Q4 How is a computer network categorised?

Discuss the following in

detail with diagram.
ANS A computer network is a group of computers linked to each other that enables
the computer to communicate with another computer and share their resources, data,
and applications.

A computer network can be categorized by their size. A computer network is

mainly of three types:

o LAN(Local Area Network

o MAN(Metropolitan Area Network)
o WAN(Wide Area Network)

LAN (Local Area Network)

o Local Area Network is a group of computers connected to each other in a
small area such as building, office.
o LAN is used for connecting two or more personal computers through a
communication medium such as twisted pair, coaxial cable, etc.
o It is less costly as it is built with inexpensive hardware such as hubs, network
adapters, and ethernet cables.
o The data is transferred at an extremely faster rate in Local Area Network.
o Local Area Network provides higher security.

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MAN (Metropolitan Area Network)
o A metropolitan area network is a network that covers a larger geographic area
by interconnecting a different LAN to form a larger network.
o Government agencies use MAN to connect to the citizens and private
industries.
o In MAN, various LANs are connected to each other through a telephone
exchange line.
o The most widely used protocols in MAN are RS-232, Frame Relay, ATM,
ISDN, OC-3, ADSL, etc.
o It has a higher range than Local Area Network (LAN).

Uses Of Metropolitan Area Network:

o MAN is used in communication between the banks in a city.
o It can be used in an Airline Reservation.
o It can be used in a college within a city.
o It can also be used for communication in the military.

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WAN (Wide Area Network)
o A Wide Area Network is a network that extends over a large geographical
area such as states or countries.
o A Wide Area Network is quite bigger network than the LAN.
o A Wide Area Network is not limited to a single location, but it spans over a
large geographical area through a telephone line, fibre optic cable or satellite
links.
o The internet is one of the biggest WAN in the world.
o A Wide Area Network is widely used in the field of Business, government,
and education.

Examples Of Wide Area Network:

o Mobile Broadband: A 4G network is widely used across a region or country.
o Last mile: A telecom company is used to provide the internet services to the
customers in hundreds of cities by connecting their home with fiber.
o Private network: A bank provides a private network that connects the 44
offices. This network is made by using the telephone leased line provided by
the telecom company.

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Q5 Difference between LAN, MAN and WAN.

The Network allows computers to connect and communicate with different

computers via any medium. LAN, MAN, and WAN are the three types of the
network designed to operate over the area they cover. There are some similarities
and dissimilarities between them. One of the significant differences is in the
geographical area they cover, i.e. LAN covers the smallest area; MAN covers an
area larger than LAN and WAN comprises the largest of all.

Furthermore, LAN networks rely on the hardware and communication devices

owned by them for the transmission. As against, this could not be possible in case
of MAN and WAN which are obliged to use public, private, leased communication
hardware as these networks are spanned across a magnificent area.

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Comparison Chart

BASIS OF
LAN MAN WAN
COMPARISON

Expands to Local Area Metropolitan Wide Area

Network Area Network Network

Meaning A network It covers It spans large

that connects relatively large locality and

a group of region such as connects countries

computers in cities, towns. together. Example

a small Internet.

geographical

area.

Ownership of Private Private or Private or Public

Network Public

Design and Easy Difficult Difficult

maintenance

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 BASIS OF
LAN MAN WAN
COMPARISON

Propagation Short Moderate Long

Delay

Speed High Moderate Low

Fault Tolerance More Tolerant Less Tolerant Less Tolerant

Congestion Less More More

Used for College, Small towns, Country/Continent.

School, City.

Hospital.

Allows Single pair of Multiple A huge group of

devices to computers can computers

communicate. simultaneously communicate at the

interact. same time.

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Q6 what are the various network connectivity devices? Explain with the
help of diagram.
ANS computer networking devices are units that mediate data in a computer
network and are also called network equipment. Units which are the last receiver
or generate data are called hosts or data terminal equipment.

Hub

Hubs connect computers together in a star topology network. Due to their design,
they increase the chances for collisions. Hubs operate in the physical layer of
the OSI model and have no intelligence. Hubs flood incoming packets to all ports
all the time. For this reason, if a network is connected using hubs, the chances of a
collision increases linearly with the number of computers (assuming equal
bandwidth use). Hubs pose a security risk since all packets are flooded to all ports
all the time. If a user has packet sniffing software, they can extract data from the
network and potentially decode it and use it. Hubs make it easy to "spy" on users
on the same LAN as you.

Repeater

A wireless repeater.
A repeater is an electronic device that receives a signal and retransmits it at a
higher level and/or higher power, or onto the other side of an obstruction, so that
the signal can cover longer distances without degradation. Because repeaters work
with the actual physical signal, and do not attempt to interpret the data being

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transmitted, they operate on the physical layer, the first layer of the OSI model.
Repeaters are majorly employed in long distance transmission to reduce the effect
of attenuation. It is important to note that repeaters do not amplify the original
signal but simply regenerate it.

Modem
Modem (from modulator-demodulator) is a device that turns the digital 1s and 0s
of a personal computer into sounds that can be transmitted over the telephone lines
of Plain Old Telephone Systems(POTS), and once received on the other side,
converts those sounds back into a form used by a USB, Ethernet, serial, or network
connection. Modems are generally classified by the amount of data they can send
in a given time, normally measured in bits per second, or "bps".

NIC (Network Interface Card)

A network interface card is a computer hardware component designed to allow

computers to communicate over a computer network. It is both an OSI layer 1
(physical layer) and layer 2 (data link layer) device, as it provides physical access
to a networking medium and provides a low-level addressing system through the
use of MAC addresses. It allows users to connect to each other either by using
cables or wirelessly. Most motherboards today come equipped with a network
interface card in the form of a controller, with the hardware built into the board
itself, eliminating the need for a standalone card.

Basic switch

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Switches are often confused with bridges because they also operate at the data link
layer of the OSI model. Similar to a hub, switches provide a central connection
between two or more computers on a network, but with some intelligence. They
provide traffic control for packets; rather than forwarding data to all the connected
ports, a switch forwards data only to the port on which the destination system is
connected. They use a database of MAC addresses to determine where computers
are located and very efficiently send packets only where they need to go. The
database is created dynamically as computers communicate on the network. The
switch simply watches the incoming packets and memorizes the MAC address and
port a packet arrives on. If a packet arrives with a destination computer that the
switch does not have an address for in its MAC address table, it will flood the
packet out all connected ports. A switch creates separate collision domains for each
physical connection. A switch will only create separate broadcast domains if
separate VLANs (Virtual Local Area Networks) are assigned to different ports on
the switch. Otherwise, a broadcast received on one port will be flooded out all
ports except the one it came in on.

Bridge

Bridges can be identified by the fact that they operate at the data link layer of
the OSI model. Bridges have intelligence and can "bridge" two of their ports
together at very high speed. They use a database of MAC addresses to determine
where computers are located and very efficiently send frames only where they
need to go. The database is created dynamically as computers communicate on the
network. A bridge simply watches the incoming frame and memorizes the MAC
address and port a frame arrives on. It uses this information to locate a computer if
a packet comes in that must be forwarded to it. If a frame arrives at the bridge and
the bridge does not know where to send it, the bridge will flood the frame just like
a hub does. Bridging is often inaccurately called switching.

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Wireless access point

A wireless access point (WAP or AP) is a device that allows wireless

communication devices to connect to a wireless network using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or
related standards. The WAP usually connects to a wired network, and can relay
data between the wireless devices (such as computers or printers) and wired
devices on the network.

A typical corporate use involves attaching several WAPs to a wired network and
then providing wireless access to the office Local Area Network. Within the range
of the WAPs, the wireless end user has a full network connection with the benefit
of mobility. In this instance, the WAP functions as a gateway for clients to access
the wired network.

Basic router

Routers operate at the network layer of the OSI model and efficiently route
information between Local Area Networks. Since routers operate in the third layer,
the network layer, they must understand layer 3 addressing... such as TCP/IP. A
router will divide a broadcast domain by not forwarding broadcasts on one
connected network to another connected network. Routers operate in two different
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planes: the control plane, in which the router learns the outgoing interface that is
most appropriate for forwarding specific packets to specific destinations, and the
forwarding plane, which is responsible for the actual process of sending a packet
received on a logical interface to an outbound logical interface.

Basic firewall

A firewall is a part of a computer system or network that is designed to block

unauthorized access while permitting outward communication. It is also a device
or set of devices configured to permit, deny, encrypt, decrypt, or proxy all
computer traffic between different security domains based upon a set of rules and
other criteria.

Firewalls can be implemented in both hardware and software, or a combination of

both. Firewalls are frequently used to prevent unauthorized Internet users from
accessing private networks connected to the Internet. All messages entering or
leaving the Local Area Network pass through the firewall, which examines each
message and blocks those that do not meet the specified security criteria.

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