Computer networks components

 Computer networks components comprise both physical parts as well as the software
required for installing computer networks, both at organizations and at home. The
hardware components are the server, client, peer, transmission medium, and connecting
devices. The software components are operating system and protocols.
.
 Computer networks components
 Modem: It converts analog signal to digital and vice versa.
 Firewall: A firewall is a network security system that monitors and controls incoming and
outgoing network traffic based on predetermined security rules.
 A firewall typically establishes a barrier between a trusted network and an untrusted
network, such as the Internet.
 It decides whether the traffic is allowed to flow or not. The firewall can be implemented
as hardware and software, or a combination of both.
.
 Types of Firewalls:
 Packet Filters –
It works in the network layer of the OSI Model. It applies a set of rules (based on the contents of IP and
transport header fields) on each packet and based on the outcome, decides to either forward or discard
the packet.
 Security threats to Packet Filters:
 IP address Spoofing:
In this kind of attack, an intruder from the outside tries to send a packet towards the internal corporate
network with the source IP address set equal to one of the IP address of internal users.
Prevention:
Firewall can defeat this attack if it discards all the packets that arrive at the incoming side of the firewall,
with source IP equal to one of the internal IPs.
 Source Routing Attacks:
In this kind of attack, the attacker specifies the route to be taken by the packet with a hope to fool the
firewall.
Prevention:
Firewall can defeat this attack if it discards all the packets that use the option of source routing aka path
addressing.
 Tiny Fragment Attacks:
Many times, the size of the IP packet is greater than the maximum size allowed by the underlying network
such as Ethernet, Token Ring etc. In such cases, the packet needs to be fragmented, so that it can be
carried further. The attacker uses this characteristic of TCP/IP protocol. In this kind of attack, the attacker
intentionally creates fragments of the original packet and send it to fool the firewall.
 Prevention:Firewall can defeat this attack if it discards all the packets which use the TCP protocol and is
fragmented. Dynamic Packet Filters allow incoming TCP packets only if they are responses to the
outgoing TCP packets.
 .
2. Application Gateways –
It is also known as Proxy server. It works as follows:
 Step-1: User contacts the application gateway using a TCP/IP application such as HTTP.
 Step-2: The application gateway asks about the remote host with which the user wants to
establish a connection. It also asks for the user id and password that is required to access the
services of the application gateway.
 Step-3: After verifying the authenticity of the user, the application gateway accesses the
remote host on behalf of the user to deliver the packets.
3. Stateful Inspection Firewalls –
It is also known as ‘Dynamic Packet Filters’. It keeps track of the state of active connections
and uses this information to decide which packets to allow through it, i.e., it adapts itself to
the current exchange of information, unlike the normal packet filters/stateless packet filters,
which have hardcoded routing rules.
4. Circuit-Level Gateways –
It works at the session layer of the OSI Model. It is the advanced variation of Application
Gateway. It acts as a virtual connection between the remote host and the internal users by
creating a new connection between itself and the remote host. It also changes the source IP
address in the packet and puts its own address at the place of source IP address of the
packet from end users. This way, the IP addresses of the internal users are hidden and
secured from the outside world.
 Hub
 A hub is a network hardware device for
connecting multiple Ethernet devices together
and making them act as a single network
segment.
 A hub connects multiple wires coming from
different branches
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. 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.
 Intelligent Hub :- It work like active hubs and include remote management
capabilities. They also provide flexible data rates to network devices. It also
enables an administrator to monitor the traffic passing through the hub and to
configure each port in the hub.
 Bridge
 A bridge is a device that creates a single,
aggregate network from multiple
communication networks.
 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 Bridge:
 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 host can
discover frame by sending a special frame called discovery frame, which
spreads through the entire network using all possible paths to destination.
 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.
 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.
 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.
 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
 Transceiver
 a transceiver is both a transmitter and a receiver of
signals, such as analog or digital. Technically, on a LAN
the transceiver is responsible to place signals onto the
network media and also detecting incoming signals
traveling through the same cable.
 Although transceivers are found in network cards, they
can be external devices as well. As far as networking is
concerned, transceivers can ship as a module or chip
type. Chip transceivers are small and are inserted into a
system board or wired directly on a circuit board.
 There are many types of transceivers: RF transceivers,
fiber-optic transceivers, Ethernet transceivers, wireless
(WAP) transceivers, and more. Though each of these
media types is different, the function of the transceiver
remains the same.
 Access Point
 An access point is a device that creates a wireless
local area network, or WLAN, usually in an office or
large building. An access point connects to a wired
router, switch, or hub via an Ethernet cable, and
projects a Wi-Fi signal to a designated area
 Standalone access point

 A standalone access point provides the same functionality in

wireless network which a switch or hub provides in the wired
network. It provides connectivity between the different wireless
devices.
 Access point uses radio signals for connectivity.
 Multifunction Access Point
 A multifunction access point is the combination
of two or more devices.
 A wireless router which ISP uses to provide to
the Internet connection is the perfect example
of the multifunction access point. It consist of
three devices; an access point, a regular
Ethernet switch and a router.
 Controlled Access Point
 A controlled access point works as the
client of the Wireless LAN Controller
(WLC). Technically a controlled access
point is known as the Lightweight Access
Point (LWAP).
 The WLC - LWAP setup is usually used in
the company environment to span a
single wireless network in large
geographical area.
 Key points
 Access point connects multiple wireless devices together in a single wireless network.
 Access point supports both type of standards; Ethernet and Wi-Fi.
 Access point uses radio signals to provide the connectivity.
 Based on functionality an access point can be categorized in three types; standalone,
multifunction and client.
 A standalone access point works in the wireless network exactly as the switch works in
the wired network.
 To control the unauthorized access, Access point uses authorization.
 To extend the coverage area, multiple access points are used together under a Wireless
LAN Controller.
 An access point which works under the WLC is known as the LWAP (Lightweight Access
Point).
 Routing Protocols
 Routing Protocols are the set of defined rules used by the routers to communicate
between source & destination.
 Types of Routing Protocols
 There are mainly two types of Network Routing Protocols
 Static Routing Protocols
 Static routing protocols are used when an administrator manually assigns the path from
source to the destination network. It offers more security to the network.
 Advantages
 No overhead on router CPU.
 No unused bandwidth between links.
 Only the administrator is able to add routes
 Disadvantages
 The administrator must know how each router is connected.
 Not an ideal option for large networks as it is time intensive.
 Whenever link fails all the network goes down which is not feasible in small networks.

 Dynamic Routing Protocols

 Dynamic routing protocols are another important type of routing protocol. It helps routers
to add information to their routing tables from connected routers automatically. These
types of protocols also send out topology updates whenever the network changes'
topological structure.
 Advantage:
 Easier to configure even on larger networks.
 It will be dynamically able to choose a different route in case if a link goes down.
 It helps you to do load balancing between multiple links.
 Disadvantage:
 Updates are shared between routers, so it consumes bandwidth.
 Routing protocols put an additional load on router CPU or RAM.
 Internet Routing Protocols:

 The following are types of protocols which help data packets find their way
across the Internet:
 Routing Information Protocol (RIP)
 RIP is used in both LAN and WAN Networks. It also runs on the Application layer of
the OSI model. The full form of RIP is the Routing Information Protocol. Two
versions of RIP are
 RIPv1
 RIPv2
 The original version or RIPv1 helps you determine network paths based on the IP
destination and the hop count journey. RIPv1 also interacts with the network by
broadcasting its IP table to all routers connected with the network.
 RIPv2 is a little more sophisticated as it sends its routing table on to a multicast
address.
Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP)

 IGRP is a subtype of the distance-vector interior gateway protocol

developed by CISCO. It is introduced to overcome RIP limitations.
The metrics used are load, bandwidth, delay, MTU, and reliability. It is
widely used by routers to exchange routing data within an
autonomous system.
 This type of routing protocol is the best for larger network size as
it broadcasts after every 90 seconds, and it has a maximum hop
count of 255. It helps you to sustain larger networks compared to
RIP. IGRP is also widely used as it is resistant to routing loop because
it updates itself automatically when route changes occur within the
specific network.