Chapter 5 COMPUTER NETWORK

Introduction to Networks:
A group of two or more similar things or people interconnected with each other is called
network
 Types of
networks
 Social
network
 Mobile
network
 Network of computers
 Airlines, railway, banks, hospitals networks
 A computer network is an interconnection among two or more computers or
computing devices which allows computers to share data and resources among each
other.
 Advantages of Computer Network:
 resource sharing
 cost efficiency
 improved communication
 centralized data management
 improve security, scalability, and flexibility.
 Apart from computers, networks include networking devices like switch, router,
modem, etc. Networking devices are used to connect multiple computers in different
settings.
Types of Networks
 Various types of computer networks ranging from network of handheld devices (like
mobile phones or tablets) connected through Wi-Fi or Bluetooth within a single room
to the millions of computers spread across the globe.
 Computer networks are broadly categorized as:
 PAN(Personal Area Network)
 LAN (Local Area Network)
 MAN (Metropolitan Area Network)
 WAN (Wide Area Network)
 Local Area Network (LAN):
 It is a network that connects computers, mobile phones, tablet,
mouse, printer, etc., placed at a limited distance.
 The geographical area covered by a LAN
can range from a single room, a floor, an
office having one or more buildings in the
same premise, laboratory, a school,
college, or university campus
 Connected with wires, Ethernet cables, fiber
optics or Wi-Fi.
 LANs provide the short-range communication with the
high-speed data transfer rates
 Can be extended up to 1 km
 Data transfer from 10 Mbps to 1000 Mbps (Mbps- Megabits per Second)
 Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)
 Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) is an extended
form of LAN which covers a larger geographical area
like a city or a town.
 Data transfer rate is less than LAN
 E.g.: Cable TV Network, Cable based broadband internet
 Can be extended up to 30-40 kms
  many LANs are connected together to form MAN
 Wide Area Network (WAN)
 connects computers and others LANs and MANs, which are
spread across different geographical locations of a country or in
different countries or continents
 The Internet is the largest WAN that connects billions of
computers, smartphones and millions of LANs from
different continents.
 PAN (Personal Area Network): A PAN is a network of local devices for
personal network. A PAN can be set up using guided media (USB cable) or
unguided media (Bluetooth, Infrared).

NETWORK DEVICES:
To communicate data through different transmission media and to configure networks with
different functionality, we require different devices like Modem, Hub, Switch, Repeater,
Router, Gateway etc.
Modem:

 Stands for ‘MOdulator DEMolulator

 Device used for conversion between Digital to analog bits and Analog to digital bits.
 Modems connected to both the source and destination nodes.
 The modem at the sender’s end acts as a modulator that converts the digital data into
analog signals. The modem at the receiver’s end acts as a demodulator that converts
the analog signals into digital data for the destination node.

Ethernet Card
 Also known as Network Interface Card (NIC card in short) is a network adaptor used
to set up a wired network.
 interface between computer and the network
 circuit board mounted on the motherboard of a computer
 Ethernet cable connects the computer to the network through NIC.
 Data transfer between 10Mbps to 1 Gbps
 Each NIC has a MAC address, which helps in uniquely identifying the computer
on the network.
Repeater
 Data are carried in the form of signals over the cable
 Signals lose their strength beyond 100 m limit and become weak.
 The weakened signal appearing on the cable is regenerated and put back on the cable by a
repeater
Hub
 An Ethernet hub is a network device used to connect
different devices through wires.
 Data arriving on any of the lines are sent out on all the others.
 The limitation of hub is that if data from two devices come at
 the same time, they will collide
Types of Hub-
Passive Hub: This type of does not amplify or boost the signal. It does not
manipulate or view the traffic that crosses it.
Active Hub: It amplifies the incoming signal before passing it to the other
ports.
Switch

 Like a hub, a network switch is used to connect multiple

computers or communicating devices.
 When data arrives, the switch extracts the destination address from
the data packet and looks it up in a table to see where to send the
packet. Thus, it sends signals to only selected devices instead of
sending to all.
 can forward multiple packets at the same time

Difference between Hub and Switch

HUB SWITCH

Function Connects multiple devices to a single Connects multiple devices on a single

network, acting as a central point for network, but intelligently directs data to
data transmission. the intended recipient.

Data Broadcasts all incoming data to all Examines packet destinations and forwards
Transmission connected devices. them to the appropriate port, separating the
network into multiple isolated broadcast
domains.

Router

 A network device that can receive the data, analyze it and transmit it to other networks.
 Compared to a hub or a switch, a router has advanced
capabilities as it can analyze the data being carried over a
network, decide or alter how it is packaged, and send it to another
network of a different type.
 A router can be wired or wireless.
 A wireless router can provide Wi-Fi access to smartphones and
other devices.
 Wi-Fi routers perform the dual task of a router and a
modem/switch
 It connects to incoming broadband lines, from ISP (Internet Service Provider), and converts
them to digital data for computing devices to process.
Gateway
 A gateway is a device that connects dissimilar networks.
(different Networks with different software and hardware
configurations and with different transmission protocol).
 Gateway serves as the entry and exit point
of a network, as all data coming in or going
out of a network must first pass through the
gateway in order to use routing paths.
 Also maintain information about the host
network's internal connection paths and the
identified paths of other remote networks.
  it can be implemented as software, hardware,
or a combination of both because network gateway
is placed at the edge of a network and the firewall is usually integrated with it.

Network Topologies
 The arrangement of computers and other peripherals in a network is called its
topology. Some common topologies are as follows:
1 Mesh Topology
 each communicating device is connected with every other device in the network
Advantages Disadvantages
Provides redundant paths Requires more cable than the other LAN
between devices topologies
The network can be expanded Complicated implementation
without disruption to
current uses
2 Ring Topology
 Each node is connected to two other devices, one each on
either side
 The link in a ring topology is unidirectional

Advantages Disadvantages
Cable faults are easily located, Expansion to the network can cause
making troubleshooting easier network disruption
Ring networks are moderately easy A single break in the cable can
to install disrupt the entire network.
.

3 Bus Topology
 Each communicating device connects to a transmission medium, known as
bus.
Advantages Disadvan
tages
Cheap and easy to implement Network disruption when computers are
added or removed
Require less cable A break in the cable will prevent all
systems from accessing the network.
Does not use any specialized Difficult to troubleshoot.
network equipment.

4 Star Topology
 Each communicating device is connected to a central node, which
is a
networking device like a hub or a switch.

Advantages Disadvantages
Easily expanded without disruption to the Requires more cable
network
Cable failure affects only a single user A central connecting device allows
for a single point of failure
Easy to troubleshoot and isolate problems More difficult to implement
 Tree Topology

 It is a hierarchical topology, in which

there are multiple branches and each
branch can have one or more basic
topologies like star, ring and bus,
which resembles a tree like structure.

Advantages:

 Ideal if workstations are located in

groups.
 Used in Wide Area Network.
 Extension of bus and star topologies.
 Expansion of nodes is possible and easy.
 Failure of any node does not affect network communication.
 Easily managed and maintained.
 It provide highly secure network.
Disadvantages:

 It depends upon central cable (backbone), which is fails may stop working of entire
network.
 More expensive and more complex.
 Higher level mode failure may affect next level node performance.
The Internet
The Internet is a world-wide network of computer networks. It connects many smaller networks
together and allows all the computers to exchange information with each other.

 It is the global network of computing devices including desktop, laptop, servers,

tablets, mobile phones, other handheld devices as well as peripheral devices such
as printers, scanners, etc.
 Also consists of networking devices such as routers, switches, gateways, etc.
Applications of Internet:
Following are some of the broad areas or services provided through Internet:
• The World Wide Web (WWW)
• Electronic mail (Email)
• Chat
• Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
1 The World Wide Web (WWW)
Many people think that the internet and the world wide web (WWW) are the same thing.
But The internet is a huge network of computers all connected together.
The world wide web (‘www’ or ‘web’ for short) is a collection of webpages found on the network of
computers and web browser uses the internet to access the web.
The World Wide Web is a way of exchanging information between computers on the Internet, tying
them together into a vast collection of interactive multimedia resources.
World Wide Web was created by Timothy Berners Lee in 1989 at CERN in Geneva. World Wide
Web came into existence as a proposal by him, to allow researchers to work together effectively and
efficiently at CERN. Eventually it became World Wide Web.

The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet. With a
web browser, one can view web pages that may contain text, images, videos and other multimedia and
navigate between them via hyperlinks.

It use a protocol called HTTP – Hypertext Transfer Protocol HTTP defines how messages are
 formatted and transmitted, and what actions Web servers and browsers should take in response to
various commands.
More secure and advanced version is HTTPS.
 HTML — Hyper Text Markup Language
 language which is used to design standardised Web Pages so that the Web
contents can be read and understood from any computer across the globe
 URI — Uniform Resource Identifier
 unique identifier to identify a resource located on the web
 URL: - URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator. A URL is nothing more
than the address of a given unique resource on the Web or address of a
website. The URL is an address that matches users to a specific resource
online, such as webpage.
 Example- http://www.cbse.nic.in

2 Electronic Mail (Email)

 It is one of the ways of sending and receiving message(s) using the Internet.
 can be sent anytime to any number of recipients at anywhere
 To use email service, one needs to register with an email service provider by creating
a mail account. These services may be free or paid.
 Some of the popular email service providers are Google (Gmail), Yahoo (yahoo
mail), Microsoft (outlook), etc.
Application of Internet Web 2.0:
The term web 2.0 is used to refer to a new generation of websites that are supposed to
let people to publish and share information online. It aims to encourage the sharing of
information and views, creativity that can be consume by the other users. E.g.:
YouTube
The Main characteristics of web 2.0 are:
 Makes web more interactive through online social media web- based forums,
communities, social networking sites.
 It is a website design and development world which aim to encourage sharing of
information and views, creativity and user interactivity between the users.
 Video sharing possible in the websites
Web 3.0: It refers to the 3rd Generation of web where user will using artificial intelligence
and with 3-D portals.
3 Chat
 Chatting or Instant Messaging (IM) over the Internet means communicating to people
at different geographic locations in real time through text message(s).
 With ever increasing internet speed, it is now possible to send image, document,
audio, video as well through instant messengers. I
 Applications such as WhatsApp, Slack, Skype, Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk,
Facebook Messenger, Google Hangout, etc., are examples of instant messengers.
4 VoIP

 Voice over Internet Protocol - allows us to have voice call (telephone service) over
the Internet
 VoIP works on the simple principle of converting the analogue voice signals into
digital and then transmitting them over the broadband line.
 These services are either free or very economical
 VoIP call(s) can be received and made using IP phones from any place having
Internet access.
Advantage of VoIP:
 Save a lot of money.
 More than two people can communicate or speak.
 Supports great audio transfer.
 Provide conferencing facility.
 can transfer text, image, video along w ithvoice
Disadvantages of VoIP:

 Reliable Internet connection required.

 No location tracking for emergency calls.
7 Website
 A website in general contains information organized in multiple pages about an organization.
 website can be created for a particular purpose, theme or to provide a service
 collection of web pages related through hyperlinks, and saved on a web server
1 Purpose of a Website

 to make the information available to people at large

 helps to communicate with people in a specific, transparent and user- friendly
manner
 common purposes for which websites are designed are listed below:
• Selling products and delivering services
• Posting and finding information on the internet
• Communicating with each other & Entertainment purposes
• Disseminating contents and software
8 Web Page

 A web page (also referred to as a page) is a document on the WWW that is viewed in
a web browser.
 structure of a web page is created using HTML (HyperText Markup Language) and
CSS (Cascaded Style Sheet).
 contain information in different forms, such as: text in the form of paragraphs, lists,
tables, images, audio, video, software application, other interactive content
 The first page of the website is called a home page
 Static and Dynamic Web Pages
 A static webpage is one whose content always remains static, i.e., does not change for
person to person.
 Static web pages are generally written in HTML, JavaScript and/or CSS and have the
extension .htm or .html.
 a dynamic web page is one in which the content of the web page can be different for
different users.
 Dynamic web pages can be created using various languages such as JavaScript, PHP,
ASP.NET, Python, Java, Ruby, etc.
 Difference between Static and Dynamic webpage: -

Static Webpage Dynamic Webpage

The static web pages display the same In the dynamic Web pages, thepage content changes
content each time when someone visits it. according to the user.
It takes less time to load over internet. Dynamic web pages take more time while loading.
 No Database used. A database is used in at the server end in a dynamic
web page.
Changes rarely. Changes frequently.
 Difference between Website and Webpage: -

Website Webpage
1. A collection of web pages which are grouped A document which can be displayed in a web
together and usually connected together in browser such as Firefox, Google Chrome,
various ways, often called a "web site" or Opera, Microsoft Internet Explorer etc.
simply a "site."
2. Has content about various entity. Has content about single entity.
3. More development time is required. Less development time is required.
4. Website address does not depend on Webpage Webpage address depends on Website address.
address.
9 Web Server
 Used to store and deliver the contents of a website to clients such as a browser that
request it. A web server can be software or hardware.
 The server needs to be connected to the Internet so that its contents can be made
accessible to others.
 The web browser from the client computer sends a request (HTTP request) for a page
containing the desired data or service. The web server then accepts, interprets,
searches and responds (HTTP response) to the request made by the web browser.
 If the server is not able to locate the page, it sends the error message (Error 404 –
page not found) to the client’s browser.
10 Web Hosting: -
 Online service that enables user to publish website or web application on the
internet. When user sign up for a hosting service, basically rent some space on
a server on which user can store all the files and data necessary for website to
work properly.
 A server is a physical computer that runs without any interruption so that website
is available all the time for anyone who wants to see it.
11 Browser:
 Software application that helps us to view the web page(s).
 Helps to view different contents retrieved from different web servers on the
internet
 Mosaic was the first web browser
developed by the National Centre for
Supercomputing Application (NCSA).
 Mozilla Firefox is an open source
web browser which is available free of cost and can be easily downloaded from the
Internet.
 Browser Setting
 Every web browser has got certain settings that define the manner in which the
browser will behave. These settings may be with respect to privacy, search engine
preferences, download options, auto signature, autofill and autocomplete feature,
theme and much more.
2 Add-Ons and Plug-ins
 Add-ons and plug-ins are the tools that help to extend and modify the functionality of
the browser.
 Both the tools boost the performance of the browser, but are different from each
other.
 A plug-in is a complete program or may be a third-party software. For example, Flash
and Java are plug-ins. A Flash player is required to play a video in the browser. A
plug-in is a software that is installed on the host computer and can be used by the
 browser for multiple functionalities and can even be used by other applications as
well.
 an add-on is not a complete program and so is used to add only a particular
functionality to the browser. An add-on is also referred to as extension in some
browsers
 Cookies
 A cookie is a text file, containing a string of information, which is transferred by the
website to the browser when we browse it.
 This string of information gets stored in the form of a text file in the browser.
 The information stored is retransmitted to the server to recognize the user, by
identifying pages that were visited, choices that were made while browsing various
menu(s) on a particular website.
 It helps in customizing the information that will be displayed, for example the
choice of language for browsing, allowing the user to auto login, remembering the
shopping preference, displaying advertisements of one’s interest, etc. Cookies are
usually harmless and they can’t access information from the hard disk of a user or
transmit virus or malware.