WHAT IS A NETWORK OR IP ADDRESS?

 

  

  WHAT IS A NETWORK OR IP ADDRESS?

An IP address is a string of numbers assigned to computers, routers, servers, pretty much anything connected to the internet, including websites. It works much like a regular address, pinpointing the location of any device or system in the network around the world. IP stands for Internet Protocol. IP addresses are used in the TCP/IP Protocol to help devices, routers, and servers communicate with each other.

 

An IP address is a string of numbers assigned to computers, routers, servers, pretty much anything connected to the internet, including websites. It works much like a regular address, pinpointing the location of any device or system in the network around the world. IP stands for Internet Protocol. IP addresses are used in the TCP/IP Protocol to help devices, routers, and servers communicate with each other.

IPv1 - It is the first version of the IP protocol, developed by Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn in 1977. It was the first protocol to use an address-based communication structure, allowing hosts on a network to communicate directly with each other. However, its limited 4-bit length was unable to handle the large number of hosts on the internet. In 1982, IPv2 was introduced with a 6-bit length and a more scalable addressing scheme. Since then, subsequent versions, such as IPv3 and IPv4, have been implemented and now we've arrived at IPv6.

IPv2 - is the second version of the Internet Protocol (IP), developed in 1982. It's the first version that introduced a host address of 6-bits in length, which allowed the IP protocol to be applied to larger networks and more hosts. IPv2's additional features included a more flexible addressing scheme and improved reliability through the use of error correction codes and a checksum. IPv2 has been replaced by subsequent versions, such as IPv3 and IPv4, but it was a significant step forward at the time and laid the foundation for the internet we know today.

IPv3 - also introduced several important features, such as the ability to fragment and reassemble data packets and the use of a maximum transmission unit (MTU) to improve efficient packet delivery. The introduction of more packets and higher throughput increased the need for data redundancy and error correction, which IPv3 implemented through the use of a 16-bit checksum.

IPv4 - addresses can be split into two halves; the first half (called the first octet) identifies the network segment, such as a LAN or WAN. The second half (called the second octet) identifies the host on that network segment, or individual device. For example, the IP address "192.168.100.1" identifies a device on the 192.168.100 network segment, or LAN.

IPv6 - addresses are much longer and are more sophisticated than IPv4. They employ a 128-bit numbering system, divided into eight 16-bit groups. Each group is prefixed with a two-letter abbreviation that identifies its purpose. The two main types of IPv6 addresses are unicast and anycast addresses.

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY 10

 

WHAT IS A NETWORK OR AN IP ADDRESS

An IP address is a numeric label assigned to a computer's network interface controller (NIC). This label enables the device to send, receive, and recognize data packets within a network. There are two types of IP address schemes: IPv4 and IPv6. IPv4, the more commonly used scheme, employs a 32-bit numbering system and is typically represented in four numerical blocks known as quads. IPv6, the newer standard, utilizes a 128-bit numbering system and is represented using a longer hexadecimal format.

Every house in a neighborhood needs a unique address so mail and deliveries can find the right place. An IP address works the same way on a network. It's a special code, written as four numbers separated by dots (like 192.168.1.1), that identifies a specific device. This code allows information to be sent and received to the correct destination.

Think of it like this: when you visit a website on your phone, your phone uses its IP address to ask the website's computer for information. The website's computer then uses its own IP address to send the information back to your phone. There are actually two main types of IP addresses: IPv4, which is the most common and written as four numbers, and IPv6, which is a newer version written as eight groups of letters and numbers.

So, in a nutshell, networks connect devices, and IP addresses act like unique addresses for those devices, allowing them to communicate and share information.

WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS OF COMPUTER NETWORK?

 

THE ELEMENTS OF COMPUTER NETWORK.

• Sender Device
• Medium
• Network Devices
• Message
• Receiving Devices

A sender is the originator of a message on a particular occasion; receivers are their audience on this occasion (in synchronous interpersonal communication these roles are usually switchable and in normal everyday conversation between equals they shift constantly).

MEDIUM

A medium-sized server or computer system might be referred to as a "medium computer". It can also refer to computer storage, which is described as digital media or medium.

Network devices are physical or software components that allow hardware on a computer network to communicate and interact with one another

The term "message" has two basic meanings in computing. The first sense relates to communications transmitted by computer systems between their human users. Messages sent between programs or between parts of a single program for independent objectives are referred to in the second sense. A message can be a condensed piece of information or data that is sent to one or more users. It can also be used to describe information that is sent between individuals.

A device that receives data from another device is known as a receiving device1. A computer modem, which transforms digital data from a computer into an analog signal for transmission over a phone line, is a quintessential illustration of a communication equipment. In a similar vein, a modem accepts analog signals and transforms them into digital format so that the computer can process them. Receiving devices also include input devices such movement sensors, touch displays, microphones, keyboards, and webcams.

WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF NETWORK TOPOLOGY

 When building a computer network, you need to define which network topology you want to use. There are multiple types of network topologies used nowadays, each with its pros and cons. The topology you choose determines the optimal performance of your network, scalability options, ease of maintenance, and the costs of building the network. That’s why it is important to select the right network topology type.

This blog post covers types of network topology, their advantages, and their disadvantages. It also provides recommendations on which network topology to use in different scenarios. Practical examples of using a specific type of network topologies can help you understand when each topology can be applied.

What is Network Topology?

The network topology or network configuration defines the structure of the network and how network components are connected. Network topology types are usually represented with network topology diagrams for convenience and clarity. There are two types of network topology: physical and logical.

Physical topology describes how network devices (called computers, stations, or nodes) are physically connected in a computer network. The geometric scheme, connections, interconnections, device location, the number of used network adapters, types of network adapters, the type of cable, cable connectors, and other network equipment are the aspects of the physical network topology.

Logical topology represents the data flow from one station to another, how the data is transmitted and received, the path of data in the network, and which protocols are used. The logical network topology explains how data is transferred over a physical topology. Cloud and virtual network resources are part of the logical topology.

Point-to-Point Network Topology

Point-to-point network topology is the simplest network topology used when only two computers or other network devices are connected to each other. A single piece of cable is used in this case. The most common example of the point-to-point network topology is connecting two computers (that have Ethernet network adapters with RJ-45 ports) with a twisted pair cable (UTP Cat 5e, FTP Cat 5e, STP Cat 5e, etc.). The point-to-point type of topologies is also called the P2P topology.

Refer to the last section of the blog post to learn about the different TYPES OF CABLE

Ethernet crossover cable of category 5e is a cable that has four twisted pairs of wires. The cable has RJ-45 connectors on both ends, with T568A wiring on one end of the cable and T568B on the other end. The crossover cable is used to connect network devices of the same type, such as two Ethernet cards of different computers. Modern network cards can work with a patch cable without a crossover cable when connecting two computers using the point-to-point network topology. The connection is possible thanks to Ethernet Auto MDI-X support (medium dependent interface crossover).

Patch cords or patch cables are used to connect a network card of a computer to a switch and to connect switches to each other. Both ends of a patch cord are crimped by using the T568B standard (T568A also can be used for both ends of the patch cord, but this practice is not common).

Bus Network Topology

In a bus topology, the main cable is called a common cable or a backbone cable. The stations are connected to this main cable by using other cables that are called drop lines. The tap device is used to connect drop lines to the main cable. An RG-58 coaxial cable with an impedance of around 50-52 Ohms is usually used to build the network in a bus topology. BNC (Bayonet Neill-Concelman) connectors are used to connect parts of the network and connect a cable to the network card. Terminators are devices installed on each end of the backbone cable to adsorb signals and avoid reflecting the signals back to the bus (reflecting signals back causes serious issues in the network).

The installation difficulty of the bus topology is medium. The topology requires fewer cables than other types of network topology and costs less. This network topology is used for small networks. Scalability is low because the length of the backbone cable is limited and so is the number of stations that can be connected to the backbone cable. Every network device is connected to a single cable.

A bus topology makes detecting network failures difficult. If the main cable is corrupted, the network goes down. Every additional node slows down the speed of data transmission in the network. Data can be sent only in one direction and is half-duplex. When one station sends a packet to a target station, the packet is sent to all stations (broadcast communication). However, only the target station receives the packet (after verifying the destination MAC address in the data frame). This working principle causes network overload and is not rational. The network of the bus network topology type works in half-duplex mode.

The half-duplex mode does not allow stations in the network to transmit and receive data at the same time. The whole channel bandwidth is used when data is transferred in either direction. When one station is sending data, other stations can only receive data.

In the full-duplex mode, both stations can transmit and receive data simultaneously. The link capacity is shared between signals going in one direction and signals going in another direction. The link must have two separate physical paths to send and receive data. As an alternative, the entire capacity can be divided between signals going in both directions.

10BASE2 is part of the IEEE 802.3 specifications used for Ethernet networks with coaxial cable. The maximum cable length ranges between 185 and 200 meters. The maximum length of thick coaxial cable for the 10BASE5 standard is 200 meters.

CSMA/CD (Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Detection) is the technology used to prevent collisions (when two or more devices transmit data at the same time and this leads to corruption of the transmitted data) in the network. This protocol decides which station in what moment can transmit data. IEEE 802.3 is the standard that defines LAN (local area network) access methods using the CSMA/CD protocol.

Token Bus

IEEE 802.4 is the Token Bus standard that is used to create a logical token ring in networks built using the bus topology. A token is passed from one station to another in a defined sequence that represents the logical ring in the clockwise or counter-clockwise direction. On the following image, for Station 3, the neighbors are Station 1 and Station 5, and one of them is selected to transmit data depending on the direction. Only the token holder (the station having the token) can transmit frames in the network. IEEE 802.4 is more complex than the IEEE 802.3 protocol.

The Token Bus frame format. The total frame size is 8202 bytes, and the frame consists of 8 fields.

• Preamble (1 byte) is used for synchronization.
• Start delimiter (1 byte) is the field used to mark the beginning of the frame.
• Frame control (1 byte) verifies whether this frame is a control frame or a data frame.
• Destination address (2-6 bytes) specifies the address of the destination station.
• Source address (2-6 bytes) specifies the address of the source station.
• Payload (0-8182 bytes) is a field of the variable length to carry the useful data from the network layer. 8182 bytes is the maximum value if the 2-byte address is used. If the address length is 6 bytes, then the maximum size of the payload field is 8174 bytes, accordingly.
• Checksum (4 bytes) is used for error detection.
• End delimiter (1 byte) marks the end of the frame.

The bus network topology is not recommended for networks when transferring a large amount of traffic. Taking into account that the bus network topology with coaxial cables was used in the 1990s, and the maximum speed is 10 Mbit/s, you should not use this topology to build your network nowadays.

Ring Network Topology

The ring network topology is a modification of the bus topology. In the ring network topology, each station is connected to two other stations on either side. The two other stations are neighbors of this station. Data travels sequentially in one direction, hence, the network works in half-duplex mode. There are no terminators, and the last station is connected to the first station in the ring. The ring topology is faster than the bus topology. The coaxial cable and connectors used to install a network of the ring topology are the same as those used for the bus network topology.

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If you build a large network using the ring topology, use repeaters to prevent data loss when transferring data over the network between stations on long cable fragments. Generally, each station works as a repeater and amplifies the signal. After data is transmitted, the data travels along the ring and passes intermediate nodes until this data is received by the destination device.

You can have higher latency if the number of stations connected to the network is high. For example, if there are 100 computers in the network, and the first computer sends a packet to the 100th computer in the ring, the packet has to pass through 99 stations to reach the target computer. Remember that data is transferred sequentially. All nodes must remain active to transmit data, and for this reason, the ring topology is classified as an active network topology. The risk of packet collisions is reduced because only one node in the network can send packets at a time. This approach allows equal bandwidth for each node in the network.

Token ring

The token ring network is the implementation of the IEEE 802.5 standard. This topology works by using the token-based system. Token ring is the technology introduced in 1984 by IBM. The token is the marker that travels over the loop in one direction. Only the node that has the token can transmit data.

The first station that starts to work in the network becomes the monitoring station or the active monitor, controls the network state, and removes floating frames from the ring. Otherwise, continuously floating frames circulate in the ring for an unlimited time. The active monitor is also used to avoid lost tokens (by generating a new token) and to clock errors.

The IEEE 802.5 frame format for a token ring network is displayed on the diagram below.

• Start delimiter (1 byte) is used for synchronization and for notification of a station that a token is arriving.
• Access control (1 byte) is the field that contains the token bit, monitor bit, and priority bits.
• Frame control (1 byte)
• Destination address (6 bytes) – defines a MAC address of the destination device.
• Source address (6 bytes) – defines a MAC address of the sender.
• Payload (0 bytes or more) is the useful data (IP packet) that is transferred in a frame, and the size of the payload can vary from 0 to maximum token holding time.
• Checksum (4 bytes), which is also called frame check sequence or CRC (cyclic redundancy check), is used to check errors in the frame. Corrupted frames are discarded.
• The end delimiter (1 byte) marks the end of the frame.
• Frame status (1 byte) is a field used to terminate a data frame and serves as the ACK. This field can be set by a receiver and indicates whether the MAC address was recognized and the frame was copied.

The difficulty of the ring topology installation is medium. If you want to add or remove a network device, you need to change only two links. The ring topology is not expensive to install. But the list of advantages ends here.

Now let’s highlight the disadvantages of the ring network topology. Each fragment of the network can be a point of failure. A failure can be caused by a broken cable, damaged network adapter of a computer, cable disconnect, etc. In the case of link failure, the entire network fails because a signal cannot travel forward and pass the point of failure. Failure of one station causes failure of the entire network. All the data travels around the ring by passing all the nodes until reaching the destination node. Troubleshooting is difficult.

All nodes in the network of the ring topology share bandwidth. As a result, when adding more nodes into the ring, communication delays and network performance degradation occur. To reconfigure the network or to add/remove nodes, the network must be disconnected and stay offline. Network downtime is not convenient and cost-effective for an organization. Thus the ring network topology is not the best choice to build a scalable and reliable network.

The ring network topology in local area networks was popular in the 1990s until the beginning of the mass usage of the Ethernet standard with twisted-pair cables and more progressive star topology. Nowadays, the ring topology is not used and is not recommended for home and office usage due to the low network speed of 4 or 16 Mbit/s and the other disadvantages mentioned above.

The dual ring

The dual ring is a modified version of the ring topology. Adding a second connection between nodes in a ring allows the transfer of data in both directions and makes the network work in a full-duplex mode. Data is sent in clockwise and counter-clockwise directions in the network. If a link in the first ring fails, the second ring can be used as a link backup to continue network operation until the issue in the first ring is fixed.

The optical ring in modern networks uses the ring network topology. This network topology is primarily used by internet service providers (ISP) and managed service providers (MSP) to create connections in wide area networks.

Technologies and standards used to create an optical fiber ring:

• Resilient Packet Ring (RPR) that is known as IEEE 802.17
• STP (Spanning Tree Protocol) to avoid loops in the network
• Multiple section shared protection ring (MS-SPRing/4, MS-SPRing/2, etc.)
• Subnetwork connection protection (SNCP)
• Four-fiber bidirectional line-switched rings (BLSR/4), BLSR/2, etc.
• Synchronous transport module (STM-4, STM-16, STM-64, etc.)
• Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET) and Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH)

Professional network equipment, such as switches, that support the appropriate standards are used to create a fiber ring. The price for this hardware is high. The optical ring with high availability is used to connect nodes in different districts of a city or in different cities to the high available and high-speed circle.

Star Network Topology

The star topology is the most common network topology used nowadays for the many advantages it provides. This topology requires a centralized unit, which is called a switch, and all other network devices are connected to this switch with own network cable. A switch has multiple ports (usually 4, 5, 8, 16, 24, 48, etc.), and all needed stations are connected to the switch to interact with each other in the network. There are no direct physical connections between the two stations in this case. If two stations interact with each other in the network, a frame leaves the network adapter of the sender and is sent to the switch, and then a switch retranslates the frame to the network card of the destination station.

The star network topology is easy to scale. If there are no free ports in a switch, change the switch to one with more ports or connect a second switch to the existing switch with a patch cord to expand the network of the star topology. Note that when the network is highly loaded, this connection between switches is a bottleneck because the data transfer rate between stations connected to different switches can be less than the data transfer rate between stations connected to ports of the same switch when. If you need to add a station to the network, take a patch cord, insert one end into the network adapter of the endpoint device and another end into the switch.

If any of the stations connected to a switch fails, the network continues to work without interruption. If a switch goes offline, the network cannot operate. Full-duplex and half-duplex modes are supported in the star network topology. This topology is easy in terms of maintenance.

Avoid loops when connecting network devices. If more than two connections are present between two network devices working on the second layer, a loop is created. For example, if you connect two switches by using two patch cords or insert a patch cord into two ports of one switch, you get a loop. The loop leads to communication disruptions within the network and broadcast storms that continue until you eject the unneeded network cable and power off the switch. If you want to create redundant connections, use devices with multiple network adapters that support NIC teaming or link aggregation.

Hub vs switch: What is the difference?

Both hub and switch are used to connect multiple devices in a local area network (LAN) that uses the star topology. When a signal that encodes a frame arrives at one port of a hub (a sender station that is connected to this port with a cable), the signal is sent to all ports of the hub and, thereby, to all devices connected to the hub. Only the station whose network card has the MAC address that is defined as the destination MAC address in the frame can receive the frame. All other network devices connected to the hub that are not destination devices and whose network adapters have other MAC addresses detect the sent signals and reject this frame. The disadvantage of the hub is that the network is overloaded. Instead of sending a frame from the hub to a destination network card, the frame is sent to all devices connected to ports of the hub. The network flooding reduces the bandwidth of the network. A hub operates on the first layer of the OSI model (a physical layer).

A switch is a more intelligent device. A switch remembers MAC addresses of connected devices and adds MAC addresses of devices connected to each port of the switch to the MAC address table. When a sender sends a frame to a target device, the frame is sent to the switch. The switch reads the MAC address of the network card of a destination station and checks the internal MAC address table to identify to which port of the switch the destination device is connected. Then, the switch sends the frame only to the port associated with the MAC address of the target device. There is no flooding and network overload. This approach ensures high network performance. There are no collisions when using a switch in a star network topology. A switch operates on the second layer of the OSI model (the data link layer)

Mesh Network Topology

A mesh network topology is a configuration in which each station in the network is connected to the other stations. All devices are interconnected with each other. There are two types of mesh: a full mesh and a partial mesh. In a partially connected mesh, at least two stations of the network are connected to multiple other stations in the network. In a full mesh, each station is connected to all other stations. The number of connections for a full mesh is calculated with the formula Nc=N(N-1)/2 links, where N is the number of nodes in the network (for the full-duplex mode of communication). See the network topology diagram below.

The mesh network topology provides redundancy for a network but can be costly due to the high number of connections and total length of used cable. If one station fails, the network can continue operation by using other nodes and connections. If data was transferred via the failed node, the route is changed, and data is transmitted via other nodes.

Each node is a router that can create and modify routes dynamically to transfer data in the most rational way (dynamic routing protocols are used in this case). The number of hops can vary when changing the route between source and destination device. Routing tables consist of destination identifier, source identifier, metrics, time to live, and broadcast identifier. Routing works at the third layer of the OSI model. Sometimes flooding techniques are used instead of routing. This type of network topologies can be used for the transmission of high amounts of traffic thanks to connection redundancy.

It is difficult to add a new station to the network because you need to connect a new station to multiple other stations. Adding or removing nodes doesn’t interrupt the operation of the whole network. Multiple network cards per station are required to establish all needed connections. After adding a new station, you may need to install additional network cards on other stations that must be connected to the new station. The mesh network topology is scalable, but this process is not straightforward. Administration can be time-consuming. The fault-tolerant topology ensures high reliability. There are no hierarchical relationships.

The mesh network topology is an example of connecting multiple sites on the internet. This network topology is widely used for WAN (wide area network) connections, for networks of mission-critical organizations such as military organizations, etc.

Wi-Fi connection

The mesh network topology in Wi-Fi networks is used to extend the coverage of wireless networks that are called wireless mesh networks. The infrastructure mesh architecture is the most common for this type of network topologies. Wireless technologies used to create this network topology type are Zigbee and Z-Wave that are based on the IEEE 802.15.4 protocol, WirelessHART. IEEE 802.11, 802.15, and 802.16. Cellular networks also can work using the mesh network topology.

Hybrid Network Topology

The hybrid topology combines two or more of the network topology types covered earlier. A combination of the star and ring types of network topology is an example of a hybrid network topology. Sometimes you might need the flexibility of two topologies in your network. The hybrid topology is usually scalable and has the advantages of all child topologies. The disadvantages of the topologies are also combined, making installation and maintenance difficult. The hybrid topology adds more complexity to your network and may require additional costs.

The star-ring topology is one of the examples of the hybrid type of network topologies that you can find nowadays. When talking about the ring part, we don’t mean coaxial cables with T-connectors and BNC connectors. In a modern network, a fiber ring is used to connect nodes at long distances. This hybrid network topology (ring + star) is used to build networks between different buildings located far away within one city or in different cities. Using the star topology when the distance between nodes is high is difficult and causes overconsumption of cable.

The advantage of the fiber ring with multiple lines is the absence of a single point of failure. Redundant optical links provide high availability and reliability. In case of one optical link corruption, reserve channels are used. Different fiber lines between nodes of the circle can be traced by using different geographical routes.

Fiber switches/routers that are nodes of the ring are connected to switches/routers that are parts of network segments using the star network topology. That connection has advantages for building local area networks. Fiber media converters are used to connect switches/routers compatible with fiber cables and related connectors to switches/routers compatible with copper cables crimped with the appropriate connectors if a ring and star use different types of cables and network equipment.

 

A computer network is a cluster of computers over a shared communication path that works to share resources from one computer to another, provided by or located on the network nodes, communicating using email, video, instant messaging, etc. Sharing software and operating programs on remote systems.

FOUR TYPES OF COMPUTER

• LAN(Local Area Network)
• PAN(Personal Area Network)
• MAN(Metropolitan Area Network)
• WAN(Wide Area Network)

LAN(Local Area Network)

• Local Area Network is a group of computers connected to each other in a small area such as a building, or office.
• LAN is used for connecting two or more personal computers through a communication medium such as twisted pair, coaxial cable, etc.
• It is less costly as it is built with inexpensive hardware such as hubs, network adapters, and ethernet cables.
• The data is transferred at an extremely fast rate in the Local Area Network.
• Local Area Network provides higher security.

PAN(Personal Area Network)

• A personal Area Network is a network arranged within an individual person, typically within a range of 10 meters.
• Personal Area Network is used for connecting the computer devices of personal use is known as Personal Area Network.
• Thomas Zimmerman was the first research scientist to bring the idea of the Personal Area Network.
• Personal Area Network covers an area of 30 feet.
• Personal computer devices that are used to develop the personal area network are laptops, mobile phones, media players, and PlayStations.

There are two types of Personal Area Network:

• Wired Personal Area Network
• Wireless Personal Area Network

Wireless Personal Area Network: Wireless Personal Area Network is developed by simply using wireless technologies such as WiFi, and Bluetooth. It is a low-range network.

Wired Personal Area Network: Wired Personal Area Network is created by using the USB.

Examples Of Personal Area Network:

• Body Area Network: Body Area Network is a network that moves with a person. For example, a mobile network moves with a person. Suppose a person establishes a network connection and then creates a connection with another device to share the information.
• Offline Network: An offline network can be created inside the home, so it is also known as a home network. A home network is designed to integrate the devices such as printers, computer, television but they are not connected to the internet.
• Small Home Office: It is used to connect a variety of devices to the internet and to a corporate network using a VPN

MAN(Metropolitan Area Network)

• A metropolitan area network is a network that covers a larger geographic area by interconnecting a different LAN to form a larger network.
• Government agencies use MAN to connect to the citizens and private industries.
• In MAN, various LANs are connected to each other through a telephone exchange line.
• The most widely used protocols in MAN are RS-232, Frame Relay, ATM, ISDN, OC-3, ADSL, etc.
• It has a higher range than Local Area Network(LAN).

Uses Of Metropolitan Area Network:

• MAN is used in communication between the banks in a city.
• It can be used in an Airline Reservation.
• It can be used in a college within a city.
• It can also be used for communication in the military.

WAN(Wide Area Network)

• A Wide Area Network is a network that extends over a large geographical area such as states or countries.
• A Wide Area Network is quite bigger network than the LAN.
• A Wide Area Network is not limited to a single location, but it spans over a large geographical area through a telephone line, fibre optic cable or satellite links.
• The internet is one of the biggest WAN in the world.
• A Wide Area Network is widely used in the field of Business, government, and education.

Examples Of Wide Area Network:

• Mobile Broadband: A 4G network is widely used across a region or country.
• Last mile: A telecom company is used to provide the internet services to the customers in hundreds of cities by connecting their home with fiber.
• Private network: A bank provides a private network that connects the 44 offices. This network is made by using the telephone leased line provided by the telecom company.

Advantages Of Wide Area Network:

Following are the advantages of the Wide Area Network:

• Geographical area: A Wide Area Network provides a large geographical area. Suppose if the branch of our office is in a different city then we can connect with them through WAN. The internet provides a leased line through which we can connect with another branch.
• Centralized data: In case of WAN network, data is centralized. Therefore, we do not need to buy the emails, files or back up servers.
• Get updated files: Software companies work on the live server. Therefore, the programmers get the updated files within seconds.
• Exchange messages: In a WAN network, messages are transmitted fast. The web application like Facebook, Whatsapp, Skype allows you to communicate with friends.
• Sharing of software and resources: In WAN network, we can share the software and other resources like a hard drive, RAM.
• Global business: We can do the business over the internet globally.
• High bandwidth: If we use the leased lines for our company then this gives the high bandwidth. The high bandwidth increases the data transfer rate which in turn increases the productivity of our company.

Disadvantages of Wide Area Network:

The following are the disadvantages of the Wide Area Network:

• Security issue: A WAN network has more security issues as compared to LAN and MAN network as all the technologies are combined together that creates the security problem.
• Needs Firewall & antivirus software: The data is transferred on the internet which can be changed or hacked by the hackers, so the firewall needs to be used. Some people can inject the virus in our system so antivirus is needed to protect from such a virus.
• High Setup cost: An installation cost of the WAN network is high as it involves the purchasing of routers, switches.
• Troubleshooting problems: It covers a large area so fixing the problem is difficult.

Internetwork

• An internetwork is defined as two or more computer network LANs or WAN or computer network segments are connected using devices, and they are configured by a local addressing scheme. This process is known as internetworking.
• An interconnection between public, private, commercial, industrial, or government computer networks can also be defined as internetworking.
• An internetworking uses the internet protocol.
• The reference model used for internetworking is Open System Interconnection(OSI).

Types Of Internetwork:

1. Extranet: An extranet is a communication network based on the internet protocol such as Transmission Control protocol and internet protocol. It is used for information sharing. The access to the extranet is restricted to only those users who have login credentials. An extranet is the lowest level of internetworking. It can be categorized as MAN, WAN or other computer networks. An extranet cannot have a single LAN, atleast it must have one connection to the external network.

2. Intranet: An intranet is a private network based on the internet protocol such as Transmission Control protocol and internet protocol. An intranet belongs to an organization which is only accessible by the organization's employee or members. The main aim of the intranet is to share the information and resources among the organization employees. An intranet provides the facility to work in groups and for teleconferences.

Intranet advantages:

• Communication: It provides a cheap and easy communication. An employee of the organization can communicate with another employee through email, chat.
• Time-saving: Information on the intranet is shared in real time, so it is time-saving.
• Collaboration: Collaboration is one of the most important advantage of the intranet. The information is distributed among the employees of the organization and can only be accessed by the authorized user.
• Platform independency: It is a neutral architecture as the computer can be connected to another device with different architecture.
• Cost effective: People can see the data and documents by using the browser and distributes the duplicate copies over the intranet. This leads to a reduction in the cost.