Chapter Two

Introduction to Computer Networks

Department: Computer Science

2 n d Year
Prepared By: Mr. Dawit M.

01/14/2023 PREPARED BY: DAWIT M. 1

 OUTLINE
† Computer Network and its Applications

† Network Criteria

† Computer Network Types

† Computer Network Topologies

† Computer Network Components

01/14/2023 PREPARED BY: DAWIT M. 2

 1) Computer Network and its Applications

Introduction
 Personal computers are powerful tools that can process and manipulate large amounts
of data quickly, but they do not allow users to share that data efficiently.
 Before networks, users needed either to print out documents or copy document files
to a disk for others.
 Copying files onto floppy disks and giving them to others to copy onto their
computers was sometimes referred to as the "sneakernet."
 1.1 What is Network and Computer Network?

 Networks is a set of devices (nodes) connected by communication links to convey

information from the point of origin to point of destination.

 A node can be a computer, printer, or any other device capable of sending and/or
receiving data.
 Cont’d...
Computer Networking
Old paradigm/Traditional:
 A single powerful computer serving all the needs of an organization
 Sneaker-net -- Method of sharing data by copying it to a disk and

carrying it from computer to computer

New Paradigm:
Computer Network is a system in which a number of independent computers are linked

together to facilitate communication and resource sharing.

Two computers are said to be interconnected if they are able to exchange information

A large number of autonomous computers that are internetworked in order to exchange



information using some transmission media.

The computers can be geographically located anywhere (no geographical barrier)

Computers can be PC, tablet, workstations and other “specialized” computers (servers)
A computer network is a collection of computers and devices connected together via
connecting devices and transmission media
1.2 Network application
To Share Information
i. Exchange of information by means of e-Mails and FTP.
ii. Instant messaging or chatting.

Flexible Working Environment

To Share Resources
i. work on remote offices from home…..
i. Printer
ii. Video Conferencing.
ii. Scanner on LAN
iii. Interaction With Dynamic Web Pages.
iii. Storage Devices etc.
iv. Access to the World Wide Web or Internet.

01/14/2023 PREPARED BY: DAWIT M. 8

 2) Network Criteria
A network must be able to meet a certain number of criteria. The most important of these are
performance, reliability, and security.
A) Performance: Performance can be measured in many ways, including transit time and response
time.
 Transit time: amount of time required for a message to travel from one device to another.
 Response time: is the elapsed time between an inquiry and a response.

The performance of a network depends on the number of users, the type of transmission medium, the
capabilities of the connected hardware, and the efficiency of the software.
B) Reliability: Network reliability is measured by the frequency of failure, the time it takes a link to
recover from a failure, and the network's robustness in a catastrophe.
C) Security: Network security issues include
i) protecting data from unauthorized access, & from damage and
ii) development, and implementing policies and procedures for recovery from data losses.

01/14/2023 PREPARED BY: DAWIT M. 9

 3) Classification of Computer Network
A) Based On Geographical Span/Area Coverage, it can be classified into four:
i. Personal Area Network ii. Metaphorical Area Network
ii. Local Area Network iv. Wide Area Network

B) Based on network architecture or Way of file sharing, it can be classified into two:

iii. Peer to Peer Network

iv. Client Server Based Network

C) Based on connection computer network, it can be classified into two:

v. Point to point connection

vi. Multipoint connection

01/14/2023 PREPARED BY: DAWIT M. 10

3.1 Computer network based on GSA
1. Personal Area Network (PAN)
 A Personal Area Network or simply PAN, is smallest network which is very personal to a user.

 PAN has connectivity range up to 10 meters.

 This may include Bluetooth enabled devices or infra-red enabled devices.

 PAN may include wireless computer keyboard and mouse, Bluetooth enabled headphones,
wireless printers and TV remotes.

01/14/2023 PREPARED BY: DAWIT M. 11

2. Local Area Network (LAN):

 A computer network spanned inside a building and operated under single administrative system is

Local Area Network. Usually, Local Area Network covers an organization's, offices, schools,
college/universities etc.

LAN provides a useful way of sharing resources between end users. Resources like Printers, File
Servers, Scanners and internet is easy sharable among computers.

It is the basic building block of any computer network.

It uses cheap cable media like UTP. Wireless LANs are the newest evolution in LAN technology.

It is mostly used in bus, star and ring topology.

 Early LANs had data rates in the 4 to 16 megabits per second (Mbps) range. Today, however,
speeds are normally 100 or 1000 Mbps.

01/14/2023 PREPARED BY: DAWIT M. 12

01/14/2023 PREPARED BY: DAWIT M. 13
3. Metropolitan Area Network(MAN)

 is a network that covers a larger geographic area by interconnecting a different LAN to

form a larger network.

It covers large geographical areas than LAN such as cities, districts, Regions etc.

 Metro Ethernet is a service which is provided by ISPs. This service enables its users to expand their
Local Area Networks.

 Backbone of MAN is high-capacity and high-speed fiber optics.

 MAN works in between Local area network and Wide area network.

 MAN provides uplink for LANs to WANs or internet.

 It can be in the form of Ethernet, Token-ring, ATM, TV network or Fiber Distributed Data Interface
(FDDI).

01/14/2023 PREPARED BY: DAWIT M. 14

 Cont’d…

01/14/2023 PREPARED BY: DAWIT M. 15

4. Wide Area Network (WAN)
 A WAN (wide area network) is a communications network that spans a large geographic area
such as across cities, states, or countries.

 Uses fiber optic cables & satellite (wireless Technology), Telephone line etc..

 Like telecommunication and internet network are example of WAN.

01/14/2023 PREPARED BY: DAWIT M. 16

3.2 Computer network based on Architecture

1. Peer to Peer Network

 Each device can act both as client or as servers, in the sense that each device can request and
provide services.

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

There are 10 users or fewer.

Users share resources, such as printers, but no specialised servers exist

 Security is not an issue.

 There is no fixed division into clients and servers(all computers are equal).

Example: families sharing photos, movies and email etc.

01/14/2023 PREPARED BY: DAWIT M. 17

 Cont’d…
Advantages:
 Uses less expensive networks.
 Easy to administer.
 Contain both network operating system and application software.
 Ideal for small business and home users (up to 10 computers).

Disadvantages:
 Individual user performance easily affected.
 Not very secure.
 Hard to back up.

01/14/2023 PREPARED BY: DAWIT M. 18

 2. client Server Based Network

There is a division between clients and servers.

There will be a dedicated server one that functions only as a server which are optimised to service
requests from network clients quickly and to ensure the security of files and directories.

Although it is more complex to install, configure, and manage, a server-based network has many
advantages over a simple peer-to-peer network.

Server-based data sharing can be centrally administered and controlled.

Security is often the primary reason for choosing a server-based approach to networking.

Backups can be scheduled several times a day or once a week depending on the importance and value of
the data.

A server-based network can support thousands of users. This type of network would be difficult to
manage as a peer-to-peer network.

01/14/2023 PREPARED BY: DAWIT M. 19

 Cont’d…
Advantages:
 Very secure OS.
 Better performance.
 Centralized servers, easy to manage.
 Centralized backups.
 High reliability.

Disadvantages:
 Expensive administration.
 More hardware intensive.

01/14/2023 PREPARED BY: DAWIT M. 20

3.3 Computer Network based on connection
 A network is two or more devices connected through links.

 A link is a communications pathway that transfers data from one device to another.

 There are two possible types of connections: point-to-point and multipoint.

1. Point to point
 A point-to-point connection provides a dedicated link between two devices.

 The entire capacity of the link is reserved for transmission between those two devices.

When you change television channels by infrared remote control, you are establishing a point-to-
point connection between the remote control and the television's control system.

01/14/2023 PREPARED BY: DAWIT M. 21

2. Multipoint
Cont’d…
 A multipoint (also called multi drop) connection is one in which more than two specific
devices share a single link.
 In a multipoint environment, the capacity of the channel is shared

If several devices can use the link simultaneously, it is a spatially shared connection.

If users must take turns, it is a timeshared connection. (Remember FDM and TDM)

01/14/2023 PREPARED BY: DAWIT M. 22

 4) Computer Network Topology
 The term topology refers to the way in which a network is laid out physically.

 Two or more devices connect to a link; two or more links form a topology.

 A Network Topology is the arrangement with which computer systems or network devices are
connected to each other.

Topology can be:

i. Physical Topology

ii. Logical Topology

Physical Topology
 The way computers are connected together physically is physical topology. It is the physical
look of the network.
01/14/2023 PREPARED BY: DAWIT M. 23
Cont’d…
Four types of Physical Topology are:

1. Bus Topology:

 In bus topology all devices share single communication line or cable.

Nodes are connected to the bus cable by drop lines and taps.

 A drop line is a connection running between the device and the main cable.

 A tap is a connector that either splices into the main cable or punctures the

sheathing of a cable to create a contact with the metallic core.

01/14/2023 PREPARED BY: DAWIT M. 24

 Both ends of the shared channel have line terminator.
Cont’d…
 The data is sent in only one direction and as soon as it reaches the extreme end, the terminator
removes the data from the line.

Advantage: In bus topology ease of installation and use less cabling than mesh and star topology.

Disadvantages: difficult to reconnection and fault isolation and also fault or break in the bus cable
stops all transmission for the connected nodes.

01/14/2023 PREPARED BY: DAWIT M. 25

2. Star Topology
 In a star topology, each device has a dedicated point-to-point link only to a central controller,
usually called a hub.

The controller act as an exchange.

 Each device needs only one link and one I/O port to connect it to any number of others.

The whole network topology dependency on the central unit is hub.

 Star topology mostly used in local area network.

01/14/2023 PREPARED BY: DAWIT M. 26

Advantages
 It is easy to install and reconfigure.
It is robustness.
Uses less cabling than mesh: less expensive than mesh topology.

Disadvantages
In other case it use more cable than bus and ring topology.
If the hub fail the whole system is fail.

01/14/2023 PREPARED BY: DAWIT M. 27

3. Ring Topology

Each device has a point-to-point connection with only the two devices on either side of it.

Each device in the ring incorporates a repeater.

When a device receives a signal intended for another device, its repeater regenerates the
bits and passes.
Advantage: Easy to install and reconfigure.

Disadvantages: In other case failure of any host results in failure of the whole ring.
Thus, every connection in the ring is a point of failure.

01/14/2023 PREPARED BY: DAWIT M. 28

4. Mesh Topology

 In mesh topology every device has a point-to-point link/connection to every other device.

 It is robustness character.

 There is also privacy and security with each nodes.

 For point-to-point links make fault identification and fault isolation easy.

 In other case it require much amount of cable and input output ports, difficult to install and reconfigure, and also
hardware requirement like cable and I/O port are expensive.

Each device is connected to n-1 devices.

 For n devices, n(n-1)/2 link is needed

01/14/2023 PREPARED BY: DAWIT M. 29

Advantage: Point-to-point links make fault identification and fault isolation easy.

It is robust. If one link becomes unusable, it does not incapacitate the entire system

Disadvantage: It require much amount of cable (expensive),

Difficult to install and reconfigure.

01/14/2023 PREPARED BY: DAWIT M. 30

2. Logical Topology
 is the way computers access the media of transmission/channel and transmit data

Logical topology is concerned with the movement of data i.e. how the data moves from one
computer to another.
a) Logical Ring Topology
 Ring logical topology functions by passing data from one node to next.

The data follows a ring and it rotates over the ring.

b) Logical Bus Topology
 The sending node broadcasts the data to the entire network.

 The data is sent to common line to where every node is connected.

c) Logical Star Topology

Data is exchanged through central device

01/14/2023 PREPARED BY: DAWIT M. 31

 5) Computer Network Components
Servers - computers that provide shared resources for network users.

Clients - computers that access shared resources provided by servers.

Media - the wires that make the physical connections.

Shared data - files provided to clients by servers across the network.

Shared peripherals - additional hardware resources provided by servers.

01/14/2023 PREPARED BY: DAWIT M. 32