Personal Area Network
•A PAN is a network that is used
for communicating among computers and computer devices (including telephones)
in close proximity of around a few meters within a room
•It can be used for communicating between the
devices themselves, or for connecting to a larger network such as the internet
•PAN’s can be wired or wireless
nPAN’s can be
wired with a computer bus such as a universal serial bus: USB (a serial bus
standard for connecting devices to a computer, where many devices can be
connected concurrently)
nPAN’s can also
be wireless through the use of bluetooth (a radio
standard designed for low power consumption for interconnecting computers and
devices such as telephones, printers or keyboards to the computer) or IrDA (infrared data
association) technologies.
Local Area Network
•A LAN is a network that is used for communicating among
computer devices, usually within an office building or home
•LAN’s
enable the sharing of resources such as files or hardware devices that may be
needed by multiple users
•Is
limited in size, typically spanning a few hundred meters, and no more than a
mile
•Is fast,
with speeds from 10 Mbps to 10 Gbps
•Requires
little wiring, typically a single cable connecting to each device
•Has lower
cost compared to MAN’s or WAN’s
LAN basics
nLAN’s can be either wired or wireless.
Twisted pair, coax or fiber optic cable can be used in wired LAN’s
nNodes in a LAN are linked together with a
certain topology.
These topologies include:
nBus
nRing
nStar
nBranching
tree
nA node is defined to be any device connected to the
network. This could be a computer, a printer, a router, etc.
nA Hub is a networking device that connects
multiple segments of the network together
nA Network
Interface Card (NIC) is the circuit
board that has the networking logic implemented, and provides a plug for the
cable into the computer (unless wireless). In most cases, this is an Ethernet card
inserted in a slot of the computer’s motherboard
nThe Network
Operating System (NOS) is the software
(typically part of the operating system kernel) that communicates with the NIC,
and enables users to share files and hardware and communicate with other
computers. Examples of NOS include: Windows XP, Windows NT, Sun Solaris, Linux,
etc..
