What is a Network?

A network is a collection of two or more computers which are connected together to share
information and resource (such as printers and CDs), exchange files, or allow electronic
communications. The computers on a network may be linked through cables, telephone lines, radio
waves, satellites, or infrared light beams.

Network Operating System is divided as

Client/server Network

A computer network in which one centralized, powerful computer (called the server) is a hub to which
many less powerful personal computers or workstations (called clients) are connected. The clients run
programs and access data that are stored on the server.

Client/server describes the relationship between two computer programs in which one program, the
client, makes a service request from another program, the server, which fulfils the request.

For example, to check your bank account from your computer, a client program in your computer
forwards your request to a server program at the bank. That program may in turn forward the request
to its own client program that sends a request to a database server at another bank computer to retrieve
your account balance. The balance is returned back to the bank data client, which in turn serves it
back to the client in your personal computer, which displays the information for you.

Peer-to-peer Network

A network of personal computers, each of which acts as both client and server, so that each can
exchange files and email directly with every other computer on the network. Each computer can
access any of the others, although access can be restricted to those files that a computer's user chooses
to make available. Peer-to-peer networks are less expensive than client/server networks but less
efficient when large amounts of data need to be exchange.

Types of Network

 Local area network

A local area network (LAN) is a network that connects computers and devices in a limited
geographical area such as home, school, computer laboratory, office building, or closely positioned
group of buildings.

Major local area network technologies are: Ethernet, Token Ring, Fibre distributed data interface
FDDI (as thousands of users) to connectivity. LANs are also typically owned, controlled, and
managed by a single person or organization. A LAN is useful for sharing resources like files, printers,
games or other applications.

 Wide area network

A wide area network (WAN) is a computer network that covers a large geographic area such as a city,
country, or intercontinental distances, using a communications channel that combines many types of
media such as telephone lines, cables. A WAN often uses transmission facilities provided by common
carriers, such as telephone companies. WAN technologies generally function at the lower three layers
of the OSI reference model: the physical layer, the data link layer, and the network layer. This is in
contrast to both the local area network and the metropolitan area network, which provides
communication within a restricted geographic area.

WAN use technology like ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode), Frame Relay and X.25 for
connectivity over the longer distances.

 Metropolitan area network

A metropolitan area network (MAN) is a network that connects two or more local area networks or
campus area networks together but does not extend beyond the boundaries of the immediate
town/city. Its geographic scope falls between a WAN and LAN. MANs provide Internet connectivity
for LANs in a metropolitan region, and connect them to wider area networks like the Internet.

NETWORK DEVICES

Network interface cards

A network card, network adapter, or NIC (network interface card) is a piece of computer hardware
designed to allow computers to communicate over a computer network. It provides physical access to
a networking medium and often provides a low-level addressing system through the use of MAC
addresses. A Media Access Control address (MAC address) is a unique identifier assigned to most
network adapters or network interface cards (NICs) by the manufacturer for identification.

Hubs
A network hub is a component that allows multiple computers and other devices to be connected via
local area network (LAN). It makes data packets sent from one device available to other devices on
the same network. A network hub use Ethernet connections to link computers together, and is also
known as an Ethernet hub.

Types

There are three types of network hubs.

 A passive hub makes all data packets available to all other devices connected to the hub.
 A manageable hub allows for monitor of data and for configuration of individual ports.
 An intelligent hub monitors data packets and sends them to the correct port.

Benefits

A network hub is generally less expensive than a network switch, which is another device for used for
creating LANs.

Network Router

A router is used to route data packets between two networks. It reads the information in each packet to
tell where it is going. If it is destined for an immediate network it has access to, it will strip the outer
packet, readdress the packet to the proper Ethernet address, and transmit it on that network.

Hub and Router

A hub and router are both networking devices designed to link two or more computers and networks
to each other. Both devices feature multiple ports in the front or back, which provide connection
points between computers and networks. The key distinguishing feature is the way each functions to
handle network traffic.

A hub is designed to serve as a shared connection point that links two or more devices in a network.
Typically, it is used to link separate segments of a LAN, enabling them to act as a single segment.
When a packet of data arrives at one of a hub's ports, it is forwarded to every single port without
distinguishing where it actually needs to go. Today, hubs are becoming obsolete as inexpensive
network switches are becoming increasingly rare.

A router is a "smarter," more sophisticated hardware device. It is designed to link multiple networks
such as local area networks (LANs), or a wide area networks (WANs). A router is typically connected
to at least two networks via a gateway, directing the flow of data packets within and between
networks.

Function

A router serves as a default, intermediary destination for the traffic in the network. Some specialized
routers are specifically designed to link different types of networks. Broadband routers, for example,
are designed to enable a LAN to connect to the Internet, or to a WAN for Internet connection sharing.
A hub is not capable of linking multiple networks or sharing an Internet connection. In home
networking, network hubs are primarily used for wired networks, while routers can be used for both
wired and wireless networks.

Bridges
A bridge reads the outermost section of data on the data packet, to tell where the message is going. It
reduces the traffic on other network segments, since it does not send all packets. Bridges can be
programmed to reject packets from particular networks.

Bridges operate at the data link layer (Layer 2) of the OSI model. Bridges inspect incoming traffic and
decide whether to forward or discard it.

Gateway

A gateway is a network point that acts as an entrance to another network. A gateway can translate
information between different network data formats or network architectures. It can translate TCP/IP
to AppleTalk so computers supporting TCP/IP can communicate with Apple brand computers.

The computers that control traffic within your company's network or at your local Internet service
provider (ISP) are gateway nodes. A network gateway converts packets from one protocol
(HTTP,TCP/IP,SMTP) to another. An application gateway converts commands and/or data from one
format to another. An e-mail gateway converts messages from one mail format to another

Repeaters

A repeater connects two segments of your network cable. It retimes and regenerates the signals to
proper amplitudes and sends them to the other segments. When talking about, ethernet topology, you
are probably talking about using a hub as a repeater. Repeaters require a small amount of time to
regenerate the signal. This can cause a propagation delay which can affect network communication
Topology

Network topology is the physical interconnections of the elements (links, nodes, etc.) of a computer
network.

 Bus

All devices are connected to a central cable or single cable called the bus or backbone. Bus networks
are relatively inexpensive and easy to install for small networks.

Since the bus topology consists of only one wire, it is rather inexpensive to implement when
compared to other topologies. However, the low cost of implementing the technology is offset by the
high cost of managing the network. Additionally, since only one cable is utilized, it can be the single
point of failure. If the network cable breaks, the entire network will be down.

 Star

A star topology is designed with each node connected directly to a central network hub or
concentrator with a point-to-point connection. All traffic that transverses the network passes through
the central hub. The hub acts as a signal booster or repeater. The star topology is considered the
easiest topology to design and implement. An advantage of the star topology is the simplicity of
adding additional nodes. The primary disadvantage of the star topology is that the hub represents a
single point of failure.

 Ring

In a ring topology, the network has no end collection. It forms a continuous ring through which data
travels from one node to another. In a ring network, every device has exactly two neighbours for
communication purposes. All messages travel through a ring in the same direction (either "clockwise"
or "counter clockwise").

Disadvantage of ring topology is the failure of one machine will cause the entire network to fail.

 Tree

A tree topology combines characteristics of linear bus and star topologies. It consists of groups of
star-configured workstations connected to a linear bus backbone cable. Tree topologies allow for the
expansion of an existing network, and enable schools to configure a network to meet their needs.

 Mesh

A type of network setup where each of the computers and network devices are interconnected with
one another, allowing for most transmissions to be distributed, even if one of the connections go
down. This type of topology is not commonly used for most computer networks as it is difficult and
expensive to have redundant connection to every computer. However, this type of topology is
commonly used for wireless networks.
OSI Model : Open systems interconnection

"All People Seem To Need Data Processing":

Systems Analysis and Design

Systems Analysis and Design is a systematic approach to

 identifying problems, opportunities, and objectives

 analyzing the information flows in organizations
 designing computerized information systems to solve a problem

Goal of Analysis and Design

Developing a System that meet organizational goals like

 Improving performance of employees

 Speeding the Processes
 Apt Decision Making
 SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT LIFE CYCLE

System development life cycle means combination of various activities that help in developing a
computerized Information System.

An SDLC has three primary business objectives:

 Provide strong management controls

 Ensure the delivery of high quality systems
 Maximize productivity

It is divided into 7 phases and each phase has unique activities

• Preliminary Investigation

• Feasibility Study

• Analysis

• Design

• Implementation

• Testing

• Maintenance

Preliminary Investigation

 Study of current system

 Defining the scope and Objectives of present system
 Identifying the limitations and problems of existing system
 Proposing Scope and Objectives of new system

Feasibility

 The feasibility study is used to determine if the project should get the go-ahead. If the project
is to proceed, the feasibility study will produce a project plan and budget estimates for the
future stages of development.
  Designing alternative solutions and checking feasibility

 Checking the availability of resources

Requirement Analysis

 Gathering the data about user requirements according to the system.This stage includes a
detailed study of the business needs of the organization. Options for changing the business
process may be considered.

 Functional hierarchy showing the functions to be performed by the new system and their
relationship with each other.

 All procedures, requirements are analyzed and documented in the form of detailed DFDs,
data dictionary, logical data structures and Control specification.

Design

 Design focuses on high level design like, what programs are needed and how are they going
to interact, low-level design (how the individual programs are going to work), interface
design (what are the interfaces going to look like) and data design (what data will be
required).

 Design is a blue print of a computer system solution to a given problem

 Input, output and processing specifications are drawn up in detail. In the design stage, the
programming language and the platform in which the new system will run are also decided.

 The data which is gathered in analysis phases is used in design phase Stages.

Implementation

 After designing the new system, the whole system is converted into computer understanding
language

 The defined procedures are transformed into control specifications by the help of a computer
language. This is also called the programming phase in which the programmer converts the
program specifications into computer instructions

 In this phase the designs are translated into code. Computer programs are written using a
conventional programming language or an application generator. Programming tools like
Compilers, Interpreters, and Debuggers are used to generate the code. Different high level
programming languages like C, C++, Pascal, and Java are used for coding. With respect to the
type of application, the right programming language is chosen.

Testing
  In this phase the system is tested. Normally programs are written as a series of individual
modules, these subject to separate and detailed test. The system is then tested as a whole. The
separate modules are brought together and tested as a complete system.

 Before actually implementing the new system into operations, a test run of the system is done
removing all the bugs, if any

 After codifying the whole programs of the system, a test plan should be developed and run on
a given set of test data. The output of the test run should match the expected results.

Maintenance

 Maintenance is necessary to eliminate errors in the system during its working life and to tune
the system to any variations in its working environment.

 It is the review of the system from time to time. The review of the system is done for:

• knowing the full capabilities of the system

• knowing the required changes or the additional requirements

• studying the performance

Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) or (SWDLC) or Waterfall Model

A framework that describes the activities performed at each stage of a software development
project.