Impact Of Current Small Networks

One of the ways to categorize the different types of computer network designs is by using their scope or scale in account. Almost every type of design as some kind of area network is referred by networking industry and that is due to history of computer networking. Common examples of area network types are:-

A LAN is used to connect network devices over short distance like an office building, school, or home. Generally a single LAN is used, though sometimes one building will contain a few small LAN, and occasionally a LAN will cover a group of nearby buildings. Moreover LANs are also typically owned, controlled, and managed by

a single person or organization.

WAN – Wide Area Network

A WAN covers a large distance. The Internet is the largest WAN, spanning

the Earth. A geographically-dispersed collection of LANs is a WAN. Routers are used to connect LANs to a WAN. Most WANs (like the Internet) are not owned by

any one organization they are under distributed ownership and management.

LAN, WAN and Home Networking

Home users use LAN and connect to the Internet WAN through an Internet Service Provider (ISP) using a broadband modem. Once connected, all computers on the home

LAN can communicate directly with each other and they are bound to go through a central gateway, typically a broadband router, to reach the ISP.

Some other types of networks are also classified:-

Wireless Local Area Network – a LAN which is based on WiFi wireless network technology

Metropolitan Area Network – owned and operated by a single entity such as a government body, it is a network covering a physical area larger than a LAN but smaller than a WAN, such as a city.

Campus Area Network – a network covering multiple LANs but smaller than a MAN, such as on a university or local business campus.

System Area Network – it is used to link high-performance computers with high-speed connections in a grouped configuration. It is also called as Cluster Area Network.

Range of some devices on the network:-

Laptop: When using a laptop with public hotspots, a strong Wi-Fi signal is must for successful Internet access and good connection speed. A wireless laptop with limited range will most probably suffer from slow Internet connections.

Smart phones, PDA’s, etc.: It is perfect to free the most portable of all devices to be freed from wires. For that we need a fast Internet connection (DSL, cable model or wired Ethernet) with a Wi-Fi access point start. 

Other than this we use some devices such as Digital Media Server (DMS), Digital Media Controller (DMC), Digital Media Printer (DMPr) etc, for devices on network.

Task 2- briefly describe each device participation/role in the network.

Example; Router to connect to the Internet, etc.

Computer network devices also called communication devices and they have a data communication network. We have routers, switches, hubs, LAN cards, gateway, modems, hardware firewall, CSU/DSU, ISDN terminals and transceivers under this head. These devices are must need for data communication in an Ethernet or WAN network. Understanding of these devices is necessary for an IT professional or a network administrator.

After selection of best devices one must ensure that they are compatible with each other.

The top vendors are Cisco, D-Link, LinkSys, Baynet, RealTek, 3Com, NetGear, Intel, Nortel, and Lucent etc. These vendors help you get devices. We can reduce the operational cost and enhance the overall performance dramatically by a well designed IT infrastructure with the proper placement of the routers, servers,

gateway and switches.

Routers:-

It is a communication device which is used to connect two logically and physically different networks, two LANs, two WANs and a LAN with WAN. Router is mainly used to sort and the distribute data packets to their destinations according to their IP addresses.

Router is a main device for the connectivity between the enterprise businesses, ISPs and in the internet infrastructure. Cisco routers are widely used in the world.

Every router has IOS which is routing software. Router does not broadcast the data packets.

Switches:-

Alike the router, a switch is an intelligent device which is used to map the IP address with the MAC address of the LAN card. It sends the data packets only to the destined computer. Switches are used in the LAN, MAN and WAN. There are three methods to transmit the data in a network via switches i.e. store and forward, cut through and fragment free.

Hubs

Hub is a central connecting device in a computer network. There are two types of a hub

i.e. active hub and passive hub. Every computer is directly connected with the hub. Data packets are broadcasted to all the LAN cards in a network and the destined recipient picks them and all other computers discard the data packets. Hub has five, eight, sixteen and more ports and one port is known as uplink port, which is used to connect with the next hub.

Modems

It is a communication device that is used to provide the connectivity with the internet. Its working is in two ways: modulation and demodulation. Either it coverts the digital data into the analog or analog to digital

LAN Cards

LAN cards are the building blocks of a computer network. They are also called as network adapters. A properly installed and configured LAN card is need for computers to communicate. A unique IP address every is there with every LAN card. Different LAN cards support different speeds.

Multiplexer

It is used to combine the several electrical signals into one signal.

Task 3 – briefly describe and evaluate the impact of SOHO networks, such as;

• limited connections

• number of devices on the network

• usage – social networking, video-streaming, entertainment, gaming, home working, etc.

• security – Firewalls, sharing folders, VPN, wireless encryption, etc.

• Bandwidth constraints

• User expectations

• Sharing of resources

• Use of technology

• Communications – Bluetooth, 3G, Broadband, etc.

The small office home office has gone through a great transformation in recent years as technology has advanced to another level. Small office/home office (SOHO) network is growing in popularity among network types. It is a modern concept for the category of business, which involves from 1 to 10 workers.. To a great extent companies which market products targeting the great numbers of small businesses that have a small or medium sized office use SOHO. Basically it includes less than 10 PCs and may not include servers at all. Network resources such as DNS server resolution and e-mail servers are generally located offsite, either hosted by an ISP or at a corporate office. Cable, DSL, or perhaps ISDN are used to provide internet access for the SOHO network. An inexpensive router is used for the boundary between the LAN and the WAN connections. This router may also serve double duty as a firewall to shield the SOHO network from malicious activity. To provide interconnections between client PCs and the router, and many routers include an integral hub or switch.

It has simplicity that is why Ethernet is generally the LAN standard used to wire the SOHO network. Wireless standards such as 802.11b are starting to appear for a vital use in the SOHO market. It eliminates the need for adding LAN wiring in the home. When a small office needs to connect to a corporate environment with security involved then some sort of VPN device is either built into the router itself or on the LAN.

We must ensure security for SOHO networks. As there is increase in number of employees so are their sophisticated computer networks in their homes. It comprise

a mix of personal and company equipment. Many enterprises believe that practice of conducting work at home on employee-purchased PCs or networking equipment will save them money. However, we are bound to face security problems when users link personal systems to the corporate network. This is most in the cases when enterprises fall prey to false assumptions about the associated risks. While working from home on network-connected personal systems, enterprise data can be dangerously exposed by employees. For security: before turned in for service, users must be warned about the exposure risks of leaving personal and business data on personal systems. PCs with preloaded safeguards such as disk encryption can be a solution too. At least, encouragement should be there for employees to use system passwords and disk encryption.

A combination of policy control, configuration lockdown, personal firewall, and central firewall filters to block installation of the better-known file-sharing and remote-control programs can be used. Similarly protection methodology can be used for personal systems.

Enterprises shouldn’t rely on employees’ personal equipment and networks conform to enterprise security and privacy standards. They should follow best practices to ensure security. Training and awareness programs will help remind users of the risks of data exposure and the potential damage such exposure can cause to themselves and the enterprise. They can implement thin client computing solutions, which minimize the risk of data exposure on non enterprise-owned systems.