Module 1

 When you use a computer that is connected to the internet, or even a local area
network (LAN), you are already using CS computing in applications such as Netscape,
telnet and FTP.
 In the localtest.c program, main is the server. And it sends the string Please enter your
name to the simulated client client through the array buffer buffer.
 Buffer means a data buffer (or just buffer) is a region of a physical memory storage used
to temporarily store data while it is being moved from one place to another.
 ASAQ – it will not work because localhost points to 127.0.0.1 IP address. Here if we want
to connect to a server, you need the address of the server or the hostname of the
server. Hence, the hostname/IP address but not localhost.

Module 2

 TCP/IP – most popular protocol suite in use on all types of computer networks including
even the internet.
 UUCP was once commonly used to transport news and mail messages over dialup
telephone connections.
 Network – a collection of hosts that are able to communicate with each other, often by
relying on the services of a number of dedicated hosts that relay data between the
participants.
 Hosts – are often computers but need not be because one can also think of terminals or
intelligent printers as hosts.
 Small agglomerations of hosts are also called sites.
 Protocols – is used in computer networks are nothing but very strict rules for the
exchange of messages between two or more hosts.
 Packet Switching – way of allowing computers to connect simultaneously to remote host
on a network without interfering with each other.
 Packet – is a small chunk of data that is transferred from one machine to another across
the network.
 Packet-switched networks – shares a single network link among many users by
alternatively sending packets from one user to another across that link.
 The communication solution that may computer networks have adopted is known as
TCP/IP.
 Datagram - is a basic transfer unit associated with a packet-switched network.
 TCP/IP provides interactive applications – Remote Login
 TCP/IP provides an important application – NFS or Network File System
 NFS – allows you to treat directory hierarchies from other hosts as if they were local file
systems and look like any other directories on your host.
 Ethernet – the most common type of LAN hardware. It consists of a single cable with
hosts attached to it through connectors, taps or transceivers. – net transfer rate of 10,
100 or even 1,000 mbps.
 Ethernet come in three flavors:
o Thick – coaxial cable – requires that you drill into a small hole into the cable and
attach a transceiver using a vampire tap.
o Thin – coaxial cable – uses a T-shaped BNC connector, which you insert into the
cable and twist onto a plug on the back of your computer.
o Twisted pair – uses a cable made of two pairs of copper wires and usually
requires additional hardware known as active hubs.
 Thick and thin Ethernet cable can run for a maximum of 200 and 500 meters
respectively and are also called 10base-2 and 10base-5. The base refers to the baseband
modulation and simply means that the data is directly fed onto the cable without any
modem. The no. at the start refers to the speed in mpbs and the number at the end is
the maximum length of the cable in hundreds of meters.
 Twisted pair is also known as 10base-T, the T means twisted pair. The 100 mbps version
is known as 100base-T.
 Twisted pair ethernet uses a device called a hub, which serves as an interconnection
point.
 One of the drawbacks of Ethernet Technology is its limited cable length, which precludes
any use of it other than for LANs.
 Several Ethernet segments can be linked to one another using repeaters, bridges or
routers.
 Repeaters simply copy the signals between two or more segments so that all segments
together will act as if they are one Ethernet.
 Bridges and routers are more sophisticated. They analyze incoming data and forward it
only when the recipient host is not on the local ethernet.
 A host may sent packets (or frames) of up to 1,500 bytes to another host on the same
Ethernet. A host is address by a six-byte address hardcoded into the firmware of its
Ethernet network interface card (NIC). The address is called MAC Address (Media Access
Control). The addresses are usually written as a sequence of two-digit hex numbers
separated by colons, as in aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff.
 A frame sent by one station is seen by all attached stations but only the destination host
actually picks it up and processes it.
 If two stations try to send at the same time, a collision occurs.
 Collisions on an Ethernet are detected very quickly by the electronics of the interface
cards and are resolved by the two stations aborting the send, each waiting a random
interval and re-attempting the transmission.
 Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) – uses an entirely different approach to
transmitting data, which basically involves sending around a number of tokens, with a
 station being allowed to send a frame only if it captures a token. (any station wants to
transmit information holds the token and transmits the information and when it finish it
releases the token in the ring)
 The main advantage of a token-passing protocol is a reduction in collisions.
 FDDI limits of up to 200km.
 IBM Token Ring is used as an alternative to Ethernet in some LAN Environments and
offers the same advantages as FDDI in terns if achieving full wire speed, but at a lower
speeds (4mbps or 16mbps), an lower cost because it is based on wire rather than fiber.
 X.25 defines a set of networking protocols that describes how data terminal equipment.
X.25 requires a synchronous data link and therefore special synchronous serial port
hardware.
 Token Ring networking is configured in almost precisely the same way as Ethernet.
 Packet Assembler Disassembler (PAD) – is a standalone device that provides
asynchronous serial ports and a synchronous serial port. It manages the X.25 protocol so
that simple terminal devices can make and accept X.25 connections.
 X.25 is often used to carry other network protocols, such as TCP/IP.
 Frame Relay – the frame relay protocol shares a number of technical features with the
X.25 protocol but is much like the IP Protocol in behavior. Like X.25, frame relay requires
special synchronous serial hardware.
 Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) – if you need higher speed networking that can
carry many different types of data, such as digitized voice and video, alongside your
usual data. ATM has been specifically designed to provide control over the Quality of
Service (QoS). ATM is often used to carry TCP/IP.
 Packet Radio – radio amateurs use their radio equipment to network their computers,
this is commonly called packet radio. One of the protocols used by amateur radio
operators is called AX.25.
 Amateur radio operators use the AX.25 protocol to carry TCP/IP and other protocols
too.
 AX.25 requires special hardware capable of synchronous operation, or an external
device called a Terminal Node Controller to convert packets transmitted via an
asynchronous serial link into packets transmitted synchronously.
 Gateway – handles incoming and outgoing packets by copying them between the two
ethernets and the FDDI fiber optic cable.
 Routing -send packets from your computer to the gateway and gateway will act as a
forwarder, and forwards it to its peer gateway and delivering it to the destination
machine. (directing data to a remote host and packets are often referred to as
datagrams in this context)
 Datagram exchange is governed by a single protocol that is independent of the
hardware used: IP
 Internetworking - IP turns physically dissimilar networks into one apparently
homogeneous network. And the resulting meta-network is called an internet (not the
Internet).
 Internet Protocol (IP) - requires a hardware-independent addressing scheme. This is
achieved by assigning each host a unique 32-bit number called the IP Address. The
format is also called dotted decimal notation or dotted quad notation.
 Hostname, IP Address, MAC Address
 Hostname resolution – the steps of finding addresses. It maps hostname onto IP
Addresses and address resolution, for mapping the latter to hardware addresses.
 Serial Line IP (SLIP) – a de facto standard exists in serial lines.
 Compressed SLIP – performs compression of IP headers to make a better use of the
relatively low bandwidth provided by most serial links.
 Point-to-Point (PPP) protocol – is more modern than SLIP and includes a number of
features that make it more attractive. It’s main advantage over SLIP is that it isn’t limited
to transporting IP datagrams, but is designed to allow just about any protocol to be
carried across it.
 Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) - is a connection-oriented protocol, which means a
connection is established and maintained until the application programs at each end
have finished exchanging messages. It determines how to break application data into
packets that networks can deliver, sends packets to and accepts packets from the
network layer, manages flow control, and—because it is meant to provide error-free
data transmission—handles retransmission of dropped or garbled packets as well as
acknowledgement of all packets that arrive.
 TCP connection works essentially like a two-way pipe that both processes may write to
and read from.
 User Datagram Protocol (UDP) – sibling protocol of TCP. UDP allows an application to
contract a service on a certain port of the remote machine, but it does not establish a
connection for this. Instead, you use it to send single packets to the destination service.
 UDP is said to be connectionless, it does not require us to establish and close a session.
  Ports – may be viewed as attachment points for network connections. If an application
wants to offer a certain service, it attaches itself to a port and waits for clients (this is
also called listening on the port).
 Property of Ports is that once a connection has been established betwåeen the client
and the server, another copy of the server may attach to the server port and listen for
more clients.
 Both TCP and UDP connections rely on ports, these numbers do not conflict. This means
that TCP port 513 is different from UDP Port 513.
 UUCP started out as a package of programs that transferred files over serial lines,
scheduled those transfers, and initiated execution of programs on remote sites. Its main
application is in Wide Area Networks based on periodic dialup telephone links.
 One of the main disadvantage of UUCP networks is that they operate in batches. Rather
than having a permanent connection established between hosts, it uses temporary
connection.

SAQ
1. Define Computer Networks in your own words.

- A computer network is a digital telecommunications network which allows nodes to

share resources. In computer networks, computing devices exchange data with each
other using connections between nodes.
- Network - A network is a collection of computers, servers, mainframes, network
devices, peripherals, or other devices connected to one another to allow the sharing of
data.

2. What is protocol?
- Is a set of very strict rules for the exchange of messages between two or more hosts.

Module 3
- Improved data sharing
 o The data that you might be collecting during business transactions can be
maintained on a server and made available to all other users in your company or
institution.
o Defining and manipulating these data using Structured Query Language (SQL)
can give you support for open access from all client processors and software.
o Network services that is transparent can ensure that the same data is available
to all users that you authorized. Thus, data sharing among all intended users in
your business using CS computing is enhanced
- Integrated Services
o Since Data sharing is enhanced, all information that your user is entitled to is
available at the desktop level.
o There is no need for users to change into terminal mode or log into another
computer to access information. You can make all authorized information and
processes directly available from the desktop interface. The information
provided by your CS applications and by the database servers resident on the
network can be linked or embedded to your company’s existing desktop tools
such as email, spreadsheet, presentation graphics and word processing.
- Resource Sharing
o True Open system computing is one thing that CS computing can provide.
o You may create and implement applications that are hardware independent.
Thus, your users may obtain services and transparent access to the services
provided by your database, communications and application serves.
o Your business applications can be developed to deal with business processes
that may exist because of a user-created event.
o An event such as the push of a button, selection of a list element, entry in a
dialog box or scan of a bar code occurs without the application logic being
dependent to the physical platforms where it is resident. You can design your CS
applications to operate in two ways.
 They can function as front-ends to existing applications
 They can provide data entry, storage and reporting by the use of a
distributed set of clients and servers.
o In CS, resources are shared amidst heterogenous platforms.
- Data Interchangeability and Interoperability
o SQL is an industry-standard data definition and access language. This standard
definition has enabled many vendors to develop production-class database
engines to manage data using SQL tables.
o Network services provide transparent connectivity between the client and local
or remote servers.
o Systems developed today that use SQL are inherently transparent to data
storage location and the technology of the data storage platform.
 - Masked Physical Data Access
o When you use SQL for data access, information can be accessed from database
anywhere in your network. Users and developers can use the same data request.
However, the only setback may be performance degradation if your network
bandwidth is not enough.

- Location Independence of Data and Processing

o Today’s users, however, expect a standard look and feel. Users log into a n
application from the desktop with no concern for the location or technology of
the processors involved.
- Centralized Management
o As your data processing moves away from the central data center to the remote
offices, the reliability of your workstation server and LAN must be similar to, if
not better than that of, the centrally located mini- and mainframe computers.
o The most effective way to ensure this is through the provision of monitoring and
support from the same central locations.

Module 4
- Computing Models are ways of arranging computers into a network.
o Mainframe and Terminals
o Islands of Computing
o LANs and WANs
 o Network Computing
o Server-Based Computing
- Mainframe and Terminals
o Mainframe computers are large general purpose computers. Maintenance wise,
they require special attention and you must keep them in a controlled
environment.
o Productivity-wise, however, they are multi-tasking and are generally used in
areas where large databases are maintained.
o Client machines called dumb terminals, are just input and output ports for a
mainframe.
o Terminals are permanently tied to the host network.
o A CS computing that uses mainframe and terminals are generally called
mainframe-centric. This model uses the presentation capabilities of terminals to
front-end existing applications.
o Terminals are where data is displayed and entered through the use of character-
based interface or of GUI.
o A graphic-based terminal also called workstation is easy to use, and information
is presented more clearly.
o Because the existing terminal data stream is processed by the terminal-based
communications API, the mainframe applications continue to run unmodified.
- Islands of Computing
o Stovepipe systems – systems oriented toward the needs of specific group of
people toward a specific purpose with little or no horizontal integration.
o Islands of computing means system to not integrate with each other and only
cater the needs of a specific group.
- Area Networks
o The classification of computer networks according to their sizes and geographical
span are as follows.
 LAN
 LAN are computer networks that span a relatively small area.
Most LANs are confined to a single building or group of buildings.
However, you can connect one LAN to other LANs over any
distance via telephone lines and radio waves.
 WAN
 A system of LANs connected in this way is called WAN.
 Campus-Area-Network (CAN)
 CANs are actually WANs whose computers are within a limited
geographic area, such as a school campus or military base.
 Metropolitan-Area-Network (MAN)
 MANs are data network designed for a town or a city.
 Home-Area Network (HAN)
 HANs are networks contained within a user’s home that connect a
person’s digital devices.
o Most LANs connect workstation and PCs. Each individual computer called a node
in a LAN has its own CPU which executes programs. That node is able to access
data and devices anywhere on the LAN.
o There are many different types of LANs. Ethernet is the most common for PCs.
 Topology – is the geometric arrangement of a computer system.
Common topologies includes a bus, star, and ring. How different nodes in
a network are connected to each other and how they communicate are
determined by the network’s topology. Topologies are either physical or
logical.
 Mesh
o Devices are connected with many redundant
interconnections between network nodes. In a true mesh
topology every node has a connection to every node in the
network.
 Star
o All devices are connected to a central hub. Nodes
communicate across the network by passing data through
the hub.
 Bus
o All devices are connected to a central cable called the bus
or backbone.
 Ring
o All devices are connected to one another in the shape of a
closed loop, so that each device is connected directly to
two other devices., one on either side of it.
 Tree
o Tree is a hybrid topology.
 Logical Topology is the way the signals act on the network media
or the way that data passes through the network from one device
to the next without regard to the physical interconnection of the
devices.