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
● Robust
● Privacy and Security
● Fault identification and
fault isolation is easy
● More cabeling needed
● Input-output ports needed
● Installation and
reconfiguration difficult
● 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.