What is a Network?

A Network is nothing but a collection of computers connected together. (This connection may be wired or wireless or both.)

What is Networking?

Networking is the process of communication between inter-connected devices, mainly for the purpose of Sharing Network Resources.(This just means that if you have a Network of Computers, you can actually Share Resources – for example: if you have a network of, say 10 computers, you can have just one printer and share it on your network (instead of having 10 different printers for each individual computer). You can also share data: let us take another example here: If you wanted to share an important file with a colleague in your department – you can just share it over the network – as against copying it to a floppy disc or CD and manually transferring to your colleague’s computer.)

What are the different types of networks?

There are three types of networks.

They are:

LOCAL AREA NETWORKS (LAN): A LAN is nothing but a group of computers connected together within the same geographical area. It can span upto 2 kilometers.

The Main Components of a LAN are:

  • NIC (Network Interface Card)
  • Cable (Co-axial, Cat 5 or Cat 6)
  • Hub or Switch

 

METROPOLITAN AREA NETWORKS (MAN): This is a Combination of LANs and WANs ands can be located in different parts of the same city.

The Main Components of a MAN are:

  • Router
  • BRouter (A BRouter is nothing but a combination of a Bridge and a Router.)
  • Switches
  • DSL Connectivity (DSL stands for Digital Subscriber Link)

WIDE AREA NETWORKS (WAN): This refers to the Interconnection of LANS or MANS and can be located within the same Geographical Area or in Different Geographical Areas.It depends on Telecommunication Services for Connectivity.

The Main Components of a WAN are the same as in WAN.

What is Internet? The Internet can be defined as a Network of Networks.