Chapter 1

Ever Wonder How It

Works?
Chapter 1 Objectives

Upon completion of chapter 1, you should be able

to:
1. Explain the concept of network communication.
2. Explain the roles of devices in a network.
3. Build a functioning network.
1.1.1 What is the
Network?
• Normally, when people use the term Internet,
they are not referring to the physical
connections in the real world. Rather, they tend
to think of it as a formless collection of
connections. It is the “place” people go to find or
share information.
Human Network
Local Networks
• Local networks come in all sizes. They can
range from simple networks consisting of two
computers, to networks connecting hundreds of
thousands of devices.
 LOCAL NETWORKS
The Small Office/Home Office or
SOHO network enables computers
within a home office or a remote office
to connect to a corporate network or
access centralized, shared resources.
Medium to Large networks, such as
those used by corporations and
schools, can have many locations with
hundreds or thousands of
interconnected computers. Large
Networks can be used to advertise and
sell products, order supplies, and
communicate with customers.
A global network or Worldwide
network is any communication network
which spans the entire Earth. Setting up
global networks requires immensely
costly and lengthy efforts lasting for
decades.
Making the
Connections
• The Internet connects more computing devices
than just desktop and laptop computers. There are
devices all around that you may interact with on a
daily basis that are also connected to the Internet.
• Many of the things in your home can also be
connected to the Internet so that they can be
monitored and configured remotely.
• There are also many connected devices found in
the world outside your home that provide
convenience and useful or even vital information.
What Exactly is
Data?
• We hear about data all of the time. Customer
data, personal data, health data, census data,
but what exactly is data? Perhaps the simplest
definition of data is that data is a value that
represents something. In the physical world, we
represent data as numbers, formulas,
alphabetic characters, and pictures. Think about
all of the data that exists just about you.
• Most people use networks to transmit their data
in order to share with others or for long-term
storage. Every time you hit “send” or “share” in
an app or computer application, you are telling
your device to send your data to a destination
somewhere on the network. Sometimes, data is
being sent by your devices and you may not
even be aware that this is happening.
The Mighty Bit
• Did you know that computers and networks only
work with binary digits, zeros and ones? It can
be difficult to imagine that all of our data is
stored and transmitted as a series of bits. Each
bit can only have one of two possible values, 0
or 1. The term bit is an abbreviation of “binary
digit” and r
• A bit is stored and transmitted as one of two
possible discrete states.
• Computers use binary codes to represent and interpret
letters, numbers and special characters with bits. A
commonly used code is the American Standard Code
for Information Interchange (ASCII). With ASCII, each
character is represented by eight bits. For example:
Capital letter: A = 01000001
Number: 9 = 00111001
Special character: # = 00100011
• Each group of eight bits, such as the representations of
letters and numbers, is known as a byte.
Getting Bits Moving
• After the data is transformed into a series of bits, it must
be converted into signals that can be sent across the
network media to its destination. Media refers to the
physical medium on which the signals are transmitted.
Examples of media are copper wire, fiber-optic cable,
and electromagnetic waves through the air. A signal
consists of electrical or optical patterns that are
transmitted from one connected device to another.
These patterns represent the digital bits (i.e. the data)
and travel across the media from source to destination
as either a series of pulses of electricity, pulses of light,
or radio waves.
There are three common methods of signal
transmission used in networks:
• Electrical signals - Transmission is achieved by
representing data as electrical pulses on copper wire.
• Optical signals - Transmission is achieved by
converting the electrical signals into light pulses.
• Wireless signals - Transmission is achieved by
using infrared, microwave, or radio waves through
the air.
Measuring
Bandwidth
• Streaming a movie or playing a multi-player
game requires reliable, fast connections. In
order to support these “high bandwidth”
applications, networks have to be capable of
transmitting and receiving bits at a very high
rate.
• Different physical media support the transfer of
bits at different speeds.
• Bandwidth is the capacity of a medium to carry
data. Digital bandwidth measures the amount of
data that can flow from one place to another in
a given amount of time. Common bandwidth
measurements are:
• Thousands of bits per second (kb/s)
• Millions of bits per second (Mb/s)
• Billions of bits per second (Gb/s)
Clients and Servers
Figure 1 shows multiple clients and
servers all connected to the same
switch. With the file client and server,
the File Server stores the file. Clients
access the file with client software,
such as Windows Explorer. With the
web client and server, the web server
runs server software. Clients use
browser software, such as Windows
Internet Explorer, to access web pages
on the server. With the email client and
server, the email server runs server
software. Clients use email software,
such as Microsoft Outlook, to access
email on the server.
• All computers connected to a network that
participate directly in network communication
are classified as hosts. Hosts can send and
receive messages on the network. In modern
networks, computer hosts can act as a client, a
server, or both. The software installed on the
computer determines which role the computer
plays.
 Multiple Roles in the Network
• A computer with server software can
provide services simultaneously to one
or many clients, as shown in the figure.
• Additionally, a single computer can run
multiple types of server software. In a
home or small business, it may be
necessary for one computer to act as a
file server, a web server, and an email
server.
• A single computer can also run multiple
types of client software. There must be
client software for every service
required. With multiple clients installed,
a host can connect to multiple servers
at the same time.
 Network Infrastructure
The path that a message takes from its source
to destination can be as simple as a single
cable connecting one computer to another or as
complex as a network that literally spans the
globe. This network infrastructure is the
platform that supports the network.
The network infrastructure contains three
categories of hardware components:
• Intermediate devices
• End devices
• Network media
Devices and media are the physical elements,
or hardware, of the network. Hardware is often
the visible components of the network platform
such as a laptop, PC, switch, router, wireless
access point, or the cabling used to connect the
devices.
End Devices
• The network devices that people are most familiar with are called end
devices, or hosts. These devices form the interface between users and
the underlying communication network.
Some examples of end devices are:
Computers (work stations, laptops, file servers, web servers)
Network printers
Telephones and teleconferencing equipment
Security cameras
Mobile devices (such as smart phones, tablets, PDAs, and wireless
debit/credit card readers and barcode scanners)
• An end device (or host) is either the source or destination of a message
transmitted over the network, as shown in the animation. In order to
uniquely identify hosts, addresses are used.
What Does Peer-to-
Peer mean?
• Client and server software usually run on separate computers, but
it is also possible for one computer to run both client and server
software at the same time. In small businesses and homes, many
computers function as the servers and clients on the network. This
type of network is called a peer-to-peer network.
• The simplest peer-to-peer network consists of two directly
connected computers using either a wired or wireless connection.
Both computers are then able to use this simple network to
exchange data and services with each other, acting as either a
client or a server as necessary.
• Multiple PCs can also be connected to create a larger peer-to-
peer network but this requires a network device, such as a switch,
to interconnect the computers.
Using the Ping
Command
• Every device that sends messages across the Internet must have an Internet
Protocol (IP) address to identify it to the other devices in the network. IP
addresses are assigned by network administrators. When a new device is
added to a network, or if an existing device is having problems, it may be
necessary to test the network to determine if the IP address assigned to the
device can be reached by other devices on the network.
• The ping utility tests end-to-end connectivity between the IP address of the
source of the message and the IP address of its destination. It measures the
time that it takes test messages to make a round trip from the source to the
destination and whether or not the transmission is successful.
• The format of the ping command is universally implemented. Almost all network
attached devices provide a way to perform a ping test. The format of the ping
command is ping xxx, where xxx is an IP address or domain name:
ping
For example, ping 192.168.30.1.
Following the Path
• The Internet is not really a place, it is the interconnection of
many different networks that provide services to the users. We
can see this connectivity by using a network utility
call traceroute.
• As shown in the figure, the traceroute utility traces the route a
message takes from its source to the destination. Each
individual network through which the message travels is referred
to as a hop. Traceroute displays each hop along the way and the
time it takes for the message to get to that network and back.
• If a problem occurs, use the output of the traceroute utility to
help determine where a message was lost or delayed. The
traceroute utility is called tracert in the Windows environment.