CLASSIFICATION OF NETWORKS

Networks can be classified by the following

 Size or scale (geographical area/span)
 Network Configuration
 Topology or physical connectivity

Classification of networks by size or scale

Under this scheme, networks are classified as belonging to one of the following classes:-
 LAN-Local Area Network
 WAN-Wide Area Network
 MAN-Metropolitan Area Network
 PAN-Personal Area Network
 CAN- Campus Area Network
 HAN- Home Area Network
 SAN- Storage Area Network

Local Area Network (LAN)

A local area network (LAN) is a network that connects computers and devices in a limited
geographical area such as home, school, computer laboratory, office building, or closely
positioned group of buildings. Each computer or device on the network is a node. Current
wired LANs are most likely to be based on Ethernet technology, although new standards like
ITU-T G.hn also provide a way to create a wired LAN using existing home wires (coaxial
cables, phone lines and power lines).

Current Ethernet or other IEEE 802.3 LAN technologies operate at data transfer rates up to
10 Gbit/s.

Characteristics of LAN
 Higher data transfer rates
 Smaller geographic range
 No need for leased telecommunication lines
Wide Area Network (WAN)
A wide area network (WAN) is a computer network that covers a large geographic area such
as a country, or spans even intercontinental distances, using a communications channel that
combines many types of media such as telephone lines, cables, and air waves. A WAN often
uses transmission facilities provided by common carriers, such as telephone companies.
WAN technologies generally function at the lower three layers of the OSI reference model:
the physical layer, the data link layer, and the network layer.

Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)

A Metropolitan area network (MAN) is a large computer network that usually spans a city or
a town.

Personal Area Networks (PAN)

A personal area network (PAN) is a computer network used for communication among
computer and different information technological devices close to one person. Some
examples of devices that are used in a PAN are personal computers, printers, fax machines,
telephones, PDAs, scanners, and even video game consoles. A PAN may include wired and
wireless devices. The reach of a PAN typically extends to 10 meters. A wired PAN is usually
constructed with USB and Firewire connections while technologies such as Bluetooth and
infrared communication typically form a wireless PAN
For example, Piconet is Bluetooth-enabled Personal Area Network which may contain up to
8 devices connected together in a master-slave fashion.
Home Area Network (HAN)
A home area network (HAN) is a residential LAN which is used for communication between
digital devices typically deployed in the home, usually a small number of personal computers
and accessories, such as printers and mobile computing devices. An important function is
the sharing of Internet access, often a broadband service through a cable TV or Digital
Subscriber Line (DSL) provider.

Storage Area Network (SAN)

A storage area network (SAN) is a dedicated network that provides access to consolidated,
block level data storage. SANs are primarily used to make storage devices, such as disk
arrays, tape libraries, and optical jukeboxes, accessible to servers so that the devices appear
like locally attached devices to the operating system. A SAN typically has its own network of
storage devices that are generally not accessible through the local area network by other
devices.
Campus Area Network (CAN)
A campus area network (CAN) is a computer network made up of an interconnection of LANs
within a limited geographical area. The networking equipment (switches, routers) and
transmission media (optical fiber, copper plant, Cat5 cabling etc.) are almost entirely owned
(by the campus tenant / owner: an enterprise, university, government etc.).
In the case of a university campus-based campus network, the network is likely to link a
variety of campus buildings including, for example, academic colleges or departments, the
university library, and student residence halls.

Backbone network
A backbone network is part of a computer network infrastructure that interconnects various
pieces of network, providing a path for the exchange of information between different LANs
or sub-networks. A backbone can tie together diverse networks in the same building, in
different buildings in a campus environment, or over wide areas. Normally, the backbone's
capacity is greater than that of the networks connected to it.
A large corporation which has many locations may have a backbone network that ties all of
these locations together, for example, if a server cluster needs to be accessed by different
departments of a company which are located at different geographical locations. The
equipment which ties these departments together constitutes the network backbone.
Network performance management including network congestion is critical parameters
taken into account when designing a network backbone.
A specific case of a backbone network is the Internet backbone, which is the set of wide-area
network connections and core routers that interconnect all networks connected to the
Internet.

Virtual Private Network (VPN)

A virtual private network (VPN) is a computer network in which some of the links between
nodes are carried by open connections or virtual circuits in some larger network (e.g., the
Internet) instead of by physical wires. The data link layer protocols of the virtual network
are said to be tunneled through the larger network when this is the case. One common
application is secure communications through the public Internet, but a VPN need not have
explicit security features, such as authentication or content encryption. VPNs, for example,
can be used to separate the traffic of different user communities over an underlying network
with strong security features.
VPN may have best-effort performance, or may have a defined service level agreement (SLA)
between the VPN customer and the VPN service provider. Generally, a VPN has a topology
more complex than point-to-point.

Intranets
Intranets are in-house, tailor-made networks for use within the organization and provide
limited access (if any) to outside services and also limit the external traffic (if any) into the
intranet.
An intranet might have access to the Internet but there will be no access from the Internet to
the organization’s intranet.
Organizations which have a requirement for sharing and distributing electronic information
normally have three choices:
- Use a proprietary groupware package such as Lotus Notes
- Set up an Intranet
- Set up a connection to the Internet
STUDY TEXT
Groupware packages normally replicate data locally on a computer whereas Intranets
centralize their information on central servers which are then accessed by a single browser
package. The stored data is normally open and can be viewed by any compatible WWW
browser. Intranet browsers have the great advantage over groupware packages in that they
are available for a variety of clients, such as PCs, Macs, UNIX workstations and so on. A client
browser also provides a single GUI interface, which offers easy integration with other
applications such as electronic mail, images, audio, video, animation and so on.

The main elements of an Intranet are:

• Intranet server hardware
• Intranet server software
• TCP/IP stack software on the clients and servers
• WWW browsers
• A firewall

Other properties defining an Intranet are:

 • Intranets use browsers, websites, and web pages to resemble the Internet within the
business.
• They typically provide internal e-mail, mailing lists, newsgroups and FTP services
• These services are accessible only to those within the organization

Extranets
Extranets (external Intranets) allow two or more companies to share parts of their Intranets
related to joint projects. For example, two companies may be working on a common project,
an
Extranet would allow them to share files related with the project.
• Extranets allow other organizations, such as suppliers, limited access to the
organization’s network.
• The purpose of the extranet is to increase efficiency within the business and to
reduce costs

Classification of networks by network configuration

Under this scheme networks can also be categorized either as
 Client / Server OR
 Peer to Peer (P2PN)

Peer to Peer networks

 Nodes provide and request services-A node typically is a computer on the network.
 User in each node administers resources
 Cheap to implement
 Easy to setup
 Very weak security
 Additional load on nodes
 Most operating systems can support peer to peer networks

Client-Server networks
 Typically consists of a designated computer to administer the network
 Nodes are called clients
 Servers are used to control access
 Resources centralized on dedicated servers, from which clients get services on
request
 Nodes and servers share data roles
 Supports larger networks
 Strong security
 Expensive
 Access to data controlled by server
 Uses a Network operating system

Classification of Networks by Topology

Network topology is the arrangement of the various elements (links, nodes, etc.) of a
computer. Essentially, it is the topological structure of a network, and may be depicted
physically or logically.
Physical topology refers to the placement of the network's various components, including
device location and cable installation, while
Logical topology shows how data flows within a network, regardless of its physical design.
Distances between nodes, physical interconnections, transmission rates, and/or signal types
may differ between two networks, yet their topologies may be identical.

Typical topologies include:

 Bus
 Star
 Ring
 Mesh
 Hybrid

A ring network is a network topology in which each node connects to exactly two other
nodes, forming a single continuous pathway for signals through each node - a ring. Data
travels from node to node, with each node along the way handling every packet.

Advantages
 Very orderly network where every device has access to the token and the opportunity
to transmit
 Performs better than a bus topology under heavy network load
 Does not require a central node to manage the connectivity between the computers
 Due to the point to point line configuration of devices with a device on either side
each device is connected to its immediate neighbor, it is quite easy to install and
reconfigure since adding or removing a device requires moving just two connections.
 Point to point line configuration makes it easy to identify and isolate faults.
Disadvantages
 One malfunctioning workstation can create problems for the entire network. This can
be solved by using a dual ring or a switch that closes off the break.
 Moves, adds and changes of devices can affect the network
 Communication delay is directly proportional to number of nodes in the network
 Bandwidth is shared on all links between devices
 More difficult to configure than a Star: node adjunction ⇨ Ring shutdown and
reconfiguration
Mesh networking (topology) is a type of networking where each node must not only
capture and disseminate its own data, but also serve as a relay for other nodes, that is, it must
collaborate to propagate the data in the network.
A mesh network can be designed using a flooding technique or a routing technique. When
using a routing technique, the message propagates along a path, by hopping from node to
node until the destination is reached. To ensure all its paths' availability, a routing network
must allow for continuous connections and reconfiguration around broken or blocked paths,
using self-healing algorithms

Advantages
 Point to point line configuration makes identification and isolation of faults easy.
 Messages travel through a dedicated line meaning that only the intended recipient
receives the message: privacy and security is thus ensured,
 In the case of a fault in one link, only the communication between the two devices
sharing the link is affected.
 The use of dedicated links ensures that each connection carries its own data load thus
ridding of traffic problems that would have been encountered if a connection/link
was shared.

Disadvantages
 If the network covers a great area, huge investments may be required due to the
amount of cabling and ports required for input and output devices. It is a rare choice
of a network connection due to the costs involved.

Star topology
Star networks are one of the most common computer network topologies. In its simplest
form, a star network consists of one central switch, hub or computer, which acts as a conduit
to transmit messages. This consists of a central node, to which all other nodes are connected;
this central node provides a common connection point for all nodes through a hub. In Star
topology every node (computer workstation or any other peripheral) is connected to central
node called hub or switch.
Advantages
 Better performance: star topology prevents the passing of data packets through an
excessive number of nodes. At most, 3 devices and 2 links are involved in any
communication between any two devices. Although this topology places a huge
overhead on the central hub, with adequate capacity, the hub can handle very high
utilization by one device without affecting others.
 Isolation of devices: Each device is inherently isolated by the link that connects it to
the hub. This makes the isolation of individual devices straightforward and amounts
to disconnecting each device from the others. This isolation also prevents any non-
centralized failure from affecting the network.
 Benefits from centralization: As the central hub is the bottleneck, increasing its
capacity, or connecting additional devices to it, increases the size of the network very
easily. Centralization also allows the inspection of traffic through the network. This
facilitates analysis of the traffic and detection of suspicious behavior.
 Easy to detect faults and to remove parts.
 No disruptions to the network when connecting or removing devices.
 Installation and configuration is easy since every one device only requires a link and
one input/output port to connect it to any other device(s).

Disadvantages
 High dependence of the system on the functioning of the central hub
 Failure of the central hub renders the network inoperable

Bus network topology

A bus network topology is a network architecture in which a set of clients are connected
via a shared communications line, called a bus.
In a computer or on a network, a bus is a transmission path on which signals are dropped off
or picked up at every device attached to the line. Only devices addressed by the signals pay
attention to them; the others discard the signals.
A bus is a network topology or circuit arrangement in which all devices are attached to a line
directly and all signals pass through each of the devices. Each device has a unique identity
and can recognize those signals intended for it.

Advantages (benefits) of Linear Bus Topology

 It is easy to set-up and extend bus network.
 Cable length required for this topology is the least compared to other networks.
 Bus topology costs very less.
 Linear Bus network is mostly used in small networks. Good for LAN.

Disadvantages (Drawbacks) of Linear Bus Topology

 There is a limit on central cable length and number of nodes that can be connected.
 Dependency on central cable in this topology has its disadvantages. If the main cable
(i.e. bus ) encounters some problem, whole network breaks down.
 Proper termination is required to dump signals. Use of terminators is must.
 It is difficult to detect and troubleshoot fault at individual station.
 Maintenance costs can go higher with time.
 Efficiency of Bus network reduces as the number of devices connected to it increases.
 It is not suitable for networks with heavy traffic.
 Security is very low because all the computers receive the sent signal from the source

Hybrid topology
A network structure whose design contains more than one topology is said to be hybrid
topology. Hybrid topology inherits merits and demerits of all the incorporating topologies.
The above picture represents an arbitrarily hybrid topology. The combining topologies may
contain attributes of Star, Ring, Bus, and Daisy-chain topologies. Most WANs are connected
by means of Dual-Ring topology and networks connected to them are mostly Star topology
networks. Internet is the best example of largest Hybrid topology