Communication and networking

technologies
Wide area network (WAN) – A network connecting computers on
different sites, possible thousands of kilometres apart
The benefits of having computers connected be a WAN are:
 A ‘job’ could be run on a remote computer that had the required application
software
A data archive that was stored on a remote computer could be accessed

 A message could b be transmitted electronically to a user on a remote computer.

Local area network (LAN) – A network connecting computers in a

single room, in a single building got no a single site.
The benefits of connecting PCs in a LAN include the following:
 The expense of installing application software in each individual PC could be saved
by installing the software on an application server attached to the LAN instead.
 A file server could be attached to the LAN that allowed users to store lather files and
also allowed files to be shared between users.
 Instead of supplying individual printers to be connected to a user’s PC, one or more
printers could be attached to a print server that was connected to the LAN; these
could be higher quality prints
 Managers in organisations could use electronic mail to communicate with staff
rather than sending round memos on paper
 The ‘paper-less office’ became a possibility, where files were to be stored in digital
form on a file server rather than as paper copies in a filing cabinet

The client-server model:

Client-server – An architecture where a client runs a supplication provided ne a server on a
network
Thin-client – A client that only provides input and receives output from the application.
 Chooses an application to run on the server
 Sends output data to the server when requested by the application
 Receives output from the application
Thick-client – A client that carries out at least some of the processing itself
 Chooses an application provided by the server
 Possibly carries out some processing before running the application on the server
and also after receiving output from the application
 Alternatively, possible downloads the application from the server and runs the
application itself
The client-server approach is the choice in the following circumstances:
 The server stores a database which is accessed from the client system
 The server stored a web application which allows the client system to find or,
sometimes, supply information
 The server stores a web application which allows the client system to carry out an e-
commerce or financial transaction

File sharing:
If a user uploads files to a file server then the client-server operation can be used by another
user to download these from the server. You can use the client server operation or
alternatively use peer-to-peer networking
The peer-to-peer network has the following advantages:
 It avoids the possibility of congestion on the network when many clients are
simultaneously attempting to download files
 Parts of a file can be downloaded separately
 The parts are available from more than one host
The client-server model has the following advantages:
 It allows the organisation to control the downloading and use of files
 The files can be better protected from malware attacks because the files are stored
in one server which will be regularly scanned using appropriate anti-virus software

Network topologies:
Different mods data can be sent:
 Simplex – Data flows one way
 Half duplex – Data flows both ways but only one at a time
 Full duplex – Data flows both ways at the same time
A ‘message’ is any type of data, which can be sent as either:
 A broadcast – One-to-all communication
 A multicast – One source to many destinations
  A unicast – One-to-one communication
Topology – The configuration of a network that defines how the various devices on the
network are connected. There are 3 types of topologies:
 Bus topology – Contains one shared link to which all devices are attached
 Mesh topology – Contains direct links between devices
 Star topology – Each end-system is linked to a central device
End-system – A computer or service connected to a network
Hybrid network – A collection of connected LANs where some of them have different
topologies or supporting technologies.

Transmission media:
Cable – A transition using copper wire or fibre-optic
Wireless – A transmission using radio, microwave or infrared
Bandwidth – A measure of the amount of data that can be transmitted per second

LAN hardware:
Server – A system providing a service to end-systems
Repeater – A device that connects two cable sand provides a full-strength signal to the
second cable
Bridge – A device that connects two segments of a LAN
Network Interface Card (NIC) – A component used to identify the end-system
Switch – A connecting device that can send a unicast message
Wireless Access point (WAP) – The connecting device in a WiFi LAN
Wireless Network Interface Card (WNIC) – Provides the NIC function in a WiFi LAN

Ethernet:
Read the book Pg. 36 + 37
The internet infrastructure:
To describe the Internet as a WAN pays a little attention to its size and complexity. The
internet is the biggest internetwork in existence. Furthermore, it has never been designed
as a single ‘whole’; it has just evolved to reach its current form and is still evolving towards
whatever future form it will take.
Internet service provider (ISP) – Gives internet access to an individual or company. This
function is now performed by what we call an ‘access ISP’. These access ISPs then connect to
what we call ‘middle tier’ or regional ISPs, which in turn are connected to tier 1 (or
‘backbone’) ISPs. An ISP is a network and connections between ISPs are handled by Internet
Exchange Points (IXPs). The tier 1 ISPs are at the top of the hierarchy, along with major
Internet content providers.
Router – A device that acts as a node on the internet
Public switched telephone network (PSTN) – During the early years of networking the
telephone network carried along analogue voice data. However, digital data could be
transmitted provided that a modem was used to convert the digital data to analogue signals.
Cell phone networks – For users of devices with mobile (cell) phone capability there is an
alternative method for gaining Internet access. This is provided by mobile phone companies
acting as ISPs. The mobile phone, equipped with the appropriate software, communicates
with a standard cell tower to access the wireless telephone network, which in turn provides
a connection to the Internet.

Applications that make use of the internet:

The World Wide Web (WWW) – The web consists of an enormous collection of websites
each having one or more web pages. The special feature of a web page of that it can contain
hyperlinks which, when clicked, give direct and essentially immediate access to other web
pages.
Cloud computing – Cloud computing is the provision of computing services usually via the
Internet
 Private cloud – Owned by and only accessed by an organisation
 Public cloud – Owned by a service provider for general access

Bit streaming – Before data is transmitted it is stored on bytes which can be transmitted
one after the other as a byte stream.
  On-demand – When the bit stream content is transmitted at a time chosen by the
user
 Real time – When the bit steam is transmitted as it is produced
Bit rate – The number of bits transmitted per second
Buffer – The buffer must deliver data to the user at the correct bit rate for the media being
used. Data that is sent to the buffer should be sent at a higher rate to allow for unexpected
delays.

Control data

Media
High- Buffer Media server
water
Player Data flow
High- Low-
mark
water water
mark mark

IP addressing:
IPv4 – A 32-bit long, hierarchical address of a device on the internet

Class Class identifier Number of bits for netID Number of buts for hostID
Class A 0 7 24
Class B 10 14 16
Class C 110 21 8

Each byte is written in its denary equivalent separated by dots:

10000000 00001100 00000010 00011110
This is written in dotted decimal notation as:
128.12.2.30
Classless inter-domain routing (CIDR) – This retains the concept of a netID and a hostID but
removes the rigid structure and allows the split between the netID and the hostID to be
varied to suit individual need. To achieve this we add an 8-bit suffix to the address that that
specifies the number of bits for the netID. If we for example define the suffix as 21, that
means that 21 bits are used for the netID and there are 11 bits remaining (of 32-bits) to
specify hostIDs allowing 211 hosts.
11000011000011000000011000001110/00010101
netID suffix
Sub-netting – Let’s say we have 150 employees with their own computer workstation. There
are also 6 individual department LANs and one head-office LAN.
 Head office
Gateway LAN

Gateway LAN 1

Gateway LAN 2

The internet Gateway LAN 3

Gateway LAN 4

Gateway LAN 5
Gateway LAN 6

The organisation would need seven individual Class C netIDs; one for each LAN. Each of
these would point to one of the LAN gateways. The netID for each LAN would be identified
by the first 24 bits of the IPv4 address, leaving 8 bits for the host ID. This would mean 256
individual codes for identifying different workstations on just one LAN. For the seven LANs
the total number of workstations that could be identified would be 1792 (256 * 7). This
would mean that there are 1642 unused addresses unavailable to any other organisation.
The sub-netting solution for this organisation would require allocation just one Class C netID .
For example, the IP addresses allocated might be 194.10.9.0 to 194.10.9.255 where the
netID compromises the first three bytes, represented by the decimal values 194, 10 and 9.
The sub-netting works by having a defined structure for the 256 codes constituting the
hostID. A sensible solution for this organisation is to use the top three bits as a code for the
individual LANs and the remaining five bits as codes for the individual workstations.

Head office
LAN
LAN 1
LAN 2
The internet Router
LAN 3
LAN 4
LAN 5
LAN 6

On the internet all the allocated IP addresses have a netID pointing to the router. The router
then has to interpret the hostID to direct the transmission to the appropriate workstation
on one of the LANs via a gateway. Examples of workstation identification:
  HostID code 00001110 would be the address for the workstation 14 on the head
office LAN 0 (LAN 000)
 HostID code 01110000 would be the address for workstation 14 on the 16 on LAN 3
(LAN 011)
With 150 workstations the organisation hasn’t used all of the 256 allocated IP addresses.
However, there are only 106 unused which is a reasonable number to have available in case
of further expansion. Only the netID has been used leaving the other 6 the might have been
used still available for other organisations to use.

Network address translation (NAT):

The final scheme to be considered id different in that it deviates from the principle that
every IP address should be unique. In this scheme. Provision has been made for large
organisations to have private networks (intranets) which use the same protocols as those
used for the Internet. One justification for using a private network has always been that this
provides extra security because of the isolation from the Internet, However, this is no longer
normal practice. Organisations want private networks but they also want Internet
connectivity.
The solution for dealing with the addressing is to use network address translation (NAT)

NAT
The internet Internal router
box

The NAT box has one IP address which is visible over the internet and so can be used as a
sending address or as a receiving address. Internally the IP addresses have to be chosen
form one of the three ranges of IP addresses shown below that have been allocated for such
networks. (Don’t try remember these numbers)

Lower bound Upper bound

10.0.0.0 10.255.255.255
172.16.0.0 172.31.255.255.
192.168.0.0 192.168.255.255

The important point is that each address can be simultaneously used by any number of
different private networks. There is no knowledge of such use on the Internet itself or in any
other private network. The interface in the NAT box has software installed to examine each
incoming or outgoing transmission. There can be a security check before an incoming
transmission is directed to the correct internal address. The diagram shows undefined
arrows from the router connected to the NAT box. These indicate that the network
structure within the organisation could take many different forms.

Static and dynamic IP addresses:

Static address – This never changes and can be provided of a user is prepared to pay an
extra charge
Dynamic address – This is one that the ISP is free to change if it suits but more importantly
the address is available for re-allocation once a user disconnects from the Internet

IPv6 addressing:
This uses a 128-bit bit addressing scheme allowing 2128 different addresses. The addresses
are written in a colon hexadecimal notation. The code is broken into 16-bit parts, with each
part represented by four hexadecimal characters (some abbreviations are allowed)

Domain names:
For a user to access a web page it is impractical to identify each IP address by its dotted
decimal value. To solve this we use a domain name service (DNS)
Domain name service (DNS) – A hierarchical distributed database installed on domain name
servers that are responsible for mapping a domain name to an IP address. Also known as
domain name system.
Looking up a domain name to find an IP address is called ‘name resolution’. For such a query
there are three possible outcomes.
 If the domain is under the control of the server to which the query is sent then an
authoritative and correct IP address is returned
 If the domain is not under the control of the server, an IP address can still be
returned if it is stored in a cache of recently requested addresses but it might be out
of date
 If the domain in the query I remote then the query is sent to a root server which can
provide an address for the name server of the appropriate top-level domain. This in
turn can provide the address for the name server in the next lower domain. This
continues until the query reaches a name server that can provide an authoritative IP
address