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What Is A Network?
A network is a
group of two or more computer systems linked together. They can talk to each
other, see each other and exchange information or a computer network is a
collection of devices connected to each other, in order to allow every device
to share its resources with other devices, and access other devices shared
resources. The main purposes of
networking are sharing data and resources and communication between each other.
Think of your
cable TV, how you work with internet or how you play multiplayer games with
others. All these things are happening thanks to different networking
technologies. Computer networks allow a business to find new investors,
suppliers, customers, Staff and other business partners. E.g.:- Sharing an
Advertisement about Job vacancies through Internet, finding new suppliers and
Quality goods from eBay. Thanks to networking technology now businesses can do
online conferences, online discussions with other partners, it will help those
business to save money and time.
Advantages of Computer Networking
Efficient management of data and file
sharing
Networking gives
the facility of file sharing, remote accessibility and also the ability of
centralizing data. So the access for those data becomes simple. It helps us to
save our time and energy. Because of the centralization of data many users can
access same data at the same time from various locations. Network administrator
can add policies and rules to control the access to data.
Resource Sharing
You can share
hardware resources through the network. E.g.:- if there is only one printer in
your office you can share it through network, then any staff member can take
printouts from that printer. It helps to save money and also time.
Increase Storage Capacity
A single
computer may be lacking of storage capacity, if there are many computers in a
network, the capacity of several computers can be utilized. You can run a
storage server to get large storage capacity. You can simply backup data
because the all the data is in file server.
Enhanced Connectivity ( Improved
Communication)
By networking
you can connect limitless number of computers, it means the people (users) can
join with each other through that. It provides a medium to connect with each
other who are at different physical locations. Individuals within a work group
are linked by local area networks (LAN) and numerous LANs in far sites are
interconnected via larger wide area networks (WANs). So they can communicate
and share files and resources. E.g.:- The Internet. You can even do video
conferencing in co-operate environment due to improvement of network technology.
Remote accessing is also possible. Organizations can keep touch with their
suppliers and customers with the help of networking. When consider about
customer relations, networks are useful to sell goods for them (electronic
store front), to provide customer services quickly and also organizations can cut
off cost for physical stores. Customers can do shopping by staying at home.
High Speed
In a normal
environment we have to use a portable drive or a hard copy to give others the
data. But in networked environment we just need to share the file. It is
happening speedily without loss of data. It help us to save time and also
money.
Higher Security
Unlike in a
single computer in the networked environment the network administrator can put
policies to different users. He can control the accessibility to the data. In
this environment we can control unwanted access to the data. By using proxy
servers network administrator can even control the internet accessibility.
Flexibility
Based on the
size of the organization and organizational requirements you can decide which
network topology is suitable for the organization. As the files are on server
it doesn’t matter which computer is used to do work, you can work on any computer
and at the end everyone can access your work. I will describe network
topologies also in an another blog post.
Reliability
If something
happens to your computer it does not effect for the network. You can use a
different computer which is connected to the same network to access your data.
You can physically make sure the reliability of the network by buying high
quality routers, network cables, and switches etc.as well as firewalls and
Antivirus programs help you to keep up the reliability of the network.
Basic Requirements For A Computer Network
- Two or more computers
- Something to share (Data, printer etc.)
- Network Interface Card
- Transmission media (Wired or Wireless)
- Networking supported operating system
- Networking devices such as Hubs/Switches, routers, patch panels, key store jacks and face plates, cable management panel
- Protocols
Without two or
more computers there is no reason for networking. We use networks for sharing
data and resources and to communicate with each other. There should be data or
resources to share. Files, documents, mp3, HTML are some examples for data.
Printers,
projectors, scanners, finger print machines are some examples for resources
that we can share through networks.
Network
interface card is an expansion card which allows computers to connect each
other using a RJ 45 connector. A network card (NIC, Ethernet card, Network
adapter) can communicate with each other over the same network using
a network switch or if only two computers a direct connection. If
computers on your network need to connect to a different network (e.g.
the Internet) they must be eventually connected to a router that
allows networks to communicate with each other. There are also wireless network
cards.
Data is represented by computers and other telecommunication devices using signals. Signals are transmitted in the form of electromagnetic energy from one device to another. Electromagnetic signals travel through vacuum, air or other transmission mediums to move from one point to another (from sender to receiver).
Electromagnetic energy (includes electrical and magnetic fields) consists of power, voice, visible light, radio waves, ultraviolet light, gamma rays etc. Transmission medium is the means through which we send our data from one place to another. The first layer (physical layer) of Communication Networks OSI Seven layer model is dedicated to the transmission media.
Protocols can be defined at any layer in the OSI model. Network protocol is a set of rules that define how a message is structured for transmission. The receiver can decode the message by following the same rules. A network protocol connects one layer on one device to the same layer on another device. Each layer adds control information to the message. Physical layer ultimately carries a stream of bits containing the message. Protocols can be in any layer.
