Computer Networks-I Test Portion

● Evolution of networking: introduction to computer networks, evolution of networking (ARPANET, NSFNET,

INTERNET)

● Data communication terminologies: concept of communication, components of data communication (sender,

receiver, message, communication media, protocols), measuring capacity of communication media (bandwidth, data
transfer rate), IP address, switching techniques (Circuit switching, Packet switching)

● Transmission media: Wired communication media (Twisted pair cable, Co-axial cable, Fiber-optic cable), Wireless
media (Radio waves, Micro waves, Infrared waves)

Introduction to computer networks

 A group of two or more similar things or people interconnected with each other is called network. Examples
are social network and mobile network

Computer Network:

 A Computer network is an interconnection among two or more computers or computing devices.

 The advantages of computer networks are:
 ● Resource Sharing
 ● Collaborative Interaction
 ● Cost Saving
 ● Increased storage
 ● Time Saving

Evolution of Network:

(I)ARPANET (Advanced Research Project Agency Network)

● It came into existence in 1960s

● A project for interconnecting, US department of defense with academic and research organization across different
places for scientific collaboration.

(II)NSFNET (National Science Foundation Networks)

● It came into existence in 1986

● It was the first large-scale implementation of Internet technologies in a complex environment of many
independently operated networks

(III) INTRANET

● It is a local or restricted communication system

● It is managed by a person or organization.

● Intranet users can avail services from internet but Internet user cannot access intranet directly
(III) INTERNET

● It came into existence in 1960s

● It is known as Network of Networks

● A global computer network providing variety of information and communicationfacilities consisting of

interconnected networks using standardized communication protocols.

DATA COMMUNICATION TERMINOLOGIES

DATA: Data means information in digital form such as text, audio, video which is stored processed and exchanged
between digital devices like computer, mobile phones or laptop.

Computers process the raw data into meaningful information. Information is processed data.

COMMUNICATION: The exchange of information between two or more networked or interconnected devices is called
communication

COMPONENTS OF DATA COMMUNICATION

a) SENDER: Sender is a device which is capable of sending data over a communication network.

In data communication Sender is also called Source.

b) RECEIVER: Receiver is a device which is capable of receiving data over a communication network. In data
communication Receiver is also called Destination.

c) MESSAGE: message is the information being exchanged between a sender and a receiver over a communication
network.

d) COMMUNICATION MEDIUM: Communication medium is the path or channel through which the information is
moved from the sender to the receiver. A communication medium can be either wired/guided or wireless/unguided.

e) PROTOCOLS: The set of standard rules which are followed in data communication are known as Data
Communication Protocols. All the communicating devices like sender receiver and other connected devices in the
network should follow these protocols.

Why Protocols are needed?

The communicating devices may be in different geographical areas. The speed of these devices may be different. Also,
the data transfer rates of different networks may be different. Thesecomplexities make it necessary to have a
common set of rules to ensure the secure communication of data. Some commonly used Protocols in data
communication are:

● Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)

● Internet Protocol (IP)
● File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
● Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP)
● Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
MEASURING CAPACITY OF COMMUNICATION MEDIA

Capacity of a communication channel means the maximum quantity of signals that acommunication channel can carry.
The capacity of a communication medium is measured by its bandwidth and data transfer rate.

BANDWIDTH: Bandwidth is the difference between the highest and lowest frequencies a transmission media can
carry. The unit of bandwidth is Hertz.

DATA TRANSFER RATES: Data transfer rate is the number of bits transmitted through a channel per unit of time. Data
transfer rate is measured in bits per second (bps). It is also measured in Kilobits per second (Kbps), Megabits per
second (Mbps) or Gigabits per second (Gbps).

IP ADDRESS: IP address or Internet Protocol address is a unique numeric address assigned to every device connected
to a network. It uniquely identifies every node connected to a local network or internet. Example IP address:
24.171.248.170

SWITCHING TECHNIQUES

In large networks, there may be more than one paths for transmitting data from sender toreceiver. The process of
selecting a path of data out of the available paths is called switching.

There are two popular switching techniques – circuit switching and packet switching.

1. Circuit Switching : In circuit switching, whenever a source end node wants to send a message to the destination end
node a physical link is first established between the source and the destination. Then only the data transmission takes
place. Example: telephone network

2. Packet Switching : In the packet switching technique, the whole message is split into small packets. Now, these
packets are transmitted one by one from sender to the receiver through the intermediary switches in the network.
The packets will take shortest path as possible.

Transmission media:

 Transmission media are the links that carry messages between two or more communicating devices.
 Transmission can be classified as guided or unguided.
 In guided transmission, there is a physical link made of wire/cable through which data in terms of signals are
propagated between the nodes.
  These are usually metallic cable, fiber-optic cable, etc. They are also known as wired media.
 In unguided transmission, data travels in air in terms of electromagnetic waves using an antenna.
 They are also known as wireless media

Wired communication media (Twisted pair cable, Co-axial cable, Fiber-optic cable):

 Physical link that can carry data in the form of signals belongs to the category of wired transmission media.
 Three commonly used guided/wired media for data transmission are
 twisted pair
 coaxial cable, and
 fiber optic cable.

(A) Twisted Pair Cable :

 A twisted-pair consists of two copper wires twisted like a DNA helical structure.
 Both the copper wires are insulated with plastic covers.
 Usually, a number of such pairs are combined together and covered with a protective outer wrapping.
 Each of the twisted pairs act as a single communication link.
 The use of twisted configuration minimizes the effect of electrical interference from similar pairs close by..
 These cables are of two types: Unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) and Shielded twisted-pair (STP).
 Twisted-pair and coaxial cable carry the electric signals whereas the optical fiber cable
 carries the light signals.

Advantages:

 Twisted pairs are less expensive and most commonly used in telephone lines and LANs

(B) Coaxial cable:

 Coaxial cable is another type of data transmission medium.

 It is better shielded and has more bandwidth than a twisted pair.
 It has a copper wire at the core of the cable which is surrounded with insulating material.
 The insulator is further surrounded with an outer conductor (usually a copper mesh).
 This outer conductor is wrapped in a plastic cover.

Advantages:

 The key to success of coaxial cable is its shielded design that allows the cable's copper core to transmit data
quickly, without interference of environmental factors.
 These types of cables are used to carry signals of higher frequencies to a longer distance

C) Optical Fibre :

 The optical fiber cable carries data as light, which travels inside a thin fiber of glass .
 Optic fiber uses refraction to direct the light through the media.
 A thin transparent strand of glass at the centre is covered with a layer of less dense glass called cladding. T
 his whole arrangement is covered with an outer jacket made of PVC or Teflon.
Advantages:

 Optical Fibre cables are usually used in backbone networks.

 Optical Fibre cables are of light weight and have higher bandwidth which means higher data transfer rate.
 Signals can travel longer distances and electromagnetic noise cannot affect the cable.
.

Disadvantages:

 Optic fibers are expensive and unidirectional. Two cables are required for full duplex communication

Wireless media (Radio waves, Micro waves, Infrared waves):

 In wireless communication technology, information travels in the form of electromagnetic signals through air.
 Electromagnetic spectrum of frequency ranging from 3 KHz to 900 THz is available for wireless
communication.
 Wireless technologies allow communication between two or more devices in short to long distance without
requiring any physical media.
 There are many types of wireless communication technologies such as Bluetooth, WiFi, WiMax etc.

Transmission Waves Properties:

Radio Waves Properties

1. Waves of frequency range 3 KHz - 1 GHz

2. Omni-directional, these waves can move in all directions
3. Radio waves of frequency 300KHz-30MHz can travel long distance
4. Susceptible to interference
5. Radio waves of frequency 3-300KHz can penetrate walls
6. These waves are used in AM and FM radio, television, cordless phones.

Microwaves Properties:

1. Electromagnetic waves of frequency range 1GHz - 300GHz.

2. Unidirectional, can move in only one direction.
3. Cannot penetrate solid objects such as walls, hills or mountains.
4. Needs line-of-sight propagation i.e. both communicating antenna must be in the direction of each other.
5. Used in point-to-point communication or unicast communication such as radar and satellite.
6. Provide very large information-carrying capacity.

Infrared waves Properties :

1. Electromagnetic waves of frequency range 300GHz - 400THz.

2. Very high frequency waves.
3. Cannot penetrate solid objects such as walls.
4. Used for short-distance point-to-point communication such as mobile to-mobile, mobile-to-printer, remote-control-
to-TV, and Bluetooth enabled devices to other devices like mouse, keyboards etc.
 Computer Networks-II Test Portion
 Network devices (Modem, Ethernet card, RJ45, Repeater, Hub, Switch, Router,Gateway, WIFI card)
 Network topologies and Network types: types of networks (PAN, LAN, MAN,WAN), networking topologies
(Bus, Star, Tree)

Network devices (Modem, Ethernet card, RJ45, Repeater, Hub, Switch, Router,Gateway, WIFI card):

Networking devices:

 Networking devices are used to connect multiple computers in different settings

Node:

 In a communication network, each device that is a part of a network and that can receive, create, store or
send data to different network routes is called a node.

Ethernet:

 Ethernet is a set of rules that decides how computers and other devices connect with each other through
cables in a LAN.

Modem:

 Modem stands for ‘MOdulator DEModulator’,is a device used for conversion between electric signals and
digital bits.

NIC:

 Ethernet card, also known as Network Interface Card (NIC card in short) is a network adaptor used to set up a
wired network.

MAC address:

 Each NIC has a MAC address, which helps in uniquely identifying the computer on the network.
 The MAC address, also known as the physical or hardware address, is a unique permanent value associated
with a network adapter called a NIC.
 It is used to physically identify a machine on the network

Repeater:

 A repeater is an analog device that regenerates the signals on the cables to which it is connected.

Switch:

 A switch is a networking device used to connect multiple computers or communicating devices.

Router:

 A router is a network device that can receive the data, analyse it and transmit it to other networks.
Computer Network Types:

 A computer network can be categorized by their size, complexity and geographical spread. A computer
network is mainly of four types:
 LAN (Local Area Network)
 PAN (Personal Area Network)
 MAN (Metropolitan Area Network)
 WAN (Wide Area Network)

PAN (Personal Area Network):

 Personal Area Network is a network of information technology devices (laptop, mobile phones, media player
and play stations) arranged within the range of an individual person, typically within a range of 10 meters /
covers an area of 30 feet.

LAN (Local Area Network):

 Local Area Network is a group of computers connected to each other in a small area such as a building, office
through a communication medium such as twisted pair, coaxial cable, etc to share resources.

MAN (Metropolitan Area Network):

 A metropolitan area network is a network that covers a larger geographic area that is spread over an area as
big as a city by interconnecting different LAN to form a larger network through a telephone exchange line.

WAN (Wide Area Network):

 A Wide Area Network is a network that extends over a large geographical area such as states or countries
through a telephone line, fiber optic cable or satellite links. The internet is one of the biggest WAN in the
world.

Networking Topologies:

 The arrangement of computers and other peripherals in a network is called its topology.
 Common network topologies are Mesh, Ring, Bus,Star and Tree.

Bus Topology:

 It uses a single cable, called a trunk or segment, along which all the computers of the network are connected .
 In bus topology, a single backbone wire called bus is shared among the nodes, which makes it cheaper and
easy to maintain.

Star Topology:

 All computers are connected using cable segments to a central component called a switch.
 The signals from the transmitting computer go through the switch to all the others.
 In star topology, each communicating device is connected to a central networking device like a hub or a
switch.
Tree Topology:

 Tree Topology is a topology which is having a tree structure in which all the computers are connected like the
branches which are connected with the tree.
 In tree or hybrid topology, there are multiple branches and each branch can have one or more basic
topologies like star, ring and bus.

Mesh Topology:

 In mesh topology each communicating device is connected with every other device in the network.

Ring Topology:

 In ring topology, each node is connected to two other devices, one each on either side.
 Computer Networks-III Test Portion
Network protocol: HTTP, FTP, PPP, SMTP, TCP/IP, POP3, HTTPS, TELNET, VoIP

Introduction to web services: WWW, Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML), Extensible Markup Language (XML),
domain names, URL, website, web browser, web servers, web hosting

NETWORK PROTOCOL: A protocol means the rules that are applicable for a network. Protocols defines standardized
formats for data packets, techniques for detecting and correcting errors etc.

TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol:

● The IP protocol ensures that each computer or node connected to the Internet is assigned an IP address, which is
used to identify each node independently.

● TCP ensures that the message or data is broken into smaller chunks, called IP packets. Each of these packets are
routed (transmitted) through the Internet, along a path from one router to the next, until it reaches the specified
destination. TCP guarantees the delivery of packets on the designated IP address. It is also responsible for ordering the
packets so that they are delivered in sequence.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol): It is a standard internet protocol provided by TCP/IP used for transmitting the files from
one host to another. It is mainly used for transferring the web page files from their creator to the computer that acts
as a server for other computers on the internet. It is also used for downloading the files to computer from other
servers.

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol.): SMTP is a set of communication guidelines that allow software to transmit an
electronic mail over the internet is called Simple Mail Transfer Protocol.

Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) is protocol that is used to directly connect one computer system to another. Computers
use PPP to communicate over the telephone network or the Internet.

Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3) Protocol: (POP3) is a standard mail protocol used to receive emails from a
remote server to a local email client. POP3 allows you to download email messages on your local computer and read
them even when you are offline.

Telnet Telnet is a program that allows a user to log on to a remote computer. Telnet provides a connection to the
remote computer in such a way that a local terminal appears to be at the remote side.

VoIP : VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol. It is also referred to as IP telephony,internet telephony, or internet
calling.

Web Services: Web Services means the services provided by World Wide Web. The World Wide Web provides services
like chatting, emailing, video conferencing, e-learning, e-shopping,e-reservation, e-groups and social networking.

World Wide Web (WWW): The World Wide Web commonly referred to as WWW, W3, or the Web is an
interconnected system of public webpages accessible through the Internet.It was invented by Tim Berners-Lee in
1989. Major components of WWW are:

1. Web Server – It is a computer that stores website resources (web pages, images, videos, etc.).

2. Web Browser (Client) - A software application used to access the web resources.
3. Webpage - Hypertext documents formatted in Hypertext Mark-up Language (HTML) and displayed in a web
browser.

4. Website - A website is a collection of inter-linked web pages that is identified by a common domain name (website
name) and stored on a web server.

5. HTTP Protocol - It governs data (web page) transfer between a server and a client.

6. HTML- A mark-up language used to specify the structure of a webpage.

7. URL- Address used to identify documents and other web resources on the internet.

Web Architecture

Web is working based on a client-server architecture.

Client: It is a computer capable of requesting, receiving & displaying information in the form of web pages or using a
particular service from the service providers (Servers).

Servers: It is a remote computer which provides/transfers information to the client (in the form of web pages) or
access to particular services.

Difference between Internet and WWW:

HTML (Hypertext Mark-up Language): It is a mark-up language that tells web browsers how to structure the web
pages you visit. It has a variety of tags and attributes for defining the layout and structure of the web document. A
HTML document has the extension .htm or .html. Hypertext is a text which is linked to another html document via
clickable links known as hyperlinks.

XML (eXtensible Mark-up Language): XML is a mark-up language like HTML but it is designed to transport or store
data. It does not have predefined tags but allows the programmer to use customized tags. An XML document has the
extension .xml.
Difference between HTML andXML:

HTTP - Hyper Text Transfer Protocol: HTTP is used to transfer data across the web.

HTTP specifies how to transfer hypertext (linked web documents) between two computers. It allowsusers of the World
Wide Web to exchange information found on web pages.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is an extension of the HTTP which is used for secure communication over
a computer network.

Domain Names: Every device connected to the Internet has a numeric IP address which is very difficult to remember.
Each computer server hosting a website or web resource is given a name known as Domain Name corresponding to
unique IP addresses.

For example, IP addresses and domain names of some websites are as follows:

The process of converting a hostname (such as www.google.com) into the corresponding IP address (such as
172.217.14.196) is called domain name resolution. Specialized DNS servers are used for domain name resolution (DNS
resolution).

URL-Uniform Resource Locator: Every web page that is displayed on the Internet has a specific address associated
with it, this address is known as the URL. The structure of a URL can be represented as follows:

The URL consists of four basic parts, namely, protocol, hostname, folder name and the

filename. Each one of these has a specific function.

1) The “protocol” indicates the type of Protocol (http/https/ftp etc.) being used. The protocol

is always followed by “://” and the host name.

2) The host name/domain name is the Internet address of a remote computer on which the

files reside.
3) The folder name indicates the name of the directory in which the files are located.

4) The filename specifies the name of the specific document to be displayed in the browser.

The filename itself consists of two pieces of information, the name of the file to be displayed and the file extension,
which specifies the file type (.htm for HTML file, .txtfor a text file, .bmp for a bitmap image, etc.)

The structure of a URL can be represented as follows:

Websites: A website is a collection of linked web pages (plus their associated resources) that share a unique domain
name.

Web page: Web page is an electronic document designed using HTM linked with hyperlinks.

Web Browser: Web browser is software program to navigate the web pages on the internet. E.g., Google Chrome,
Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, Opera etc.

Cookie: A cookie is a small text file that stores information stored on your computer. Cookies often store your settings
for a website, such as your preferred language or location, pages visited.

Web Server: A web server is a computer or a group of computers hosting one or more websites.

E.g., Apache, IIS etc.

Web Hosting: Web hosting is the process of uploading/saving the web content on a web server to make it available on
WWW.

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