What is a Network

It is an interconnected collection of autonomous computers

Advantages of a network
● share resources
● share storage
● improve Communications
● Share software

Disadvantages of a network
● Systems are more sophisticated and complex
● Cost effective
● Less secure

Internet: ​The Internet is a worldwide network of computer networks.

Gateway:​ A Gateway is a device that connects dissimilar networks.

It establishes an intelligent connection between a local and external networks with complete
different structures.

Backbone:​ a backbone is a central interconnecting structure that connects one or more

networks.

Interspace:​ Interspace is a client or server software program that allows multiple users to
communicate online with the real time audio, video and text chat in dynamic 3D
environment.

Nodes:​ The term nodes refer to the computers that are attached to a network and are
seeking to share resources of the network (also called as workstations).

Server:​ A computer that facilitates the sharing of data, Software and Hardware resources
(eg. printers modems etc.) on the network is termed as a server.
Network interface unit (NIU):​ A network interface unit is an interpreter that helps establish
communication between the server and workstations.

Mac Address:​ It refers to the physical address assigned by NIC manufacturer.

Bandwidth:​ it refers to the difference between the highest and lowest frequencies of a
transmission channel.
It is directly proportional to the amount of data transfer did not receive per unit time.

High bandwidth - ​Broadband

Low bandwidth - ​Narrow band

1KB = 1024 bytes

Crosstalk:​ The bleeding of a signal from one wire to another and which can corrupt signal
and cause network errors.

Twisted pair cable:

Coaxial cable:​ this type of cable consists of a solid wire Core surrounded by one or more
foil or wire shields, each separated by some kind of plastic insulator.

It is widely used for television signals it provides the cheap means of transporting multi -
channel television signals around Metropolitan areas.

Optical Fibres:​ It is the fastest way of transmitting data using wires.

Microwave communication:
It is an insecure communication.

Radio wave:
● Used on mountains
● As a dial up connection
● Economic

Satellite:
● Fastest
● Wireless
● Efficient

Infrared:​ Used in
● TV remote
● Garage doors
● Wireless speakers

Types of networks:
● Local Area Network (LAN)​ 100m
● Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)​ < 250 km
● Wide Area Network (WAN)​ > 250 km
● Personal Area Network (PAN)​ 10m

LAN WAN

1 Diameter of not more than Span entire countries

few kilometres

2 Complete ownership by a Owned by multiple

single organisation organisations

3 Very low error rates Comparatively high error

rates
Topology:​ The pattern of interconnection of nodes in a network is called topology.
● Star topology
● Ring or circular topology
● Graph
● Bus
● Tree
● Mesh

Star topology:

● Advantages
○ Ease of service
○ One device per connection
○ Centralised control/problem diagnosis
○ Simple access protocols

● Disadvantages
○ Long cable length
○ Difficult to expand
○ Central node dependency

Bus or Linear topology:

 ● Advantages
○ Short cable length and simple wiring layout
○ Resilient architecture
○ Easy to extend

● Disadvantages
○ Fault diagnosis is difficult
○ Fault isolation is difficult
○ Nodes must be intelligent
○ Repeat configuration

Ring or circular topology:

● Advantages
○ Short cable length
○ No wiring, closet space required
○ Suitable for optical Fibres

● Disadvantages
○ Node failure causes Network failure
○ Difficult to diagnose faults
○ Network reconfiguration is difficult

Modem:​ It is a computer peripheral that allows you to connect and communicate with other
computers via telephone lines.

Registered Jack - 45 (RJ-45):

It is an eight wire connector, which is commonly used to connect computers on a Local area
Network especially Ethernets.

Hub:​ It is a hardware device used to connect several computers together Hubs can either
be active or passive.
Switch:​ It is a device that is used to segment networks into different subnetworks.

Repeater:​ it is a network device that amplifies and restore signals for long distance
transmission. They are required after every 100m.

Bridge:​ It is a network device that establishes an intelligent connection between two local
networks.

Router:​ it is a network device that is used to separate different segments in a network to

improve performance and reliability.
A router works like a bridge but can handle different protocols.

Wi-Fi card:​ It is either an internal or external LAN adapter with a built in wireless radio and
antenna.

Wireless Communication:​ It is simply data communication without the use of landlines.

Mobile Computing:​ It means that the computing device is not continually connected to the
base or central Network.

GPRS:​ It is a technology for radio transmission of small packets of data esp. between device
and Internet.

Chatting:​ Online textual talk, in real time.

Video Conferencing:​ A two way videophone conversation among multiple participants.

Telnet:​ It is an internet utility used for remote logins.

Web Browser:​ It is a www client that navigates through the world wide Web and displays
Web pages.

Web Server:​ It is a www server that responds to the requests made by web browsers.

Protocol:​ It is a set of rules that two or more machines follow to exchange information.

URL:​ It specifies the distinct address for each resource on the internet. An internet address
which is character based is called​ Domain Name​.

Web Page:​ A location on a net server is called a Web site.

A document that uses HTTP is called a Web page.

Web Hosting:​ It is a means of hosting web-server application on a computer system

through which electronic content on the Internet is readily available to any web-browser
client.
Web 2.0:​ It refers to added features and applications that make the web more interactive,
support easy online-information exchange and interoperability.
Some noticeable features of web 2.0 are blogs, wiki's, video-sharing websites, social
networking sites, RSS etc.

Two popular video-Conferencing protocols are:

● H.323
● SIP

Most common chat Protocol: ​IRC

Web Scripting
Client side Scripting Server side Scripting

script code is downloaded and executed at The script is executed at the server end
client end and the result is sent to a client end

Response to interaction is more immediate Complex processes are more efficient as

once the program code has been the program and associated resources are
downloaded not downloaded to the browser

Services are secure as they do not have Have access to files and databases but
access to files and databases have security considerations when sending
sensitive information

Browser dependent Does not depend on browsers

Affected by the processing speed of user’s Affected by the processing speed of the
computer host server

Eg.​ VB Script, JavaScript, PHP Eg.​ PHP, Perl, ASP, JSP

Protection Methods
● Authorization​: it determines whether the service provided has granted access to the
web service to the requestor. It is done by asking the user a legal login-id.
● Authentication​: It ensures that each entity involved in using a web service - the
requested, the provider and the broker is what it actually claims to be.
● Biometric Systems​: It is the most secure level of authorisation.
● Firewall​: a system designed to prevent unauthorised access to or from a private
network is called firewall. It can be implemented in both hardware and software or a
combination of both.

Cookies:​ Cookies are messages that a web server transmits to a web browser so that the
web server can keep track of the user's activity on a specific website.
The ​Crackers​ are the malicious programmers who break into security systems whereas
Hackers​ are more interested in gaining knowledge about computer systems and possibly
using this knowledge for playful pranks.

Cyberlaw:​ it is a generic term which refers to all the legal and regulatory aspects of Internet
and the world wide web.
IT Amendment Act 2008

Cyber Crimes
● Tampering with computer source documents
● Hacking
● Publishing of information which is obscene in electronic form
● Child pornography
● Accessing protected system
● Breach of confidentiality and privacy

Intellectual property​: It may be defined as a product of intellect that has commercial value,
including copyrighted property such as literary or artistic works, and ideational property.

Computer virus:​ It is a malicious program that requires a host and is designed to make a
system sick.

Trojan horse:​ It is a code hidden in a program such as a game or spreadsheet that looks
safe to run but has hidden side effects.

Worm:​ It is a program designed to replicate.

Spam​: Spam refers to Electronic junk mail on junk newsgroup postings.

 Important Full Forms

ARPANET​ Advanced Research Project Agency NETwork

NSFnet ​National Science Foundation Network

TCP ​Transmission Control Protocol

IP​ Internet Protocol

NIU​ Network Interface Unit

TAP​ Terminal Access Point

NIC​ Network Interface Card

LAN ​Local Area Network

MAN ​Metropolitan Area Network

WAN​ Wide Area Network

PAN​ Personal Area Network

PDA ​Personal Digital Assistant

RJ-45​ Registered Jack 45

HTTP​ Hypertext Transfer Protocol

HTML​ Hypertext Markup Language

XML​ eXtensible Markup Language

DHTML​ Dynamic HTML

URL​ Uniform Resource Locator

FTP​ File Transfer Protocol

SLIP​ Serial Line Internet Protocol

PPP​ Point to Point Protocols

GSM​ Global System for Mobile

PHP​ Hypertext Preprocessor

ASP​ Active Server Pages

JSP​ Java Server Pages

SIM​ Subscriber Identification Module

TDMA​ Time Division Multiple Access

CDMA​ Code Division Multiple Access

IDEN​ Integrated Digital Enhanced Network

WLL ​Wireless in Local Loop

GPRS​ General Packet Radio Service

SIP​ Session Initiation Protocol

VoIP​ Voice over IP

SMS​ Short Message Service

IRC​ Internet Relay Chat

WWW​ World Wide Web

Wi-Fi​ Wireless Fidelity

POP​ Post Office Protocol

SMTP​ Simple Mail Transfer Protocol

NNTP​ Network News Transfer Protocol

MAGIC​ Mobile Multimedia, Anywhere, Global mobility solutions over, Integrated wireless
and Customized services