Computer Network:

This transcript is from an educational video lecture series on computer networks,

presented by Professor Sujoy Ghosh from IIT Kharagpur. The lecture series aims to
cover fundamental concepts of computer networks over approximately 40 lectures. In
the introductory lecture, Professor Ghosh outlines the emergence of computer
networks, their history, protocols, and reference models. He recommends textbooks
by Kurose, Stallings, and Tanenbaum for further reading.

Key concepts introduced include the definition of a computer network as a

collection of computers (nodes) connected by communication lines, enabling them to
exchange information. The lecture emphasizes that not all nodes are computers; some
are network devices like switches and routers, facilitating the network's
functioning. The importance of different types of communications (data, programs,
voice, and video) and applications (like distributed systems for tasks such as
railway reservations) is highlighted.

A brief history of computing and networking is provided, mentioning significant

milestones like the installation of the first commercial computer (UNIVAC) in 1948,
the operational status of the first US communication satellite in 1958, the
beginnings of ARPANET in 1969, and the invention of the World Wide Web by Tim
Berners-Lee in 1991. These developments underscore the exponential growth and the
pivotal role of networks in modern computing and communication.

The lecture then delves into the structure and functionality of computer networks,
explaining the layered architecture and the concept of protocols—sets of rules
enabling different network components to communicate. The discussion covers point-
to-point and broadcast links, local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks
(MAN), and wide area networks (WAN), highlighting their unique characteristics and
applications.

Furthermore, the OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) and TCP/IP (Transmission

Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) reference models are introduced, outlining
their layers and functions. The OSI model is more theoretical, with seven layers
from the physical up to the application layer, while the TCP/IP model is more
practical and widely used, with fewer layers.

In summary, the lecture provides a comprehensive overview of computer networks,

covering their definition, history, fundamental concepts, types, and the critical
role of protocols and layered architectures in enabling communication and data
exchange across diverse and distributed systems.

WORDTUNE :
Professor Sujoy Ghosh will be taking this course on computer networks and will
start with an introductory lecture about the Emergence of Computer Networks.The
text books for the course are Computer Networking: A Top down Approach Featuring
the Internet, Data and Communication and Computer Networks.A computer network is a
number of computers connected by some communication lines. Two computers can
communicate with each other through other nodes if they are not directly
connected.There are various kinds of network devices like switches, routers etc.,
which facilitate the communication and running of this entire network.The nodes,
which may be either computers or network devices, communicate with each other
through various types of communication.Computer networks exchange information
between different computers, this information could be data used by a program or
some program itself.If you have a large computation to perform, you can break it up
into small pieces and assign them to small computers.Computer networks are also
used as communication tools, because you can send emails to almost anybody.The
computer networks could be used for voice and video communication, and nowadays we
do not just look upon it as a computer network.It is the bedrock on which all
computing communication are converging, and then you have some applications, which
are necessarily of distributed nature.We want to distribute this functionality, so
we use distributed systems, like distributed databases and all kinds of
applications.In 1948, the first commercial computer was installed, and in 1958, the
first US communication satellite became operational.In 1964, an airline reservation
system used packet switching, and in 1969, ARPANET began its operation. This was a
water shed event.In 1972, Ethernet was formulated as one protocol, and in 1974 IBM
introduced its own version of network in SNA.In 1975, Paul Alan and Bill Gates
formed Microsoft, Wozniak and Jobs built Apple1, and in 1979, VisiCalc was the
first commercial spreadsheet, and in 1981, IBM introduced IBM PC with one floppy
drive.Ethernet and TCP by IP are two important protocols that are used on the
network. TCP by IP became the official protocol of the ARPANET.ARPANET was set up
in USA under the DRDO, Apple introduced GUI with Apple Macintosh, IBM gave a
multitasking OS for the PCs, Microsoft released Windows, and in 1991 the World Wide
Web was invented by CERN Physicist Tim Burners Lee.The growth of network in the
past decade has been phenomenal, and the basic so called killerapp, application
which attracted so many people to networks was this www. The growth of networks and
its utility and importance remains.The USA's Department of Defense wanted a command
and control network that could survive a nuclear attack, so they distributed the
systems and made them communicate.The subnet should consist of some Honeywell 12 KW
intermediate message processors, which are connected by 64 Kbps lines. The IMPs
were changed to Terminal Interface Processors later.The NSF built a new backbone to
connect with supercomputing centers to some regional networks, and then upgraded it
to 1 Mbps fiber backbone. This allowed network connection to thousands of
universities, research labs, libraries, museums, etc.One of the major driving
forces in the computing networks in the past decades has been the role of so-called
Start Up Companies.The growth of computer networks was explosive in the whole of
90s and even in the 21st century, although the frenzy in the stock exchanges, etc.
about these .com companies crashed in a 2000.With this brief historical background,
let us come to the networks and some kind of structure of this computer
network.Sometimes things are not so simple, and you need a dedicated line between
two nodes. In this case, you can have simplex communication, half duplex
communication, or full duplex communication.Point-to-point links are not the only
things we have, because we can share a point-to-point medium by multiplexing, which
means that there is one line from A to B and a lot of other nodes can communicate
through it.A satellite communication system throws its signal all over the country
or may be all over the region, so you can use that shared medium to make temporary
point-to-point links.20:54 A broadcast media can be dedicated to some users or
shared between multiple users.In a distributed fashion, nodes have some protocol
for sharing this information. This protocol is called Multiple Access.You can
broadcast to a group of people, or multicast to a group of people.Local Area
Networks are usually privately owned, and the same owner can have the same policy
for the entire network.Wide Area Networking is different from Local Area Networking
because the nodes may belong to different people.Metropolitan Area Networks are
spread over a community or maybe even a city, and they have access issues because
they are geographically more distributed than Local Area Networks.Local Area
Networks use validers or draw valves, but how we connect the people becomes an
issue, that is the access issues.As more people got interested in network,
technology developed, and the number of people using network went up, the cost went
down.Technology improved and more people started using it, so companies could make
things cheaper.In formal framework, we have what are known as protocols, why do we
need protocols in network? Because networks by their very nature might connect
various different people, who may have very different ideas about how things have
to be done.A protocol is between peers, and defines how they communicate with each
other. A protocol is supposed to achieve something, and for this it requires
something maybe from some other called layer.We have a service interface, a peer
interface, and N minus 1 th layer. We will look at two standards at least.This
networking business is broken up into different functionalities and layers, and
each node has its own layers.There are protocol interfaces between layers, service
interfaces between layers, and so on.Any layer maintains a virtual connection, and
performs a task for the upper layer. This task may be broken up into subtasks, and
delegated to a lower layer.This layer could have its own service interface to the
lower layer, and perform its own task using the corresponding protocol.For this
peer-to-peer protocol, two computers communicate through a virtual connection. A
virtual connection can be an indirect connection as well.When you are surfing the
internet, you are connected to a computer that may be connected to opposite part of
the globe. The clicking of the mouse somehow gets communicated to that remote web
server and may be the page changes or something.For running all these protocols,
peers need to communicate, and this communication is through virtual connection.
This is the main point of having this layer architecture.If the companies agree on
the protocol and the service layers, and if the companies can decide on the
interface between the different layers, they are free to do it in their own way.Two
particular layers in two particular nodes may be peers, and these nodes may have
different operating systems, processors, etc.So as long as the two companies agree
on a protocol, they are free to develop their product in their own way.We abstract
out of the details of how one implementer implemented something, and concentrate on
the protocols, interfaces, and functionalities of the entire networking, how
networking is done.The protocols between the peer layers can be changed if the
peers all agree, but it need not be referred to other layers. The service
definition says what the layer does and nothing else, means nothing about the
specifics of implementation.OSI reference model is something that is somewhat
theoretical, TCP by IP reference model is something that is almost ubiquitous, and
ATM is another kind of reference model.There are many different reference models,
and these models describe the different layers and how they are to be
interfaced.TCP by IP stacks, OSI stacks, ATM stacks, and other protocol stacks
exist, but the extent to which they are universally accepted.OSI reference model
has seven layers, including the application layer, the presentation layer, the
session layer, the network layer, the data link layer and the physical layer.A
message is sent from one application to another application on different host,
through the layers of the sending machine, until it reaches the physical layer,
which sends the message to the TCP machine.In the destination machines also some
application layer program is running, for example a TELNET client program.The
TELNET client or any of these application programs just knows about the protocol,
but how the communication is able to go from this machine to another machine?The
virtual connection layer will communicate with the target machine, add up some
data, and then hand it over to the lower layer.The message is sent down the stack
from the originating machine to each layer, which has its own protocol with its
peer.As the program goes down the stack, it can communicate with the remote
machine, and then it is moved up the stack again.The message is received on the
receiving side, and then passed up through each layer, where each layer reads the
corresponding header.Two different machines can still communicate using DOS, which
is an old operating system.The presentation layer adds its own header to the
original data, and the session layer adds its own header to the original data.At
the physical layer, data is sent in one hop, to the destination machine, where each
peer has a virtual connection with the destination machine.The physical link is how
to transmit bits, and the data link layer is how to transmit frames. The data link
layer is used when two computers are directly connected to each other, or
when two nodes are directly connected to each other.The network layer routes
packets over the entire network, and the transport layer sends packets to the
application.The various users may want to do various things, such as download files
from another machine, look at web pages, surf etc., and SMTP is used for sending
mails.The application layer requests reliable and cheap connection to its peer,
which is provided by the OS.The application layer hands the data to the
presentation layer, which handles protocol conversion, data translation, data
compression, and data encryption.The session layer allows the application on
different computers to share a connection, and the user wants a continuous
connection. The session layer can provide check points and dialogue control.The
transport layer accepts data from the layer above, splits it into smaller units if
necessary, and passes these to the network layer.The transport layer is responsible
for moving packets in a cheap and efficient manner.The network layer decides on
what route to take locally, so that the intended message ultimately reaches the
destination.The physical layer handles error correction, etc., at the very lowest
level. The other layer is TCP by IP reference model.The TCP by IP model and the OSI
reference model match the essential functions match.A network topology is a diagram
that shows how nodes are connected in a computer network. This diagram has certain
structure that determines how nodes communicate with each other.The bus topology is
a very simple kind of network which is based on a shared broadcast links. Each pair
of communicating nodes used a link for the short time to send their message to the
other node.Since this is a shared broadcast link, all nodes get the communication,
but they usually ignore this communication. There has to be a distributed protocol
to decide who gets to use the link.