SUBJECT: IT 321 (Advance

Information Assurance and

Security)

Topics:
Chapter 10: Connecting Computers
Chapter 11: Networks of Networks
Chapter 12: End-to-end Networking
Chapter 13: Enterprise Computing

By: Gavino T. Obias

Module 1- Connecting Computers

1.1 Introduction

1.2 Learning Outcomes

1.3 Topics

1.4 Topics

1.5 Topics

1.6 Assessment

1.7 References

Chapter 11- Networks of networks

1.1 Introduction

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard
Internet protocol suite (often called TCP/IP, although not all applications use TCP) to serve
billions of users worldwide.
It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business,
and government networks, of local to global scope, that are linked by a broad array of
electronic, wireless and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries an extensive
range of information resources and services, such as the inter-linked hypertext documents
of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the infrastructure to support email.

1.2 Learning Outcomes

1.2.1 Students will have an understanding of what the Internet is, its purpose and function
for users.
1.2.2 Students will develop a clear online lexicon and a working understanding of online-
related vocabulary.
1.2.3 Be able to Identifying core Internet services

1.3 Computer Networks

A computer network is the infrastructure that allows two or more computers (called hosts) to
communicate with each other.

Definition
 A network can be defined as a group of computers and other devices connected
in some ways so as to be able to exchange data. -Each of the devices on the
network can be thought of as a node; each node has a unique address.
 A computer network, often simply referred to as a network, is a collection of
hardware components and computers interconnected by communication
channels that allow sharing of resources and information.

The network achieves this by providing a set of rules for communication, called protocols,
which should be observed by all participating hosts.
A communications protocol is a set of rules for exchanging information
over a network
The need for a protocol should be obvious: it allows different computers from different
vendors and with different operating characteristics to ‘speak the same language’.

1.3.1 Properties of Computer Networks:

a) Facilitate communications. Using a network, people can communicate efficiently and

easily via email, instant messaging, chat rooms, telephone, video telephone calls, and
video conferencing.
b) Permit sharing of files, data, and other types of information. In a network environment,
authorized users may access data and information stored on other computers on the
 network. The capability of providing access to data and information on shared storage
devices is an important feature of many networks.
c) Share network and computing resources. In a networked environment, each computer
on a network may access and use resources provided by devices on the network, such
as printing a document on a shared network printer. Distributed computing uses
computing resources across a network to accomplish tasks.
d) May be insecure. A computer network may be used by computer hackers to deploy
computer viruses or computer worms on devices connected to the network, or to
prevent these devices from normally accessing the network (denial of service).
e) May be difficult to set up. A complex computer network may be difficult to set up. It may
also be very costly to set up an effective computer network in a large organization or
company.

1.3.2 Why Networks

a) Load Sharing: Both the program and data are transmitted to a remote computer to
equalize the load between the two facilities.
b) Message Service: A network can be used to handle interpersonal message
transmissions. This type of service can also be used for educational services and
conference activities. However, it is not an important motivation for a network of
scientific computers.
c) Data Sharing: The program is sent to a remote computer where a large data base
exists. This type of operation will be particularly useful where data files are too large to
be duplicated economically
d) Program Sharing
e) Remote Service

1.3.3 Network topology

A network topology is the layout of the interconnections of the nodes of a computer network.
Network topology signifies the way in which devices in the network see their logical relations
to one another. The use of the term "logical" here is significant. That is, network topology is
independent of the "physical" layout of the network. Even if networked computers are
physically placed in a linear arrangement, if they are connected via a hub, the network has a
Star topology, rather than a bus topology. In this regard the visual and operational
characteristics of a network are distinct; the logical network topology is not necessarily the
same as the physical layout. Networks may be classified based on the method of data used
to convey the data, these include digital and analog networks.

Common layouts are:

1) Bus Network: all nodes are connected to a common medium along this medium.
2) A star network: all nodes are connected to a special central node.
3) A ring network: each node is connected to its left and right neighbour node, such that all
nodes are connected and that each node can reach each other node by traversing
nodes left- or rightwards.
4) A mesh network: each node is connected to an arbitrary number of neighbours in such
a way that there is at least one traversal from any node to any other.
5) A fully connected network: each node is connected to every other node in the network.
1.4 History of Internet
In the late 1950's the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) was founded in
the United States with the primary focus of developing information technologies that
could survive a nuclear attack. (Internet History) In 1967 ARPA university and private
sector contractors met with representatives of the Department of Defense to discuss
possible protocols for sharing information via computers. In 1969, the U.S. Defence
Department funded a project to develop a network, which can withstand the bombing.
Basically the idea was to develop a very secure network which can work even after a nuclear
attack. This project was known as ARPANET. The proposed network was not supposed to
have a central control—which would be an obvious target. It connected four sites at the
University of California at Los Angeles, the University of California at Santa Barbara,
Stanford Research Institute, and the University of Utah. Throughout the 1970's
researchers concentrated on developing protocols for controlling networks, moving
messages across a system of networks, and allowing for remote access to the networks.
There were computers connected at about two dozen sites when the first email was sent
in 1972, but the number of sites and messages soon mushroomed. By 1975 there were
63 sites.
Ten years of research brought Local Area Ethernet Networks (LANs) and workstations were
developed to get connected to LAN. These workstations and LANs were then connected to
the ARPANET. For next decade the ARPANET grew and its decentralized features helped
its rapid expansion. Computers connected to ARPANET used a standard or rule to
communicate with each other. This standard used by ARPANET is known as NCP (National
Control Protocol). Protocol is a network term used to indicate the standard used by a
network for communication. But the passing time and rapid change in information
technology suppressed NCP and brought TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet
Protocol) in to the world of networking. TCP "converts messages into streams of packets at
the source, and they are reassembled back into messages at the destination. IP handles the
dispatch of these packets. It handles the addressing, and makes sure that a packet reaches
its destination through multiple nodes and even across multiple networks with multiple
standards. This flexibility of TCP/IP to handle multiple networks with multiple protocols
encourages other networks to get connected to ARPANET. Slowly the ARPANET became a
massive network of networks and now it is known as ‘Internet’.
The Internet has revolutionized the computer and communications world like nothing before.
The invention of the telegraph, telephone, radio, and computer set the stage for this
unprecedented integration of capabilities. The Internet is at once a world-wide broadcasting
capability, a mechanism for information dissemination, and a medium for collaboration and
interaction between individuals and their computers without regard for geographic location.
The Internet represents one of the most successful examples of the benefits of sustained
investment and commitment to research and development of information infrastructure.

Commercial Development
In 1963 during the early days of computers and six years before ARPANET, students at MIT
developed the first computer game called Space War. It would be twenty years before the
TCP/IP protocol stimulated the growth of various networks and nearly thirty years (1991)
before the United States government opened the Internet to private enterprise (BBN
Timeline), but this game foreshadowed the commercialization of the Internet. In the 1970's
and 80's people who were online put out information about furniture and cars they wanted to
sell. Debates raged about whether this was an appropriate use of the new research tool, the
Internet, but when the Commercial Internet Exchange (CIX) was formed in 1991 the genie
would not go back in the bottle.

Commercial contractors have been involved in the development of ARPANET from its
inception. As Tang and Teflon began as curiosities of the space program and later became
common consumer products, so too have email, web research, and home shopping on the
Web. It has only been ten years since the first relay between a commercial entity (MCI Mail)
and the Internet was made. Since that time technologies have emerged that have fuelled the
growth of private enterprise on the Web. In 1992 Paul Linder and Mark McCahill at the
University of Minnesota released Gopher, a tool that allowed researchers to retrieve specific
data from myriad 8 locations. The next year Mosaic, a web browser, was developed at the
University of Illinois by Netscape founder Marc Andreesen, the World Wide Web became a
public domain, and the Pentium processor was introduced by Intel to speed up the whole
process. (The Past, Present, and Future of the Internet) As the technology advanced, the
Internet became easier to use and the World Wide Web sites became more intricate and
inviting. In 1994 shopping malls arrived on the Net. You could order pizza from Pizza Hut
online or bank at First Virtual Bank, the first cyberbank. Of course, the advancements came
with a downside. Vladimir Levin of Russia became the first publicly known Internet bank
robber when he used the Internet to illegally transfer funds to his account.

1995 saw the introduction of several emerging technologies such as JAVA and JAVAscript,
Virtual Environments, and RealAudio which further enhanced the kind of product information
which could be made available to consumers. Commercial users now outnumbered research
and academic users by a two to one margin, and Bill Gates decided to redefine Microsoft as
an Internet company. (The Past, Present, and Future of the Internet) Today one can shop
online for books, food and wine, travel, and real estate. Other business activities include
buying stocks and bonds, banking, and retirement planning. Online shopping accounted for
over $9 billion in 1997 and is expected to be $30 billion by the year 2000. In light of this
growth, the U.S. Commerce Department will begin studying the impact of online shopping on
total retail activity. (Commerce Department to Measure Online Sales) Consumer spending
via the Internet draws much interest, but business to business activity is also booming.
For further information on the history of the Internet, an extensive list of links may be found
at the Internet Society Web site).

1.5 Connecting to the internet

1.5.1 Requirements for connecting to the internet

 Internet service provider – an internet service provider provides you with a

connection to the internet and the software you will need to navigate.
 Telecommunication line – a telephone line is required to connect you to the
internet service provider.
 Modem – a modem converts a digital signal received from a computer into an
analogue signal that can be sent along ordinary telephone lines, and back to
digital at the other end.
 Web browser – a web browser is software used to view and download Web
pages and various types of files such as text, graphics and video. Examples are
Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome.

1.6 Services of Internet - E-mail, FTP, Telnet, WWW

But what does one do with the Internet? May be four things, basically: mail, discussion
groups, long-distance computing, and file transfers. Internet mail is (e-mail or electronic
mail), much faster as compared to normal postal mail. One can also send software and
certain forms of compressed digital image as an attachment. News groups or discussion
groups facilitate Internet user to join for various kinds of debate, discussion and new sharing.
Long-distance computing was an original inspiration for development of ARPANET and does
still provide a very useful service on Internet. Programmers can maintain accounts on
distant, powerful computers, execute programs. File transfers service allows Internet users
to access remote machines and retrieve programs, data or text.

1.7 Ways of Connecting to the Internet

There are various type of connectivity to get hook on to Internet. They all can be broadly
classified into following category.

1.7.1 Broad Band Internet Connection

Definition: The term broadband refers to any type of transmission technique that carries
several data channels over a common wire.

a). Gateway Access

Gateway Access is also known as Level-One connection. It is the access to the Internet
from a network, which is not on the Internet. The gateway allows the two different types
of networks to "talk" to each other. But the users of the Gateway Internet have limited
access to the Internet. They might not be able to use all the tools available on Internet.
The local Internet Service Provider (ISP) normally defines this limitation.

b). Leased Connection

Leased connection is also known as direct Internet access or Level Three connection. It
is the secure, dedicated and most expensive, level of Internet connection. With leased
connection, your computer is dedicatedly and directly connected to the Internet using
high-speed transmission lines. It is on-line twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
Leased Internet connections are limited to large corporations and universities who
could afford the cost.

T-1 Lines
 T-1 lines are a popular leased line option for businesses connecting to the
Internet and for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) connecting to the Internet
backbone. It is a dedicated phone connection supporting data rates of
1.544Mbps. A T-1 line actually consists of 24 individual channels, each of which
supports 64Kbits per second. Each 64Kbit/second channel can be configured to
carry voice or data traffic. Most telephone companies allow you to buy just one or
some of these individual channels. This is known as fractional T-1 access.

Bonded T-1
A bonded T-1 is two or more T-1 lines that have been joined (bonded) together to
increase bandwidth. Where a single T-1 provides approximately 1.5Mbps, two
bonded T1s provide 3Mbps or 46 channels for voice or data. Two bonded T-1s
allow you to use the full bandwidth of 3Mbps where two individual T-1s can still
only use a maximum of 1.5Mbps at one time. To be bonded the T-1 must run into
the same router at the end, meaning they must run to the same ISP.
o T-1 Lines support speeds of 1.544 Mbps
o Fractional T-1 speeds are 64 Kbps per channel (up to 1.544 Mbps),
depending on number of leased channels.
o Typical Bonded T-1 (two bonded T-1 lines) speed is around 3 Mbps.

T-3 Lines
T-3 lines are dedicated phone connections supporting data rates of about 43 to
45 Mbps. It too is a popular leased line option. A T-3 line actually consists of 672
individual channels, each of which supports 64 Kbps. T-3 lines are used mainly
by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) connecting to the Internet backbone and for
the backbone itself.
o Typical T-3 supports speeds ranging from 43 to 45 Mbps.

c). Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) is the newest technology being used for Internet access.
DSL connects your home or office to the Internet through the same telephone wire that
comes from the telephone pole on the street. DSL service, combines separate voice
and data channels over a single telephone line. In DSL, voice fills the low end of the
frequency spectrum and data fills the high end. Like ISDN, with DSL, user can make
and receive telephone calls while connected simultaneously to the Internet.

However, DSL service is limited in the distance that you can be from the provider’s point
of presence (POP). To use DSL you will need a DSL modem (also called a router), a
Network Interface Card (NIC), and a telephone line. DSL is also relatively new
technology that is just being introduced in many places. Hardware developers are
working with service providers to make the service cost affordable for consumers. As
time goes by, the service should become more widely available at a reasonable price.

d). Cable Connection

Through the use of a cable modem you can have a broadband Internet connection that
is designed to operate over cable TV lines. Cable Internet works by using TV channel
space for data transmission, with certain channels used for downstream transmission,
and other channels for upstream transmission. Because the coaxial cable used by cable
TV provides much greater bandwidth than telephone lines, a cable modem can be used
to achieve extremely fast access.
o Cable speeds range from 512 Kbps to 20 Mbps.
 Cable lines offer an extremely high bandwidth connection to the Internet. It divides the
connection into lots of bands, and translates the data in the bands into signals that can
be carried through cable lines. Cable modems change these signals into IP packets
that your computer can understand. To use cable modems you will need a cable
splitter, a cable modem, and the service from a cable company.
e). Wireless Internet Connections
Wireless Internet, or wireless broadband is one of the newest Internet connection
types. Instead of using telephone or cable networks for your Internet connection, you
use radio frequency bands. Wireless Internet provides an always-on connection which
can be accessed from anywhere — as long as you geographically within a network
coverage area. Wireless access is still considered to be relatively new, and it may be
difficult to find a wireless service provider in some areas. It is typically more expensive
and mainly available in metropolitan areas.
1.7.2 Dial-up Connection

Definition: Dial up networking technology provides PCs and other network devices access to
a LAN or WAN via standard telephone lines.

‘Dial-up’ connection is also known as Level Two connection. This provides connection to
Internet through a dial-up terminal connection. User’s computer connect to the Internet by
dialing a phone number (which is provided by your ISP) to connect to the ISP computer that
provides the internet access, and connects to the network. The computer, which provides
Internet access is known as ‘Host’ and the computer that receives the access, is ‘Client’ or
‘Terminal’. The client computer uses modem to access a "host" and acts as if it is a terminal
directly connected to that host. So this type of connection is also known as ‘Remote Modem
Access’ connection. And the host to which the client gets connected is actually connected to
the Internet by a full time connection (See Leased Connection).

In dial-up connection to Internet, Host carries all the command that are typed on a client
machine and forward them to Internet. It also receives the data or information from the
Internet on behalf of the ‘Client’ and passes it to them. The client computer acts as a ‘dumb’
terminal connected to remote host.
Dial-up is an analog connection because data is sent over an analog, public telephone
network. The modem converts received analog data to digital and vise versa. Because dial-
up access uses normal telephone lines the quality of the connection is not always good and
data rates are limited.
1.7.3 Satellite Internet

Satellite Internet is a form of high-speed Internet service. Satellite Internet services utilize
telecommunications satellites in Earth orbit to provide Internet access to consumers. Internet
over Satellite (IoS) allows a user to access the Internet via a satellite that orbits the earth. A
satellite is placed at a static point above the earth's surface, in a fixed position. Because of
the enormous distances signals must travel from the earth up to the satellite and back again,
IoS is slightly slower than high-speed terrestrial connections over copper or fiber optic
cables.

Satellite Internet service covers areas where DSL and cable access is unavailable. Satellite
offers less network bandwidth compared to DSL or cable,
o Typical Internet over Satellite connection speeds (standard IP services)
average around 492 up to 512 Kbps.

1.8 Assessment
Review Questions
1. What is the difference between Leased connection and Dialup connection?
2. Explain in brief
a) TCP/IP connection
b) Telnet
c) Gateway Access
d) Shell connection
3. Explain in brief the working principle of cable modem connection.
4. Explain the following terms.
a). DSL b) ISDN

1.9 References
 https://www.academia.edu/
 Tutorialspoint.com
 https://www.encyclopedia.com/
 https://networkengineering.stackexchange.com/
 https://mediasmarts.ca/teacher-resources