TYPES OF COMPUTER NETWORKS

1 Personal Area Network 2 Local Area Network

3 Metropolitan Area Network 4 Wide Area Network
 Wide Area Network
As the name suggests, the Wide Area Network (WAN) covers a wide area which may
span across provinces and even a whole country. Generally, telecommunication
networks are Wide Area Network. These networks provide connectivity to MANs and
LANs. Since they are equipped with very high speed backbone, WANs use very
expensive network equipment.
Data Communication and Computer Network
6
WAN may use advanced technologies such as Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM),
Frame Relay, and Synchronous Optical Network (SONET). WAN may be managed by
multiple administration …………….
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 Personal Area Network
A Personal Area Network (PAN) is smallest
network which is very personal to a user. This
may include Bluetooth enabled devices or infra-
red enabled devices. PAN has connectivity range
up to 10 meters. PAN may include wireless
computer keyboard and mouse, Bluetooth
enabled headphones, wireless printers, and TV
remotes. For example, Piconet is Bluetooth-
enabled Personal Area Network which may
contain up to 8 devices connected together in a
master-slave fashion. Local Area Network A
computer network spanned inside a building
and operated under single administrative
system is generally termed as Local Area
Network (LAN). Usually, LAN covers an
organization offices, schools, colleges or
universities. Number of systems connected in
LAN may vary from as least as two to as much as
16 million.
 MAN
Metropolitan Area Network
The Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) generally expands throughout a city
such as
cable TV network. It can be in the form of Ethernet, Token-ring, ATM, or
Fiber
Distributed Data Interface (FDDI).
Metro Ethernet is a service which is provided by ISPs. This service enables its
users
to expand their Local Area Networks. For example, MAN can help an
organization to
connect all of its offices in a city.
Backbone of MAN is high-capacity and high-speed fiber optics. MAN works
in between Local Area Network and Wide Area Network. MAN provides
uplink for LANs to WANs
or internet
MAN Covers a City Or multiple cities in a country by using both guided and
unguided medias
 Network Topologies
1 Bus Topology 2 Star topology
3 Ring Topology 4 Tree Topology
5 Mesh topology
 Bus topology
Bus Topology

In case of Bus topology, all devices share single communication line or cable. Bus
topology may have problem while multiple hosts sending data at the same time.
Therefore, Bus topology either uses CSMA/CD technology or recognizes one host as
Bus Master to solve the issue. It is one of the simple forms of networking where a
failure of a device does not affect the other devices. But failure of the shared
communication line can make all other devices stop functioning.
Both ends of the shared channel have line terminator. The data is sent in only one
direction and as soon as it reaches the extreme end, the terminator removes the data
from the line
Figure : Bus Topology
 Star topology
 Star Topology
All hosts in Star topology are connected to a central device, known as hub device,
using a point-to-point connection. That is, there exists a point to point connection
between hosts and hub. The hub device can be any of the following:
 Layer-1 device such as hub or repeater
 Layer-2 device such as switch or bridge
 Layer-3 device such as router or gateway
As in Bus topology, hub acts as single point of failure. If hub fails, connectivity of all
hosts to all other hosts fails. Every communication between hosts takes place
through
only the hub. Star topology is not expensive as to connect one more host, only one
cable is required and configuration is simple.
Figure : Star Topology
 Ring Topology
 Ring Topology
In ring topology, each host machine connects to exactly two other machines,
creating
a circular network structure. When one host tries to communicate or send
message
to a host which is not adjacent to it, the data travels through all intermediate
hosts.
To connect one more host in the existing structure, the administrator may need
only
one more extra cable.
Failure of any host results in failure of the whole ring. Thus, every connection in
the
ring is a point of failure. There are methods which employ one more backup
ring.
Figure : Ring Topology
 Mesh topology
 Mesh Topology
In this type of topology, a host is connected to one or multiple hosts. This topology
has hosts in point-to-point connection with every other host or may also have hosts
which are in point-to-point connection with few hosts only.
Hosts in Mesh topology also work as relay for other hosts which do not have direct
point-to-point links. Mesh technology comes into two types:
 Full Mesh: All hosts have a point-to-point connection to every other host in
the network. Thus for every new host n(n-1)/2 connections are required. It
provides the most reliable network structure among all network topologies.
 Partially Mesh: Not all hosts have point-to-point connection to every other
host. Hosts connect to each other in some arbitrarily fashion. This topology
exists where we need to provide reliability to some hosts out of all
Figure : Mesh topology
 Tree Topology
Tree Topology
Also known as Hierarchical Topology, this is the most common form of network
topology in use presently. This topology imitates as extended Star topology and
inherits properties of Bus topology.
This topology divides the network into multiple levels/layers of network. Mainly in
LANs, a network is bifurcated into three types of network devices. The lowermost is
access-layer where computers are attached. The middle layer is known as distribution
layer, which works as mediator between upper layer and lower layer. The highest
layer is known as core layer, and is central point of the network, i.e. root of the tree
from which all nodes fork.
All neighboring hosts have point-to-point connection between them. Similar to the
Bus topology, if the root goes down, then the entire network suffers even though it
is not the single point of failure. Every connection serves as point of failure, failing of
which divides the network into unreachable segment
Figure : tree topology
 OSI Model
 Open System Interconnect is an open standard for all communication
systems. OSI
model is established by International Standard Organization (ISO). This
model has
seven layers:
 1 Application Layer: 2 Presentation Layer:
3 Session Layer: 4 Transport Layer:
5 Network Layer: 6 Data Link Layer:
7 Physical Layer:
Application Layer:
 This layer is responsible for providing interface to the
application user. This layer encompasses protocols which directly interact with
the user

Presentation Layer:
This layer defines how data in the native format of
remote host should be presented in the native format of host
Session Layer:

This layer maintains sessions between remote hosts. For

example, once user/password authentication is done, the remote
host
maintains this session for a while and does not ask for
authentication again in
that time span
Transport Layer:
This layer is responsible for end-to-end delivery between
hosts.
Network Layer:
This layer is responsible for address assignment and
uniquely
addressing hosts in a network

Data Link Layer:

This layer is responsible for reading and writing data

from
and onto the line. Link errors are detected at this
layer
 Physical Layer:

This layer defines the hardware, cabling, wiring, power

output, pulse rate etc.

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PHYSICAL LAYER INTRODUCTION
Physical layer in the OSI model plays the role of interacting with actual
hardware and
signaling mechanism. Physical layer is the only layer of OSI network model
which
actually deals with the physical connectivity of two different stations. This layer
defines the hardware equipment, cabling, wiring, frequencies, pulses used to
represent binary signals etc.
Physical layer provides its services to Data-link layer. Data-link layer hands over
frames to physical layer. Physical layer converts them to electrical pulses, which
represent binary data. The binary data is then sent over the wired or wireless
media
Signals
When data is sent over physical medium, it needs to be first converted into
electromagnetic signals. Data itself can be analog such as human voice, or digital
such as file on the disk. Both analog and digital data can be represented in digital
or
analog signals.
Digital Signals
Digital signals are discrete in nature and represent sequence of voltage pulses.
Digital
signals are used within the circuitry of a computer system.
Analog Signals
Analog signals are in continuous wave form in nature and represented by
continuous
electromagnetic waves
Transmission Impairment
When signals travel through the medium, they tend to deteriorate. This may have
many reasons as given:
Attenuation
For the receiver to interpret the data accurately, the signal must be sufficiently
strong. When the signal passes through the medium, it tends to get weaker. As it
covers distance, it loses strength.
Dispersion
As signal travels through the media, it tends to spread and overlaps. The amount of
dispersion depends upon the frequency used.
Delay distortion
Signals are sent over media with pre-defined speed and frequency. If the signal speed
and frequency do not match, there are possibilities that signal reaches destination in
arbitrary fashion. In digital media, this is very critical that some bits reach earlier
than the previously sent ones.
Noise
Random disturbance or fluctuation in analog or digital signal is said to be Noise in
signal, which may distort the actual information being carried. Noise can be
characterized in one of the following class:
Thermal Noise
Heat agitates the electronic conductors of a medium which may introduce noise in
the media. Up to a certain level, thermal noise is unavoidable.
Intermodulation
When multiple frequencies share a medium, their interference can cause noise in the
medium. Intermodulation noise occurs if two different frequencies are sharing a
medium and one of them has excessive strength or the component itself is not
functioning properly, then the resultant frequency may not be delivered as expected.
Crosstalk
This sort of noise happens when a foreign signal enters into the media. This is because
signal in one medium affects the signal of second medium.
Impulse
This noise is introduced because of irregular disturbances such as lightening,
electricity, short-circuit, or faulty components. Digital data is mostly affected by this
sort of noise.
Transmission Media
The media over which the information between two computer systems is sent,
called
transmission media. Transmission media comes in two forms.
Guided Media
All communication wires/cables are guided media, such as UTP, coaxial cables,
and
fiber Optics. In this media, the sender and receiver are directly connected and the
information is send (guided) through it.
Unguided Media
Wireless or open air space is said to be unguided media, because there is no
connectivity between the sender and receiver. Information is spread over the air,
and
anyone including the actual recipient may collect the information.
Channel Capacity
The speed of transmission of information is said to be the channel capacity.
We count
it as data rate in digital world. It depends on numerous factors such as:

 Bandwidth: The physical limitation of underlying media.

 Error-rate: Incorrect reception of information because of noise.
 Encoding: The number of levels used for signaling.
Multiplexing
Multiplexing is a technique to mix and send multiple data streams over a
single
medium. This technique requires system hardware called multiplexer
(MUX) for
multiplexing the streams and sending them on a medium, and de-
multiplexer (DMUX)
which takes information from the medium and distributes to different
destinations.
DATA

LINK LAYER INTRODUCTION
Data Link Layer is second layer of OSI Layered Model. This layer is one of the
most
complicated layers and has complex functionalities and liabilities. Data link layer
hides the details of underlying hardware and represents itself to upper layer as
the
medium to communicate
Data link layer is responsible for converting data stream to signals bit by bit and
to
send that over the underlying hardware. At the receiving end, Data link layer
picks
up data from hardware which are in the form of electrical signals, assembles
them in
a recognizable frame format, and hands over to upper layer
Functionality of Data-link Layer
Framing

Addressing

Synchronization

Error Control

Flow Control

Multi-Access
Framing
Data-link layer takes packets from Network Layer and encapsulates them
into
Frames. Then, it sends each frame bit-by-bit on the hardware. At receiver
end, data
link layer picks up signals from hardware and assembles them into frames
Addressing
Data-link layer provides layer-2 hardware addressing mechanism.
Hardware address
is assumed to be unique on the link. It is encoded into hardware at the time
of
manufacturing
 Synchronization
When data frames are sent on the link, both machines must be synchronized in
order
to transfer to take place
Error Control
Sometimes signals may have encountered problem in transition and the bits are
flipped. These errors are detected and attempted to recover actual data bits. It also
provides error reporting mechanism to the sender
Flow Control
Stations on same link may have different speed or capacity. Data-link layer ensures
flow control that enables both machine to exchange data on same speed
Multi-Access
When host on the shared link tries to transfer the data, it has a high
probability of
collision. Data-link layer provides mechanism such as CSMA/CD to equip
capability
of accessing a shared media among multiple Systems.

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