In general, computer networks are distinguished by their geographical scope.
A network can be as small as a distance between a mobile phone and its Bluetooth headphones, or as large as the Internet, which covers all parts of the globe.
A network is a group of people or objects that can share information and communicate with each other.
What is a computer network?
A computer network is a set of connected computers. Computers on a network are called nodes.
The connection between computers can be done via cabling, most commonly the Ethernet cable, or wirelessly through radio waves.
Connected computers can share resources, like access to the internet, printers, file servers, and others. A network is a multipurpose connection which allows a single computer to do more.
Types of computer networks
There are many different types of networks, which can be used for different purposes and by different types of people and organizations.
PAN (Personal area network)
PAN is the smallest and most basic type of network. This network is also part of computer networks that are limited to one person for communication between different computer devices (including telephone, personal digital assistant).
These devices may or may not belong to the intended person. Access to PAN is generally limited to a few meters.
PANs can be used to communicate between multiple devices (interpersonal communication) or to connect to a higher-end network and the Internet.
PANs maybe connected to a computer's BUS via wire, such as USB and Firewire. Wireless PANs can be set up through wireless technologies such as IrDA and Bluetooth.
LAN (local area network)
Most likely, you have already heard the name of this type of network. LANs are one of the most widely used networks, and they are one of the main and simplest types of networks. Ethernet and Wi-Fi are two common technologies on local networks.
A local area network is a computer network that covers a small geographical area, such as a house, an office, or a group of buildings.
Compared to broadband networks (WANs), the defined specifications of local area networks are their much higher speed (transmission rate), smaller geographical area, and no need for telecommunication leased lines.
Features of LANs
Features of this type of network include high speed and efficiency and short distances (maximum several hundred meters). In these networks, the number of customers is limited and the network is limited to one organization and one or more buildings next to each other.
Some of the topologies related to the local area, networks are as follows: Linear Topology (BUS), Ring Topology, and Star Topology.
WLAN (wireless local area network)
(WLAN) is a wireless computer network that connects two or more devices using a wireless connection, To create a local area network (LAN) in a limited area such as home, school, computer lab, university, office building, etc.
These networks perform similarly to LANs, except that they use wireless networking technology such as Wi-Fi.
The use of these networks is usually the same as the local networks. The only difference is that in this type of network, devices do not depend on physical cables to connect to the network.
TAN (Tutorial assistance network)
A TAN is a network that is formed of very small networks, such as two, three, or four nodes. For example, the TAN network is more common in homes.
With the help of this type of network, family members can share their resources such as printers, modems and files among children, parents' computers, and perhaps the quality computer of one of the parents in the office.
CAN (Campus area network)
These networks are larger than LAN networks but smaller than urban networks (MAN described below). They are commonly used in universities, schools, or small businesses.
These networks can spread across several buildings that are somewhat close to each other; So that users can share their resources.
MAN (metropolitan area network)
A MAN, or urban network it is a network designed for a city and it can be said that the city network or MAN covers a city.
The best example of an urban network is a cable television network that exists in many cities.
This system is due to the growth of anti-primary systems that have been used for areas where it was difficult to receive television programs
In these early systems, a large antenna was installed on top of a hill, and signals were sent to subscribers' homes. MANs cover more areas than LANs but are smaller than WANs.
MAN network features
- More complexity than local area networks
- Ability to send audio and video
- Ability to make connections between computer networks
WAN (wide area network)
WAN stands for (wide area network), It is a communication network that covers a wide geographical area such as a city, province, or country.
These types of computer networks have their own unique characteristics that distinguish them from a local network.
A WAN consists of a series of interconnected LANs scattered over different geographical areas and a device called the Router Establishes a connection between these LANs.
In TCP / IP-based computer networks, routers store addresses in the LAN and WAN.
Benefits of WAN
- The coverage area of these computer networks is large and provides communication between countries.
- The volume of information exchanged on these computer networks is high.
- It can accept MAN and LAN networks as subnets.
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Internetwork
A network of networks is commonly referred to as the Internet or internetwork, which is the largest network on earth.
The Internet connects all WANs and it can also connect to local and home networks.
The Internet uses the TCP / IP protocol package and uses IP as the addressing protocol. Today, the Internet makes extensive use of IPv4, but due to the lack of address space created, it is migrating from IPv4 to IPv6.
The Internet enables users to share or access large amounts of information around the world.
It also uses various services such as www, file transfer protocol (FTP), email, audio and video playback, and so on. At a higher level, the Internet works as a client-server model.
The Internet uses very high-speed fiber-optic infrastructure. To communicate between different continents, fibers are pulled under the sea, known as submarine communication cables.
The Internet is widely deployed on global web services () using HTML-linked pages and is accessible through user-friendly software known as web browsers.
When a user requests a page (using a web browser available on some web servers anywhere in the world), the webserver responds with a suitable HTML page and the communication delay is very low.
The Internet offers many services and is involved in many aspects of life. Some of them are:
- Websites
- E-mail
- Immediate messages
- blogging
- social media
- Marketing
- Network
- Resource sharing
- Audio and video streams
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