Network of

Networks
 UNIT-II
Technical Aspects of EC
• A Network of Networks
• TCP/IP
• Hyper Text Transfer Protocol
• Web Browsers
• Web Servers
• Commercial Web Servers
• Intranet
• Extranet
• EDI
 LEARNING OUTCOMES
• A Network of Networks
• Internet
• Define Computer Networks
• Define Communication
• State Importance of Computer network and communication
• Network classification
• Types of networks
• Comparison of different networks
• TCP/IP
• Hypertext Transfer Protocol
 Internet
• A network formed by the co-operative
interconnection of a large no. of computer
networks.
• Since Internet is formed by the
interconnection of no. of networks,
sometimes its also called as network of
networks
 What is…

COMPUTER
NETWORK
 Computer network
• A computer network is a system of
interconnected computers and peripheral
devices.
• For example, it may connect computers,
printers, scanners and cameras.
COMMUNICATIONS
What is…
 Communications
• Communications is about the transfer of
information from a sender, across a
distance, to a receiver.
• Communication is an act of transmitting
messages.
 Computer network communication
• We transmit information or data by
using two types of signals, namely
analog and digital.
• Computers communicate with digital
signals.
• The older forms of communications
technology, such as telephones and
radios, use analog signals.
 Network Classification
• Connection method
Computer networks can also be classified according to the hardware and software
technology that is used to interconnect the individual devices in the network, such as
Optical fiber, Ethernet, Wireless LAN, HomePNA, Power line communication or G.hn.

• Scale
Based on their scale, networks can be classified as Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network
(WAN), Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), Personal Area Network (PAN), Virtual Private Network
(VPN), Campus Area Network (CAN), Storage Area Network (SAN), etc.

• Functional relationship (network architecture)

Computer networks may be classified according to the functional relationships which exist
among the elements of the network, e.g., Active Networking, Client-server and Peer-to-peer
(workgroup) architecture.

• Network topology
Computer networks may be classified according to the network topology upon which the network
is based, such as bus network, star network, ring network, mesh network, star-bus network,
tree or hierarchical topology network.
 Types of Networks
• Local area network(LAN)
• Metropolitan area network(MAN)
• Wide area network(WAN)
• Personal area network (PAN)
• Campus area network (CAN)
• Global area networks (GAN)
• Virtual private network (VPN)
 LOCAL AREA NETWORK (LAN)
• Smallest network compared to
the other two networks.
• The simplest form of LAN is to
connect two computers
together.
• LAN is operated within a
limited physical area, such as at
home, school, a single building
or several buildings.
• A network which consists of
less than 500 interconnected
devices across several
buildings, is still recognised as a
LAN.
 METROPOLITAN AREA NETWORK (MAN)
 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.
MANs provide Internet connectivity for LANs in a
metropolitan region, and connect them to wider
area networks like the Internet
 A MAN is made from switches or routers connected
to one another with high-speed links (usually fibre
optic cables).
 Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) are networks
that connect LANs together within a city.
 WIDE AREA NETWORK (WAN)
• The largest network of all network types.
• Internet is the largest WAN in the world.
• WAN generally covers large distances such as
states, countries or continents.
• This is network which covers a large
geographical area, and use communications
circuits to connect the intermediate nodes.
• In other words this is in contrast to both the
local area network and the metropolitan area
network, which provides communication
within a restricted geographic area.
• WAN is a group of MANs or LANs or the
mixture of both networks.
Comparison of LAN, MAN, WAN
 Personal area network
A personal area network (PAN) is a computer
network used for communication among
computer devices close to one person. Some
examples of devices that are used in a PAN are
printers, fax machines, telephones, PDAs and
scanners. The reach of a PAN is typically about
20-30 feet (approximately 6-9 meters), but this
is expected to increase with technology
improvements.
• A campus area network (CAN) is a computer
network made up of an interconnection of local area
networks (LANs) within a limited geographical area. It
can be considered one form of a metropolitan area
network, specific to an academic setting.
• A global area networks (GAN) specification is in
development by several groups, and there is no
common definition. In general, however, a GAN is a
model for supporting mobile communications across
an arbitrary number of wireless LANs, satellite
coverage areas, etc.
• A virtual private network (VPN) is a computer
network in which some of the links between nodes
are carried by open connections or virtual circuits in
some larger network (e.g., the Internet) instead of by
physical wires.
 Network architecture
• Overall design of a computer network that describes how a
computer network is configured and what strategies are
being used.
• mainly focuses on the functions of the networks.
• Also known as network model or network design.
• They are two types
– Client / Server Network
– Peer-to-peer or P2P Network
CLIENT/SERVER NETWORK
• A client/server network is a network in which the
shared files and applications are stored in the
server but network users (clients) can still store
files on their individual PCs.
• A server is a computer that shares information
and resources with other computers on a
network.
• A client is a computer which requests services or
files from a server computer.
 Network architecture
Peer-to-peer or P2P
• It is a network with all the nodes
acting as both servers and clients.
• A PC can access files located on
another PC and can also provide
files to other PCs.
• All computers in the peer-to-peer
network has equal responsibilities
and capabilities to use the
resources available on the network.
• With peer-to-peer network, no
server is needed; each computer in
the network is called a peer.
Differences
 Network topology
• Computer networks may be classified according to the
network topology upon which the network is based, such as
bus network, star network, ring network, mesh network,
star-bus network, tree or hierarchical topology network.
• Network topology signifies the way in which devices in the
network see their logical relations to one another.
 Bus Topology

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 Star Topology

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 Ring Topology

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 Basic hardware components

Network Interface Repeaters Hub

Card

Bridges Switches Routers

TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet
Protocol)
 TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) is the basic communication language or
protocol of the Internet.
 It can also be used as a communications protocol in a private network (either an intranet or an
extranet).
 When you are set up with direct access to the Internet, your computer is provided with a copy of the
TCP/IP program just as every other computer that you may send messages to or get information from
also has a copy of TCP/IP.
 TCP/IP is a two-layer program.
 The higher layer, TCP, manages the assembling of a message or file into smaller packets that are
transmitted over the Internet and received by a TCP layer that reassembles the packets into the original
message.
 The lower layer, Internet Protocol, handles the address part of each packet so that it gets to the right
destination.
 The TCP/IP model consists of four layers, From lowest to highest, these are the Link Layer, the Internet
Layer, the Transport Layer, and the Application Layer
 TCP/IP

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 Hypertext Transfer Protocol
 HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is the set of rules for transferring files (text, graphic images, sound,
video, and other multimedia files) on the World Wide Web.
 As soon as a Web user opens their Web browser, the user is indirectly making use of HTTP. HTTP is an
application protocol that runs on top of the TCP/IP suite of protocols.
 HTTP development was coordinated by the World Wide Web Consortium and the
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
 HTTP/1.1, the version of HTTP in common use
 HTTP is a request/response standard between a client and a server
 When the browser user enters file requests by either "opening" a Web file (typing in a Uniform
Resource Locator or URL) or clicking on a hypertext link, the browser builds an HTTP request
 It establishes a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connection to a particular port on a host (port 80
by default; see List of TCP and UDP port numbers) and sends it to the Internet Protocol address (IP
address) indicated by the URL.
 Upon receiving the request, the server sends back a status line, such as "HTTP/1.1 200 OK", and a
message of its own, the body of which is perhaps the requested resource, an error message, or some
other information.
 Network to HTTP

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How a Computer Network Works?

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