ADVANTAGES OF NETWORKS

 Users can share files

 Users can share peripherals
 Users can access files from anywhere on the network
 Servers can be used to control security, software updates and backups
 Communication with other users e.g?
DISADVANTAGES OF NETWORKS
 Increased security risk
 Malware and viruses can spread easily when on the network
 Why does it spread easier when within the network?

 Can create single points of failure e.g. servers with files and software stored
 Can slow down computer if there is a lot of data traveling
 Different types of hardware can avoid this
LAN (LOCAL AREA NETWORK)
 Small geographical area
 All the hardware in the LAN is owned by a single
organisation using it
 LANs are connected using UTP cables, fibre optic or
wireless using Wi-Fi
 May use hardware such as hubs and switches
 Can you think of any examples of LANs?
WAN (WIDE AREA NETWORK)
 Covers a large geographical area
 Multiple LANs connected together
 Connection hardware usually owned by a third party
 What would these third parties be?

 Connected using telephone lines, fibre optic cables or

satellite links
 What are some examples of WANs?
 How do we think WANs are connected across continents?
1.3 COMPUTER NETWORKS
NETWORK PERFORMANCE
STARTER

What is a LAN?
What is a WAN?
What are two advantages of computer networks?
What are two disadvantages of computer networks?
BANDWIDTH
 The amount of data that can be sent and received successfully in a given
time
 Not a measure of how fast data can travel. A measure of how much data
can be sent on the transmission media
 Measured in bits per second, often called bit rate
USERS
 A lot of users can cause the network to slow down
 Why?
TRANSMISSION MEDIA
 Wired connections have a higher bandwidth than wireless connections
 Fibre optic cables have a higher bandwidth than copper cables
ERROR RATE
 How often errors occur when data is transferred
 Means that data needs to be resent until it arrives without an error
 Receiver sends an acknowledgement in TCP/IP model
 What transmission media would have more errors?
LATENCY
 The delay from sending data to receiving it
 What might cause this?
1.3 COMPUTER NETWORKS
PEER TO PEER VS CLIENT SERVER
CLIENT SERVER MODEL
 A network that uses servers
 A server manages access to the internet
 A server manages printing jobs
 A server provides email services
 A server runs backups of data
 A client makes requests to the server for data and
connections
CLIENT SERVER MODEL
 Advantages
 Easier to manage security
 Easier to manage backups of all shared data
 Easier to install software updates to all servers

 Disadvantages
 Can be expensive to setup and maintain
 Requires IT specialists to maintain
 The server is a single point of failure
 Users will lose access if the server fails
PEER TO PEER MODEL
 All peers are equal
 Peers serve their own files to each other
 Each peer is responsible for its own security
 Each peer is responsible for its own backup
 Peers usually have their own printers
CLIENT SERVER MODEL
 Advantages
 Cheap and easy to maintain
 No specialist staff required
 No single point of failure

 No expensive hardware required

 Disadvantages
 The network is less secure
 Users will need to manage their own backups
 Harder to install software to all devices on the
network