CHAPYER ONE: what is the network?

1.1: Who Owns “The Internet”?

The Internet is not owned by any individual or group. The Internet is a worldwide collection
of interconnected networks (internetwork or Internet for short), cooperating with each other
to exchange information using common standards. Through telephone wires, fibre-optic
cables, wireless transmissions, and satellite links, Internet users can exchange information in
a variety of forms, as shown in the figure.

Everything that you access online is located somewhere on the global Internet. Social media
sites, multi-player games, messaging centres that provide email, online courses – all of these
Internet destinations are connected to local networks that send and receive information
through the Internet.
1.2: Local Networks

Local networks come in all sizes. They can range from simple networks consisting of two
computers, to networks connecting hundreds of thousands of devices. Networks installed in
small offices, or homes and home offices, are referred to as Small Office Home Office
(SOHO) networks. SOHO networks enable the sharing of resources, such as printers,
documents, pictures and music between a few local users.

In business, large networks can be used to advertise and sell products, order supplies, and
communicate with customers. Communication over a network is usually more efficient and
less expensive than traditional forms of communication, such as regular mail or long distance
phone calls. Networks allow for rapid communication such as email and instant messaging,
and provide consolidation and access to information stored on network servers.

Business and SOHO networks usually provide a shared connection to the Internet. The
Internet is considered a "network of networks" because it is literally made up of thousands of
local networks that are connected to each other

1.3: Making the Connections

The Internet connects more computing devices than just desktop and laptop computers. There
are devices all around that you may interact with on a daily basis that are also connected to
the Internet.

For example, people are using mobile devices more every day to communicate and
accomplish daily tasks, such as checking the weather or sharing pictures.

Many of the things in your home can also be connected to the Internet so that they can be
monitored and configured remotely.

There are also many connected devices found in the world outside your home that provide
convenience and useful or even vital information.
 TRANSMITTING DATA

2.1: What exactly is Data?

We hear about data all of the time. Customer data, personal data, health data, census data, but
what exactly is data? Perhaps the simplest definition of data is that data is a value that
represents something. In the physical world, we represent data as numbers, formulas,
alphabetic characters, and pictures. Think about all of the data that exists just about you.
Some examples include birth records, baby pictures, school records, and health records.

Most people use networks to transmit their data in order to share with others or for long-term
storage. Every time you hit “send” or “share” in an app or computer application, you are
telling your device to send your data to a destination somewhere on the network. Sometimes,
data is being sent by your devices and you may not even be aware that this is happening.
Examples of this are when you set up an automatic backup utility, or when your device
automatically searches for the router in a Wi-Fi hotspot

2.2: The Mighty Bit

Did you know that computers and networks only work with binary digits, zeros and ones? It
can be difficult to imagine that all of our data is stored and transmitted as a series of bits.
Each bit can only have one of two possible values, 0 or 1. The term bit is an abbreviation of
“binary digit” and represents the smallest piece of data. Humans interpret words and pictures,
computers interpret only patterns of bits.

A bit is stored and transmitted as one of two possible discrete states. This can include two
directions of magnetization, two distinct voltage or current levels, two distinct levels of light
intensity, or any other physical system of two discrete states. For example, a light switch can
be either On or Off; in binary representation, these states would correspond to 1 and 0
respectively.

Every input device (mouse, keyboard, voice-activated receiver) will translate human
interaction into binary code for the CPU to process and store. Every output device (printer,
speakers, monitors, etc.) will take binary data and translate it back into human recognizable
form. Within the computer itself, all data is processed and stored as binary.
Computers use binary codes to represent and interpret letters, numbers and special characters
with bits. A commonly used code is the American Standard Code for Information Interchange
(ASCII). With ASCII, each character is represented by eight bits. For example:

Capital letter: A = 01000001

Number: 9 = 00111001

Special character: # = 00100011

Each group of eight bits, such as the representations of letters and numbers, is known as a
byte.

Codes can be used to represent almost any type of information digitally: computer data,
graphics, photos, voice, video and music.

Click the link below to find the ASCII value for different text strings.

Enter up to five characters in the Characters field, then click the Translate button to see the
ASCII bit translation.

Click the Clear button to enter a different group of characters.

2.3: Getting Bits Moving

After the data is transformed into a series of bits, it must be converted into signals that can be
sent across the network media to its destination. Media refers to the physical medium on
which the signals are transmitted. Examples of media are copper wire, fiber-optic cable, and
electromagnetic waves through the air. A signal consists of electrical or optical patterns that
are transmitted from one connected device to another. These patterns represent the digital bits
(i.e. the data) and travel across the media from source to destination as either a series of
pulses of electricity, pulses of light, or radio waves. Signals may be converted many times
before ultimately reaching the destination, as corresponding media changes between source
and destination.

There are three common methods of signal transmission used in networks:

Electrical signals - Transmission is achieved by representing data as electrical pulses on

copper wire.

Optical signals - Transmission is achieved by converting the electrical signals into light
pulses.

Wireless signals - Transmission is achieved by using infrared, microwave, or radio waves

through the air.

In most homes and small businesses, network signals are transmitted across copper wires
(cables) or Wi-Fi enabled wireless connections. Larger networks employ fiber-optic cables in
order to reliably carry signals for longer distances.

The animation below is a representation of three different types signals used in networks
2.4: Measuring Bandwidth

Streaming a movie or playing a multi-player game requires reliable, fast connections. In order
to support these “high bandwidth” applications, networks have to be capable of transmitting
and receiving bits at a very high rate.

Different physical media support the transfer of bits at different speeds. The rate of data
transfer is usually discussed in terms of bandwidth and throughput.

Bandwidth is the capacity of a medium to carry data. Digital bandwidth measures the amount
of data that can flow from one place to another in a given amount of time. Bandwidth is
typically measured in the number of bits that (theoretically) can be sent across the media in a
second. Common bandwidth measurements are:

Thousands of bits per second (kb/s)

Millions of bits per second (Mb/s)

Billions of bits per second (Gb/s)

Physical media properties, current technologies, and the laws of physics all play a role in
determining available bandwidth.
 The table shows the commonly used units of measure for bandwidth.

2.5: Measuring Throughput

Like bandwidth, throughput is the measure of the transfer of bits across the media over a
given period of time. However, due to a number of factors, throughput does not usually
match the specified bandwidth. Many factors influence throughput including:

 The amount of data being sent and received over the connection

 The types of data being transmitted

 The latency created by the number of network devices encountered between source and
destination

 Latency refers to the amount of time, including delays, for data to travel from one given
point to another.

Throughput measurements do not take into account the validity or usefulness of the bits being
transmitted and received. Many messages received through the network are not destined for
specific user applications. An example would be network control messages that regulate
traffic and correct errors.

In an internetwork or network with multiple segments, throughput cannot be faster than the
slowest link of the path from sending device to the receiving device. Even if all or most of the
segments have high bandwidth, it will only take one segment in the path with lower
bandwidth to create a slowdown of the throughput of the entire network.

There are many online speed tests that can reveal the throughput of an Internet connection.
The figure provides sample results from a speed test.

3: network component

3.1: clients and servers

All computers connected to a network that participate directly in network communication are
classified as hosts. Hosts can send and receive messages on the network. In modern networks,
computer hosts can act as a client, a server, or both. The software installed on the computer
determines which role the computer plays.

Servers are hosts that have software installed that enable them to provide information, like
email or web pages, to other hosts on the network. Each service requires separate server
software. For example, a host requires web server software in order to provide web services
to the network. Every destination that you visit online is provided to you by a server located
somewhere on a network that is connected to the global Internet.

Clients are computer hosts that have software installed that enable them to request and
display the information obtained from the server. An example of client software is a web
browser, such as Internet Explorer, Safari, Mozilla Firefox, or Chrome.

Review more information below on descriptions of the different types of clients and servers.

File Client and Server

The File Server stores corporate end-user files in a central location. The client devices access
these files with client software such as Windows Explorer
 3.2: Multiple Roles in the Network

A computer with server software can provide services simultaneously to one or many clients,
as shown in the figure.

Additionally, a single computer can run multiple types of server software. In a home or small
business, it may be necessary for one computer to act as a file server, a web server, and an
email server.

A single computer can also run multiple types of client software. There must be client
software for every service required. With multiple types of client software installed, a host
can connect to multiple servers at the same time. For example, a user can check email and
view a web page while instant messaging and listening to Internet radio

3.3: Network Infrastructure

The path that a message takes from its source to destination can be as simple as a single cable
connecting one computer to another or as complex as a network that literally spans the globe.
This network infrastructure is the platform that supports the network. It provides the stable
and reliable channel over which our communications can occur.

The network infrastructure contains three categories of hardware components:

 Intermediate devices
 End devices

 Network media

Devices and media are the physical elements, or hardware, of the network. Hardware is often
the visible components of the network platform such as a laptop, PC, switch, router, wireless
access point, or the cabling used to connect the devices. Occasionally, some components may
not be so visible. In the case of wireless media, messages are transmitted through the air
using invisible radio frequency or infrared waves.

When documenting your network, it is helpful to make a list of the network infrastructure
components installed in your home network. Be sure to include the cables or wireless access
points that provide your network connections.

3.4: End Devices

The network devices that people are most familiar with are called end devices, or hosts.
These devices form the interface between users and the underlying communication network.

Some examples of end devices are:

 Computers (work stations, laptops, file servers, web servers)

 Network printers

 Telephones and teleconferencing equipment

 Security cameras

 Mobile devices (such as smart phones, tablets, PDAs, and wireless debit/credit card readers
and barcode scanners)

An end device (or host) is either the source or destination of a message transmitted over the
network, as shown in the animation. In order for the intended recipient to receive the
message, devices in the network must be uniquely identified. In networks, this is done by
assigning each host a unique address. In most networks today, an IP address is used. When a
host initiates communication, it uses the address of the destination host to specify where the
message should be sent.
Watch the animation of data flowing through a network