Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Data Communications: Computer Fundamentals
Data Communications: Computer Fundamentals
Computer Fundamentals
■ Data communications come in different forms depending on the
network setup. For example, users of the computer in a large
organization can send information to other users in the same
department. If necessary a user can also send information to
another user belonging to another department within the
company. This is an example of a network.
■ A network is computers connected with each other via network
cables.
■ Network topologies describe the ways in which the elements of a
network are connected. They describe the physical and logical
arrangement of network nodes.
■ There are different ways of connecting computers in the network as discussed below:
– 1. Bus Topology. Where there is a primary node and several secondary nodes. When the
secondary node wants to send information to another secondary node the information is first
sent to the primary node then sent to the targeted secondary node. For example, when
secondary node 2 will send a message to secondary node 5, the message will be sent to the
primary Node, the primary node will determine where the message is to be sent then send the
message to the intended receiver.
– Advantages
▸ It is easy to set up, handle, and implement.
▸ It is best-suited for small networks.
▸ It costs very less.
Disadvantages
▸ The cable length is limited. This limits the number of network nodes that can be connected.
▸ This network topology can perform well only for a limited number of nodes. When the number
of devices connected to the bus increases, the efficiency decreases.
▸ It is suitable for networks with low traffic. High traffic increases load on the bus, and the
network efficiency drops.
▸ It is heavily dependent on the central bus. A fault in the bus leads to network failure.
▸ It is not easy to isolate faults in the network nodes.
▸ Each device on the network "sees" all the data being transmitted, thus posing a security risk.
– 2. Star or Hub Topology. A primary node is the center of the network with secondary nodes
connected to it. When a message coming from a secondary node is being sent to another
secondary node the message will go to the primary node first before being sent to the targeted
node.
– Advantages
▸ Due to its centralized nature, the topology offers simplicity of operation.
▸ It also achieves isolation of each device in the network.
▸ Adding or removing network nodes is easy, and can be done without affecting the entire
network.
▸ Due to the centralized nature, it is easy to detect faults in the network devices.
▸ As the analysis of traffic is easy, the topology poses lesser security risk.
▸ Data packets do not have to pass through many nodes, like in the case of a ring network.
Thus, with the use of a high-capacity central hub, traffic load can be handled at fairly decent
speeds.
Disadvantages
▸ Network operation depends on the functioning of the central hub. Hence, central hub failure
leads to failure of the entire network.
▸ Also, the number of nodes that can be added, depends on the capacity of the central hub.
▸ The setup cost is quite high.
– 3. Ring Topology. In this setup there is no primary node and all the computers are peer stations. When a message
is sent by one station to another the message will be sent to one station to another until the targeted recipient is
found. Messages are sent in one direction only. The main problem of the design is when one station is not
working the message might not reach the intended receiver. The problem can be solved by employing a dual ring
system. In a dual ring system traffic can flow in both directions. When a message is sent by station 5 to station 3
with station 4 as non-functioning, station 4 will be taken out of the ring. The message will be sent in the opposite
direction until it reaches station 3.
– Advantages
▸ The data being transmitted between two nodes passes through all the intermediate nodes. A central server is
not required for the management of this topology.
▸ The traffic is unidirectional and the data transmission is high-speed.
▸ In comparison to a bus, a ring is better at handling load.
▸ The adding or removing of network nodes is easy, as the process requires changing only two connections.
▸ The configuration makes it easy to identify faults in network nodes.
▸ In this topology, each node has the opportunity to transmit data. Thus, it is a very organized network topology.
▸ It is less costly than a star topology.
Disadvantages
▸ The failure of a single node in the network can cause the entire network to fail.
▸ The movement or changes made to network nodes affect the entire network's performance.
▸ Data sent from one node to another has to pass through all the intermediate nodes. This makes the
transmission slower in comparison to that in a star topology. The transmission speed drops with an increase in the
number of nodes.
▸ There is heavy dependency on the wire connecting the network nodes in the ring.
■ 4. Mesh Topology. A mesh network is a network topology in which each node relays data for the
network. All mesh nodes cooperate in the distribution of data in the network. Mesh networks can
relay messages using either a flooding technique or a routing technique.
■ Advantages
▸ The arrangement of the network nodes is such that it is possible to transmit data from one node
to many other nodes at the same time.
▸ The failure of a single node does not cause the entire network to fail as there are alternate paths
for data transmission.
▸ It can handle heavy traffic, as there are dedicated paths between any two network nodes.
▸ Point-to-point contact between every pair of nodes, makes it easy to identify faults.
Disadvantages
▸ The arrangement wherein every network node is connected to every other node of the network,
many connections serve no major purpose. This leads to redundancy of many network connections.
▸ A lot of cabling is required. Thus, the costs incurred in setup and maintenance are high.
▸ Owing to its complexity, the administration of a mesh network is difficult.
5. Hybrid Topology
A hybrid topology combines two or more topologies and is meant to reap their advantages.
Obviously, the advantages and disadvantages of a hybrid topology are a combination of the merits
and demerits of the topologies used to structure it.
Types of Network
■ 1. Local Area Network (LAN). A group of computers located in a small
are connected by a communications link to be able to interact within
the group. The first LAN called ETHERNET connected mainframes and
computers in the entire building. In this setup people in the
organization can send information to different people in different
parts of the organization.
■ 2. Wide Area Network (WAN). The network is now extended outside of
the building to different locations but within the country.
■ 3. Global Area Network. (GAN). The network is extended to different
countries.
■ 4. Wireless Network. A wireless network uses frequency emitted by
the router to connect to the network.
Wireless Telecommunications Networks
■ personal area network (PAN)
A wireless telecommunications network for device-to-device
connections within a very short range
■ Bluetooth
A set of telecommunications standards that enables wireless
devices to communicate with each other over short distances
9-9
Wireless Telecommunications Networks
9-10
Wireless Telecommunications Networks
9-11
Wireless Telecommunications Networks
9-12
Wireless Ad Hoc Sensor Networks
A wireless ad hoc sensor network consists of a number of sensors spread across a
geographical area. Each sensor has wireless communication capability and some
level of intelligence for signal processing and networking of the data. Some
examples of wireless ad hoc sensor networks are the following:
■ Military sensor networks to detect and gain as much information as possible about
enemy movements, explosions, and other phenomena of interest.
http://www.france24.com/en/20130618-google-balloons-internet-new-zealand-web-loon
Google Glass
■ Internet connections are provided by internet service
providers (ISP). The ISPs assign internet address to
users. Internet address are usually typed in text form
then converted to numeric form. For example, the
internet address typed by the user is
http://www.school.educ.ph. The internet address in text
form is converted to numeric form like 192.175.34.213.
internet addresses are known as universal resource
locators (URL).
■ http://www.school.edu.ph
The following are the different parts that compromise the internet
address:
■ 1. Hypertext Transfer protocol (http). This controls the access to different websites.
■ 2. World Wide Web (www). A form of communication to gain access to information, do business
transactions and to communicate with other individuals when connecting through the internet.
■ 3. Domain Name. in the example above school is the domain name. it is the name assigned to the
web site owner (individual or organization).
■ 4. Domain Top. This determines the type of organization that owns the website. There are different
types of domain top mainly:
– A. .com for commercial sites
– B. .gov for government sites
– C. .org for organizations
– D. .edu for education like schools, colleges and universities.
– E. .tv for television network sites
5. Country code. Country code are sometimes specified as to distinguish the web site from others.
Network Security