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Essay Unit 9 - Computer Networks Assignment 1
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- Unit 9 - Computer Networks
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- PEARSON (PEARSON)
Essay Unit 9 - Computer Networks , Full Assignment 1, Grade Distinction.
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Unit 9 - Computer NetworksUnit 9 Computer Networks – Assignment 1
Types of network:
Local area network (LAN)
Lan stands for local area network and it is a computer network within a small area such as a
home, or a computer laboratory. A local area network is composed of interlinked
workstations and pcs. Each of the devices are able to share data and devices such as
scanners printers and data storage devices. Local Area Networks are recognised through
high transfer communication rate.
Wide area network (WAN)
Wan stands for wide area network and it consist of a large-scale interlinked network. A Wan
connects other various smaller networks such as local area networks and metro area
networks. This is to ensure that computers from different locations are able to communicate
with each other without problems or delays.
Internet
The Internet is an online interconnection of networks, it is formatted in the HTML language
and it contains websites and web pages. It describes all the videos images and any other
content available online. The Internet evolved a lot throughout the years, initially it was just
a group of text-based websites hosted by companies, whereas now it is a much more
complicated network containing unlimited resources for its users. The information is
connected via hyperlinks and URL, hyperlinks are used to redirect the user onto different
pages whereas a different URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is assigned to each webpage so
that members of the audience can easily locate the webpage they were looking for.
WAN technologies
Frame relay
Frame Relay is a kind of wide area network that uses packet-mode as a transmission
method, its purpose is allowing a singular serial interface to connect to numerous sites on a
router. This is also done by the help of virtual circuits. One of its main benefits are being
inexpensive, however the drawback is that it isn’t as fast as recent technologies and this is
also the reason why it has been replaced by methods such as asynchronous transfer mode.
MPLS
MPLS stands for Multiprotocol Label Switching and it is a manoeuvre used in computer
networking to accelerate the packet flow speed from one node to another. I also speeds up
the network by using short labels instead of long addresses. The label contains the routing
information such as IP address, socket information, source IP and bandwidth. The router will
consult the label when making the path decision.
, Unit 9 - Computer Networks
ATM
ATM stands for asynchronous transfer mode, it is used in telecommunications to encode the
information data into smaller sized cells. ATM is also the core protocol used over the SONET
(synchronous optical network) and ISDN (integrated digital services network). The purpose
of ATM is to speed up transfer and avoid delays, it can solve the internet bandwidth
problem by speeding the connection up thanks to the small sized packets. The ATM’s data
links work in the layer number one of the OSI model, this makes it ideal for real-time and
low-latency data.
Personal Area Network (PAN)
A personal area network consists of an interconnection of devices as well as gadgets within
a small environment such as a home or a small business office. A personal area network
provides data transmission between various hardware components such as mobile phones,
computers and tablets. It can also be used to connect those devices to a higher level
networks and to the internet where one of the devices acts as a gateway hub.
Logical and physical topologies:
Star
The star topology is one of the most popular topologies, the configuration consists in every nodule
being connected to a central network device commonly called the hub. The device in the middle acts
like the server and the connected devices act like clients. One advantage is that the management is
centralised thanks to the central server, another advantage is that if one of the connected
computers fails, not necessarily the other ones fail too, instead they keep functioning to minimise
the damage. The final advantage is that inserting an additional computer in the topology is very easy
thanks to its structure. There are also disadvantages, first of all it might be expensive to implement,
and second if the central hub fails all computers will be disconnected from the network.
Bus
The bus topology consists in devices connected to a cable working as a half-duplex, this
means that it would either send or receive information at a time. A bus topology works well
when there is a small network, also it is one of the easiest network topologies when trying
to connect computers and peripherals in a linear form. The bus topology is also secure as
data travels one at a time.
Ring
A ring topology that consists in a circular path, each device is connected to 2 additional
devices creating a network. Packets of information travel through each device until the
destination is reached. The ring topology is called a unidirectional network, this differs from
other networks as data only travels one way. Its main advantages are that data can be
transferred at high speeds through the workstations, additionally, workstations can also be
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