Network Hardware and Physical

Media

 Network hardware
includes:
– Computers
– Peripherals
– Interface cards and
– Other equipment needed
to perform data
processing and
communications within
the network
 File servers

 A very fast computer

with a large amount of
RAM and storage space
along with a fast
network interface card
 The network operating
system software resides
on this computer
Workstations

 All computers
connected to the file
server on a network are
called workstations
 Network interface cards

 The network interface card

(NIC) provides the physical
connection between the network
and the computer workstation.
 Most NICs are internal with the
card fitting into an expansion
slot in the computer.
 Three common network
interface connections are
Ethernet cards, Local Talk
connectors and Token Ring
cards
Ethernet cards

 The most common

Network Interface Co-axial
Cards are Ethernet cable

cards
 They contain
connections for either
coaxial or twisted pair
cables, or both Twisted
pair cable
Concentrators / Hubs

 A concentrator is a
device that provides a
central connection point
for cables from
workstations, servers
and peripherals
 Hubs are multi-slot
concentrators
 Switches

 hubs provide an easy way to

scale up and shorten the
distance that the packets must
travel to get from one node to
another
 they do not break up the actual
network into discrete segments.
That is where switches come in.
Switches (continued)

 A vital difference between a hub and a switch is

– all the nodes connected to a hub share the bandwidth among themselves.
– while a device connected to a switch port has the full bandwidth all to itself.
 Think of a switch as a ‘clever’ hub
Repeaters

 A signal loses strength as it passes along a

cable, so it is often necessary to boost the
signal with a device called a repeater
 A repeater might be a separate device, or
might be part of a concentrator
Bridges

 A bridge is a device that allows you to

segment a large network into two
smaller, more efficient networks
An example of a network with a bridge

Router
Hub
Bridge Segment Node

Hub

Internet
Routers

 A router translates information from one network to

another
 The router directs traffic to prevent “head-on”
collisions
 If you have a LAN that you want to connect to the
Internet, you will need a router to serve as the
translator between information on your LAN and the
Internet
Routers (continued)
Physical Media

 Physical media provide the connections

between network devices that make
networking possible
 There are four main types of physical media
in widespread use today:
–– Coaxial Cable
–– Twisted Pair
–– Fiber Optic Cable
–– Wireless Media
LAN Technologies

Ethernet

Physical Media :-
10 Base5 - Thick Co-axial Cable with Bus Topology
10 Base2 - Thin Co-axial Cable with Bus Topology
10 BaseT - UTP Cat 3/5 with Tree Topology
10 BaseFL - Multimode/Singlemode Fiber with Tree
Topology

Maximum Segment Length

10 Base5 - 500 m with at most 4 repeaters (Use Bridge to extend
the network)
10 Base2 - 185 m with at most 4 repeaters (Use Bridge to extend
the network)
10 BaseT - 100 m with at most 4 hubs (Use Switch to extend the
Thick Coaxial
Coaxial Cable
Cable


 Used
Used inin the
the first
first Ethernet
Ethernet networks
networks

 Type
Type RG-11
RG-11 // 10Base5
10Base5

 Usually
Usually orange/black
orange/black

 Thickness
Thickness of of aa small
small garden
garden hose
hose

 Very
Very expensive
expensive and and heavy
heavy cable
cable

 Two
Two strands
strands along
along the
the axis
axis

 Conductor
Conductor downdown the the center
center

 Insulator
Insulator surrounds
surrounds conductor
conductor

 Shielded
Shielded mesh
mesh serves
serves as
as outside
outside
Thin Coaxial Cable

 Alternative to Thick Ethernet Cable

 Type RG-58 / 10Base2 / “Cheapnet”
 Usually black
 Thickness of a pencil
 More flexible than thick Ethernet
 Reduced the cost of the cabling
 Flexible
Coaxial cable connectors

 The most common type of connector used

with coaxial cables is the BNC connector
Twisted Pair Cable

 Phone Systems
 Twisted Pair Cable consists of two copper
wires, usually twisted around each other to
cancel out any noise in the circuit
 Two main type of Twisted Pair Cabling
–– Shielded Twisted Pair (STP)
–– Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP)
 Shielded Twisted Pair (STP)

 STP is the original media used for token ring networks

 STP can be used for high-speed networks, such as FDDI or ATM,
where shielding is important.

RJ-45
 Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP)

 UTP has four pairs of wires inside the jacket

 Each pair is twisted with a different number of twists per
inch to help eliminate interference from adjacent pairs
 UTP (Continued)

 Most commonly used twisted pair cable

 Uses common telephone wire
 UTP was standardized by the IEEE 802.3
committee in October of 1990
 UTP for LANs is now classified as:
–– Category 3 - used for LANs up to 10 Mbps
–– Category 4 - used for LANs up to 16 Mbps
–– Category 5 - used for LANs up to 100 Mbps
Fiber Optic Cable

 Fiber optic cabling consists of a center glass core

surrounded by several layers of protective materials
 It transmits light rather than electronic signals
 It is the standard for connecting networks between
buildings, due to its immunity to the effects of moisture
and light
Fiber Optic (continued)

 Fiber optic cable has the ability to transmit signals over

much longer distances than coaxial or twisted pair
 It can also carry information at vastly greater speeds
 Fiber optic cable is more difficult to install than other
cabling
Wireless LANS

– Wireless networks use high frequency radio signals to

communicate between the workstations and the fileserver or
hubs.
– Disadvantages of wireless networks are:
 they are expensive (relatively),
 provide poor security,
 are susceptible to interference and
 are slower than cabled networks