What is Computer Networking, Types Of Them And Benefits

Computer networking is associate degree interconnection of 2 or a lot of computers and peripherals like printers and faxes. Computer network permits the user to share and transfer data mistreatment cables and modems among a network. A network is that the observe of linking 2 or a lot of computing devices along for the aim of sharing knowledge. Networks area unit engineered with a mixture of hardware and pc code. This interconnected system can share services and move through a communications link.

A computer network is extremely useful in a very business. Most of the time a business can have over one computer got wind of and it typically terribly helpful to network all of the computers within the workplace. A local area network (LAN) can connect your company’s computers. This may enable them to share and exchange differing types of information. If you haven’t thought of networking your workplace computers, listen to these reasons.

Now a day’s computers are utilized in a wider range. All the organizations are using multiple computers at intervals their departments to perform their day to day work. it's necessary to connect them that type a network. The networks are classified into differing kinds in line with the network size. Once computers communicate with one another, they follow sure specifics formats and rules. These formats and rules are explained by the OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) model. The OSI model is abstract and has seven layers and every layer has its own functions.


 ABOUT COMPUTER NETWORKING:


  In 1969 the first ARPANET link was established between the IMP nodes (a specialized computer at ARPANET) at the University of California at Los Angles. By the end of the year, the computers at the University of California, Santa Barbara and the University of Utah were connected to the network. All the computers in the network were using different operating systems and were able to communicate with each other across the network. ARPANET was originally developed for long distance (remote) computing.

Earlier, computers were only used as stand-alone machines. Computer networks were created to establish a communication link between different users within an organization. The Advanced Research projects Agency (ARPA) designed Advanced Research projects Agency Network (ARPANET) for United States Dept. of Defense. It was the first network in the world.


 In 1970's, the research institutes and laboratories supported by the Dept. of defense were also included in ARANET in various parts of USA. COMPUTER NETWORKS: Computer network can be wired or wireless. Networks can be categorized as per the geographical area to be covered by the network.

There are several types of computer networks. A computer network can be very simple, such as only connecting two computers or a computer and a printer, or it can be very complex, connecting millions of computers and devices. Here is a list of different computer network types.

Computer network includes Personal Area Network (PAN), Local Area Network (LAN), Campus Area Network (CAN), Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), and Wide Area Network (WAN).

Personal Area Network (PAN)

The smallest type of network is a Personal Area Network (PAN). This type of computer network connects a computer to a number of devices. These devices may include, but are not limited to, printers, PDA’s, and telephones. Usually these are located very close to a computer.

 Local Area Network (LAN):

 LAN is a computer network that spans over a small area. It connects computers and workstation to share data and resources such as printers and faxes. LAN is restricted to small area such as home, office or college. The Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in the United States of America produced a series of standards for LANs called IEEE 802 Standards. A Local Area Network (LAN) is used to network a small geographical area. An example of this type of computer network is a home network with two or more computers or computers that are connected in a workplace. A version of a LAN is a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN).


 Campus Area Network (CAN):

 Campus Area Network is a computer network. It is made up of two or more LANs within a limited area. The main feature of CAN is that all the computers which are connected together have some relationship to each other. For example, different building in a campus can be connected using CAN. A Campus Area Network (CAN) is ideal for a university but they are also found in industrial facilities. This type of computer network connects computers in a number of buildings. This is generally accomplished through bridging and routing. A Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) consists of any number of interconnected LANs and WANs but it will not extend certain boundaries, such as those of a town, city, or metropolitan area. Many of these are operated at public utilities and are used by businesses and individuals in the area.


Metropolitan Area Network (MAN):

MAN is the interconnection of networks in a city. Generally, MAN is not owned by a single organization. It acts as a high speed network to allow sharing resources within a city. MAN can also be formed by connecting remote LANs through telephone lines or radius links. A MAN is optimized for a larger geographical area than a LAN, ranging from several blocks of buildings to entire cities. MAN can also depend on communications channels of moderate-to-high data rates. A MAN might be owned and operated by a single organization, but it usually will be used by many individuals and organizations. MAN might also be owned and operated as public utilities. They will often provide means for inter-networking of local networks.

Wide Area Network (WAN):

WAN covers a wide geographical area which includes multiple computers or LANs. It connects computers through public networks, like telephone system, microwave, satellite link or leased line. It enables communication between the organization and the rest of the world. A Wide Area Network (WAN) is a step up from a MAN. This type of computer network can cross metropolitan or even national boundaries. The best known WAN is the Internet. This computer network uses routers and public communication links to carry data. Many WANs are run by private companies and restricted, unlike the Internet. Although these are the MAN types of network that most users come across there are other computer networks ranging from as small as a Desktop Area Network (DAN) to a very large Global Area Network (GAN).

Some benefits of computer networks are given below :

(1) Computers which are connected through a network can share resources as hard drives, printers, scanners etc with each other.
(2) They can send file from one computer to another quite easily.
(3) You can connect all the computers which are connected through a network to the internet by using a single line. So it means that you can save the connection cost for each computer but you internet connection must be fast.
(4) IF you want to access data from the other computer which is the part of network then you can access data from that computer.
(5) Users can run those programs which are not installed on their computers but are installed on any other user's computer.

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Brainstorming to Collect Data in Designing the Corporate Computer Network

Suppose that you are appointed to lead a project of a computer network design in your organization that contains many sites that need to be integrated into a single corporate private network, what are you going to do? As a team leader, a time-frame project as general needs to be developed first that includes the brainstorming to collect data as much as possible, the blueprint project, budget forecasting, liaising with the third parties and so on.

It's quite difficult to start a project properly without knowing exactly what the strengths and weaknesses of supporting infrastructure which the system will base on. It is therefore, a computer network design should start by brainstorming to collect data as much as possible.

Assume this computer network design will involve three sites: one main headquarter office in Sydney, one main office in Jakarta, and one remote site – the gold mine in the middle of the Borneo jungle. The principal of the organization would like to have all the sites linked to a single corporate computer network to allow inter-sites communication including data, voice, or probably video conference and off course to allow easy communication with the whole world.

Telecommunication Requirements

The first data for your computer network design that needs to be collected is the telecommunication system requirements. The main question is how to link all of the sites to allow system communication to happen. The following questions can be used to collect the data for the telecommunication requirements.

1. How to arrange the Telecommunication service in remote site? We understand that both the main offices in Sydney and Jakarta are located in the area where you can find lots of communication services. What about the remote site – the site in the middle of the jungle? You should liaise with the third party company that can provide WAN services technology - probably uses the satellite link communication.
2. Collect the information what kinds of communication will be allowed for remote site to the Jakarta office: data only, voice, video, or combination of those. This information is important to help you determine how wide the satellite link bandwidth you need. This will relate to the budget since satellite link is expensive.
3. What kind of WAN technology to link data between Jakarta and Sydney, frame relay, ISDN network, VPN connection? Liaising with the third party – the telecommunication company will help.

You need to dig and find more data that specific to the project. Telecommunication requirements should be sorted out first before you can proceed to collect other infrastructure requirements in this case.

Network Infrastructure Requirements

Second requirement for your computer network design is to collect data regarding the network infrastructure requirements. All related data for both logical and physical infrastructure requirements must be collected as much as possible. The following questions can be used to collect the data.

1. How many hosts will be in each site including workstations, servers, switches, routers, wireless access points, and VoIP. This will help in calculating and designing the IP address requirements.
2. Collect the information with the principal management if they need to host public resources either in Sydney or Jakarta sites. If so, where will all the public resources be located, inside the private network or in the DMZ (perimeter network)? This will help in designing the entry-point security. By hosting public resources, domain name must be designed in a secure manner such as separating the domain naming between internal and public usage.
3. Collect the information regarding the security requirements for internal network. Will particular sections or departments need security boundary? This will help in designing your computer network if the network segmentation within the local network is needed. And also helps in designing how the users are grouped and appropriate policies are developed to comply with the security requirements.
4. Collect the information with the principal management to develop service level agreements regarding the availability of the network resources. How critical the network resources will affect the business continuity if they ever fail to function. This will help you design the requirements of the redundant resources such as the need of clustering, load balancing and so on.
5. Collect the information regarding the location in each sites such as how good the power is, how long the distances between each building that will connect to the network, is it feasible to run the network cabling or wireless connection. If the wireless connection is needed, examine how the attenuation factors will affect the wireless performance.
6. Collect the information if the travelling users or tele-workers will be allowed to access the corporate network resources. This will help you design your VPN requirements and the security requirements regarding the authentication and the authorization for remote connection.
7. And still more diggings needed regarding the infrastructure requirements that is specific to the project. By having the brainstorming data regarding the infrastructure requirements you can make the budget regarding the hardware, software, and consultants requirements for the implementation of your computer network design.

Disaster Management

In your computer network design, the disaster recovery and business continuity planning should be in mind. The what if this fail question should base all the decisions of your design including selecting the location, hardware, software, models, the third party involves and so on. For example in building the server room, it's a wise decision not to populate all the servers into a single main server room. Another alternate server in different building would be much better to avoid a single point of failure in case of the main server room is totally burned in fire disaster.

The draft diagram of the computer network design should be evaluated precisely. Risk security assessment must be performed to help you design the appropriate control to reduce the possible threats to occur and if the threats ever occur, what actions must be taken to allow the business to run at least in the minimum operational level.

In your computer network design should also consider the easiness in maintaining the system later by the administrators by providing a comprehensive documentation including the operational manuals and disaster recovery planning.

By Ki Grinsing

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