Unit 3: Introduction to Computer networks

Networking :
A computer network is a collection of interconnected computers and other devices which are able to
communicate with each other and share hardware and software resources.
Advantages of Computer Network
1. Resource Sharing
2. Cost saving
3. Time saving
4. Collaborative user interaction
5. Increased storage
Resource Sharing
Hardware resources like printer, hard Disk, DVD Drive, andScanner etc. can also be shared on a computer
network.
Software resources like Application Software’s, Anti-Virustools etc. can also be shared on computer
networks.

Cost Saving
Resource sharing (hardware & software) also leads to cost-saving as one printer/hard disk can be utilized
bymultiple users.
Similarly, application software’s and antivirus tools canalso be shared and multiple copies of software
need not to be purchased.

Collaborative User Interaction

Example 1:
Computers in the school are connected to one main computer (called server). After the exams, teachers
have toexchange marks with each other for result preparation. So all the teachers enter the marks class
wise for their respective subjects at one centralized location and from there the class teachers can
generate the result.
Example 2:
If we are working on a computer which is a part of acomputer network, we can communicate with any
other user of the network through e-mail or chatting.
It leads to increased productivity, cost-saving as well astime-saving.

Increased Storage
On a network, same data may be replicated on multiple computers to ensure the availability of data in the
case ofsome computer getting faulty.

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Types of Network:
A computer network may span any amount of geographical area. It can be on a table, in a
room, ina building, in a city, in a country, across continents or around the world. On the basis of area
covered computer networks are classified as:

➢ PAN - Personal Area Network

➢ LAN - Local Area Network
➢ MAN - Metropolitan Area Network
➢ WAN -Wide Area Network

PAN (Personal Area Network)

A PAN is a network of Communicating devices (Computer, Phone, MP3/MP4 Player, Camera etc.)
in the proximity of an individual. It can cover an area of a few meters radius.
A PAN can be set up using guided media (USB cable) or unguided media (Bluetooth, Infrared).

LAN (Local Area Network)

A LAN is a network of computing/Communicating devices in a room, building or campus.
It can cover an area of a few meters to a few kilometers’ radius
In addition to operating in a limited space, a LAN is owned, controlled, and managed by a single person
or organization.
A LAN can be set up using wired media (UTP cables, Co-axial cables etc.) or wireless media
(Infrared,radio waves). If a LAN is setup using unguided media, it is known as WLAN (wireless LAN).

MAN (Metropolitan Area Network)

A MAN is a network of computing/communicating devices within a city.
It can cover an area of a few kilometers to a fewhundred kilometers radius.
A network of schools, or banks, or Governmentoffices etc., within a city, are examples of MANs.
A MAN is usually formed by interconnecting anumber of LANs and individual computers.
All types of communication media (guided and ungide) are used to set up a MAN.

WAN (Wide Area Network)

A WAN is a network of computing/communicating devices crossing the limits of a city,
country, or continent.
It can cover an area of over hundreds of kilometerradius.
WANs usually contain a number of interconnected individual computers, LANs,MANs, and may beother
WANs. WAN (Wide Area Network)

All types of communication media (guided and unguided) are used to set up a WAN.
The best-known example of a WAN is the internet.
A network of ATMs, BANKs, National Government Offices, International Organizations' Offices etc.,
spread over a country, continent, or covering manycontinents are examples of WANs.

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Network Devices
Other than the transmission media many other devices are required to form computer networks.

1. Modem
2. Hub
3. Switch
4. Repeater
5. Router
6. Gateway

Modem
A modem (Modulator - Demodulator) is aperipheral device that enables a computer totransmit data
over, telephone or cable lines.
The computers operate digitally using binary language (a series of zeros and ones), but transmission
mediums are analogue.
Modem is an acronym of MOdulator/DEModulator.The goal of this process of modulation -
demodulation is to produce a signal that can betransmitted easily and decoded to
reproduce theoriginal digital data.
In short, It converts an analog signal to digital signals and vice versa.
The amount of data that can be sent in a given unit of time,is usually expressed in bits per second (bps)
or bytes per second(B/s).

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Hub
A Hub is an electronic device that connects several nodes to form a network and redirects the received
information to all the connected nodes in broadcast mode.

Switch
A Switch is an intelligent device that connects several nodes to form a network and redirects
The received information only to the intended node(s).

Repeater
A Repeater is a device that is used to regenerate a signal which is on its way through a communication
channel. A repeater regenerates the received signaland re-transmits it to its destination.

Gateway
A Gateway is a device, which is used to connect different types of networks and perform the necessary
translation so that the connectednetworks can communicate properly.

Router
A Router is a network device that works like a bridge to establish connection between two networks but it
can handle networks with differentprotocols.
For example a router can link an Ethernet network to a mainframe or to internet.
Hence routers are smarter than hubs and switches.
Using a routing table that stores calculated paths, routersmake sure that the data packets are travelling
through thebest possible paths to reach their destinations.
If a link between two routers fails, the sending router candetermine an alternate route to keep traffic
moving.
Routers provide connectivity inside enterprises, betweenenterprises and the Internet, and within an
Internet Service Provider (ISP).
Routers can be wireless or wired.

Network Topologies

A Topology is an arrangement of physical connections among nodes in a network.

Node: A Node is a device, which is directly connected to a computernetwork. It can be a computer or
any other device like printer, scanner etc.
1. Bus 2. Star 3. Tree 4.Mesh

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Bus Topology
In bus topology all the nodes are connected to a main cable called backbone.
If any node has to send some information to any other node, it sends the signal to the backbone.
The signal travels through the entire length of the backbone and is received by the node for which it is
intended.
A small device called terminator is attachedat each end of the backbone.
When the signal reaches the end of backbone, it is absorbed by the terminator and the backbone getsfree to
carry another signal.
This prevents the reflection of signal back on the cable and hence eliminates the chances of signal
interference.

Characteristics of Bus Topology

➢ It is easy to install.
➢ It requires less cable length and hence it is costeffective.
➢ Failure of a node does not affect the network.
➢ In case of cable (backbone) or terminator fault,the entire network breaks down.
➢ Fault diagnosis is difficult.
➢ At a time only one node can transmit data.

Star Topology
In star topology each node is directly connected toa hub/switch.
If any node has to send some information to any other node, it sends the signal to the hub/switch.
This signal is then broadcast (in case of a hub) to allthe nodes but is accepted by the intended node(s).In the
case of a switch the signal is sent only to theintended node(s).

Characteristics of Star Topology

➢ It is more efficient topology as compared to bustopology.
➢ It is easy to install
➢ It is easy to diagnose the fault in Star topology.
➢ Failure of hub/switch leads to failure of entirenetwork
➢ It requires more cable length as compared to bustopology.

Tree Topology
Tree topology is a combination of bus and star topologies.
It is used to combine multiple star topologynetworks.
All the stars are connected together like a bus.
This bus-star hybrid approach supports future expandability of the network

Characteristics of Tree Topology

➢ It offers easy way of network expansion
➢ Even if one network (star) fails, the other networks remain
connected and working.

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Mesh Topology
A network setup where each computer and network device is
interconnected with oneanother, allowing for most transmissions to be
distributed even if one of the connections go down.

It is a topology commonly used for wireless networks.

Characteristics of Mesh Topology

➢ Manages high amounts of traffic, because multiple devices can transmit data simultaneously.
➢ A failure of one device does not cause a break inthe network or transmission of data.
➢ Adding additional devices does not disrupt datatransmission between other devices.

Introduction to Internet
➢ Internet is such a wonder box that whenever we need some information on any topic, we refer
to internet.
➢ This information is actually stored on some computers on the net. These computers are called
the servers.
➢ The information is stored in the form of somedocuments called hyper text documents.
➢ All the related documents on a server are linkedtogether using hyperlinks.
➢ Therefore using hyperlinks we can move from onedocument to another.
➢ There are a number of ways to create hyper text documents. There are many specialized
softwarepackages like Dreamweaver, CoffeCup etc. whichare used to create web documents.
➢ The simplest way to create a web document is to use a text editor like notepad, notepad2 etc.
and write code in HTML.
➢ A hyper text document on the web is also called a web page.
➢ The information over the web is shared using aprotocol called Hyper Text Transfer Protocol
(HTTP)
URL
➢ The uniform resource locator (URL) is the uniqueidentifier of a web page.
➢ The address or URL of the current page you are onappears in the "Address Bar" of the web
browser.
➢ You can go directly to a web page by simply typingthe URL in the address bar.
➢ The most general form of a URL syntax is as follows:
Protocol://domain name/<directory path>/<object name>
For example:
http://www.cbse.nic.in/public/index.html

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Part Description Example

Protocol represents name of the protocol which is http

used to transfer the data/web page
Domain represents name of the web server wherethe web page cbse.nic.in
Name resides
Directory Represents location of the web public
Path page on the web server
Object Name of file Index.html
Name

➢ When the URL of a web page is given to the web browser, the browser sends a request
for this page to the relevant web server.

➢ The web server, upon getting this request, sends the requested web-page to the browser and then
the browser displays this page.

WWW
➢ The World Wide Web (or simply the Web or WWW) is a system of sharing interlinked hypertext
documents over the internet.
➢ These documents are stored on web-servers on theinternet and contain text, images, videos and other
multimedia.
➢ These documents also contain hyper links to navigate among them.
➢ HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) is the basiclanguage which is used to create Hypertext
documents.
➢ The concept of WWW was designed in 1989 by TimBerners-Lee and scientists at CERN (Geneva),
the European centre for High Energy Physics.
➢ Their purpose was to make sharing and retrieval of research material simpler.
➢ A year later they had developed a 'browser/editor' program and had named the program
World Wide Web.
➢ On 30 April 1993, CERN announced that the World Wide Web would be free to use for anyone.
➢ Its further development is guided by the WWW Consortium (W3C) based at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

WWW applications
1. Web
2. Email
3. Chat
4. VoIP

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Web
Web is an information system where documents and other web resources are identified by
Uniform Resource Locators (URLs, suchas https://www.example.com/), which may be
interlinked by hypertext, and are accessible overthe Internet.

Email
Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between
people using electronic devices.
It is a message that may contain text, files, images, or other attachments sent through a network to
a specified individual or group of individuals.

Email ([email protected])
➢ The first portion of all e-mail addresses, the part before the @ symbol, contains the alias, user,
group or department of a company.
➢ Next, the @ (at sign) is a divider in the e-mail address; it's required for all SMTP e-mail
addresses.
➢ Finally, gmail.com is the domain name to which theuser belongs.

Chat
➢ Chat is a text-based communication that is live orin real-time.
➢ For example, when talking to someone in chat any typed text is received by other participants
immediately.
➢ In contrast, other text-based communications such as e-mail are modes of correspondence that
are notreal-time.

VoIP
➢ Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony is a technology that allows you
to make voice calls using a broadband Internet connection instead of a regular (or analog)
phone line.
➢ Some VoIP services may only allow you to call otherpeople using the same service, but others
may allow you to call anyone who has a telephone number.
➢ Two major reasons to use VoIP are:
➢ Lower cost
➢ Increase functionality

Website
➢ A website is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common
domainname and published on at least one web server.
➢ examples of websites are google.com, amazon.com, india.gov.in etc.
➢ Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, education,
commerce, entertainment or social networking.
➢ Hyperlinking between web pages guides the navigation of the site, which often starts witha
home page.

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Difference between website and webpage
BASIS FOR WEB PAGE WEBSITE
COMPARIS
ON
Basic Web page is a part of website Website is a collection
which compriseslinks to other of related web pages
web pages. addressedto a typical
URL.
Presented by Multiple web pages can havethe By a unique URL.
same name if they residein
different folders.
Use It is a content that is to be It is a place used to
displayed on a website. display the content.

Extension The web page URL has an There is no extension

extension (e.g. html) used in the URL of a
website.
Address Web page address depends Website address doesn't
dependency on website address. rely upon web page
address.
Development Requires less time to develop as Usually, take more time
period it is a part of awebsite. as compared toa web
page.

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STATIC & DYNAMIC WEBPAGE

STATIC WEB PAGE DYNAMIC WEB PAGE

Static means Dynamic means “changing”.
“unchanged”. i.e. Dynamic pages have content that can
i.e. Static pages show the change each time they are accessed.
same content eachtime
they are viewed.
Standard HTML pagesare Web pages written in scripting language suchas PHP,
static Web pages. ASP, and JSP pages are dynamic Webpages.
These pages contain "server-side" code, which allows
The only way the content the server to generate uniquecontent each time the
of an HTML page will page is loaded.
change is if the Web The scripts in the pages run functions on theserver that
developer updates and return things like the date and time, and database
publishesthe file. information.
If the extension is ".htm" or ".html," the If the extension is ".php," ".asp,"or
page is probably static. ".jsp," the page is most likely dynamic.
Static Web pages contain the same The content of dynamic Web pages can
prebuilt content each timethe page is be generated on-the-fly.
loaded

On the fly
"on the fly" describes activities that develop or occur
dynamically such as the time of day, what pages the user has lookedat previously,
specific user input and the use of cookie (information previously stored about you that
is located in a special file on your hard disk)

WEB SERVER
➢ A SERVER serves information to computers that connect to it.
➢ When users connect to a server, they can access programs, files, and other information from
the server.
➢ Common servers are web servers, mail servers, and LAN servers.
➢ A web server is server software, or hardware dedicated to running this software, that can
satisfy client requests on the World WideWeb.
➢ A web server can, in general, contain one ormore websites.
➢ A web server processes incoming network requestsover HTTP and several other related
protocols.
➢ The primary function of a web server is to store, process and deliver web pages to clients.
➢ The communication between client and server takes place using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol
(HTTP).

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HOSTING OF A WEBSITE
➢ Web hosting is a service that allows organizations and individuals to post a website or web
page onto the Internet.

➢ A web host, or web hosting service provider, is a business that provides the technologies and
services needed for the website or webpage to be viewed in the Internet.
➢ Websites are hosted, or stored, on special computers called servers.

➢ When Internet users want to view your website, allthey need to do is type your website address
or domain into their browser. Their computer will then connect to your server and your
webpageswill be delivered to them through the browser.
➢ Most hosting companies require that you own your domain in order to host with them. If you do
not have a domain, the hosting companies will helpyou purchase one.

WEB BROWSER
➢ A web browser is a client that initiates communication by making a request for
a specific resource.
➢ The server then responds with the content of that resource, or an error message if unable to do
provide the contents due to any reason.
OR
➢ A web browser (commonly referred to as a browser) is a software application for
accessing information on the World Wide Web.

➢ When a user requests a particular website, the webbrowser retrieves the necessary content
froma web server and then displays the resulting web page on the user's device.
➢ Some commonly used browsers are Google chrome, Mozilla Firefox, safari etc.

COMMONLY USED BROWSER

1. Google Chrome
➢ Google Chrome has become the most used webbrowsers in the world.
➢ Google Chrome was released in the year 2008 as afreeware that was written in C++.
➢ The browser is known for its performance, ease ofuse, syncing with Google database, security,
greatsupport for HTML5, CSS3, and other latest web standards.
➢ Even though the most used operating system is Windows that comes pre-installed with
Internet Explorer, people have moved towards other high quality web browsers such as Google
Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.

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Mozilla FireFox
➢ Firefox is the second most popular web browser inthe world.
➢ Firefox is a freeware from Mozilla organization thatwas released in the year 2002 by the name
“Phoenix”.
➢ Mozilla Firefox is supported on OS such as Windows, Android, and iOS, GNU/Linux and Mac
OS X
➢ As of 2015, Firefox is the second most popular web browser in the world.
➢ Some of the main features of the browser includelocation-aware browsing, spell checking,
incremental find, Firebug for debugging and live bookmarking.

Safari
➢ Safari web browser is a freeware browser from theApple Inc.
➢ Safari is the default web browser in Mac computersand in OS X and iOS Operating Systems.
➢ Safari was released in the year 2003. A version of the browser is available for Windows
Operating System as well. Today, Safari is popular because ofApple products.
➢ The web browser has some awesome iOS specific features such as printing the current web
pageusing AirPrint and MDI-style browsing.

Internet explorer
➢ As Windows Operating System is the most popular desktop Operating System in the world.
➢ Internet Explorer or simply IE is the default browser in Windows making this browser
the fourth most popular and used browser in the world.
➢ This browser is not free as it requires a Windows license to use.
➢ The Internet Explorer today has added newfeatures to support the
latest web technologies.
➢ It is semi active browser for Windows and remainsdiscontinued for Unix and Mac.
➢ The only downfall of Internet Explorer is even todayis that some advanced features
are not supported whereas such advanced web features are supported on Chrome
and Firefox.
Opera
➢ Opera web browser is one of the oldest web browsers which was released by Opera
Software in the year 1995.
➢ The freeware browser was written in C++ that is available in more than 40 languages.
➢ Opera browser is available for Windows, UNIX and OS X.
➢ Opera is also available as Opera mini, Opera Mobileand Opera Coast for different mobile
Operating Systems like Android, iOS, Symbian, Windows Phone, Bada, Maemo, Windows
mobile and BlackBerry.
➢ Opera is known for introducing many new features that was adopted by other browsers.

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BROWSER SETTINGS
It is becoming increasingly popular for attackers to compromise computers through vulnerable web
browsers.
An insecure web browser can lead to spyware being installed on your computer without your
knowledge, attackers taking control of your computer, stealing your information, or even using
your computer to attack other computers.
BROWSER SETTINGS
Following settings will help make your web browser more secure:
1. Keep your browsers up to date
2. Enable automatic updates for your browser
3. Block unwanted pop-ups, plug-ins and phishing sites
4. Set your browser not to store passwords
5. Disable third-party cookies / Enable javascript
6. Clear Browser Cache
7. Browser-specific settings:
Firefox: install the uBlock Origin add-on
Safari: disable Java
IE: set up security zones
Addons and Plug-ins
➢ Plug-in and Add-on are two terms that are pointingto the same functionality.
➢ They are simply extensions that extends theusability/functionality of the
program.
➢ It just depends on the software maker on what tocall the software extensions of their programs.
➢ These extensions could be made by other companies, individuals, or by the software makers
themselves.
Addons
➢ One of the most exciting things about modern web browsers is the ability to install "Browser
Extensions" (Firefox calls them "Browser Addons") into your web browser to give your web
browser new or improved functionality.

➢ These are usually not full blown software but are simply pieces of code that you can use to
modify the interface.
➢ There are literally thousands of browser extensions you can choose from which will do things
like BlockAds & Trackers, improve the User Interface on popular websites, add gesture
features, use powerful password managers, and many more things.
➢ Extensions are usually free and are very easy toinstall and remove.
Plugins
➢ Web Browser Plugins provides a way for web developers to add
"advanced" functionality to websites.
➢ Years ago, web browsers only offered basic functionality and lacked the functionality to
playvideos or games natively - it was necessary to installa plugin like Flash or Java to add
the features to be able to do this.
➢ Ex. you would need to install a plug-in called flash player in order to play videos.
Flash player is notnative to any browser but is made by a separatecompany
altogether.

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Cookies
➢ A cookie (also known as a web cookie, browsercookie, and HTTP cookie) is a small bit of
text or a file that accompanies requests and pages as they go between the web server and
browser.
➢ The cookie is sent as an header by a web server toa web browser and then sent back by
the browser each time it accesses that server.
➢ Cookies help web sites to store information about visitors.
➢ When the user visits your web site another time,the application can retrieve the information
it stored earlier.
➢ A cookie can also be used for authentication, session tracking, storing site preferences,
shoppingcart contents etc.
➢ As text, cookies are not executable. Since they arenot executed, they cannot replicate
themselves and not harm the computer directly.
➢ However, due to the fact that the browser reads and sends cookies to the web server, they
can be used as spyware.
➢ Today, most of the browsers ask users whether toaccept cookies or not, but rejecting cookies
makes some websites unusable.

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