Understanding

Computer Networks
Agenda
What is Computer
01 Network
Types of Computer
Networks 02
Computer Network
03 Topologies
Basic Network Devices 04
Features Of Computer
05 network
Computer Network
Architecture 06
01 What is Computer Network
What is Computer Network
• A computer network comprises two or more
computers that are connected—either by cables
(wired) or WiFi (wireless)—with the purpose of
transmitting, exchanging, or sharing data and
resources.

• We build a computer network using hardware (e.g.,

routers, switches, access points, and cables) and
software (e.g., Operating systems or business
applications)
02 Types of Computer Networks
Types of Computer Networks
• LAN (Local Area Network): A LAN connects computers over a
relatively short distance, allowing them to share data, files, and
resources. For example, a LAN may connect all the computers in
an office building, school, or hospital. Typically, LANs are privately
owned and managed.
• WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network): A WLAN is just like a LAN
but connections between devices on the network are made
wirelessly.
• WAN (Wide Area Network): As the name implies, a WAN connects
computers over a wide area, such as from region to region or even
continent to continent. The internet is the largest WAN,
connecting billions of computers worldwide. You will typically see
collective or distributed ownership models for WAN management.
Types of Computer Networks
• MAN (Metropolitan Area Network): MANs are typically larger
than LANs but smaller than WANs. Cities and government entities
typically own and manage MANs.

• SAN (Storage Area Network): A SAN is a specialized network that

provides access to block-level storage—shared network or cloud
storage that, to the user, looks and works like a storage drive
that’s physically attached to a computer.
Types of Computer Networks
VPN (Virtual Private Network):

• A virtual private network, or VPN, is an encrypted connection over

the Internet from a device to a network.

• The encrypted connection helps ensure that sensitive data is safely

transmitted.

• It prevents unauthorized people from eavesdropping on the traffic

and allows the user to conduct work remotely.  

• VPN technology is widely used in corporate environments.

 Types of VPN (Virtual Private Network)
Remote Access VPN:
• Remote Access VPN permits a user to connect to a private network and
access all its services and resources remotely.

• The connection between the user and the private network occurs
through the Internet and the connection is secure and private.

• Remote Access VPN is useful for home users and business users both.

• An employee of a company, while he/she is out of station, uses a VPN to

connect to his/her company’s private network and remotely access files
and resources on the private network.
 Types of VPN (Virtual Private Network)
A Site-to-Site VPN :

• A Site-to-Site VPN is also called as Router-to-Router VPN and is

commonly used in the large companies.

• Companies or organizations, with branch offices in different locations,

use Site-to-site VPN to connect the network of one office location to the
network at another office location.
 Protocols used in Virtual Private Network (VPN)
• Internet Protocol Security (IPSec)
• Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP)
• Point–to–Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP)
• SSL and TLS
• OpenVPN
• Secure Shell (SSH)
03 Computer Network Topologies
 Computer Network Topologies
• What is network topology?
• Network topology refers to the physical or logical layout of a
network.

• Network topology is the schematic description of the arrangement

of the physical and logical elements of a communication network.

• It defines the way different devices are placed and interconnected

with each other.

• Alternately, network topology may describe how the data is

transferred between these devices.
 Types of Network Topologies
• There are four main types of network topologies:

 Bus Topology
 Ring Topology
 Star Topology
 Mesh Topology
Bus topology
Each device is linked to one other device only. Data transmission over the network
connections occurs in one direction.
Ring topology
Each device is linked to two other devices, forming a ring. Data can flow bi-
directionally. However, single device failure can bring down the entire network.
Star topology
A central device is linked to multiple network devices. This topology performs better
as data doesn’t have to go through each device. It is also more reliable.
Mesh topology
Every device is connected to many other nodes. In a full mesh topology, every node
is connected to every other node in the network.
04 Basic Network Devices
What is a Networking Device?
• Hardware that operates in a network. A “Network Device” is a
component that makes up the network infrastructure such as
modems, routers, switches, hardware load balancer, firewall.

• A “Networked Device” on the other hand refers to equipment

that are connected to a network, which includes computers,
printers, workstations, servers etc. which operate in an Ethernet
or Wi-Fi network or both.

• Smartphones and tablets all have Wi-Fi but are considered "mobile
devices."
Basic Networking Devices

 Switch
 Router
 Firewall
 Gateway
Network Switch
Network Switch
• A switch is used in a wired network to connect to other devices
using Ethernet cables. The switch allows each connected device to
talk to the others.

• Switches are networking devices operating at layer 2 or a Data Link

layer of the OSI Model.

• A switch has many ports, to which computers are plugged in.

When a data frame arrives at any port of a network switch, it
examines the destination address, performs necessary checks and
sends the frame to the corresponding device(s).It supports
unicast, multicast as well as broadcast communications.
• The switch can perform error checking before forwarding data,
which makes it very efficient as it does not forward packets that
have errors and forward good packets selectively to the correct
port only.

Types of Switches
Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switches

HP Procurve Switch 2626

Router
Router
• Routers are networking devices operating at layer 3 or a
Network Layer of the OSI Model.
• A router is a device that connects two or more packet-
switched networks or subnets.
• They are responsible for receiving, analyzing, and forwarding
data packets among the connected computer networks.
• When a data packet arrives, the router inspects the
destination address, consults its routing tables to decide the
optimal route and then transfers the packet along this route.
• A router can be used both in LANs (Local Area Networks) or
WANs (Wide Area Networks).
 Cisco ASR1002 Enterprise Router

Juniper MX40 Enterprise Router

Firewall
Firewall
• A Firewall is a network security device that monitors and filters
incoming and outgoing network traffic based on an organization’s
previously established security policies.

• At its most basic, a firewall is essentially the barrier that sits

between a private internal network and the public Internet. A
firewall’s main purpose is to allow non-threatening traffic in and to
keep dangerous traffic out.
Types of Firewall (Form-Factor Based)
• Hardware Firewalls: These firewalls are implemented as a physical
appliance deployed in an organization’s server room or data
center. While these firewalls have the advantage of running as
“bare metal” and on hardware designed specifically for them, they
are also constrained by the limitations of their hardware (number
of network interface cards (NICs), bandwidth limitations, etc.).

• Software Firewalls: Software firewalls are implemented as code

on a computer. These firewalls include both the firewalls built into
common operating systems and virtual appliances that contain the
full functionality of a hardware firewall but are implemented as a
virtual machine.
• Cloud Firewalls: Organizations are increasingly moving critical data
and resources to the cloud, and cloud-native firewalls are designed
to follow suit. These virtual appliances are specifically designed to
be deployed in the cloud and may be available as either standalone
virtual machines or as a Software as a Service (SaaS) offering.
Types of Firewall (Filtering based)
Proxy Firewall:
• An early type of firewall device, a proxy firewall serves as the
gateway from one network to another for a specific application.

• Proxy servers can provide additional functionality such as content

caching and security by preventing direct connections from
outside the network. However, this also may impact throughput
capabilities and the applications they can support.
 Types of Firewall (Filtering based)
Stateful inspection firewall:
• Now thought of as a “traditional” firewall, a stateful inspection
firewall allows or blocks traffic based on state, port, and protocol.

• It monitors all activity from the opening of a connection until it is

closed.

• Filtering decisions are made based on both administrator-defined

rules as well as context, which refers to using information from
previous connections and packets belonging to the same
connection.
Types of Firewall (Filtering based)
Unified Threat Management (UTM) firewall:
• A UTM device typically combines, in a loosely coupled way, the
functions of a stateful inspection firewall with intrusion prevention
and antivirus.

• It may also include additional services and often cloud

management. UTMs focus on simplicity and ease of use.
Types of Firewall (Filtering based)
Next-generation firewall (NGFW):

• Firewalls have evolved beyond simple packet filtering and stateful

inspection. Most companies are deploying next-generation
firewalls to block modern threats such as advanced malware and
application-layer attacks.
 Types of Firewall (Filtering based)
Next-generation firewall (NGFW) must include:
• Standard firewall capabilities like stateful inspection
• Integrated intrusion prevention
• Application awareness and control to see and block risky apps
• Upgrade paths to include future information feeds
• Techniques to address evolving security threats

While these capabilities are increasingly becoming the standard for

most companies, NGFWs can do more.
Gateway
Gateway
• A network gateway is a device or node that
connects dissimilar networks by translating
communications from one protocol to another.

• Gateways serve as an entry and exit point for a

network as all data must pass through or
communicate with the gateway prior to being
routed.
Difference : Router & a Gateway
• A gateway connects networks, while a router typically delivers
data within a network.

• Historically, gateways and routers have been separate devices.

However, it's becoming more common for their functions to be
combined and simply called a router.

• For example, the Wi-Fi routers commonly provided for home and
small business internet service are both a router (delivering data)
and a gateway (translating it so destination devices can use it).
Difference : Router & a Gateway
• A router is a device that is capable of sending and receiving data
packets between computer networks, also creating an overlay
network.

• A Gateway, on the other hand, joins dissimilar systems. Gateway it

is defined as a network entity that allows a network to interface
with another network with different protocols
 Difference : Router & a Gateway
• A router is basically a device or a hardware which is responsible for
receiving, analyzing and forwarding the data packets to other
networks. A router actually determines the destination or the target
IP address of the packet and thus the best way for transferring the
packet is determined by the help of forwarding tables and headers.

• The forwarding of the data packet is done from one router to the
other which basically forms a network(example: internet) until it
reaches the final target node. A router is mainly used in the local area
network(LAN) and wide area network(WAN) domain. The data is
transferred across the network by using the routing protocols. It is
much more costly in comparison to other network devices like hub,
switch etc.
Difference : Router & a Gateway
• A gateway is basically a device or a hardware which acts like a “gate”
among the networks. Thus it can also be defined as a node which acts
as an entrance for the other nodes in the network. It is also
responsible for enabling the traffic flow within the network. Gateway
uses more than one protocol for communication thus its activities are
much more complex than a switch or a router.

• So a gateway is basically a device that is used for the communication

among the networks which have a different set of protocols and is
responsible for the conversion of one protocol into the other. For any
kind of workplace, the gateway is a computer system which is
responsible for routing the traffic from the main workstation to
outside network. For homes, it is responsible for giving the access to
the internet thus acting as an internet service provider.
05 Features of Computer Network
 Scalability
• Scalability refers to the ability to add new network components.

• The network must be scalable in order for us to expand it by

adding more devices. However, it reduces the speed of the
connection and the data transfer speed, which raises the
possibilities of an error happening. A solution to this issue is using
routing or switching devices.

For example, if a network currently has 100 devices, ease of scalability

would mean that we can add another 100 devices or more as and
when required by not having to modify the existing network too
much.
 Software and Hardware Sharing/Compatibility
• We may put the apps on the main server, allowing the user to
access the applications from a single location. As a result, we do
not need to install the program on each system. Hardware sharing
happens in a similar manner.

• A computer network should not require all computers in a

computer network to utilize the same software and hardware;
rather, it should allow for improved portability between diverse
software and hardware configurations.
 Data and File Sharing
• One of the reasons we use a computer network is to transfer data
between different systems that are linked together via a
transmission medium.

• This technique distributes private data, information, and files

among numerous systems linked by guided (cables) or unguided
(waves) transmission means.
 Performance
• The response time of a computer network determines its
performance. The time taken for sending and receiving data from
one node (a computer in a computer network is sometimes
referred to as a node) to another should be as short as possible.
 Backup
• A central server must be established for the computer network,
and this server must maintain a backup of all data exchanged
across the network. And, in the event of a network outage, this
central server aids in speedier recovery.

• Thus, retrieving a backup of lost data is simple and easy.

 Security
• Security is one of the most important aspects of computer
networks. As a result, a computer network should be secure so
that data transmitted over the network is protected from
unwanted access.

• Furthermore, the data supplied by the sending node should arrive

exactly as it is at the receiving node, which implies there should be
no data loss during transmission.

• Unauthorized users or hackers should not be able to access the

data exchanged on the network.
 Reliability
• Computer networks are dependable because they enable other
methods for data and file exchange across computers in the event
of hardware failure or connection issues.

• If a network failure occurs, data recovery should be as quick as

possible.
 Communication Speed
• Networks give a quick and easy means for a group of individuals to
communicate with one another. Some of the benefits of networks
include email messaging, IP telephony, video conferencing, and so
on.
 Fault Tolerance
• Fault Tolerance refers to the capacity to continue operating
despite faults and to ensure zero loss of services.

• Assume your PC is linked to a wireless router, and this router

connects to two additional routers, which in turn connect to the
web server.

• Now, if you browse for a link or a website, but your wireless router
loses its connection with one of the routers, then the wireless
router will establish a new connection with the other router and
submit the request to the web server.
06 Computer Network Architecture
 Computer Network Architecture
• Computer Network Architecture is defined as the physical and
logical design of the software, hardware, protocols, and media of
the transmission of data.

• Simply we can say that how computers are organized and how
tasks are allocated to the computer.
 Computer Network Architecture
Peer-To-Peer network
• Peer-To-Peer network is a network in which all the computers are
linked together with equal privilege and responsibilities for
processing the data.

• Peer-To-Peer network has no dedicated server.

• Special permissions are assigned to each computer for sharing the

resources, but this can lead to a problem if the computer with the
resource is down.

• Example : WORKGROUP environment in the world of “Windows ”

Peer-To-Peer network
Client-Server Network

• Client-server architecture is an architecture of a computer network

in which many clients (remote processors) request and receive
service from a centralized server (host computer).

• Client computers provide an interface to allow a computer user to

request services of the server and to display the results the server
returns. Servers wait for requests to arrive from clients and then
respond to them.
Client-Server Network
• Client-Server network is a network model designed for the end
users called clients, to access the resources such as Databases,
Files etc. from a central computer known as Server.
• A server performs all the major operations such as security and
network management..
• A server is responsible for managing all the resources such as files,
directories, printer, etc.
• All the clients communicate with each other through a server. For
example, if client1 wants to send some data to client 2, then it first
sends the request to the server for the permission. The server
sends the response to the client 1 to initiate its communication
with the client 2.
Client-Server Network
Client-Server Network