Date: ___________

Garodia International
Centre for Learning

Subject: ICT Name: Class: 10 fs-4

NETWORK:

An arrangement to interconnect a group of computers so as to enable them to share and

exchange information.

The computer network refers to computers, connecting cables, software that helps them
to communicate and the transmission method in communication.

The computers in a network may be linked through cables, telephone lines, radio waves
or satellites.

Advantages of networking:

1. Resource Sharing: Printers, scanners, fax machines, modem can be shared. Even
software’s can be shared. Thus it lowers the expenditure.
2. Security: Important files and programs in a network can be protected using
passwords. It prevents any unauthorized person from accessing and damaging the files.
3. Flexible access: Files can be accessed from different computers within the
network.
4. Speed: Sharing and transferring of the files within network is very fast. Thus usage
of network saves times and also maintains integrity of the file.
5. Electronic mail: E-mail on a network will enable staff to communicate within
buildings. It speeds up the work by fast communication.

Disadvantages of Networking:

1. As we can do resource sharing (like printers), so sometimes we have to wait in a

queue to get our paper.
2. Network faults can lead to loss of resource.
3. The systems in network are open to Virus attacks.
4. The files in the network are open to all. Anybody can modify, delete, change it. So
we have to use username and passwords to the file and sometimes to the folders too. Or
we have to take copies of our important files in a pen drive.

Note: Though the network has some drawbacks, the benefits outweigh them.

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Types of Network:

Networking is a very broad term. A ‘network’ could imply a group of ten interconnected
personal computers in an office or a large number of them connected within a city,
country, or even the entire world. Thus, networks can vary widely in their size, complexity,
and geographical spread. A popular way is to classify computers based on geographical
spread. On this basis they can be classified into:

1. Local Area Network: LAN’s are computer networks confined to a localized area
such as an office, a factory or an establishment. They connect computers and allow
exchange of data among them.
2. Metropolitan Area Network: MAN covers larger geographic areas like cities.
These types of networks are used by local libraries and government agencies to connect
to citizens and also to private industries. It is a hybrid of LAN and WAN.
3. Wide Area Network: WAN’s are spread across a city, a country, several countries
and even continents. WAN is a group of linked computers that are separated by large
distances. Implementation of WAN is very difficult. Majority of WAN’s use sattellite.

NETWORK TOPOLOGY:

Topology of a network concern with the structure of connection between computers and
the layout in which the network devices are connected. OR

It is the study of the arrangement or mapping of the element (links, nodes, etc) of a
network, especially the physical and logical interconnections between nodes. A local area
network(LAN) is one example of a network that exhibits both a physical topology and a
logical topology.

Physical Topology:

The mapping of the nodes of a network and the physical connections between them –
i.e., the layout of wiring, cables, the locations of nodes, and the interconnections between
the nodes and the cabling or wiring system.

Logical Topology:

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The mapping of the flow of data between the nodes in the network determines the logical
topology of the network.

The physical and logical topologies might be identical in any particular network but they
also may be different.

Types of Topologies:

1. Linear Bus :

Bus topology is the simplest of all the topologies. In this topology, all the devices in the
network are connected through a center BUS which has exactly two end points.

All data that is transmitted between nodes in the network is transmitted over this common
transmission medium and is able to be received by all nodes in the network virtually
simultaneously.

The two endpoints of the common transmission medium are normally terminated with a
device called a terminator that absorbs the energy that remains in the signal to prevent
the signal from being reflected or propagated back onto the transmission medium in the
opposite direction, which would cause interference.

The advantages of the bus topology is:

a. All computers in the topology are connected through a centre cable called BUS. So
it is easy to implement.
b. The topology can easily extend.
c. This is very cheap.
d. Requires less cable length than star topology.

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The main disadvantages are:

a. The network collapses if the cable or BUS is damaged.

b. The limited length of cable limitis the number of nodes.
c. The network slows down if additional computers are connected to the network.

BUS

2. Star Topology:

In this all the network devices are connected through a central device(hub/server) forming
a star like structure(spoke fashion).

Here data signal is transmitted through a central device that retransmits data to some or
all other nodes in the network. This device may amplify or regenerate the signal.

The main advantages are:

a. You can extent the network by attaching newdevices

through the central device.
b. It is easy to trouble shoot (detect errors or faults).
c. The failure of one computer doesnot affect the other.

The main disadvantages are:

a. The entire network goes down if the central device fails.

b. The length of the cable required for each node is greater than the bus topology.
c. Expensive than linear bus.

3. Ring Topology :

In this the first and last node are connected to each other to form a ring. One node
connected to two other nodes.

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All data that is transmitted between nodes in the network travels from one node to the
next node in a circular manner and the data generally flows in a single direction only.

Each node acts as a reciever and as a transmitter.

Main advantage:

All the computers in the network as equal

access to the cable.

Disadvantage:

Adding or moving of devices affect the entire

network.

4. Tree:

The type of network topology in which a central 'root' node is connected to one or more
nodes that are below it, is a Tree network. It has levels of hierarchy, where root node is
first level of hierarchy. Normally many individual tree segments
are connected thorugh a bus to form the tree topology.

Each node in the network having a specific fixed number, of

nodes connected to it at the next lower level in the hierarchy,
the number, being referred to as the 'branching factor' of the
hierarchical tree.

A tree network must have at least three levels in the hierarchy

of the tree, else a network with a central 'root' node and only one hierarchical level below
it would exhibit the physical topology of a star.

The total number of point-to-point links in a tree network is one less than the total number
of nodes in the network.

If the nodes in a tree network are required to perform any processing upon the data that
is transmitted between nodes in the network, the nodes that are at higher levels in the
hierarchy will be required to perform more processing operations on than the nodes that
are lower in the hierarchy. Such a type of network topology is very useful and highly
recommended.

Advantages:

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a. Point-to-point wiring for individual segments.
b. If the BUS is damaged still the individual tree segments can communicate.

Disadvantages:

a. Most difficult to wire than any other topology.

b. If BUS fails then the entire segment is down.
c. Length of each tree segment is limited by the type of cabling used.

5. Hybrid Topology:

Hybrid networks use a combination of any two or more topologies in such a way that the
resulting network does not exhibit one of the standard topologies (e.g., bus, star, ring,
etc.). For example, a tree network connected to a tree network is still a tree network, but
two star networks connected together exhibit a hybrid network topology. A hybrid
topology is always produced when two different basic network topologies are connected.
Two common examples for Hybrid network are: star ring network and star bus network

A Star ring network consists of two or more star topologies connected using a multistation
access unit (MAU) as a centralized hub.

A Star Bus network consists of two or more star topologies connected using a bus trunk
(the bus trunk serves as the network's backbone). Diagram shows star-bus topology.

Cabled LAN

In a cabled LAN, all the computers and other peripheral devices on the network are
attached to transmission cables. These cables fall into three types:

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a. Twisted Pair: This is a convenient and cheap method of connecting computers and
peripherals in a network. It is normally used for home
networking or on small sites where the distances
between devices are small and there is no great need
of speed. Twisted pair cable consists of two strands
of insulated copper wire twisted together.
b. Coaxial Cable: It is more expensive than
twisted pair and is used to transmit voice, video, and
data. It is ideal for a medium sized network. Coaxial
cable has inner core and an outer sheath of copper
wire that are insulated from each other.

c. Fibre Optic: It enables large volume of digital

data to be transmitted extremely fast and virtually error-
free. A single strand of a fibre optic cable is a hair-thin
piece of flexible glass tubing. The inside acts as a
mirror, allowing a light beam to travel along it. A cable
consists of thousands of these hair-tin strands.

NETWORK COMPONENTS:

The cables cannot transmit signals beyond a certain distance. In addition, there are
multiplle computers present in a network, and to connect these, you need additional
devices. They do mainly two functions:

a. To boost the signals to restore its original strength.

b. To provide an interfacing to connect multiple computers and devces.

1. Repeater:

It is an electronic device that recieves a signal and then amplifies the weak signal, so that
the signal stays as strong as original and covers long distance. In addition to this,
repeater can also be used to connect the two segment of some network. So data traffice
decreases.

The main disadvantage of a repeater is it has only two

ports, so network can be divided into two segments.

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Hub :

A repeater with multiple ports is called a HUB. In this the

network can be divided into many segments.
Packet(data) arrives at one port and is sent to all ports of
the hub. There are two types of hub:

a. Passive hub: they do not amplify signal.

b. Active hub: they amplify the signals.

The main disadvantage of a hub is it passes data to all

ports so it increases the network traffice.

Switches:

Like hubs, switches also connect nodes together as it has many ports too. But it passes
data to the port of the target node and not all ports. This is the main advantage of
switches. Switches use any of the following methods to transmit data:

a. Cut-through Switching : In this method, switches read the address and

forward the data through respective port only.
b. Store-and-forwarding switches : In this method switches receive all data
frames and check for integrity and errors. If there are any errors, data wont be
forwarded.
Bridges:

A network bridge connects multiple network segments. Bridges do not copy the packet to
all ports, as hubs do, but learn which addresses are reachable through specific ports.
Once the bridge associates a port and an address, it will send traffic for that address only
to that port. Bridges do send broadcasts to all ports except the one on which the
broadcast was received.

Bridges come in three basic types:

a. Local Bridge: If a bridge connects two networks that are physically close to each
other, they are local bridges. Used to connect LANs.
b. Remote Bridge: This connects geographically dispersed networks. Used to create a
WAN link between LAN’s. (When the connecting link is slower than the end networks,
then it is replaced by routers.)
c. Wireless Bridges: Used to join LAN’s or connect remote stations to LAN’s.

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Routers:

Router is a networking device which uses Routing and Forwarding method.

It stores the network address (like IP address) of computers connected to networks, in a

table, called the Routing Table. In addition to the network address, the routing table also
has the path that is used to transmit data, and any rules that have been defined for
filtering network traffic.

Whenever a router receives a data packet, it checks the network address from the
packet, checks the path from the Routing Table. If the route is found, the packet is
forwarded to the specified path.

In comparison, a network hub does not do any routing; instead every packet it receives
on one network line gets forwarded to all the other network lines.

Routers are slower and expensive than bridges.

Gateways:

Gateways are generic terms used to represent devices that connect two different
networks. Gateways can be hardware devices, software running on a computer, or a
combination.

It serves as a share point of entry from a LAN into a Server.

Protocol Gateways converts one set of protocol to another. The protocol conversion
feature is in-built in windows XP.

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