Data Communication &

Computer Networks (DCCN)

IT-360
Basic Terms of Networking

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Peer to Peer VS Client Server Networks

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Peer to Peer Networks

• All computers have the same status, hence the term

'peer', and they communicate with each other on an
equal footing.
• Files, such as word processing or spreadsheet
documents, can be shared across the network and all
the computers on the network can share devices,
such as printers or scanners, which are connected to
any one computer.
• Peer to peer are more commonly implemented
where less then ten computers are involved and
where strict security is not necessary.
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Peer to Peer Networks

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Client/server networks

• A central computer, or 'server', acts as the storage

location for files and applications shared on the
network.
• Usually the server is a higher than average
performance computer.
• The server also controls the network access of the
other computers which are referred to as the 'client'
computers.
• Client/server networks are more suitable for larger
networks
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Client/server networks

• Typically, teachers and students in a school will use

the client computers for their work and only the
network administrator will have access rights to the
server.

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Circuit Switching VS Packet Switching

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Circuit Switching

• Circuit switching is a switching method in which a

dedicated communication path in physical form
between two stations within a network is
established, maintained and terminated for each
communication session.
• It has basically three phases as circuit establishment,
data transfer and circuit disconnect. The most
common example of circuit switching is the
telephone network.
• Once the connection is established, the data transfer
is transparent.
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Circuit Switching

• The main feature of such a connection is that it

provides a fixed data rate channel and both
subscribers must operate at this rate.
• It is considered inefficient compared to packet
switching because channel capacity is completely
dedicated for duration of connection.
• If there is no data at any moment of time, channel
capacity goes wasted.
• Moreover, setting up of connection takes time.

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Circuit Switching

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Packet Switching

• Packet switching can be used as an alternate to

circuit switching.
• In the packet switched networks, data is sent in
discrete units that have variable length.
• They are called as packets.
• There is a strict upper bound limit on the size of
packets in a packet switch network.
• The packet contains data and various
control information.

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Packet Switching

• The packet switched networks allow any host to

send data to any other host without reserving the
circuit.
• Multiple paths between a pair of sender and receiver
may exist in a packet switched network.
• Packet switching limits the length of the message to
a fixed size.
• A long message in the message-switching scheme
will be split into a sequence of fixed sized packets.

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Packet Switching

• The size or length of a packet may be between 1000

to a few thousand bits, because, the transmission
time is usually short.
• Apart from the data field, a packet also contains a
header and a trailer field.
• The header field consists of the source and
destination addresses, and sequence number of the
packet.
• The trailer field consists of checksum that is used for
error control.
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Packet Switching

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Serial VS Parallel Communication

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Serial Communication

• In serial communication, there is a single channel

between the sender and receiver.
• In this method, the bits line up at the receiver, and
each bit travels through the channel one at a time.
• Even though, it appears that serial communication is
slower because of transferring one bit at a time, in
practice it is fast.
• The data transmission speed is higher especially at
high frequencies and when there are long distances.

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Serial Communication

• Furthermore, as there is only one channel or a line,

the cost of this communication is minimum.
• In brief, serial communication is simple,
straightforward and accurate.

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Parallel Communication

• In parallel communication, multiple bits sent

through the channels or buses simultaneously.
• For short distances and low frequencies, the parallel
communication is fast because several bits transmit
at a time.
• However, when increasing the distance and the
frequency, it causes some issues in parallel
communication.

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Parallel Communication

• One major issue is crosstalk. It is the possibility of

bits skipping into other channels or buses. This can
result in making the output at receiver end different
from the sender’s.
• Another issue is skewing, i.e. the receiver has to
wait till the slowest bit arrives.
• Therefore, even though parallel communication is
faster for short distances and low frequencies, the
speed gets lower for long distances and high
frequencies due to the above issues.

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Parallel Communication

• In brief, this communication is unreliable and is a

complicated transmission method.

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