What is Computer Network?

----A computer network, often simply referred to as a network, is a collection of hardware components and computers interconnected by communication channels that allow sharing of resources and information. Where at least one process in one device is able to send/receive data to/from at least one process residing in a remote device, then the two devices are said to be in a network. Simply,when more than one computers are interconnected through a communication media for information interchange called computer network. Application of Computer Network: 1Peer-to-peer (abbreviated to P2P) refers to a computer network in which each computer in the network can act as a client or server for the other computers in the network, allowing shared access to files and peripherals without the need for a central server. P2P networks can be set up in the home, a business or over the Internet. Each network type requires all computers in the network to use the same or a compatible program to connect to each other and access files and other resources found on the other computer. P2P networks can be used for sharing content such as audio, video, data or anything in digital format. 2.Internet-The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite (often called TCP/IP, although not all applications use TCP) to serve billions of users worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks, of local to global scope, that are linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries an extensive range of information resources and services, such as the inter-linked hypertext documents of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the infrastructure to support email. 3.Transport Layer: In computer networking, the transport layer or layer 4 provides end-to-end communication services for applications[1] within a layered architecture of network components and protocols. The transport layer provides convenient services such as connection-oriented data stream support, reliability, flow control, and multiplexing. Transport layers are contained in both the TCP/IP model (RFC 1122),[2] which is the foundation of the Internet, and the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model of general networking. The definitions of the transport layer are slightly different in these two models. This article primarily refers to the TCP/IP model, in which TCP is largely for a convenient application programming interface to internet hosts, as opposed to the OSI-model definition of the transport layer. The most well-known transport protocol is the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). It lent its name to the title of the entire Internet Protocol Suite, TCP/IP. It is used for connectionoriented transmissions, whereas the connectionless User Datagram Protocol (UDP) is used for simpler messaging transmissions. TCP is the more complex protocol, due to its stateful design incorporating reliable transmission and data stream services. Other prominent protocols in this group are the Datagram Congestion Control Protocol (DCCP) and the Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP). 4.APPARANET: The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET), was the world's first operational packet switching network and the core network of a set that came to compose the global Internet. The network was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) of the United States Department of Defense for use by its projects at universities and research laboratories in the US. The packet switching of the ARPANET was based on designs by Lawrence Roberts of the Lincoln Laboratory.[1] Packet switching, today the dominant basis for data communications worldwide, was a new concept at the time of the conception of the ARPANET. Prior to the advent of packet switching, both voice and data communications had been based on the idea of circuit switching, as in the traditional telephone circuit, wherein each telephone call is allocated a dedicated, end to end, electronic connection between the two communicating stations. Such stations might be telephones or computers. The (temporarily) dedicated line is typically composed of many intermediary lines which are assembled into a chain that stretches all the way from the originating station to the destination station. With packet switching, a data system could use a single communications link to communicate with more than one machine by collecting data into datagrams and transmitting these as packets onto the attached network link, as soon as the link becomes idle. Thus, not only can the link be shared, much as a single post box can be used to post letters to different destinations, but each packet can be routed independently of other packet 5.Remote Desktop Service: Remote Desktop Services in Windows Server 2008 R2, formerly known as Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008 and previous versions, is one of the components of Microsoft Windows (both server and client versions) that allows a user to access applications and data on a remote computer over a network, using the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). Terminal Services is Microsoft's implementation of thin-client terminal server computing, where Windows applications, or even the entire desktop of the computer running Terminal Services, are made accessible to a remote client machine. The client can either be a full-fledged computer, running any operating system as long as the terminal services protocol is supported, or a barebone machine powerful enough to support the protocol (such as Windows FLP). With terminal services, only the user interface of an application is presented at the client. Any input to it is redirected over the network to the server, where all application execution takes place.[1] This is in contrast to appstreaming systems, like Microsoft Application Virtualization, in which the applications, while still stored on a centralized server, are streamed to the client on-demand and then executed on the client machine. Microsoft changed the name from Terminal Services to Remote Desktop Services with the release of Windows Server 2008 R2 in October 2009.[2] RemoteFX was added to Remote Desktop Services as part of Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1. Word Wide Web(www): The World Wide Web (known as "WWW', "Web" or "W3") is the universe of network-accessible information, the embodiment of human knowledge. The World Wide Web began as a networked information project at CERN, where Tim Berners-Lee, now Director of the World Wide Web Consortium [W3C], developed a vision of the project. The Web has a body of software, and a set of protocols and conventions. Through the use hypertext and multimedia techniques, the web is easy for anyone to roam, browse, and contribute to. An early talk about the Web gives some more background on how the Web was originally conceived.

Explain layered architecture of OSI reference model.A Layered Architecture

The OSI reference model architecture divides network communication into seven layers. Each layer covers different network activities, equipment, or protocols. Figure 5.1 represents the layered architecture of the OSI reference model. (Layering specifies different functions and services as data moves from one computer through the network cabling to another computer.) The OSI reference model defines how each layer communicates and works with the layers immediately above and below it. For example, the session layer communicates and works with the presentation and transport layers.

Figure 5.1 The seven-layer OSI reference model Each layer provides some service or action that prepares the data for delivery over the network to another computer. The lowest layers1 and 2define the network's physical media and related tasks, such as putting data bits onto the network interface cards (NICs) and cable. The highest layers define how applications access communication services. The higher the layer, the more complex its task. The layers are separated from each other by boundaries called interfaces. All requests are passed from one layer, through the interface, to the next layer. Each layer builds upon the standards and activities of the layer below it.

Write the general comparison between OSI and TCP/IP

Comparison between OSI and TCP/IP Reference Models OSI and TCP/IP models are based on the concept of a stack of independent protocols. Functions of the layers are more or less similar. Three concepts are central to OSI Model: Services, Interfaces, and Protocols. Services: This definition tells what the layer does. It defines the layers semantics. Interface: It tells the process above it how to access it. Peer Protocols: Protocols used in a layer are the layers own business. TCP/IP model did not clearly distinguish between service, interface and protocol. The protocols in the OSI model are better hidden than in the TCP/IP model and can be replaced relatively easily as the technology changes. It is learnt that the OSI model was devised before the protocols were invented. This ordering means that the model was not biased toward one particular set of protocols. Downside of this ordering is that the designers did not have much experience with the subject and did not have good idea of which functionality to put in which layer. The committee originally expected that each country would have one network ,run by the government and using the OSI Protocols, so no thought was given to internetworking. With TCP/IP, the protocols came first and the model was really just a description of existing protocols. Protocols fit the model perfectly. The only trouble was that the model did not fit any other protocols stacks.

The difference between two models is the number of layers: the OSI model has seven layers and the TCP/IP has four layers .Both have (inter)network, transport and Application layers, but the other layers are different. Another difference is in the area of connectionless and connection oriented communication. OSI Model supports connection oriented communication in transport layer, whereas in network layer it supports both connectionless and connection oriented. The TCP/IP model has only one mode in the network layer but supports both modes in transport layer. Port Numbers Port numbers are the mechanism for identifying particular client and server applications. Servers select a port to wait for a connection. Most services have well-known port numbers. For example, HTTP uses port 80.When a web browser (the client) requests a web page it specifies port 80 when contacting the server. Clients usually have ephemeral port numbers since they exist only as long as the session lasts. Some of the common well-known TCP port numbers are listed in the table below. Port Number Listening Application 7 Echo request 20/21 File Transfer Protocol (FTP) 23 Telnet 25 Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) 53 Domain Name Server 80 HTTP Server 2.1 Ethernet Address All Ethernet interfaces have a unique 48-bit address that is supplied by the manufacturer. It is called the Ethernet address (also known as the MAC address, for Media Access Control). Ethernet-enabled Z-World boards store this value in Flash Memory (EEPROM) that is programmed at the factory. If you need unique Ethernet addresses for some product you are making, you can obtain them from the IEEE Registration Authority. To read the MAC address of a TCP/IP Development Board, run the utility program display_MAC.c. It is located on the Technical Support Sample Program Web page: http://www.rabbitsemiconductor.com/support_center/rab20_support.html. It is also included with Dynamic C, version 7.04 and above. 2.2 Physical Connections A Realtek RTL8019 10Base-T interface chip provides a 10 Mbps Ethernet connection. This chip is used on many Ethernet-enabled Z-World boards. The corresponding port can be connected directly to an Ethernet network. By using hubs and routers, a network can include a large number of computers. A network might include all the computers in a particular building. A local network can be connected to the Internet by means of a gateway. The gateway is a computer that is connected both to the local network and to the Internet. Data that must be sent out over the Internet are sent to the local network interface of the gateway, and then the gateway sends them on to the Internet for routing to some other computer in the world. Data coming in from the Internet are directed to the gateway, which then sends them to the correct recipient on the local network. The TCP three-way handshake in Transmission Control Protocol (also called the TCP-handshake; three message handshake and/or SYN-SYN-ACK) is the method used by TCP set up a TCP/IP connection over an Internet Protocol based network. TCP's three way handshaking technique is often referred to as "SYN-SYN-ACK" (or more accurately SYN, SYN-ACK, ACK) because there are three messages transmitted by TCP to negotiate and start a TCP session between two computers. The TCP handshaking mechanism is designed so that two computers attempting to communicate can negotiate the parameters of the network TCP socket connection before transmitting data such as SSH and HTTP web browser requests. This process is also designed so that both ends can initiate and negotiate separate TCP socket connections at the same time. Being able to negotiate multiple TCP socket connections in both directions at the same time allows a single physical network interface (such as ethernet) to be multiplexed to transfer multiple streams of data simultaneously.