This document contains different types of networks such as a LAN, MAN, PAN etc., components for a network, network topologies such as star, bus, etc., criteria for internet connections, wired and wireless connections, internet services, government services, plug-ins, cloud-based, web-based and inst...
INTERNET AND NETWORKS
Network:
A network is a group of two or more
computers or other electronic devices that
are interconnected for the purpose of
exchanging data and sharing resources.
Advantages:
Sharing devices such as printers
saves money.
Site (software) licences are likely to be cheaper than buying several standalone licences.
Software, data, and information can easily be shared between users.
Network users can communicate by email and instant messenger.
Security is good - users cannot see other users' files unlike on stand-alone machines.
Data is easy to backup as all the data is stored on the file server.
Disadvantages
Purchasing the network cabling and file servers can be expensive.
Managing a large network is complicated, requires training and a network manager usually
needs to be employed.
If the file server breaks down the files on the file server become inaccessible. Email might still
work if it is on a separate server. The computers can still be used but are isolated.
Viruses can spread to other computers throughout a computer network.
There is a danger of hacking, particularly with wide area networks. Security procedures are
needed to prevent such abuse, e.g., a firewall.
WAN:
A network that is spread over a wide geographical area such as a city, country or even continents
Purpose of a WAN: to facilitate the sharing of computer resources and means of electronic
communication over a wide geographical area.
Use: to exchange traffic between different buildings, cities or even countries.
PAN:
A personal area network, or PAN, is a computer network organized around an individual person
within a single building. This could be inside a small office or residence.
Purpose: This type of network is designed to enable devices in a small office or home office
(SOHO) environment to communicate and share resources, data and applications either wired or
wirelessly.
Needed for set up:
Minimum of two computing devices
A communication channel, which can be wired or wireless to transfer information between the
different devices.
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,Created by: Cassandra Hanscombe Matric 2022
HAN:
A home network or home area network (HAN) is a type of computer network that facilitates
communication among devices within the close vicinity of a home.
Purpose: A network inside the home used to provide monitoring and control over energy usage.
LAN:
A network that links together computers and peripheral equipment within a limited area, such as a
building.
Purpose: They function to link computers together and provide shared access to printers, file
servers, and other services.
MAN:
A metropolitan area network, or MAN, consists of a computer network across an entire city, college
campus or small region.
Purpose: A MAN is often used to connect several LANs together to form a bigger network.
GAN:
A global area network (GAN) refers to a network composed of different interconnected networks
that cover an unlimited geographical area.
Purpose: Used to support mobile communication over a number of wireless LAN's.
Advantages:
Increased access to information, global markets, and communication between societies and
people
Disadvantages:
Electronic access to valuable information, which can be used maliciously
A decrease in the ability of small companies to compete with larger, global companies.
WLAN:
A wireless LAN is a wireless computer network that links two or more devices using wireless
communication to form a local area network within a limited area such as a home, school,
computer laboratory, campus, or office building.
Purpose: Allows users to move around the coverage area, often a home or small office, while
maintaining a network connection.
Advantages:
It’s a reliable sort of communication.
Easier to connect different buildings to the same network.
It’s easy to change workstations and stay connected to the network without moving wires.
Easy installation and you would like don’t need extra cables for installation.
Disadvantages of wireless local area network (WLAN) :
WLAN requires license.
If the amount of connected devices increases, then data transfer rate decreases.
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, Created by: Cassandra Hanscombe Matric 2022
WLAN uses frequency which may interfere with other devices which use frequency.
WLAN is more expensive than wires and hubs as it access points.
Low data transfer rate than wired connection because WLAN uses frequency.
VPN:
VPN stands for "virtual private network" — a service that helps you stay private online. A VPN
establishes a secure, encrypted connection between your computer and the internet. They reroute
all your traffic through other servers. That means all of your online traffic, along with your physical
location, stays hidden while you surf the web. When you access a site through a VPN server, the
source of your connection is shown as one of the many VPN routers — called a proxy server —
not your own. So, anyone trying to spy on you, cannot deduce who you are.
Components of a network:
NIC
NIC stands for network interface card.
Hardware component used to connect a computer with another computer onto a network
It can support a transfer rate of 10,100 to 1000 Mb/s.
The MAC address or physical address is encoded on the network card chip which is assigned
to identify a network card uniquely.
There are two types of NIC:
Wired NIC: The Wired NIC is present inside the motherboard. Cables and connectors are used
with wired NIC to transfer data.
Wireless NIC: The wireless NIC contains the antenna to obtain the connection over the
wireless network. For example, laptop computer contains the wireless NIC.
Hub
A Hub is a hardware device that divides the network connection among multiple devices. When
computer requests for some information from a network, it first sends the request to the Hub through
cable. Hub will broadcast this request to the entire network. All the devices will check whether the
request belongs to them or not. If not, the request will be dropped.
The process used by the Hub consumes more bandwidth and limits the amount of communication.
Nowadays, the use of hub is obsolete, and it is replaced by more advanced computer network
components such as Switches, Routers.
Switch
A switch is a hardware device that connects multiple devices on a computer network. A Switch
contains more advanced features than Hub. Switch delivers the message to the correct destination
based on the physical address present in the incoming message. A Switch does not broadcast the
message to the entire network like the Hub. It determines the device to whom the message is to be
transmitted. Therefore, we can say that switch provides a direct connection between the source and
destination. It increases the speed of the network.
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