NETWORKING
FUNDAMENTALS
AGENDA
1.2 UNDERSTAND LOCAL AREA NETWORK (LANS)
--LOCAL AREA NETWORKS
--DATA TRANSFER ON A LAN
--TYPES OF LOCAL AREA NETWORKS
1.2 UNDERSTAND LOCAL AREA
NETWORK(LANS)
• LOCAL AREA NETWORKS
WHAT IS A NETWORK?
• A NETWORK IS TWO DEVICES CONNECTED TO EACH OTHER
WITH A PHYSICAL MEDIUM, SUCH AS WIRES OR RADIO SIGNALS
• THE CONNECTION ALLOWS THOSE TWO DEVICES TO
EXCHANGE DATA
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF
NETWORKS?
NETWORK ENHANCE MANY ASPECTS OF LIFE AND BUSINESS FOR
INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATION, INCLUDING:
-COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION
-SHARING INFORMATION AND RESOURCES
-ORGANIZING DATA
-SAVING COSTS
HOW ARE NETWORKS
ORGANIZED?
• NETWORKS ARE ORGANIZED BASED ON THEIR GEOGRAPHIC
LOCATION
• A LOCAL AREA NETWORK, OR LAN, IS A GROUP OF COMPUTERS
OR DEVICES THAT:
-- ARE CONFINED TO A SMALL GEOGRAPHIC AREA,
SUCH AS A SINGLE BUILDING
-- SHARE A COMMON COMMUNICATION MEDIUM,
SUCH AS CABLED OR WIRELESS CONNECTIONS
-- ARE CONNECTED TO A CENTRAL CONNECTING
DEVICE, LIKE A HUB, SWITCH, OR ROUTER
NETWORK DOCUMENTATION
• DESCRIBES, DEFINES, AND EXPLAINS THE PHYSICAL AND
LOGICAL METHOD FOR CONNECTING DEVICES
• THE DOCUMENTATION PHASE OCCURS BEFORE A NETWORK IS
BUILT, OR WHEN CHANGES ARE MADE TO THE NETWORK
• MICROSOFT VISIO IS A TOOL THAT CAN BE USED TO DOCUMENT
NETWORKS
WHAT DEVICES MAKE UP
LANS?
WHAT ARE HOSTS?
• DESKTOP PCS, LAPTOPS, CELL PHONES, SERVERS, ROUTERS
AND SO ON
• A HOST CAN BE ANY DEVICE THAT HAS AN IP ADDRESS –AN
ADDRESS USED TO SEND AND RECEIVE DATA IN A NETWORK
-IP ADDRESS HELP IDENTIFY DEVICES AND THE
NETWORKS WHERE THEY ARE LOCATED
WHAT ARE CENTRAL CONNECTING
DEVICES?
• HUBS, SWITCHES, AND ROUTERS ACT AS CENTRAL CONNECTING
DEVICES
• CENTRAL CONNECTING DEVICES ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR:
-CONNECTING HOSTS
-TRANSMITTING DATA
• DIFFERENT CENTRAL CONNECTING DEVICES PERFORM THESE
FUNCTIONS IN DIFFERENT WAYS
HOW DO HUBS FUNCTION?
• HOSTS SEND DATA TO A HUB
• THE HUB THEN BROADCASTS THAT DATA TO ALL OTHER
CONNECTED HOSTS ON THE NETWORK
HOW DO SWITCHES
FUNCTION?
• HOSTS SEND DATA TO A SWITCH
• SWITCHES DIRECT DATA TO ITS INTENDED DESTINATION
• UNLIKE HUBS, SWITCHES CAN SEND AND RECEIVE DATA
SIMULTANEOUSLY
• SWITCHES ARE THE MOST COMMON DEVICE USED TO CONNECT
HOSTS TO A NETWORK
HOW DO ROUTERS FUNCTION?
• ROUTER ARE AT THE EDGE OF LANS
-THEY ACT AS A GATEWAY TO OTHER NETWORKS
• ROUTERS ALLOW COMMUNICATION BETWEEN HOSTS ON
DIFFERENT NETWORKS
HOW DO DEVICES CONNECT?
• COMPUTER HAVE NETWORK ADAPTERS, ALSO KNOWN AS
NETWORK INTERFACE CARDS (NICS), THAT ALLOW THEM TO
CONNECT TO NETWORKS
• NICS VIA WIRES OR WIRELESS SIGNALS
-- WIRED ADAPTERS FEATURE AN RJ45 PORT
-- WIRELESS ADAPTERS FEATURE AN ANTENNA AND
CONNECT TO NETWORKS USING WIRELESS
ACCESS POINTS (WAPS)
ETHERNET CABLES
• ETHERNET CABLES ARE MADE OF COPPER WIRES
• TRANSMIT DATA IN THE FORM OF ELECTRICAL PULSES
-- WIRELESS CONNECTIONS RELY ON DIFFERENT
TECHNOLOGIES
WIRELESS ACCESS POINTS
(WAPS)
• WAPS PROVIDE A CENTRAL POINT OF ACCESS FOR DEVICES
THAT WANT TO CONNECT TO A LOCAL AREA NETWORK (LAN)
• WIRELESS NETWORKS CAN CONSIST OF MANY TYPES OF
DEVICES OTHER THAN TRADITIONAL
PCS:
-- SMART PHONES
-- PDAS
-- TABLET COMPUTERS
-- MICRO COMPUTERS
-- PCS AND LAPTOPS EQUIPPED WITH WIRELESS NETWORK
ADAPTERS CAN CONNECT TO THESE NETWORK AS
WELL
SERIAL DATA TRANSFER
• TRANSFER OF ONE BIT AT A TIME
• DATA CAN TRAVEL IN A SINGLE BIT STREAM IN BOTH
DIRECTIONS
-- DEPENDS ON TYPE OF CONNECTION
HOW FAST DOES DATA TRAVEL?
• A DATA TRANSFER RATE IS THE MAXIMUM BITS PER SECOND
(BPS) THAT CAN BE TRANSMITTED OVER A NETWORK
-- SIGNIFIED WITH A LOWERCASE B
-- THE LOWERCASE B DIFFERENTIATES BITS FROM BYTES
10 MBPS
------------
BITRATE
DATA TRANSFER IN LANS
• BEFORE DATA IS TRANSFERRED, IT HAS TO GO THROUGH THE
FOLLOWING PROCESS:
1. LARGE CHUNKS OF DATA ARE BROKEN INTO SEGMENTS
2. ADDRESSING INFORMATION IS ADDED TO EACH SEGMENT,
MAKING IT A PACKET
3. PACKETS THEN TRAVEL TO THE NETWORK ADAPTER, WHERE A
LITTLE MORE INFORMATION
IS ADDED AND THEY BECOME ETHERNET FRAMES.
4. EACH FRAME IS THEN BROKEN INTO A DATA STREAM OF BITS – 0S
AND 1S – THAT TRAVEL OVER
PHYSICAL MEDIA
HOW DOES DATA KNOW
WHERE TO GO?
• MOST EVERY COMPUTER AND MANY OTHER
DEVICES HAVE AN INTERNET PROTOCOL (IP)
ADDRESS
• A TYPICAL EXAMPLE OF AN IPV4 ADDRESS WOULD
BE 192.168.1.1
• EVERY IP ADDRESS IS BROKEN DOWN INTO TWO
PARTS BY A SUBNET MASK
-- NETWORK ID 192.168.1
-- HOST ID 1
