Chapter 5 Part 2 Computer Network
Chapter 5 Part 2 Computer Network
Chapter 5 Part 2 Computer Network
Computer Network uses distributed processing in which task is divided among several
computers. Instead, a single computer handles an entire task, each separate computer
handles a subset.
• Geographical span
• Inter-connectivity
• Administration
• Architecture
1
Features of Computer network
A list Of Computer network features is given below.
• Communication speed
• File sharing
• Back up and Roll back is easy
• Software and Hardware sharing
• Security
• Scalability
• Reliability
A computer network is a group of computers linked to each other that enables the
computer to communicate with another computer and share their resources, data, and
applications.
2
LAN (Local Area Network)
Local Area Network is a group of computers connected to each other in a small area such
as building, office.
LAN is used for connecting two or more personal computers through a communication
medium such as twisted pair, coaxial cable, etc.
It is less costly as it is built with inexpensive hardware such as hubs, network adapters,
and ethernet cables.
Personal Area Network is used for connecting the computer devices of personal use is
known as Personal Area Network.
Thomas Zimmerman was the first research scientist to bring the idea of the Personal Area
Network.
Personal computer devices that are used to develop the personal area network are the
laptop, mobile phones, media player and play stations.
Government agencies use MAN to connect to the citizens and private industries.
In MAN, various LANs are connected to each other through a telephone exchange line.
3
The most widely used protocols in MAN are RS-232, Frame Relay, ATM, ISDN, OC-3,
ADSL, etc.
4
Types of Network Topology
A Network Topology is the arrangement with which computer systems or network devices
are connected to each other. Topologies may define both physical and logical aspect of
the network. Both logical and physical topologies could be same or different in a same
network.
Topology defines the structure of the network of how all the components are
interconnected to each other. There are two types of topology: physical and logical
topology.
BUS Topology
Bus topology is a network type in which every computer and network device is connected
to single cable. When it has exactly two endpoints, then it is called Linear Bus topology.
5
Features of Bus Topology
• It transmits data only in one direction.
• Every device is connected to a single cable
RING Topology
It is called ring topology because it forms a ring as each computer is connected to another
computer, with the last one connected to the first. Exactly two neighbours for each device.
6
Advantages of Ring Topology
• Transmitting network is not affected by high traffic or by adding more nodes, as
only the nodes having tokens can transmit data.
• Cheap to install and expand
STAR Topology
In this type of topology all the computers are connected to a single hub through a cable.
This hub is the central node and all others nodes are connected to the central node.
7
Advantages of Star Topology
• Fast performance with few nodes and low network traffic.
• Hub can be upgraded easily.
• Easy to troubleshoot.
• Easy to setup and modify.
• Only that node is affected which has failed, rest of the nodes can work smoothly.
MESH Topology
It is a point-to-point connection to other nodes or devices. All the network nodes are
connected to each other. Mesh has n(n-1)/2 physical channels to link n devices.
There are two techniques to transmit data over the Mesh topology, they are :
• Routing
• Flooding
8
Figure 5: Mesh Topology
Full Mesh Topology: Each and every nodes or devices are connected to each other.
9
Disadvantages of Mesh Topology
• Installation and configuration is difficult.
• Cabling cost is more.
• Bulk wiring is required.
TREE Topology
It has a root node and all other nodes are connected to it forming a hierarchy. It is also
called hierarchical topology. It should at least have three levels to the hierarchy.
10
Disadvantages of Tree Topology
• Heavily cabled.
• Costly.
• If more nodes are added maintenance is difficult.
• Central hub fails, network fails.
HYBRID Topology
It is two different types of topologies which is a mixture of two or more topologies. For
example if in an office in one department ring topology is used and in another star
topology is used, connecting these topologies will result in Hybrid Topology (ring topology
and star topology).
11
Features of Hybrid Topology
• It is a combination of two or topologies
• Inherits the advantages and disadvantages of the topologies included
Transmission mode refers to the mechanism of transferring of data between two devices
connected over a network. It is also called Communication Mode. These modes direct the
direction of flow of information. There are three types of transmission modes. They are:
12
SIMPLEX Mode
In this type of transmission mode, data can be sent only in one direction i.e.
communication is unidirectional. We cannot send a message back to the sender.
Unidirectional communication is done in Simplex Systems where we just need to send a
command/signal, and do not expect any response back.
Examples of simplex Mode are Speakers, television broadcasting, television and remote,
keyboard and monitor etc.
For example, on a local area network using a technology that has half-duplex
transmission, one workstation can send data on the line and then immediately receive
data on the line from the same direction in which data was just transmitted. Hence half-
duplex transmission implies a bidirectional line (one that can carry data in both directions)
but data can be sent in only one direction at a time.
Example of half duplex is a Walkie - talkie in which message is sent one at a time but
messages are sent in both the directions.
13
.
14
Transmission Mediums in Computer Networks
Transmission media is the medium through which we will exchange data in the form of
voice/message/video between the source and destination point.
The first layer of the OSI layer i.e. the physical layer plays an important role of providing
the transmission media to send data from the sender to receiver or exchange data from
one point to another. We will further study this in detail about it.
Depending upon the factors like the type of network, cost & ease of installation,
environmental conditions, the need of the business and the distances between sender &
receiver, we will decide which transmission medium will be suitable for an exchange of
data.
15
Factors to be considered while selecting a Transmission Medium
• Transmission Rate
• Cost and Ease of Installation
• Resistance to Environmental Conditions
• Distances
A twisted pair consists of two conductors (normally copper), each with its own plastic
insulation, twisted together. One of these wires is used to carry signals to the receiver,
and the other is used only as ground reference. The receiver uses the difference between
the two. In addition to the signal sent by the sender on one of the wires, interference
(noise) and crosstalk may affect both wires and create unwanted signals. If the two wires
are parallel, the effect of these unwanted signals is not the same in both wires because
they are at different locations relative to the noise or crosstalk sources. This results in a
difference at the receiver.
16
Unshielded Twisted Pair Cable
It is the most common type of telecommunication when compared with Shielded Twisted
Pair Cable which consists of two conductors usually copper, each with its own colour
plastic insulator. Identification is the reason behind coloured plastic insulation.
UTP cables consist of 2 or 4 pairs of twisted cable. Cable with 2 pair use RJ-11 connector
and 4 pair cable use RJ-45 connector.
17
Shielded Twisted Pair Cable
This cable has a metal foil or braided-mesh covering which encases each pair of insulated
conductors. Electromagnetic noise penetration is prevented by metal casing. Shielding
also eliminates crosstalk (explained in KEY TERMS Chapter).
It has same attenuation as unshielded twisted pair. It is faster the unshielded and coaxial
cable. It is more expensive than coaxial and unshielded twisted pair.
18
Coaxial Cable:
Coaxial is called by this name because it contains two conductors that are parallel to each
other. Copper is used in this as centre conductor which can be a solid wire or a standard
one. It is surrounded by PVC installation, a sheath which is encased in an outer conductor
of metal foil, barid or both.
Outer metallic wrapping is used as a shield against noise and as the second conductor
which completes the circuit. The outer conductor is also encased in an insulating sheath.
The outermost part is the plastic cover which protects the whole cable.
19
Advantages of Coaxial Cable
• Bandwidth is high
• Used in long distance telephone lines.
• Transmits digital signals at a very high rate of 10Mbps.
• Much higher noise immunity
• Data transmission without distortion.
• The can span to longer distance at higher speeds as they have better shielding
when compared to twisted pair cable
For better understanding we first need to explore several aspects of the nature of light.
Light travels in a straight line as long as it is mobbing through a single uniform substance.
If ray of light travelling through one substance suddenly enters another substance (of a
different density), the ray changes direction.
• Higher bandwidth
• Less signal attenuation
• Immunity to electromagnetic interference
• Resistance to corrosive materials
• Light weight
• Greater immunity to tapping
20
Disadvantages of Fibre Optic Cable
There are some disadvantages in the use of optical fibre:
The below figure shows the part of the electromagnetic spectrum, ranging from 3 kHz to
900 THz, used for wireless communication.
• Radio waves
• Micro waves
• Infrared waves
21
Radio Waves
Electromagnetic waves ranging in frequencies between 3 KHz and 1 GHz are normally
called radio waves.
Radio waves are omnidirectional. When an antenna transmits radio waves, they are
propagated in all directions. This means that the sending and receiving antennas do not
have to be aligned. A sending antenna send waves that can be received by any receiving
antenna. The omnidirectional property has disadvantage, too. The radio waves
transmitted by one antenna are susceptible to interference by another antenna that may
send signal suing the same frequency or band.
Micro Waves
Electromagnetic waves having frequencies between 1 and 300 GHz are called micro
waves. Micro waves are unidirectional. When an antenna transmits microwaves, they can
be narrowly focused. This means that the sending and receiving antennas need to be
aligned. The unidirectional property has an obvious advantage. A pair of antennas can
be aligned without interfering with another pair of aligned antennas.
22
• Use of certain portions of the band requires permission from authorities.
Infrared Waves
Infrared waves, with frequencies from 300 GHz to 400 THz, can be used for short-range
communication. Infrared waves, having high frequencies, cannot penetrate walls. This
advantageous characteristic prevents interference between one system and another, a
short-range communication system in on room cannot be affected by another system in
the next room.
When we use infrared remote control, we do not interfere with the use of the remote by
our neighbours.
23
Computer - Internet and Intranet
Internet
The Internet is a global network that uses TCP / IP protocols to connect millions of
computers worldwide. It can include different networks, such as private, public,
organizational, academic, government, etc. It allows users to communicate with each
other and share massive amounts of data in various formats. Internet is available in both
modes, wired and wireless. In wired mode, the data travels through fiber optic cables,
whereas in wireless mode, the data travels through radio waves.
However, there are several protocols; the transmission and internet protocols are the
primary impelling agents that help build the Internet network. The other common protocols
used by the connected networks are HTTP, FTP, and SMTP. Besides, the protocols and
24
applications like Telnet, Gopher, WWW, Usenet News, Internet Relay Chat, etc. are also
used throughout the working of the Internet.
Advantages of Internet
Few advantages of the Internet are listed below:
• The Internet establishes a network of devices from different locations all around
the world.
• It allows people to communicate easily from any location worldwide.
• The Internet is helping people to get information easily on different topics.
• It keeps the people updated on what's happening worldwide with the latest news
and technologies.
• It connects people through communities, forums, social networking sites and helps
them work together digitally.
• The Internet has made selling and purchasing of products and services easier.
• The Internet is the best platform for people to show their talent, such as singing,
dancing, drawing, etc.
What is Intranet?
An Intranet is a part of the Internet and is owned and used privately by an organization.
It is mainly used to connect all the computers and establish a private network of an
organization to provide employees the ability to collaborate on projects, manage or
update information, share calendars, and to-do list, etc. Organizations prefer using
Intranet to keep their data inaccessible from outsiders, making their suspicious data and
project information secure. Intranet includes a firewall to prevent unauthorized users from
accessing the network.
The websites created over Intranet look almost similar and act like any other website on
the Internet. However, these websites are much more task-oriented than promotional
design websites on the Internet. Like the Internet, the intranet's websites can also provide
the interface to form communication in the shape of chatting, image sharing, audio-video
conferencing, etc. All these activities can only be used by authorized users who have
permission to access the Intranet network.
25
Applications of the Intranet:
• Sharing the updates regarding the company's rules and regulations
• Accessing employees details
• Onboarding of employees and customer details
• Sharing project details
• Submission of projects and reports
• Submitting feedback or complaints
• Corporate telephone directories
In addition to the protocols, Intranet uses a firewall to filter unwanted elements to the
network and protects it from external intruders. It also includes network connectivity and
the public telecommunication system, which help access and share the company's data,
projects, and operations securely with the staff.
Advantages of Intranet
Few advantages of the Intranet are listed below:
26
• It has added improved communication and enhanced productivity to the
operational business processes.
• It encourages collaboration and reduces the error rate.
• It helps cut down the administration and the processing time.
The building blocks of the Web are web pages which are formatted in HTML and
connected by links called "hypertext" or hyperlinks and accessed by HTTP. These links
are electronic connections that link related pieces of information so that users can access
the desired information quickly. Hypertext offers the advantage to select a word or phrase
from text and thus to access other pages that provide additional information related to
that word or phrase.
A web page is given an online address called a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). A
particular collection of web pages that belong to a specific URL is called a website, e.g.,
www.facebook.com, www.google.com, etc. So, the World Wide Web is like a huge
electronic book whose pages are stored on multiple servers across the world.
Small websites store all of their WebPages on a single server, but big websites or
organizations place their WebPages on different servers in different countries so that
when users of a country search their site they could get the information quickly from the
nearest server.
So, the web provides a communication platform for users to retrieve and exchange
information over the internet. Unlike a book, where we move from one page to another in
a sequence, on World Wide Web we follow a web of hypertext links to visit a web page
27
and from that web page to move to other web pages. You need a browser, which is
installed on your computer, to access the Web.
Webpage
A web page is a single hypertext document available on World Wide Web (WWW). It is
composed of HTML elements and displayed on the user's browser such as Mozilla,
Firefox, Chrome, etc. It is also referred to as "Page."
A webpage may contain text, links for other pages, graphics, videos, etc. Moreover, it is
mainly used to provide information to the user in text, images, etc.
Website:
A website is a collection of several web pages. These pages are linked together with
hyperlinks. A website has a unique domain name, and we can access it by entering that
domain name in the URL.
Web Browser
web Browser is an application software that allows us to view and explore information on
the web. User can request for any web page by just entering a URL into address bar.
Web browsers can show text, audio, video, animation and more. It is the responsibility of
a web browser to interpret text and commands contained in the web page.
• It connects to a web server on the internet and requests a page that the user wants
to view; once it finds that page, it displays it on its device.
• It can interpret the set of HTML tags within a page to display the page in the correct
format.
Most common web browsers: Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera,
Safari, Brave, etc.
The web browser sends an HTTP request and gets an HTTP response.
28
Web Server
Web server is a program which processes the network requests of the users and serves
them with files that create web pages. This exchange takes place using Hypertext
Transfer Protocol (HTTP).
• sending and receiving mails on Internet by using SMTP (Simple Mail transfer
Protocol);
• fetching requests for File Transfer Protocol (FTP) files; and
• designing, developing, and publishing websites.
Though there are various web servers found in today's market, but the commonly used
one are as follows: Apache HTTP Server, Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS)
Introduction to Open-Source
The term Open-source is closely related to Open-source software (OSS). Open-source
software is a type of computer software that is released under a license, but the source
code is made available to all the users.
• Operating systems –
Android, Ubuntu, Linux
• Internet browsers –
Mozilla Firefox, Chromium, brave
• Integrated Development Environment (IDEs) –
Vs code (Visual Studio Code), Android Studio, PyCharm, Xcode, codeblocks
29