are pros/benefits of using MAN system:

 It offers fast communication using high-speed carriers, like fiber optic

cables.
 It provides excellent support for an extensive size network and greater
access to WANs.
 The dual bus in MAN network provides support to transmit data in both
directions concurrently.
 A MAN network mostly includes some areas of a city or an entire city.

Disadvantages of MAN

Here are drawbacks/ cons of using the MAN network:

 You need more cable to establish MAN connection from one place to
another.
 In MAN network it is tough to make the system secure from hacker