What is Computer Network with Examples

To know the definition of the Computer Network. Let us discuss the simple definition of the Computer Network.

A computer network is a set of communication elements that are connected by communication links. The definition tells the set of elements that are connected by the wireless or wired links. Simply, connecting through the communication elements we call it has the Computer Network. You may come across things like network congestion or an overworked network, for example, but you’ll be able to find ways on which you can sort this out.

The Network is to support the way how we communicate with the people. In previous days, we use the traditional landline communication channel. In this type of landline communications, the data is sent only in the form of voice communication. Only the audio of the user is sent to the other side of the telephone network Whereas in today’s emerging Technology we can send the data in the form of audio, video, images, files, etc.

The Network has evolved drastically from the last decades from the phone called to the trending smart touch phones. Let us take an example of the mobile application, we can send voice calls, video calls, images, texts, important files and we can also make video calls for long distant places.

All these communications come under real time mobile applications. All this work can be done through the concept called the Computer Network. Don’t we think the computer networks are very helpful and in the coming decades the computer network enhances its Technology?

We have known how the network is helpful for today’s world. In a simple definition, the network supports the way we communicate with people. Nowadays all the work can be done using the Networking concept. Most employees work from home, communicating through various internet applications or virtual numbers. For instance, a broadband connection can be established using a cable modem or high-speed services such as DSL or a local area network. And the majority of business communications are conducted via these high-speed internet connection networks. Special VoIP phones connect directly to the broadband connection and function mostly in the same way as a traditional phone. These services, such as those offered by phone system companies like phone.com (https://www.phone.com/virtual-phone-number/), are only possible due to this networking concept.

Anyway, to Understand in detail how the Computer Network works, we have to discuss the concepts of computer networking.

These Elements can be any phones, switches, routers, computers, or any other device. The links represent both the wired and wireless networks. The Wired network comes under the optical fibers, coaxial fibers, Twisted pairs. The Wireless networks are radio satellites or microwave communications etc.

Now, these computer networks can be arranged using some of the topologies. let us know about the formation and the types of topologies.

The elements that we arrange with the help of the links we call the Topology. It is the arrangement of the links and the elements is called the topology. Let’s learn a brief introduction to the types of topology. We all have known different types of topologies. They are

1. Bus Topology
2. Ring Topology
3. Star Topology
4. Tree Topology
5. Mesh Topology

These are the different types of topologies we use for the arrangement of the links and elements. In different topologies, the routers and the elements can be arranged in the different possible ways to transmit the data in an efficient way. All the routers, servers, user computers can be arranged in different possible topologies. The connection between all the wired and wireless networks for the data communication purpose is called the Computer Network

Learn the absolute core definition of the Computer Network. It is a system where multiple computers are connected to each other for the purpose to share information and resources. Many computers are connected to each other to communicate with different networks.

Examples of the Computer Network

What are the Examples of the computer network? A network consists of both the elements and the links. Let us study each word in detail. The elements can be a computer, printer, or any other device that is used for communication purposes. We can send and receive data from one element to another. Here the element represents any hardware device.

The main concept we need to be focused on is it should have the capability to send and receive the data from one device to the other device. Switches, bridges, routers, and hubs and all come under the elements

Now let us know about the What are the Links?. a communication link can be of wireless and wired link. Suppose take an example of the User computer and another user Computer are connected via a link. With this link, we can transfer the data from one device to the Other.

The wired link is the physical link that connects the two devices. In some cases, when two devices want to communicate with each other in the wireless link the air will act as the path that transfers the data from one device to the other. The Only wireless link carries the information from one device to the other.

The Best Example for the Wired Connection is cables and the air is the best example for the wireless link to carry the information from one place to the other.

Let us take an example for a better understanding of both wired and wireless networks in the computer network. A Switch is connected to a wireless router all the user computers, satellites, buildings, satellites, router, switches and all come under the Elements in the computer network.

The path between the two devices is used for communication between the devices. But in the wireless signals, there is no physical path established between the two devices, the air is the link established between the two devices.

Now in the given figure, a physical path is established between all the devices. The diagram consists of both wired and wireless links, all these devices we call the intermediate devices, the communication transmission can be done at any side of the Intermediate devices.

When we want to send a message from one end of the device to the other end, the communication can be done in the intermediary devices. In wireless communication, the network can be carried out either from the satellite or from the intermediary devices. Either through the wired or wireless network, the communication can be passed. We use the computer Network for resource sharing among the different computers.

If all the devices want the access the information at the same time, then it is not possible for the router or any intermediary device, to transfer the information through all the devices.

Types Of Computer Network

Computer Network is defined as the collection of many computers. Usually, there are three types of the Network. Local Area Network, metropolitan area network, and wide area network. Now what the main difference between these different types of the network. These networks are differentiated in the ranges and distance between them. Let us discuss each type of network in detail.

Local area Network

Local Network is connected only within a limited range or a distance. All the devices, houses, buildings of that particular area are connected at their limited distance. Internet access is provided only at that particular range of the networks. Now, what is the actual work of the local area network?

The Network shares the resources within all the computers. One system shares the information or data to the different systems. And we can also share the information among all the user computers.

The local area network provides a high-security environment among all the networks. Due to the limited number of computers, there be fast access in the data transfer and limited data traffic is present among them. In the local area network, the main disadvantage is privacy.

There is no privacy when the data is transferred between the devices. When a single data is transferred, it can be accessed by all the devices present in the local area network. One data that is transferred can be accessed by another device in the local network. The local area network is established only within a limited range.

Metropolitan Area Network

The Metropolitan area network, we call shortly as the MAN. The Metropolitan is the connection between the different LANs. The Network is connected within the city range, then we call it the metropolitan area network. For example, all the branches in a city will be considered as the metropolitan area network. We share the resources in the metropolitan area network.

The data will be centralized in the metropolitan so that anyone can access the data in the metropolitan area network. All these devices can be connected using fiber optics, fiber cables. These cables can be used to transfer the data within the city. The main disadvantage of the metropolitan area network is, it cannot provide security during the transmission of the data. The MAN requires more cables during the transmission of the data if more cities are used.

Wide Area Network

The wide area network range is higher than the metropolitan and the local area network. Internet access is provided among different cities or states. The data can be transferred via a telephone network or through a satellite. The sharing of data can be done using the routers, and it has less security in data transmission.

A firewall should be established in the transmission of data security. The wide area network restricts the data from all unauthorized users. The best Example for this wide area network is the Internet. Internet is the best example in the wide-area network.

With the help of the routers, the information can be sent to any long distance areas.

Main components of the Computer Network

The Computer network consists of three components. They are

1. Nodes
2. Media
3. Services

Let us discuss the components of the computer networks in detail

Nodes

A Node is a device or a network that sends and receives the data. We can transfer the data. These nodes can be of two types

1. End nodes
2. Intermediary nodes

End Nodes

In End nodes, we call it has the End devices. These End devices are the starting point of the communication or the ending point of the communication.

To understand the concept clearly, let us take an example. When one node wants to send data to the other node, a sending node is called the starting node, and the receiving device, we call it has the end nodes. And these two send and the end nodes are used to communicate for the data transmission. The data transmission can be done using the intermediate nodes between the two devices.

Some of the examples of the end devices are computers, network printers, telephone devices, security cameras, and different types of handheld devices. Devices are called the end devices.

Some of the examples of their Intermediate nodes are the switches, routers, security devices, and wireless access points. It forwards the data from one node to the other node. The name itself represents the intermediate nodes. It acts as the intermediate nodes between the two devices. All these smartphones, hubs, telephone towers are called the End nodes that transmit the data.

Media

A link carries the data from one device to the other device. The Media can be of two types

1. Wired Media
2. Wireless Media

Wired Media

A physical cable is present between the two devices. The data can be transmitted from one device to the other device. Due to the presence of the cable, we call it has the guided medium.

Wireless Media

In a Wireless medium, there is no physical path present between the two nodes or devices. The data is transmitted in wireless communication. Due to wireless communication, it is called the Unguided medium.

Some of the examples for both wired Medium

Ethernet cables, coaxial cables, fiber optic cable, USB cable, Ethernet cross over cable.

Some of the exampled for the wireless medium

Infrared, radio waves, microwaves, satellites are some of the examples of the wireless medium.

• Scalability
• Fault Tolerance
• Quality of service (QoS)
• Security

The computer network should be scalable and should provide all the basic features of the Network services.

Fault Tolerance

The Computer Network works should work continuously despite the errors and failures in the computer network. And Should check the loss of the services. If the computer works even in failures, all the services should be provided. It should ensure there be no loss in the data.

Scalability

It can work based on the situation in the network. The best example of scalability is the Internet. Even the more number of users is increased in the network, the Internet works efficiently.

Quality of Service

If more users are present, the Network puts a set of priorities on the internet. The quality of service can manage the large data traffic and ensures no data loss in the Quality of service.

Advantages of the Computer Network

1. In the computer network, it shares the resources from one device to the other device.
2. We can share a large number of files between the two devices
3. The computer network has a large storage capacity
4. Efficient communication is maintained between the two devices
5. A firewall is maintained to access the information only by the authorized user.

Disadvantages of the Computer Network

1. The Computer Network doesn’t provide security f=during the data transmission
2. The chance of fishing may occur in the transmission of the data.

Security in the Computer Network

In the computer Network concept, Security is the most important factor during the data transmission of the data. The protocols and the set of rules are defined for the transmission of the data between the two devices.

During the data transmission, different types of attacks are attacked by any third-party users. Let us discuss some of the attacks and how third-party attacks to steal the data during transmission.

There are two different types of attacks

1. Active attacks
2. Passive attacks

Interruption, modification, fabrication is active attacks. Release of message content and Traffic analysis came under the passive attacks.

Summary

A Network is a combination of interconnected networks. It is a network of more than one device is connected to the other. There are different types of networks.

Traditional devices and wireless devices. Traditional devices are connected through a cable or a physical path. Desktops, servers printers, and many more traditional devices. There are different types of the network like Local areas, metropolitan area, and the wide-area networks.

These networks are differentiated in the range of distances. The main advantage of the computer network is, there is a fast transmission and the main disadvantage of the network is, it cannot provide the security and privacy of the user during the transmission of the data.

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Second Explanation of Computer Network

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Nowadays requirements of the computers are almost everywhere like Schools, Colleges, hospitals, offices, and homes, and therefore there is a need to share the data, information, resources, and programs among various computers. To know more about What is Computer Network and Its Types, keep reading this article till the end.

With the modernization of data communication facilities, the communication between computers has increased and thus it has extended the power of computers beyond the computer room. Nowadays by using this facility, a user sitting in one place can communicate anywhere in the world.

Indeed, until recently, physical servers were a foundational technology, the beating digital heart of every data center. The cloud then appeared. However, as organizations have begun to shift their growing services to cloud providers, on-premises servers have begun to suffer. As a result, a new type of networking is emerging that is not reliant on servers, known as serverless computing. Serverless computing has grown in popularity due to its significant impact on lowering costs, decreasing latency, improving scalability, and eliminating server-side management, to name a few benefits. Companies like Serverless Solutions that are solely dedicated to moving the market forward in the direction of Serverless architectures are gaining traction.

Definition- Going back to the basics, computer Networking is a group of two or more computers or nodes connected together to share the data, information, and resources with each other.

What is Network- Network is just a connection between two or more computers or nodes, there are no such means that data, information, and resources are sharing it is just a connection.

Communication system

There many components of computer networking that make networking possible some of these are the following:

1. The sender Computer (Source) which creates the message to be transmitted.
2. A Communication channel or medium that carries the message.
3. The receiver computer(sink) which receives a message.

Communication Protocols

Communication protocols enable us to communicate with other systems. The data communication system tells the computer system and devices as to how exactly data is to be transmitted from one place to the other place.

The procedure of data transformation in the form of software is commonly known as a protocol.

The protocols perform the following functions for the efficient and error-free transmission of data and information.

1. Data Sequencing- A long transmitted message is broken into smaller packets or units of fixed size for error-free data transmission.
2. Data Routing- Data routing is the process of finding the most efficient route between source and destination before sending the data.
3. Flow Control- All machines have not the same capability in terms of speed. Hence the flow control regulates the process of sending data between the fast sender and slow receiver.
4. Error Control- Error detection and error recovery are one of the main function of the communication system, It ensures that the data are transmitted without any error.

Note: The internet itself can be considered as a computer network.

Benefits of Computer Network

• It takes very less time to transfer the information from one person to another person even the person is too far from each other.
• It is very cost-effective as compared to the Telephone network.
• Networking enables us to send information at any time anywhere which is very helpful to send any information in emergency cases.
• All types of data like text, audio, video, pictures, and graphics can be transmitted through it.
• It allows multiple users to work on a single project
• It allows us to store all data in a centralized location.
• We can track and monitor the resources in the network.

What Elements Makes Networking Possible?

The elements that make networking possible are the following.

1. Sender computer.
2. Sender equipment (Modem).
3. Communication channel (telephone cables).
4. Receiver equipment (modem).
5. Receiver Computer.

Types of Computer network

Note:-These are based on area or distance.

• LAN – Local Area Network
• MAN – Metropolitan Area Network
• WAN – Wide Area Network
• CAN – Campus Area Network
• SAN – Storage Area Network
• PAN Personal Area Network

Also, read.

• Different types of cable in Networking
• Benefit of computer networking

LAN Stand for Local Area Network is a type of network which confined to a localized area such as an office, Building, or a factory.

CAN stand for Campus Area Network is a type of network which spread over one Building of a campus of to the other building of the campus.

MAN Stands for Metropolitan Area Network is a type of network that links computer facilities within a city.

WAN Stands for Wide Area Network is a type of network which spread over large distances or from one country to the other countries. It can even include a group of LANs connected together.

SAN Stands for Storage Area Network is a type of network based on storage that allows you to store data or information in the network.

PAN Stands for Personal Area Network this type of network is used locally or person to person. For example Bluetooth transfer.

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