Division of Network by Geographical Coverage

LAN (Local Area network) Area between 100 meters Transmission medium used are co-axial cable, Fiber optical cable, radio wave (Blue tooth) etc. A single geographical location, such as office building, School, etc. Typically High speed and cheaper.

MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) Area between 1 to 10 kilometers Transmission medium used are co-axial cable, Fiber optical cable etc. It could be treated as a Big LAN. High speed and costlier Example Cable TV network.

WAN (Wide Area Network) Spans more than one geographical location often connecting separated LANs Transmission medium is air (radio wave, micro wave, satellite communication) Slower Costly hardware, routers, dedicated leased lines and complicated implementation procedures. Example is worldwide wave

Network Topologies
Topology - Physical and logical network layout or the geometrical shape of network. Physical actual layout of the computer cables and other network devices Logical the way in which the network appears to the devices that use it. The common topologies are Bus, ring, star, mesh and wireless Bus topology Uses a trunk or backbone to which all of the computers on the network connect. Systems connect to this backbone using T connectors or taps. Coaxial cablings (10Base-2, 10Base5) were popular options years ago.

Ring Topology
Meaning that data travels in circular fashion from one computer to another on the network. Typically FDDI, SONET or Token Ring technology are used to implement a ring Network Ring networks are most commonly wired in a star configuration Token Ring has multi-station access unit (MSAU), equivalent to hub or switch. MSAU performs the token circulation internally.

Star Topology
All computers/devices connect to a central device called hub or switch.

 Each device requires a single cable Point-to-Point connection between the device and hub. Most widely implemented Hub is the single point of failure

Mesh Topology
Each computer connects to every other.
High level of redundancy. Rarely used. Wiring is very complicated Cabling cost is high Troubleshooting a failed cable is tricky A variation hybrid mesh create point to point connection between specific network devices, often seen in WAN implementation.

Wireless networking Do not require physical cabling Particularly useful for remote access for laptop users Eliminate cable faults and cable breaks. Signal interference and security issue.

Type of Connection
A network is two or more devices connected through links. There are two possible types of connections: pointto-point and multipoint. They are, a) Point- to-point connection b) Multipoint Connection Point- to-point connection: A point-to-point connection provides a dedicated link between two devices. The entire capacity of the link is reserved for transmission between those two devices. Most point-to-point connections use an actual length of wire or cable to connect the two ends, but other options, such as microwave or satellite links, are also possible

Multipoint Connection: Multipoint A multipoint (also called multi-drop) connection is one in which more than two specific devices share a single link. In a multipoint environment, the capacity of the channel is shared, either spatially or temporally. If several devices can use the link simultaneously, it is a spatially shared connection. If users must take turns, it is a timeshared connection.

Data Flow and Communication

Communication between two devices can be Simplex Half-duplex Full-duplex

i. Simplex:a. In simplex mode, the communication is unidirectional as on a one-way street. b. Only one of the two devices on a link can transmit; the other can only receive. c. Keyboards and traditional monitors are examples of simplex devices the keyboard can only introduce input; the monitor can only accept output.

ii. Half-duplex:a. In half-duplex mode, each station can both transmit and receive, but not at the same time. b. When one device is sending, the other can only receive, and vice versa

c. In a half-duplex transmission, the entire capacity of a channel is taken over by whichever of the two devices is transmitting at the time. d. Walkie-talkies and CB (citizens band) radios are both half-duplex systems.

iii. Full-duplex:a. In full-duplex mode (also called duplex), both stations can transmit and receive simultaneously b. In full-duplex mode, signals going in one direction share the capacity of the link: with signals going in the other direction. c. This sharing can occur in two ways: Either the link must contain two physically separate transmission paths, one for sending and the other for receiving; or the capacity of the channel is divided between signals traveling in both directions. d. One common example of full-duplex communication is the telephone network. When two people are communicating by a telephone line, both can talk and listen at the same time.