Networking
click here to see networking FAQs AnsweredWhat is Networking?
A network is simply a group of two or more personal computers linked together.
A LAN or Local Area Network is a group of computers connected together within a local area such as in an office or a home. In a WAN or Wide Area Network, computers are farther apart; (across the street or across the world) and are connected via telephone/communication lines, radio waves or other means of connection. A WAN can also be a collection of two or more LAN’s.
Networks are classified using three properties: topology, protocol, and architecture.
Topology is the geometric arrangement of the network. Common topologies are a bus, ring and star.
The bus topology is old school and essentially has each of the computers on the network daisy-chained to each other. This type of network is usually peer-to-peer. A T-connector is connected to the PC’s network adapter’s and connecting the T-connectors with cables. At both ends of the chain, the network must be terminated.
In a ring topology, all devices are connected to one another in the shape
of a closed loop, so that each computer is connected directly to two other
computers, one on either side of it. Ring topologies are relatively expensive
and difficult to install, but they offer high data transmissions and can
span large distances.
When all devices are connected to a central device called a hub
this is a star topology. Star networks are relatively easy to install
and manage, but bottlenecks (sluggish data transmissions) can occur because
all data must pass through the hub.
The star is the most commonly used topology today.
Protocol specifies a common set of rules and signals that the computers on the network use to communicate. Most networks use the Ethernet protocol which is recommended for both home and office networking.
A couple of other protocols worth mentioning are; Local Talk used by Macintosh computers and Token Ring. In Token Ring, a signal (token) is passed on from computer to computer until it finds the information it is looking for and subsequently processes it.
Ethernet uses a system where each computer listens to the cable before sending anything through the network. If the network is clear, the computer will transmit, or send, the data. If any device attached to a network, such as file servers, printers or workstations (all of which are called nodes), is already being used and is sending data on the cable, the computer will wait and try again when the line is clear.
Architecture refers to one of the two major types of networks; peer-to-peer or client/server.
In a peer-to-peer networking configuration, there is no server and computers simply connect with each other in a workgroup to share files, printers and Internet access. This is most commonly found in home configurations and is only practical for workgroups of a dozen or less computers.
In a client/server network, there is usually a domain controller, which all of the computers log on to. This server can provide various services, including centrally routed Internet access, e-mail, file sharing and printer access, as well as ensuring security across the network. This is most commonly found in corporate configurations where network security is essential.
There is a third architecture which you may be familiar with; named centralized. This utilizes a central server with dumb terminal.
A peer-to-peer network is one in which lacks a dedicated server and every computer acts as both a client and a server. This is a good networking solution when there are 10 or less users that are in close proximity to each other. A peer-to-peer network can be a security nightmare, because all users can set permissions at will for shared resources. This is only recommended in situations where security is not an issue.
This type of network is designed to support a large number of users and uses dedicated server/s to accomplish this. Clients log on to the server/s in order to run applications or obtain files. Security and permissions can be managed by one or more administrators. This type of network also allows for convenient backup services, reduces network traffic and provides a host of other services that come with the network operating system (NOS).
A centralized system is also a client/server based model that is most often seen in UNIX environments, but the clients are dumb terminals. This means that the client may not have a floppy drive, hard disk or CD-ROM and all applications and processing occur on the server/s. As you can imagine, this requires fast , expensive server/s. Security is very high on this type of network, although a similar level of security can be achieved using an NT server and setting appropriate permissions.
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