Local Area Network (LAN) – connects devices together within a building or a small collection of

? buildings, such as a school or college campus. Usually, in a LAN, all connective media, such as cables,
are privately owned.

Wide Area Network (WAN) – connects devices together across a large geographic area, which may
? consist of the entire planet. The Internet is an example of a wide area network, but it is not the
only one.

There are several ways in which network performance might be defined, but users typically expect !
data to be sent and received both quickly and accurately, across the office or across the planet.

Measure Definition Contributing factors

The maximum amount of data  Connection type – fibre-optic connections can be much
that can be transferred across faster than copper connections.
Bandwidth
a connection in a given time,  Number of users – the more people sharing a connection,
e.g. bits per second. the slower each individual connection.
The length of delay between
 Network traffic – more transmitted data on a network
data being transmitted and
can result in greater latency as data is queued.
Latency subsequently received,
 Number of nodes – if a signal has to pass through many
measured in seconds or
devices on the way to its destination, this takes time.
milliseconds.
Measured as a percentage,  Interference – other signals being transmitted can
the amount of data that is not corrupt data; a '1' might be received as a '0'.
Error rate
received exactly as it was  Attenuation – a signal that travels too far without being
transmitted. amplified can fade.

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 –
'LAN' and 'WAN' refer to the scale of a network, but with either of these, there are different ways in which a
network might operate. There are two usage models you need to be familiar with:

Client–server – the 'server' computer provides a service, such as a file or access to a printer. The
'client' computers that are connected can use that service, i.e. download the file or print a document.

Client
?

Client Internet Server

Client

Peer-to-peer – in this network, every machine is potentially a server; files and other resources might
be spread across the network. Other devices might then access those resources without necessarily
knowing exactly which computer they are connecting to.

? Device
Device

Device
Device

Device

Client–server Peer-to-peer
 Can be set up with minimal expertise, and there is
 Files are stored centrally, so are easier to
less need for specialist staff
manage (edit, back up, etc.)
 The hardware is typically cheaper, as servers can
 For other resources, such as a printer, these are
be expensive
also easier to manage centrally
 The failure of one device has only limited
 Licences for software are managed centrally, so
consequences
less risk of a user working from an
 A specialist network operating system is
unauthorised copy
not required
- Security is not centralised, so some parts of the
- Failure of a server can potentially take down all
network may be more vulnerable than others
file access or all printing
- The computer of an individual user might be
- A single server can only deal with the needs of a
slowed down significantly by other users
finite number of clients
accessing files

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Networks can be wired or wireless. Each of these arrangements requires a slightly different hardware setup:

Wired

Network interface card (NIC)

Device

Device Switch Router Internet

Device Transmission medium

Wireless (Wi-Fi)

Wireless network interface card (WNIC)

Device

Device
WAP Router Internet
Device

Component Purpose
Device Any device that can connect to a network, such as a laptop or a printer.
Allows connection to multiple devices on the same network, meaning those devices
Switch
can communicate with one another.
Provides a connection to the Internet, allowing different LANs to communicate. In
Router the home, routers and switches are usually combined into a single unit. A wireless
router acts as both a router and a wireless access point.
Any means by which two or more devices can be connected together, such as an
Transmission medium
Ethernet cable. The plural of 'medium' is 'media'.
A computer component that handles network communication. For a wired
(Wireless) Network
connection, this is where the Ethernet cable would go. A wireless network interface
interface card
card can receive and transmit certain radio waves.
Transmits and receives radio waves to/from devices' wireless network interface
Wireless Access Point
cards. Might be connected to a router, but in a large building several of these might
(WAP)
connect to a switch, which would in turn be connected to a router.

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 Internet – an interconnected collection of networks spanning the globe. The Internet consists of
? every piece of hardware that is part of this connection, including computers, phones, switches and
routers. This is not to be confused with the World Wide Web, which is a system of transmitting data
using the Internet.

When you want to access a web page, you type the URL of that page into a browser. You might type, for
example, http://www.google.com This triggers a series of events that ends with the requested page being
displayed in your browser.

? URL – Uniform Resource Locator. Resources on the Internet, be they images, sound files or web
pages, are identifiable by their unique URL.

http://www.google.com  66.102.1.139

DNS server
2

1 66.102.1.139
Client Internet

http://www.google.com
3

1. Your computer ('client') does not know the Internet Protocol (IP) address of google.com, so it sends the URL
(http://www.google.com) to the DNS server. In order for this process to work, the client machine would
need to know the IP address of the DNS server.

Internet Protocol (IP) address – a unique number used to identify every device connected to the
? Internet. No two IP addresses are the same. If your computer requests a web page, your computer's
IP address specifies where that web page should ultimately be delivered.

2. The DNS server contains a list of URLs and corresponding IP addresses. The URL 'http://www.google.com' is
looked up, and an IP address is found and returned to the client machine (66.102.1.139 in this case). If a
matching link is not found, the URL may be forwarded to an alternative server.

3. Now that the client machine has the IP address, it can access the web page. A request is sent to Google's
server, and a copy of their main page is transmitted to, and displayed upon, the client machine.

Hosting – the provision of storage space online on a web server. If you were to set up a website, the
? web pages and other associated files would be stored on a server, which is the name given to any
device that provides a service (access to a website being an example of a service). Devices called
clients access those services, perhaps by requesting content such as video.

Cloud computing – this involves storage on remote computers, called servers, usually managed by
other organisations. When a file is saved or loaded, it is transmitted across the Internet to its
? allocated server, and multiple backups of files often exist around the world. Data stored on the cloud
can also be processed remotely. When something is stored 'in the cloud', it's simply stored on
another device, or perhaps across several devices.

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 ? Network topology – the pattern in which the hardware on a network is positioned, including
connections. Common topologies include star and mesh.

Topology Explanation

R Star
Every device is connected to a switch at the centre of the
network. All communication travels via this switch.
 Very few data collisions, since each device has a dedicated
S
line to the switch
 Strong, centralised security
- Lots of cabling needed
R = router - If the switch has no spare ports, adding another device can
S = switch be difficult

Full mesh:

Mesh
All devices are connected to all other devices in a full mesh
topology. If not all potential devices are interconnected, it is a
partial mesh topology.
R
 High resilience – multiple cable failures might not even
isolate a single device
 Perfect for implementation of a peer-to-peer set-up
Partial mesh:
- If cables are used instead of wireless transmission, a huge
amount of cabling is required
- Adding a single device can be complex, with many
connections needed
- If connections do start to fail, it could go unnoticed,
meaning it won't be repaired

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Connecting to a network can take place using a wired or wireless mode of connection. A wired connection might
make use of Ethernet cabling, and a wireless connection might use Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Each approach has its
advantages and disadvantages:

Wired Wireless
 Easy to add a device to a network, since no
 Transmission is usually quicker, though that can
cabling is required
depend on other factors as well
 A user can move around more easily, such
 Wired transmission is less prone to interference
as a teacher taking their laptop to a
than wireless transmission
different classroom
- Radio signals that make up wireless connections
- If enough devices are already on the network,
have a limited range (with Bluetooth being
there may be nowhere to connect the cable for a
shorter range than Wi-Fi)
new device
- With signals transmitted through the air, they
- Installing or reconfiguring a wired network can
are more prone to interception
be much more expensive
- Signals are more prone to latency

It's easy to use the table above to create additional advantages and disadvantages. For example,
'a user can move around more easily' is an advantage of a wireless connection, so 'a user cannot !
easily move around' would be a corresponding disadvantage of a wired connection.

Encryption – the process of converting plaintext into ciphertext. Anyone attempting to intercept
? signals should receive only the ciphertext, which is scrambled, with no knowledge of how to decrypt
(unscramble) it.

In order for computers and other devices to communicate with one another, they need to be uniquely
identifiable. Effectively, each device needs an address at which it can be found, and most have two – an IP
address and a MAC address.

Internet Protocol (IP) address – a unique number that is used to identify your computer while it is
? connected to the Internet. Since this number is assigned by software, if you leave the Internet and
rejoin it, you might have a different IP address.

? Media Access Control (MAC) address – another unique number that is written into the hardware of
your network interface card. This can only be changed by replacing your network interface card.

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 ? Standard – an agreed way of working, developed in order to make it easier for hardware and
software, including from different developers, to intercommunicate.

Examples of standards cover both hardware and software, including:

 The ASCII character set, which is interpreted identically across billions of devices
 HTML – a markup language that is interpreted by multiple browsers
 File formats, such as JPEGs, enabling cameras and computers to process the same file
 USB connections, to maximise the compatibility between hardware devices

Adhering to standards when creating a new device or application makes it more likely that your
device or application will be able to communicate with other devices or applications (as well as !
being more popular).

One category of standard is communication protocols.

Protocol – a set of rules governing how a computer communicates on a network. Computers have
? many protocols, each necessary for a different purpose (email, accessing web pages, moving files,
etc.). Without protocols, communication between computers would be very difficult.

 TCP/IP – Transfer Control Protocol and Internet Protocol. These are two protocols that often work together.
Their collective role is to break up data into packets, each of which is a chunk of data that knows where it has
been sent from and where it is to be delivered to.
 HTTP – Hypertext Transfer Protocol. This is the set of rules governing how hypertext (the language of the
World Wide Web) is moved around the Internet, from device to device.
 HTTPS – HTTP Secure. This protocol encrypts data that is sent across the Internet. Encrypted data cannot be
read if intercepted, so is favoured when sending passwords or credit card numbers.
 FTP – File Transfer Protocol. This is how files are moved from one computer to another across the Internet.
This protocol is heavily relied upon in building websites, moving files from the developer's computer to a
server, from where they can be accessed publicly.
 POP3 – Post Office Protocol Version 3. This is a protocol for accessing emails and is commonly used in
Microsoft Outlook to take the emails from an online location, opening them in the Outlook environment.
 IMAP – Internet Message Access Protocol. This email protocol is used to allow multiple devices (laptops,
tablets, phones, etc.) to access the same email account.
 SMTP – Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. While POP3 might be used to retrieve emails, SMTP is used to send
them from one server to another.

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 TCP/IP stack – a series of protocols. When they work together, they transmit data from one
? computer, through any number of pieces of network hardware, to another computer. The TCP/IP
stack is a concept, not a physical thing.

This stack has four layers, each containing a number of protocols. When data is sent, protocols at one layer break
down and repackage the data into smaller units, before passing the data to the layer below. When data is
received, those units are reassembled as they move up the stack.

Sender Recipient
Application Application

Transport Transport

Network Network

Data link Data link

Network / Internet

Layer Protocols at this layer

Application layer HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, SMTP, IMAP, POP3
Transport layer TCP
Internet layer IP
Network interface layer Ethernet, Wi-Fi

There are benefits to developing systems using this model:

 Different developers can be assigned to different aspects of a system !
 Part of a system can be removed and altered without affecting the rest of the system

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 Bandwidth Latency Error rate

Network Local Area

Switch
performance Network

Wide Area
Router
Network

Wired and
Network
Hardware wireless Network type
interface card
networks

Transmission
Client–server
medium

Wireless
The Internet Peer-to-peer
access point

URL Cloud
http:// Hosting
computing

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 Character Hardware
File formats
sets interfaces

Standards
TCP/IP
Application

HTTP

Protocols Networks TCP/IP stack Transport

HTTPS

FTP
Internet

POP3 Topologies

Wireless
Network interface
SMTP
Mesh Star

IMAP
Wired

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