INTRODUCTION TO NETWORKS

Network
A network consists of two or more computers that are linked in order to share resources,
exchange files, or allow electronic communications. The computers on a network may be linked
through cables, telephone lines, radio waves, satellites, or infrared light beams.

A computer network or data network is a digital telecommunications network which

allows nodes to share resources. In computer networks, computing devices exchange data with
each other using connections (data links) between nodes.
These data links are established over cable media such as wires or optic cables, or wireless
media such as WiFi.
Computer networks support an enormous number of applications and services such as access to
the World Wide Web, digital video, digital audio, shared use of application and storage servers,
printers, and fax machines, and use of email and instant messaging applications as well as many
others.
Computer networks differ in the transmission medium used to carry their
signals, communications protocols to organize network traffic, the network's
size, topology, traffic controlmechanism and organizational intent.

Main benefits of networks include:

 Retrieving Remote Information: Through computer networks, users can retrieve remote
information on a variety of topics. The information is stored in remote databases to which
the user gains access through information systems like the World Wide Web.
 Resource sharing – using network-connected peripheral devices like printers, scanners
and copiers, or sharing software between multiple users, saves money.
 Sharing a single internet connection – it is cost-efficient and can help protect your
systems if you properly secure the network.
 Increasing storage capacity – you can access files and multimedia, such as images and
music, which you store remotely on other machines or network-attached storage devices.
 Speedy Interpersonal Communication: Computer networks have increased the speed and
volume of communication like never before. Electronic Mail (email) is extensively used
for sending texts, documents, images, and videos across the globe. Online
communications have increased by manifold times through social networking services.
 Cost–Effective Systems: Computer networks have reduced the cost of establishment of
computer systems in organizations. Previously, it was imperative for organizations to set
up expensive mainframes for computation and storage. With the advent of networks, it is
sufficient to set up interconnected personal computers (PCs) for the same purpose.

 Software Cost and Management: Many popular software products are available for
networks at a substantial savings in comparison to buying individually licensed copied
for all of your computers. You can also load software on only the file server which saves
time compared to installing and tracking files on independent computers. Upgrades are
also easier because changes only have to be done once on the file server instead of on
individual workstations.
 Security: Specific directories can be password protected to limit access to authorized
users. Also, files and programs on a network can be designated as "copy inhibit" so you
don’t have to worry about the illegal copying of programs.
 Flexible Access: Networks allow their users to access files from computers throughout
the network. This means that a user can begin work on a project on one computer and
finish up on another. Multiple users can also collaborate on the same project through the
network.
 Workgroup Computing: Workgroup software like Microsoft BackOffice enables many
users to contribute to a document concurrently. This allows for interactive teamwork.

 E-Commerce: Computer networks have paved way for a variety of business and
commercial transactions online, popularly called e-commerce. Users and organizations
can pool funds, buy or sell items, pay bills, manage bank accounts, pay taxes, transfer
funds and handle investments electronically.
 Highly Reliable Systems: Computer networks allow systems to be distributed in nature,
by the virtue of which data is stored in multiple sources. This makes the system highly
 reliable. If a failure occurs in one source, then the system will still continue to function
and data will still be available from the other sources.
 VoIP: VoIP or Voice over Internet protocol has revolutionized telecommunication
systems. Through this, telephone calls are made digitally using Internet Protocols instead
of the regular analog phone lines.

Disadvantages of Networking

 Breakdowns and Possible Loss of Resources

One major disadvantage of networking is the breakdown of the whole network due to an
issue of the server. Such breakdowns are frequent in networks causing losses of
thousands of dollars each year. Therefore once established it is vital to maintain it
properly to prevent such disastrous breakdowns. The worst scenario is such breakdowns
may lead to loss of important data of the server.
 Expensive to Build
Building a network is a serious business in many occasions, especially for large scale
organizations. Cables and other hardware are very pricey to buy and replace.
 Security Threats
Security threats are always problems with large networks. There are hackers who are
trying to steal valuable data of large companies for their own benefit. So it is necessary to
take utmost care to facilitate the required security measures.
 Bandwidth Issues
In a network there are users who consume a lot more bandwidth than others. Because of
this some other people may experience difficulties.

 Managing a large network is complicated, requires training and a network manager

usually needs to be employed.
 Viruses can spread to other computers throughout a computer network.
Application of computer networks within an organization
Some of the leading telecommunication applications for communication, coordination and
speeding the flow of transactions, messages and information throughout business firms are:
 Email – computer to computer exchange of information
 Voice mails – systems for digitizing a spoken message of the sender and transmitting it
over a network and stores the message for later retrieval. When the recipient is ready to
listen, the messages are reconverted to audio form.
 Facsimile machine (fax) – machine that digitizes and transmits documents with both text
and graphics over telephone lines.
 Digital information services – powerful and far reaching digital electronic services now
enable networked microcomputer and workstation users to obtain information from
outside the firm instantaneously without leaving their desks (electronic databases that can
be accessed online).
 Teleconferencing – ability to confer with a group of people simultaneously using the
telephone or via email group communication software
 Data conferencing – ability of two or more people at distant locations to work on the
same document simultaneously
 Video conferencing – teleconferencing that has capability to let participants see each
other face to face over video screens
 Electronic data interchange (EDI) – direct computer to computer exchange between two
organizations of standard business transaction documents such as invoices, purchase
orders etc. EDI saves money and time because transactions can be transmitted from one
information system to another through a telecommunications network eliminating
printing and handling of paper at one end and the inputting of data at the other end. EDI
differs from email in that it transmits an actual structured transaction (with distinct fields)
as opposed to an unstructured text messages such as a letter.
Causes of Network Congestion

 Too many hosts in broadcast domain.

Network overload is what happens when you place too many hosts in a broadcast domain. The
term “broadcast domain” is abstract, but the concept applies to network structure.The broadcast
domain is the network. A host is going to be each individual router or switch within the
broadcast domain.The cause is network overload, as too many devices are
requesting network access at once.

 Broadcast Storms

A broadcast storm is a situation where there are unexpectedly too many requests on a network.
This creates a situation where a network does not have the ability to process all the requests at
once.A broadcast storm can be a busy day for e-commerce or Black Friday sales. Also, a video
going viral can cause a similar situation.

 Low Bandwidth

Bandwidth refers to the “size of the pipe” in which Internet data can travel through. If the pipe is
not large enough for all the traffic to move through at once, there becomes congestion.

 Adding Retransmitting Hubs

When building out a network, there needs to be the integration of hubs. Hubs retransmit data
over a network.This connection point offers a prime location for potential congestion. Thus,
consider how to integrate the hub within the network.

 Multicasting

Multicasting is where a network allows many computers to speak to each other simultaneously.
This is the opposite of Unicast. Unicast is sending traffic to a specific router associated with a
specific server. In multicasting, two packets transferred at the same time can cause a collision.
This collision causes network congestion.
  Outdated Hardware

Data transmitted through outdated switches, routers, servers, and Internet exchanges can cause
bottlenecks.If the hardware is not optimal, this creates a bottleneck for the transmission of data.
The result is network congestion.

 Bad Configuration Management

Fat fingers and misconfiguration are two things that can cause network congestion. Repetitive
and one off scripts leaves room for error. The result is a network engineer introducing a bug into
the network. These bugs create bottlenecks that cause congestion.
The other aspect to configuration management is not performing it. This is not maintaining your
network. When no maintenance is performed, there is a chance for a break-down.

 Rogue Adapter Broadcasts

Rogue adapters are any foreign devices on your network. This can be as simple as a neighbor
coming onto a residential WiFi connection or as severe as a hacker breaking into an enterprise
network.
What occurs is the rogue adapter finds an entry point, which is usually an error in the network.
Then once on the network, they begin to access the Internet. Having an extra device on a
network can cause unexpected slowdowns. Besides slowing the network; the bigger problem is
the security threat. Any foreign device on a network can become malicious in intent.

 Border Gateway Protocol

Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) can be causing network congestion. BGP sends all traffic
through the shortest logical path. There is no consideration for how much traffic is already going
over that path.No consideration for current data going can result in transit paths becoming
overloaded. This overload will create slower speeds, which is network congestion.

 Artificial Congestion
An Internet Service Provider (ISP) can determine how fast it sends traffic over its network. The
opposite result of this is the ISP can also slow the rate at which data is moving over its network.
This is artificial congestion. ISP’s do this for many reasons, which they claim as network
management.
What is affecting this is the established peering agreements. Also, a content provider can be
sending more traffic than the ISP would like. The larger implication of this can be an
infringement on net neutrality.
Effects of Network Congestion

Everyone on a network generally “feels” the effects of network congestion. They may not be
able to explain it in technical terms but will say things like “The connection is so slow”, “I can’t
open web pages”, “The network is really bad, and I can’t hear you”.
From a technical perspective, the effects of a congested network include:

 Delay
Also known as Latency, delay is the time it takes for a destination to receive the packet sent
by the sender. For example, the time it takes for a webpage to load is a result of how long it
takes for the packets from the web server to get to the client. Another evidence of delay is the
buffering you experience when watching a video, say on YouTube.
 Packet Loss
While packets may take a while to get to their destination (delay), packet loss is an even more
negative effect of network congestion. This is especially troubling for applications like Voice
over IP (VoIP) that do not deal well with delay and packet loss, resulting in dropped calls
and Call Detail Records, lag, robotic voices, and so on.
 Timeouts
Network congestion can also result in timeouts in various applications. Since most
connections will not stay up indefinitely waiting for packets to arrive, this can result in lost
connections.