Introduction to Network
Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 DATA COMMUNICATIONS
Data communications are the exchange of data between two devices via some form of transmission
medium such as a wire cable.
For data communications to occur, the communicating devices must be part of a communication
system made up of a combination of hardware (physical equipment) and software (programs).
The effectiveness of a data communications system depends on four fundamental characteristics:
delivery, accuracy, timeliness, and jitter.
1. Delivery. The system must deliver data to the correct destination. Data must be received by the intended
device or user and only by that device or user.
2. Accuracy. The system must deliver the data accurately. Data that have been altered in transmission and left
uncorrected are unusable.
3. Timeliness. The system must deliver data in a timely manner. Data delivered late are useless. In the case of
video and audio, timely delivery means delivering data as they are produced, in the same order that they are
produced, and without significant delay. This kind of delivery is called real-time transmission.
4. Jitter. Jitter refers to the variation in the packet arrival time. It is the uneven delay in the delivery of audio
or video packets. For example, let us assume that video packets are sent every 30 ms. If some of the packets
arrive with 30-ms delay and others with 40-ms delay, an uneven quality in the video is the result.
Data Communications System Components
A data communications system has five components:
1. Message. The message is the information (data) to be communicated. Popular forms of information include
text, numbers, pictures, audio, and video.
2. Sender. The sender is the device that sends the data message. It can be a computer, workstation, telephone
handset, video camera, and so on.
3. Receiver. The receiver is the device that receives the message. It can be a computer, workstation, telephone
handset, television, and so on.
4. Transmission medium. The transmission medium is the physical path by which a message travels from
sender to receiver. Some examples of transmission media include twisted-pair wire, coaxial cable, fiber-optic
cable, and radio waves.
5. Protocol. A protocol is a set of rules that govern data communications. It represents an agreement between
the communicating devices. Without a protocol, two devices may be connected but not communicating.
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Data Representation
Information today comes in different forms such as text, numbers, images, audio, and
video.
Text
In data communications, text is represented as a bit pattern, a sequence of bits (0s or 1s). Different sets of bit
patterns have been designed to represent text symbols. Each set is called a code, and the process of
representing symbols is called coding. Today, the prevalent coding system is called Unicode, which uses 32
bits to represent a symbol or character used in any language in the world.
Numbers
Numbers are also represented by bit patterns. However, a code such as ASCII is not used to represent
numbers; the number is directly converted to a binary number to simplify mathematical operations.
Images
Images are also represented by bit patterns. In its simplest form, an image is composed of a matrix of pixels
(picture elements), where each pixel is a small dot. The size of the pixel depends on the resolution. For
example, an image can be divided into 1000 pixels or 10,000 pixels. In the second case, there is a better
representation of the image (better resolution), but more memory is needed to store the image.
After an image is divided into pixels, each pixel is assigned a bit pattern. The size and the value of the
pattern depend on the image. For an image made of only black- and-white dots (e.g., a chessboard), a 1-bit
pattern is enough to represent a pixel.
There are several methods to represent color images. One method is called RGB, so called because each
color is made of a combination of three primary colors: red, green, and blue.
Audio
Audio refers to the recording or broadcasting of sound or music. Audio is by nature different from text,
numbers, or images. It is continuous, not discrete. Even when we use a microphone to change voice or music
to an electric signal, we create a continuous signal.
Video
Video refers to the recording or broadcasting of a picture or movie. Video can either be produced as a
continuous entity (e.g., by a TV camera), or it can be a combination of images, each a discrete entity,
arranged to convey the idea of motion.
Data Flow/Communication Channels/ Transmission Modes
Communication between two devices can be simplex, half-duplex, or full-duplex as shown in figure.
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Simplex
In simplex mode, the communication is unidirectional, as on a one-way street. Only one of the two devices on
a link can transmit; the other can only receive. Keyboards and traditional monitors are examples of simplex
devices. The keyboard can only introduce input; the monitor can only accept output. The simplex mode can
use the entire capacity of the channel to send data in one direction.
Half-Duplex
In half-duplex mode, each station can both transmit and receive, but not at the same time. When one device is
sending, the other can only receive, and vice versa. 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. Walkie-talkies and CB
(citizens band) radios are both half-duplex systems.
The half-duplex mode is used in cases where there is no need for communication in both directions at
the same time; the entire capacity of the channel can be utilized for each direction.
Full-Duplex
In full-duplex made (also, called duplex), both stations can transmit and receive simultaneously. In full-
duplex mode, signals going in one direction share the capacity of the link with signals going in the other
direction. 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 travelling in both directions.
One common example of full-duplex communication is the telephone network. The full-duplex mode is
used when communication in both directions is required all the time. The capacity of the channel, however,
must be divided between the two directions.
1.2 NETWORKS
A network is a set of devices (often referred to as nodes) connected by communication links. A node can be a
computer, printer, or any other device capable of sending and/or receiving data generated by other nodes on
the network.
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Distributed Processing
Most networks use distributed processing, in which a task is divided among multiple computers. Instead of
one single large machine being responsible for all aspects of a process, separate computers (usually a personal
computer or workstation) handle a subset.
Network Criteria
A network must be able to meet a certain number of criteria. The most important of these are performance,
reliability, and security.
Performance
Performance can be measured in many ways, including transit time and response time. Transit time is the
amount of time required for a message to travel from one device to another. Response time is the elapsed time
between an inquiry and a response. The performance of a network depends on a number of factors, including
the number of users, the type of transmission medium, the capabilities of the connected hardware, and the
efficiency of the software. Performance is often evaluated by two networking metrics: throughput and delay.
We often need more throughput and less delay.
Reliability
In addition to accuracy of delivery, network reliability is measured by the frequency of failure, the time it
takes a link to recover from a failure, and the network's robustness in a catastrophe.
Security
Network security issues include protecting data from unauthorized access, protecting data from damage and
development, and implementing policies and procedures for recovery from breaches and data losses.
Physical Structures
Computer Network Types
A computer network is a group of computers linked to each other that enables the computer to communicate
with another computer and share their resources, data, and applications.
A computer network can be categorized by their size. A computer network is mainly of four types:
1. LAN (Local Area Network)
2. PAN (Personal Area Network)
3. MAN (Metropolitan Area Network)
4. WAN (Wide Area Network)
1. LAN (Local Area Network)
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Local Area Network is a group of computers connected to each other in a small area such as
building, office.
LAN is used for connecting two or more personal computers through a communication medium
such as twisted pair, coaxial cable, etc.
It is less costly as it is built with inexpensive hardware such as hubs, network adapters, and
Ethernet cables.
The data is transferred at an extremely faster rate in Local Area Network.
Local Area Network provides higher security.
2. PAN (Personal Area Network)
Personal Area Network is a network arranged within an individual person, typically within a range of
10 meters.
Personal Area Network is used for connecting the computer devices of personal use is known as
Personal Area Network.
Thomas Zimmerman was the first research scientist to bring the idea of the Personal Area Network.
Personal Area Network covers an area of 30 feet.
Personal computer devices that are used to develop the personal area network are the laptop, mobile
phones, media player and play stations.
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There are two types of Personal Area Network:
o Wired Personal Area Network
o Wireless Personal Area Network
Wireless Personal Area Network: Wireless Personal Area Network is developed by simply using wireless
technologies such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth. It is a low range network.
Wired Personal Area Network: Wired Personal Area Network is created by using the USB.
Examples of Personal Area Network:
Body Area Network: Body Area Network is a network that moves with a person. For example, a
mobile network moves with a person. Suppose a person establishes a network connection and then
creates a connection with another device to share the information.
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Offline Network: An offline network can be created inside the home, so it is also known as a home
network. A home network is designed to integrate the devices such as printers, computer, television
but they are not connected to the internet.
Small Home Office: It is used to connect a variety of devices to the internet and to a corporate
network using a VPN
3. MAN (Metropolitan Area Network)
A metropolitan area network is a network that covers a larger geographic area by interconnecting a
different LAN to form a larger network.
Government agencies use MAN to connect to the citizens and private industries.
In MAN, various LANs are connected to each other through a telephone exchange line.
The most widely used protocols in MAN are RS-232, Frame Relay, ATM, ISDN, OC-3, ADSL, etc.
It has a higher range than Local Area Network(LAN).
Uses of Metropolitan Area Network:
MAN is used in communication between the banks in a city.
It can be used in an Airline Reservation.
It can be used in a college within a city.
It can also be used for communication in the military.
4. WAN (Wide Area Network)
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A Wide Area Network is a network that extends over a large geographical area such as states or
countries.
A Wide Area Network is quite bigger network than the LAN.
A Wide Area Network is not limited to a single location, but it spans over a large geographical area
through a telephone line, fibre optic cable or satellite links.
The internet is one of the biggest WAN in the world.
A Wide Area Network is widely used in the field of Business, government, and education.
Examples of Wide Area Network:
o Mobile Broadband: A 4G network is widely used across a region or country.
o Last mile: A telecom company is used to provide the internet services to the customers in hundreds
of cities by connecting their home with fiber.
o Private network: A bank provides a private network that connects the 44 offices. This network is
made by using the telephone leased line provided by the telecom company.
Advantages of Wide Area Network:
Following are the advantages of the Wide Area Network:
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o Geographical area: A Wide Area Network provides a large geographical area. Suppose if the branch
of our office is in a different city then we can connect with them through WAN. The internet provides
a leased line through which we can connect with another branch.
o Centralized data: In case of WAN network, data is centralized. Therefore, we do not need to buy the
emails, files or back up servers.
o Get updated files: Software companies work on the live server. Therefore, the programmers get the
updated files within seconds.
o Exchange messages: In a WAN network, messages are transmitted fast. The web application like
Facebook, WhatsApp, Skype allows you to communicate with friends.
o Sharing of software and resources: In WAN network, we can share the software and other
resources like a hard drive, RAM.
o Global business: We can do the business over the internet globally.
o High bandwidth: If we use the leased lines for our company then this gives the high bandwidth. The
high bandwidth increases the data transfer rate which in turn increases the productivity of our
company.
Disadvantages of Wide Area Network:
The following are the disadvantages of the Wide Area Network:
o Security issue: A WAN network has more security issues as compared to LAN and MAN network as
all the technologies are combined together that creates the security problem.
o Needs Firewall & antivirus software: The data is transferred on the internet which can be changed
or hacked by the hackers, so the firewall needs to be used. Some people can inject the virus in our
system so antivirus is needed to protect from such a virus.
o High Setup cost: An installation cost of the WAN network is high as it involves the purchasing of
routers, switches.
o Troubleshooting problems: It covers a large area so fixing the problem is difficult.
Internetwork
o An internetwork is defined as two or more computer network LANs or WAN or computer network
segments are connected using devices, and they are configured by a local addressing scheme. This
process is known as internetworking.
o An interconnection between public, private, commercial, industrial, or government computer
networks can also be defined as internetworking.
o An internetworking uses the internet protocol.
o The reference model used for internetworking is Open System Interconnection(OSI).
Types of Internetwork:
1. Extranet: An extranet is a communication network based on the internet protocol such as Transmission
Control protocol and internet protocol. It is used for information sharing. The access to the extranet is
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restricted to only those users who have login credentials. An extranet is the lowest level of internetworking. It
can be categorized as MAN, WAN or other computer networks. An extranet cannot have a single LAN; at
least it must have one connection to the external network.
2. Intranet: An intranet is a private network based on the internet protocol such as Transmission Control
protocol and internet protocol. An intranet belongs to an organization which is only accessible by
the organization's employee or members. The main aim of the intranet is to share the information and
resources among the organization employees. An intranet provides the facility to work in groups and for
teleconferences.
Intranet advantages:
o Communication: It provides a cheap and easy communication. An employee of the organization can
communicate with another employee through email, chat.
o Time-saving: Information on the intranet is shared in real time, so it is time-saving.
o Collaboration: Collaboration is one of the most important advantage of the intranet. The information
is distributed among the employees of the organization and can only be accessed by the authorized
user.
o Platform independency: It is a neutral architecture as the computer can be connected to another
device with different architecture.
o Cost effective: People can see the data and documents by using the browser and distributes the
duplicate copies over the intranet. This leads to a reduction in the cost.
Type of Connection
Client server and Peer to Peer Networks
Client-Server Network:
This model is broadly used network model. In Client-Server Network, Clients and server are differentiated,
Specific server and clients are present. In Client-Server Network, Centralized server is used to store the data
because its management is centralized. In Client-Server Network, Server respond the services which is
request by Client.
Peer-to-Peer Network:
This model does not differentiate the clients and the servers. In this each and every node is itself client and
server. In Peer-to-Peer Network, Each and every node can do both request and respond for the services.
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SR.
NO CLIENT-SERVER NETWORK PEER-TO-PEER NETWORK
In Client-Server Network, Clients and server are
differentiated, Specific server and clients are In Peer-to-Peer Network, Clients and server are not
1. present. differentiated.
Client-Server Network focuses on information While Peer-to-Peer Network focuses on
2. sharing. connectivity.
In Client-Server Network, Centralized server is While in Peer-to-Peer Network, Each peer has its
3. used to store the data. own data.
While in Peer-to-Peer Network, Each and every
In Client-Server Network, Server respond the node can do both request and respond for the
4. services which is request by Client. services.
Client-Server Network are costlier than Peer-to- While Peer-to-Peer Network are less costlier than
5. Peer Network. Client-Server Network.
Client-Server Network are more stable than While Peer-to-Peer Network are less stable if
6. Peer-to-Peer Network. number of peer is increase.
Client-Server Network is used for both small While Peer-to-Peer Network is generally suited for
7. and large networks. small networks with fewer than 10 computers.
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Sr. Key Client-Server Network Peer-to-Peer Network
No.
1 Definition In telecommunication Client-Server Network is a On other hand in case of Peer-to-Peer
type of network where a dedicated path is network, the source and destination
implemented in which two network nodes nodes are not directly connected.
establish a dedicated communications channel Instead, the intermediary nodes (mainly
(circuit) through that network before the nodes switches) are responsible for
may communicate. transferring the message from one node
to the next.
2 Path and In Client-Server Network a dedicated path consist On other hand in case of Peer-to-Peer
Node of mainly two nodes at each end i.e., sender and no such dedicated path is implemented
receiver is implemented which is entirely as the path used in this switching is
responsible for the transmission of information. consist of several nodes between the
sender and receiver and each node is
responsible for transferring the message
from one node to the next.
3 Message As there are only two nodes in case of Client- On other hand in case of Peer-to-Peer
storage Server Network hence centralized server is used each node acts as sender and receiver
to store the data in the path or at the node end. and stores the incoming information
Message generated at the sender side get before sending to the next node. This
transmitted to the receiver directly through the makes each node in this switching
centralized sever where information stored or capable to recover the information if it
retransmitted in the path through the node. gets lost due to any reason.
4 Resend In case of Client-Server network as node did not On other hand if information get lost in
save the information during the transmission, Peer-to-Peer network then the
there is no option to resend it if gets lost due to corresponding node could resend the
some reason until the sender or centralized server information as it has information
send it again. stored.
5 Bandwidth Client-Server Network reserves the full bandwidth On other hand Peer-to-Peer does not
in advance as there are only two nodes and reserve the entire bandwidth in advance
dedicated path for transmission. it consumes bandwidth node per node
as per the requirement and releases the
bandwidth when gets free.
6 Addressing Geographical addressing is used in Client-Server On other hand Hierarchical addressing
Network based on the geo-location of both the is implemented in case of Peer-to-Peer
nodes. as there is hierarchical connection
between the nodes used in this type of
switching.
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Components of Network
Computer networks components comprise both physical parts as well as the software required for installing
computer networks, both at organizations and at home. The hardware components are the server, client, peer,
transmission medium, and connecting devices. The software components are operating system and protocols.
The following figure shows a network along with its components –
Hardware Components
Servers −Servers are high-configuration computers that manage the resources of the network. The network
operating system is typically installed in the server and so they give user accesses to the network resources.
Servers can be of various kinds: file servers, database servers, print servers etc.
Clients − Clients are computers that request and receive service from the servers to access and use
the network resources.
Peers − Peers are computers that provide as well as receive services from other peers in a workgroup
network.
Transmission Media − Transmission media are the channels through which data is transferred from
one device to another in a network. Transmission media may be guided media like coaxial cable, fibre optic
cables etc.; or maybe unguided media like microwaves, infra-red waves etc.
Connecting Devices − Connecting devices act as middleware between networks or computers, by
binding the network media together. Some of the common connecting devices are:
a. Routers- Router joins multiple computer networks to each other. For example, let’s say a
company runs 100 computers over a local area network(LAN) and another company runs another LAN of 150
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computers. These both LANs can be connected with each other through an internet connection which is
provided by the router.
b. Bridges- A bridge in a computer network is one kind of network device, used to separate a
network into sections. Every section in the network represents a collision domain that has separate bandwidth.
So that network performance can be improved using a bridge. In the OSI model, a bridge works at layer-2
namely the data link layer. The main function of this is to examine the incoming traffic and examine whether
to filter it or forward it.
c. Hubs- A hub is basically a multiport repeater. A hub connects multiple wires coming from
different branches, for example, the connector in star topology which connects different stations. Hubs cannot
filter data, so data packets are sent to all connected devices. In other words, collision domain of all hosts
connected through Hub remains one. Also, they do not have intelligence to find out best path for data packets
which leads to inefficiencies and wastage.
d. Repeaters- A repeater operates at the physical layer. Its job is to regenerate the signal over
the same network before the signal becomes too weak or corrupted so as to extend the length to which the
signal can be transmitted over the same network. An important point to be noted about repeaters is that they
do not amplify the signal. When the signal becomes weak, they copy the signal bit by bit and regenerate it at
the original strength. It is a 2 port device.
e. Gateways- A gateway, as the name suggests, is a passage to connect two networks
together that may work upon different networking models. They basically work as the messenger agents that
take data from one system, interpret it, and transfer it to another system. Gateways are also called protocol
converters and can operate at any network layer. Gateways are generally more complex than switch or router.
f. Switches- switch is a multiport bridge with a buffer and a design that can boost its
efficiency (a large number of ports imply less traffic) and performance. A switch is a data link layer device.
The switch can perform error checking before forwarding data, that makes it very efficient as it does not
forward packets that have errors and forward good packets selectively to correct port only. In other words,
switch divides collision domain of hosts, but broadcast domain remains same.
Software Components
Networking Operating System − Network Operating Systems is typically installed in the server and
facilitate workstations in a network to share files, database, applications, printers etc.
Protocol Suite − A protocol is a rule or guideline followed by each computer for data
communication. Protocol suite is a set of related protocols that are laid down for computer networks. The two
popular protocol suites are −
a. OSI Model (Open System Interconnections)
b. TCP / IP Model
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