Types of Networks

By
Prof. Salman Naseer
 Standards
• “A standard provides a model for development that
makes it possible for a product to work regardless of
the individual manufacturer|”
• A great deal of coordination and cooperation is required
by the devices to communicate
• A device prepared by a specific manufacturer may not
be compatible with the devices prepared by other
manufacturers
• Unavailability of standards creates problems and puts a
halt to product growth
• Why Standards are Essential?
– Creating and Maintaining an Open and competitive Market for
Equipment Manufacturers
– Guaranteeing National and International Interoperability of Data
and Telecommunications Technology and Equipment
 Categories of Data
Communication Standards
• De facto (By fact or By Convention)
– Standards not approved by an organized body but have been
adopted as standards through their widespread use
• De jure (By Law or By Regulation)
– Standards that have been approved by an officially recognized
regulation body Subdivision of De Facto Standards
• PROPRIETARY (Closed Standards)
– Standards that are originally invented by a Commercial
Organization as a basis for the operation of its products
– They are wholly owned by that company.
• NON- PROPRIETARY (Open Standards)
– They are Originally developed by groups or committees that
have passed them into public domains.
– They are also called Open Standards
– They open Communication between different systems
 LINE CONFIGURATION
• “Line Configuration refers to the way two or more devices attach to
a Link”
• A link is the physical communication path that transfers data from
one device to the other.
• Link can be thought of as a Line drawn between two points.
• For communication to occur, two devices must be connected to
each other using a link.
Point-to-Point Line Configuration
• Dedicated Link between two devices.
• Entire Capacity of the channel is reserved for
TX. B/w these two devices.
• Mostly point-to-point connection use wire/cable
to connect with each other.
• But Microwave, Satellite Links can also be used
Data and Control information pas directly
between entities with no intervening agent
• Examples:
– Mobile Phone (when talking) and Base Station
(Antenna)
Point-to-Point Line Configuration
Multipoint Line Configuration
• More than two devices share the Link that is the
capacity of the channel is SHARED now.
• With shared capacity, there can be two
possibilities in a Multipoint Line Config:
• Spatial Sharing:
– If several devices can share the link simultaneously,
its called Spatially shared line configuration
• Temporal (Time) Sharing:
– If users must take turns using the link , then its called
Temporally shared or Time Shared Line Configuration
Multipoint Line Configuration
 TOPOLOGY
• “The Topology is the geometric representation of
the relationship of the links and the linking
devices (Nodes) in a Network”
• Topology of a Network is suggestive of how a
network is laid out.
• It refers to the specific configuration and
structure of the connections between the Links
and the Nodes.
• Two or more devices connect to a Link and two
or more Links form a Topology
Categories of TOPOLOGY
MESH TOPOLOGY
 MESH TOPOLOGY
• Every device has dedicated a point-to-point link to every
other device
• Dedicated: Means that the link carries traffic only
between these two devices
• n(n-1)/2 Links to connect ‘n’ devices
• Each device must have n-1 I/O Ports
• Example Mesh Topology
– In figure above, we have 5 Nodes, therefore:
– No. of Links= 5(5-1)/2 = 10
– No. of I/O Ports= 5-1 = 4
• This increase exponentially with increase in No. of
Nodes
– e.g. for 6 nodes = 15 Links
– 7 Nodes=21 Links
 Advantages of Mesh Topology
• Use of Dedicated links guarantees that
each connection can carry its own load.
• This eliminates Traffic Problems as in
case of Shared Link
• Mesh Topology is robust. If one link fails, it
does not effect other links
• Security & Privacy due to dedicated links
• Point – to –Point links make Fault
Identification easy
 Disadvantages of Mesh
Topology
• Amount of Cabling
– Makes Installation & Reconfiguration difficult
– Bulk of wiring can be greater than the
available space
• Number of I/O Ports Required
– Hardware required to connect each link can
be prohibitively expensive
• Therefore, Mesh topology has limited
use
Star Topology
 Star Topology
• Each device has a dedicated point-to-point
link to a central controller ( Hub)
• Devices are not directly connected to each
other
• Controller (Hub) acts as an exchange
• If one device wants to send data to the
other, it sends the data to the controller ,
which then relays it to the other connected
device
 Advantages of Star Topology
– Less Cabling
– Less Expensive than Mesh as each device need
sonly one link and one I./O
– Port Easy to Install and Reconfigure
– Robust, if a link fails , only that link fails
– Easy Fault Detection
• Disadvantages of Star Topology
– Although Cabling required is far less than Mesh
– Still each node must be connected to a Hub , so
Cabling is still much more than some other
Topologies
Tree Topology
 Tree Topology
• A variation of Star Topology
• Nodes in a Tree are linked to a central hub that controls the traffic to and
from network
• Difference b/w star and tree is not all the devices plug directly into the
central HUB
• Majority connects to secondary hub that is connected to central hub
• CENTRAL HUB in Tree Topology
– Central Hub in a Tree is an ACTIVE HUB
– ACTIVE HUB contains a repeater
– Repeater is a hardware device that regenerates the received bit pattern before
sending them out.
– Repeater strengthens TX.
– And increases the distance a signal can travel
• Secondary HUB in Tree Topology
– Secondary Hub in a Tree may be Active or Passive HUB
– Passive Hub simply provides physical connection between attached devices
Advantages of Tree Topology
• Because of Secondary Hub, More devices can be
attached to a Central Hub and therefore increase the
distance a signal can travel
• Enables Differentiated Services: Allows to prioritize
communication, e.g. computers attached to one
secondary hub can be given priority over others
• Therefore, TIME SENSITIVE data will not have to wait
for access to the network
• Rest of the advantages are almost the same as STAR
• Example Tree Topology: Cable TV
– CABLE TV
– Main cable from main office is divided into many branches and
each branch is divided into smaller branches and so on
– Hubs are used when cable is divided
BUS TOPOLOGY
 BUS TOPOLOGY

• Drop Lines and Taps

• Drop Line is the connection between device and
the main cable (Backbone)
• Tap is a connector that; Splices into the main
cable or Punctures the sheathing of a cable to
create connection with the metallic core
• Signal degrades as it travels, therefore there is a
limit on: The number of Taps a Bus can support
and The distance between those Taps
• Advantages of BUS TOPOLOGY
– Easy to install
– Backbone can be laid on the most efficient path and
then rest of the nodes can be connected using Drop
Lines
– Less cabling than Mesh , Star or Tree
– Difference b/w Star Cabling and Bus Cabling
• Disadvantages of BUS Topology
– Difficult Reconfiguration
• Difficult to add new devices
• Adding new devices may require modification of backbone
– No Fault Isolation
• A fault or break in backbone can disable communication
even on the same side of the problem
• Damaged area reflects signals back in the direction of origin
creating
• Noise in both directions
Ring Topology
 Ring Topology
• Each device has point-to-point dedicated
link with only two devices on either side
• A signal is passed in the ring in one
direction from device to device until it
reaches its destination
• Each device has a repeater incorporated
• When a device receives a signal destined
for another device, it regenerates the bits
and pass them along
• Advantages of Ring Topology
• Easy to Install and Reconfigure
– Only two connections to be moved to add or delete a
device
• SIMPLE Fault Isolation
– Generally a signal is circulating at all times in a ring.
– If one device does not receive a signal within a
specified period, it can issue an alarm to tell network
operator about the problem and its location
• Disadvantages of Ring Topology
• Unidirectional Traffic
– A break in a ring I.e. a disabled station can disable
the entire network
• Can be solved by using:
– Dual Ring or
– A switch capable of closing off the Break
Hybrid Topologies
 TRANSMISSION MODE
• “Transmission Mode is used to define
the direction of the signal flow between
the linked devices”
 SIMPLEX MODE
• Communication is Unidirectional
• Only one of the two stations can transmit
• Other can only receive
– Examples: KEYBOARDS (Only Input),
Monitors (Only Output)
 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
• Lets understand the concept by using an example
– One Lane Road with two directional traffic
– When cars are traveling in one direction, cars going the other
way must wait
• Full Channel capacity is allocated to whatever entity that
is transmitting at a specific time
– Walkie Talkies
 Full Duplex (Duplex)
• Both stations can transmit and receive simultaneously
• Two way street with traffic flowing in both directions at
the same time
• Signals traveling in either direction share the capacity of
the link
• The sharing can take place in two ways:
• Either the link must contain two physically separate
transmission paths:
– One for sending and
– One for receiving
• Capacity of the channel is divided between signals
traveling in opposite directions
• EXAMPLE
– Telephone Network
– When two people are communicating via a telephone line, both
can talk and listen at the same time
 Categories of Networks
• There are three main categories of
Networks:
– LANS
– WANS
– MANS
• Into which category a network falls is
determined by its SIZE, OWNERSHIP,
DISTANCE IT COVERS, and its
PHYSICAL ARCHITECTURE
 LANS
• A LAN is usually Privately owned and
Links the devices in a single office,
Building or a campus
 Size of a LAN
• Size of a LAN depends upon the Needs of
Organization and the Type of Technology
• LAN can be as simple as two PCs and a
printer in someone’s home office or it can
extend throughout a company and include
complex equipment too
• Currently LAN size is limited to a few
kilometers
 Design of a LAN
• LANs are designed to allow resources to be shared
between personal computers or workstations
• The resources to be shared can include hardware
(printer) , software(an application program) or data.
• Example of a LAN
– A common example of a LAN found in many business
environments
– links a work group of task related computers, for example
engineering workstations or Accounting PCs.
– One of the PCs may be given a large capacity disk and becomes
a server to others.
– Software stored on the server and is used by the whole group.
Transmission Media & Topology
• In addition to size, LANs are distinguished from
other types of networks by Transmission media
and topology
• In general a given LAN will use only one type of
Transmission medium
• The most common LAN topology Bus, Star Ring
• Data Rates in a LAN
– Traditionally 4 – 16 Mbps
– Speeds increased and now 100Mbps and above are
also possible Giga Bit LAN technologies
 WANs
• Generally cover a large geographical area
• And it usually span an Unlimited number
of miles by utilizing Public or Leased
networks instead of having their own
hardware as in the case of LANs
 Design of a WAN
• Typically , it consists of a large number of
Switching Nodes
• Transmission from any one device is routed
through these internal nodes to the specified
destination device
• These nodes are not concerned with the content
of the data, rather their purpose is to provide a
switching facility that will move the data from
node to node until it reaches its destination
• How to Implement a WAN?
– Traditionally WAN s have been implemented using
one of the 2 technologies:
Circuit Switching
Packet Switching
 Circuit Switching
• A dedicated communication path is established between
two stations through the nodes of the network
• This path/CAPACITY stays up for the duration of the
communication
 Packet Switching
• No capacity is dedicated along a path through the
network
• Data Is sent out in small chunks called “Packets”
• Each path is passed from node to node
• At each node, entire packet is received, stored briefly
and then transmitted to the next node.
 Metropolitan Area Networks
• Designed to extend over an entire city
• It may be a single network e.g Cable TV Network Or
• Interconnection of a No. of LANs into a larger network
• Example: A company can use a MAN to connect the
LANs in all of its offices throughout a city
 Internetworks
• When two or more networks are connected they become
an internetwork or internet
• Individual networks are joined together by the use of
Internetworking Devices like Routers, Gateways etc.
– internet: Combination of Networks
– Internet: Specific World wide Network