Basic Networking

Network - can be defined as a group of computers and other devices

connected in some ways so as to be able to exchange data
A computer network consists of two or more computing devices that
are connected in order to share the components of your network (its
resources) and the information you store there
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CONNECTION
LAN(Local Area Network) limited geographical area
MAN(Metropolitan Area Network) connects LAN in a metropolitan
area (city/town)
WAN(Wide Area Network) a large geographical area (country)
Internet - Worlds largest WAN
CONFIGURATION/ARCHITECTURE
Peer-to-peer all computers have equal capabilities to use the
resources (hardware, software, data and file) available on the network.
[no central server]
Client-server one acts a server (a computer that controls access to
the hardware, software and other resources on the network & provides
a centralized storage area for program) and a client (computer that
request services from server)
IP ADDRESS
An Internet Protocol (IP) address is used to give each
one a unique network identifier. An internet protocol on the other
hand is a set of specific rules that governs how data and
information are transferred over the Internet or in a local area
network.
An IP address has four numbers that is separated by dots.
Each number ranges from 0 to 255.
192.168.0.1
It is divided into two major parts, the first two numbers is
the network identifier (192.168) while the rest is referred to as
the client/host address (0.1).
IP address can be assigned dynamically or statically.

A dynamic IP address is temporary and is assigned

every time a computer system or device connects to the server.
This means that a client will get a different IP address every
time. A Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is a
client/server protocol that does this assignment. The range of the
IP address that the DHCP server can be predetermined by an
administrator.
Static IP addresses on the other hand, as the name
implies, never change. This means that this address is manually
embedded to the client/host and will never change even if it
disconnects and reconnects to the server anytime. Each client
must be configured one by one in order to assign a static IP
address to all of them.

EQUIPMENT
Hub it connects all the computer systems together. Once data is sent,
it is forwarded to all the computer systems.
Switch this is considered as an intelligent hub. Once data is sent, it is
forwarded only to the dedicated recipient.
Router this transmits data from one network to another. Commonly
used to connect different local area networks together.
TOPOLOGY
Bus all computers connected a central cable or bus
consists of a main cable with terminators at each end
Ring cables form a closed ring
data travels from one device to the other in one direction
Star all devices are connected to a central device (hub)
all data transferred from one computer to another passes
through hub