Thursday, January 26, 2012

Computer Networking - Basic Facts

By Christy Lyons


A computer network is a collection of two or more computers with communication between them through a medium. The communication medium can be through radio waves, wires, infrared, optical fibers etc.

With the most important reason being that of communication, computer network is an integral part of our daily lives. The use of computer networking is to share resources like fax machines, printers, modems, files etc., and its other uses are database server, computer server, email, chat, internet etc. The computer to which the resources are attached is called the server and the other computers that access the resource are called clients. In peer-to-peer computer networks there are no servers.

The operational cost is reduced because of the sharing of fax machines, printers, and modems amongst many computers and users. A database on a computer network is a very important application as it stores and runs many important data and jobs. For instantaneous communication and sending of files on a computer network, emails and chats can be used.

Depending upon the size, the computer networks are classified as Local Area Networks (LAN), Wide Area Networks (WAN), Metropolitan Area Networks (MAN) and Personal Area Networks (PAN). The topology (topology is the way the computer networks and network resources are connected) of the networking can be classified as Bus Network, Ring Network and Star Network.

The networking hardware basically consists of wiring, network cards and a hub. The reason why computer networks are required is so that one computer can understand what the other computer is "talking." In order to computers on a computer network, network cards have a unique MAC address. Hubs connect all the computers in the network. You can increase the size of the computer network since hubs can be used to connect to other hubs as well. Using Ethernet cards or phone lines or power lines for communication with hardware kits available at roughly a cost of $100, two computers can be connected.

A viable solution would be wireless networking since the number of computers in an office or a home increases. What happens in wireless networking is that radio transreceivers or infrared signals are used to communicate between computers and devices. Examples of wireless networking include Wi-fi and Bluetooth technology, though there may be security issues involved in wireless networking. But keep in mind that there is definitely a stronger preference towards wireless networking nowadays among consumers.

Computer networks have added a new dimension to the 21st century. Today the cyber world is much faster and wider than the real world. All of this has been made possible due to computer networks. What computer networks have done is revolutionized business communication, travel, research, defense, society and almost all human endeavors. The technological revolution has taken a big leap forward because of the evolution of computer networks.




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