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Computer Networking: A Survey

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 International Journal of Trend in Research and Development, Volume 2(5), ISSN 2394-9333
www.ijtrd.com

Computer Networking: A Survey

M. Benaiah Deva Kumar and B. Deepa,
1
Scholar, 2Assistant Professor,
IT Department, Sri Krishna College of Arts and Science College, Coimbatore, India.

Abstract- Computer networks have become with each other, the internet, and various servers [4].
increasingly ubiquitous. In today‟s world, a computer
network is much more than a collection of
interconnected devices. Computer networks are a
system of interconnected computers for the purpose of
sharing digital information. The computer network
enables to analyze, organize and disseminate the
information that is essential to profitability. The rise of
intranets and internets is the important aspect of
computer networking. Intranets and internets are private
business networks that are based on internet
technology. The businesses are currently implementing
intranets at a breakneck pace and for one reason only,
an intranet enables a business to collect, manage and
disseminate information more quickly and easily than
ever before. Many businesses are implementing
intranets simply to remain competitive; business that II. TYPES OF NETWORK
delay is likely to see their competition outdistance CONFIGURATION
them. In this article we are presenting the basic Broadly speaking, there are two types of
concepts of networking. network configuration, peer-to-peer networks and
Keywords- Peer-to-peer; Client / Server; Inter- client/server networks.
networks; Intra-networks; Communication medium;
A. Peer-to-peer networks
Internet Protocol; Open Systems Interconnection.
Peer-to-peer networks are more commonly
I. INTRODUCTION implemented where less than ten computers are
Networking supports communication between involved and where strict security is not necessary. All
two or more programs running on physically distant computers have same status, hence the term „peer‟, and
they communicate with each other on an equal footing.
machines. A computer network is a collection of
computers, which are in some way connected such that Files can be shared across the network and all the
they can exchange data between themselves and other computers on the network can share devices such as
printers or scanners, which are connected to any one
computers on the network. A network is created when
computer.Fig 2 represents how the computers are
two or more computers are connected to share
connected in a peer-to-peer networks [4].
information and resources. A set of computers
exchanging information by common conventions called
protocols over communication media. A computer
network is simply computers wired together in a way
that lets them share data and/or devices such as hard
drives, CD-ROMs, fax-modems, printers, etc [2]. A
computer network is an interconnected collection of
autonomous computers where interconnected means
that the computers can exchange information and
autonomous means that no computer can start, stop or
control another computer connected to the network. Fig
1 gives an example of a network in a school comprising
of local area network or LAN connecting computers

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B. Client/server networks area. By being confined it is possible in most cases to

use only one transmission medium (cabling). This
Client/server networks are more suitable for technology is less expensive to implement than WAN
larger networks. A central computer, or „server‟, acts as because you are keeping all of your expenses to a small
the storage location for files and applications shared on area, and generally you can obtain higher speed. They
the network. Usually the server is higher than an are widely used to connect personal computers and
average performance computer. The server also controls workstations in offices and factories to share the
the network access of the other computers which are resources. Traditional LANs runs at a speed of 10 to
referred to as the „client‟ computers. Only the network 100 mbps have low delay and make very few errors.
administrator will have access rights to the server while Never LANs may operate at higher speed up to 100
others cannot. Others can only use the client computers. mbps.
Fig 3 represents how the computers are connected in a
client/server network [4]. 1) Common Physical Topologies

Physical and logical topologies can take several

forms. The most common and the most important for
understanding the Ethernet and Token Ring topologies
are

 Bus topology.
 Ring topology.
 Star topology.
 Mesh topology.
 Cellular topology.
a) Bus topology

A bus physical topology is one in which all

III. COMPONENTS OF A NETWORK devices connect to a common shared cable. A physical
bus topology network typically uses one long cable
A computer network comprises the following called a backbone computers (workstation and servers)
components: are attached directly to the backbone using Terrestrial
 A minimum of at least two computers. microwave-connectors. The backbone is terminated at
both ends to remove the signal from the wire after it has
 Cables that connect the computers each other,
passed all devices. The bus topology is the first used
although wireless communication is becoming
topology to connect the computers in a network. This is
more common.
the oldest form of topologies. This is a failure model.
 A network interface device on each computer
Most bus topologies allow electric or electro-magnetic
(this is called a network interface card or NIC).
signals to travel in both directions. A LAN with BUS
 A „switch‟ used to switch the data from one topology is represented in Fig 4.
point to another. Hubs are outdated.
 Network operating system software [4].

IV. Types of network

The network can be divided into geographical

areas and fall into these major categories.
Fig: 4 LAN with BUS topology
 Local Area Network (LANs).
 Wide Area Network (WANs). b) Ring topology
 Metropolitan Area Network (MANs).
 Wireless networks. Ring topologies are wired in a circle. Each node
is connected to its neighbors or either side, passes
A. Local Area Network around the ring in one direction only. Each device
incorporates a receiver and a transmitter and serves as a
A LAN is generally confined to a specific repeater that passes the signal to the next device in the
location, such as floor, building or some other small ring. Because the signal is regenerated at each device,

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signal degeneration is low. After some period of time device requires an interface for every other device on
the RING topology came into existence. To avoid the the network, mesh topologies are not usually considered
disadvantages of BUS topology, the RING topology is practical. However, mesh networks are extremely fault
invented. But this is also a failure model. Ring tolerant and each link provides guaranteed capacity.
topologies are ideally suited for token passing access
methods. The token gets passed around the ring, and e) Cellular topology
only the node that holds the token can transmit data.
Ring topologies are quite rare. A LAN with RING A cellular topology combines wireless point-to-
topology is represented in Fig 5. point and multipoint strategies to divide a geographic
area into cells. Each cell represents the portion of the
total network area in which a specific connection
operates. Devices within the cell communicate with a
central station or switch. Switches are interconnected to
route data across the network and to provide the
complete network infrastructure. For example, devices
may roam from cell to cell while maintaining
connection to the network.

B. Wide Area Network

Fig: 5 LAN with RING topology
A wide area network spans a large geographical
c) Star topology area, often a country or continent. It multiplies multiple
connected LANs that can be separated by any
Star topologies use a central device with drop geographical distance. In most WANs the network
cables extending in all directions. Each networked contains numerous cables or telephone lines, each one
device is connected via a point-to-point link to the connection a pair of routers. If two routers that do not
central device called a hub or multiport repeater or share a cable nevertheless and wish to communicate,
switch. Additionally, star topologies can be nested they must do it indirectly. On personal computers we
within other stars to form tree or hierarchical network are using modem to communicate indirectly with other
topologies. In star topology, electrical or computer. WAN connecting two different networks is
electromagnetic signals travel from the networked represented in Fig 7.
device, up its drop cable, to the switch, from there the
signal is sent to other network. To avoid the
disadvantages of BUS topology and RING topology,
the STAR topology is invented. This is not a failure
model. But it is a standard model and now-a-days this
topology is commonly used everywhere. A LAN with
STAR topology is represented in Fig 6.
Fig: 7 WAN connecting two different networks

C. Metropolitan Area Network

Metropolitan Area Network is basically a

bigger version of LAN and normally uses same
technology. It might cover a group of nearby corporate
offices or a city and might be either private or public.
On the other hand, MAN is network running throughout
a metropolitan area such as a backbone for a phone
service carrier. A MAN just has one or two cables and
Fig: 6 LAN with STAR topology does not contain switching elements.

d) Mesh topology D. Wireless Networks

A mesh network has a point-to-point connection Mobile computers such as notebook computers,
between every device in the network. Because each laptops are the fastest growing segment of computer
industry. Users want to connect this machine to their

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office LANs to see the data when they are out from the VII. OPEN SYSTEMS INTERCONNECTION
office, since the wired connection is not possible we (OSI) MODEL
have to use wireless networks.
In 1977 the International Organization for
For e.g. on aircraft single router will maintain a Standardization, or ISO, founded the Open Systems
radio link with some other router on ground, changing Interconnection model, or OSI, a process for creation of
routers as it flies along this configuration is just a new network standards. OSI represented an attempt at
traditional LAN, except that its connection to the the creation of networking standards independent of any
outside world happens to be a radio link instead of a individual government. The OSI model is today perhaps
wired line. best known for its seven-layer networking model.
Those seven layers of the OSI model and their purpose
V. COMMUNICATION LINKS are stated in Table 2. OSI has its own version of IP and
TCP. The IP equivalent is CLNP, the Connection Less
Various types and forms of communication Network Protocol, although OSI also defines a
medium are connection oriented protocol CMNS. The TCP
 Fiber-optic cable. equivalent is TP4.
 Twisted-pair copper wire. Table: 2 Layers of OSI model and their purpose
 Coaxial cable.
 Wireless local-area links. (e.g. 802.11, Layer Purpose
Bluetooth)
 Satellite channel [3]. Physical Network Interface Card, wire and so
on.
VI. INTERNET PROTOCOL (IP) Data Link Error checking, manages link
control, communication with cards.
To solve the scaling problem with Ethernet, and Network Addressing, traffic, switching.
to allow support for other types of LANs and point-to-
point links as well, the Internet Protocol was developed. Transport Handles network transmission
To support universal connectivity, IP provides a global
mechanism for addressing and routing, so that packets Session Establishes rules for
can actually be delivered from any host to any other communication, determines
host. IP addresses (for the most common version 4, synchronization.
which we denote IPv4) are 4 bytes (32 bits), [6] and are Presentation Translator between application and
part of the IP header that generally follows the Ethernet others, redirector, encryption,
header. The Ethernet header only stays with a packet compression.
for one hop; the IP header stays with the packet for its Application Interface to network services.
entire journey across the Internet. An essential feature
of IPv4 addresses is that they can be divided into a
“network” part and a “host” part [5]. There are different
types of classes in IPv4 and their ranges are shown in CONCLUSION
Table 1. Computer communication, it seems, will
Table: 1 Range and types of classes become a much more useful networking tool when
large numbers of people with similar interests acquire
Class Address Range access to the technology. Though it can expedite the
Class A 0 to 126 formation of new interpersonal networks by
Class B 128 to 191 overcoming the space and time barriers faced by
Class C 192 to 223 traditional networking techniques, it still requires a
Class D 224 to 239 great deal of concentrated effort and resources to get the
Class E 240 to 254 people to use it. This problem should become
increasingly minimized over the coming years as the
technological innovations become more diffused
Range 127 is reserved for the loopback or
throughout society [8].
localhost, for example, 127.0.0.1 is the common
loopback address. Range 255.255.255.255 broadcasts to
all hosts on the local network [9].

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References
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[2]. Pranab Kumar Chakravarty, Computer Networking
Technologies and Application to IT Enabled
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[3]. Antonio Carzaniga, Basic concepts in Computer
Networking, September 19, 2014.
[4]. TeodoraBakardjieva, Introduction toComputer
Networking.
[5]. Peter L. Dordal, An Introduction to Computer
Networks, Release 1.8.07, June 16, 2015.
[6]. Bob Dickerson, Computer Networks, January
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[7]. Russell Anthony Tantillo, Network Security
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[8]. http://web.net/~robrien/papers/mpconclusion.html
[9]. http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/i/ip.htm

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