Computer Networking Basics
A computer network is a collection of two or more connected computers, every network includes the following:
1.) Atleast two computers, a client and a server.
2.) Network interface card(s) (NIC)
3.) A way to connect usually a wire or cable but wireless communication is possible
4.) An operating system that supports networking like Linux, Windows NT and others
There are several types of of computer networks such as LAN's, WAN's and Intranets they all have different variations in there connections and setup style all of which is defined with more precision below.
1.)LAN's - which are local area networks this type of network is usually confined to a certain geographic area such as single house or a college campus LAN's can link two or three computers or several hundred.
2.)WAN's - which are wide area networks this is a network that combines mutiple LAN's that are geographically seperate. This is accomplished by connecting the LAN's via phone lines, satellite links, or some other means or long distance data transfer. WAN's can be a simple client-server setups for a small business or a thousand offices in a corporation linked globally.
3.)Intranet - an intranet is a private network utilizing internet type tools, but only within a given organization or company.
4.)Internet - the internet is a system or world wide linked computers that facilitate data transfer and communication
for things such as email, file transfer, remote login, and the World Wide Web itself.
5.) VPN - which stands for virtual private network uses a technique known as tunneling to transfer data securely on the internet.
Network protocols are standards that allow computers to communicate, a protocol determines how computers identify one another on a network, how data should be sent and in what form, and how it should act in transit along with how the information should be processed at its final destination. There are several common and important network protocols all of which are explained below.
1.) Atleast two computers, a client and a server.
2.) Network interface card(s) (NIC)
3.) A way to connect usually a wire or cable but wireless communication is possible
4.) An operating system that supports networking like Linux, Windows NT and others
There are several types of of computer networks such as LAN's, WAN's and Intranets they all have different variations in there connections and setup style all of which is defined with more precision below.
1.)LAN's - which are local area networks this type of network is usually confined to a certain geographic area such as single house or a college campus LAN's can link two or three computers or several hundred.
2.)WAN's - which are wide area networks this is a network that combines mutiple LAN's that are geographically seperate. This is accomplished by connecting the LAN's via phone lines, satellite links, or some other means or long distance data transfer. WAN's can be a simple client-server setups for a small business or a thousand offices in a corporation linked globally.
3.)Intranet - an intranet is a private network utilizing internet type tools, but only within a given organization or company.
4.)Internet - the internet is a system or world wide linked computers that facilitate data transfer and communication
for things such as email, file transfer, remote login, and the World Wide Web itself.
5.) VPN - which stands for virtual private network uses a technique known as tunneling to transfer data securely on the internet.
Network protocols are standards that allow computers to communicate, a protocol determines how computers identify one another on a network, how data should be sent and in what form, and how it should act in transit along with how the information should be processed at its final destination. There are several common and important network protocols all of which are explained below.
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This protocol is the backbone of the entire internet and is also popular with intranets using the internet ------------------------------------------------------------------ This protocol is used to send and receive files from a remote host ------------------------------------------------------------------ This protocol is used on the internet to send documents that are written in HTML code. ------------------------------------------------------------------ This protocol is used to send email over a network ------------------------------------------------------------------ |
There are other topics involved in networking which i will cover just briefly below.
1.) Network Interface Cards (NIC's) - these are used to connect a PC to a network the NIC provides a physical connection between the networking cable and the computers internal bus.
2.) Ethernet - ethernet is the most popular LAN technology today becaus it achieves a good balance between speed, cost, and ease of installation these advantages combined with wide ranged acceptance and the ability to support almost all network protocols makes ethernet ideal for most computers.
3.) OSI model - stands for Open System Interconnection this is a standard reference model for how network hardware and software work together in a layered fashion to make all communication possible. It also helps with trouble shooting there are a total of seven layers which is beyond the scope of this lesson
1.) Network Interface Cards (NIC's) - these are used to connect a PC to a network the NIC provides a physical connection between the networking cable and the computers internal bus.
2.) Ethernet - ethernet is the most popular LAN technology today becaus it achieves a good balance between speed, cost, and ease of installation these advantages combined with wide ranged acceptance and the ability to support almost all network protocols makes ethernet ideal for most computers.
3.) OSI model - stands for Open System Interconnection this is a standard reference model for how network hardware and software work together in a layered fashion to make all communication possible. It also helps with trouble shooting there are a total of seven layers which is beyond the scope of this lesson