CSG - 004
Computer Networks
and
Internet Technologies
Introduction
● What is a computer network?
System of autonomous/seperate computers (called
nodes) that are interconnected by a single technology
so that they are able to exchange information.
For example, Internet – Network of Networks .
● Is WWW a network?
● Difference between Internet and WWW?
● Difference between Distributed systems and Network?
Need for Computer Networks
● Resource Sharing
● Data Communication
exchange of data between two or more devices via
some form of transmission medium.
● To be continued ....
Data Communication
Characteristics of data communication:
● Delivery
● Accuracy
● Timeliness
● Jitter
Components of data communication:
● Message
● Sender
● Receiver
● Transmission medium
● Protocols
Data Representation
Types of data:
● Text
- represented using Unicode and ASCII
● Images
- represented using Pixels (or picture elements)
● Audio
- continuous in nature
● Video
Data Transmission Modes
● Simplex
- unidirection flow
● Half-duplex
- bidirectional flow one at a time
● Full-duplex
- bidirectional flow at all times
Network Criteria
● Performance
- measured by transit time, response time
- varies with no. Of users, type of transmission medium etc.
- performance metrics: throughput and delay
● Reliability
- frequency of failures, time required to recover, robustness.
● Security
- protecting data from unauthorised access and damage.
Types of connections
● Point-to-point connection
- provides dedicated links between two devices.
- one point is the sender (transmitter), the other point is the
receiver.
- also called unicasting.
● Multipoint (multidrop) connection
- more than two devices share a link
- capacity of the link is shared either spatially or temporarily.
Physical topology
● Topology is the geometric representation of all the links and linking
devices.
● Two or more links form a topology.
Types of topologies:
● Mesh
● Star
● Bus
● Ring
● Tree
Mesh Topology
● Every device has a dedicated point-to-point link to every other device.
● Needs n(n-1)/2 full-duplex links.
● Needs n(n-1) input/output ports
Advantages and Disadvantages
● Eliminates traffic problems ● More cabeling needed
● Robust ● Input-output ports needed
● Privacy and Security ● Installation and
reconfiguration difficult
● Fault identification and
fault isolation is easy ● Space issues
● Hardware is expensive
Star topology
● Devices are not connected directly.
● Point-to-point dedicated links to a central controller – Hub.
● Controller acts as an exchange.
Advantages and disadvantages
● Needs only one link and ● Dependent on a single
one ip/op port. point.
● Less expensive.
● Easy to install and
reconfigure
● Robust
● Easy fault identification
and fault isolation.
Bus topology
● One cable acts as a backbone to link all devices in a network.
● Consists of droplines and taps.
Advantages and disadvantages
● Ease of installation. ● Signal becomes weaker at
greated distances.
● Less cabling.
● Difficult reconnection
because of signal
reflection.
● Fault in main cable
incapacitates entire
network.
Ring topology
● Each device has a point-to-point connection with only two devices on either
side of it.
● Each device has a repeater.
Advantages and disadvantages
● Easy to install and ● One station fails, entire n/w
reconfigure. fails.
● Fault isolation is easy. ● Solution?
Tree topology
● It has a root node and other systems are connected to it in a heirarchical
manner.
● Also called star-bus network.
Advantages and disadvantages
● One star topology fails, all ● Costly
other work fine. ● If backbone fails, n/w
● More nodes can be added cannot sustain.
easily. ● Maintainance needed.
LAN – Local Area Network
● Privately owned and operated.
● Links devices in a single office/building
● Limited to few kilometers
● Designed to share resources and data.
● Use single type of transmission
● Common topologies – bus, ring, star
● Speed: 100-1000 Mbps
● Can be wired or wireless.
Wireless LAN
● Also called WLAN and WiFi.
● IEEE introduced standard 802.11
● Operates in ISM frequency band.
● Clients and access points (AP) present.
● Affected by environmental conditions.
MAN
● Stands for Metropolitan Area Network.
● Size ranges between LAN and WAN.
● Covers areas such as towns and cities.
● Speed: upto 100Mbps.
● Ownership can be public or private.
WAN – Wide Area Network
● Large distance transmission of
data over large geographic
areas such as countries and
continents.
Types of WAN:
● Switched WAN
● Point-to -point WAN
● Speed: 10-20Mbps
● Ownership is
distributed
Intranet vs Extranet vs internet
● Intranet is a private computer n/w that securely shares
and part of an organisation’s information within that
organisation.
● Extranet can be viewed as an extended intranet to users
outside the organisation via the internet.
● internet is a two or more networks that can communicate
with each other.
● Most notable internet is Internet.
