Networks of communications

• Introduction to network 

• Types of networks 

• Architecture of network 

The term Network is used in different contexts, such as telephone network, computer network and peoples network. A computer network is made up of certain devices that are connected to each other.

These devices share information with each other. These information can be of several types. for example

1) Message
2) Documents
3) Music
4) Files (all network supported format)
5) Database
6)Devices (printer, fax)


In order to communicate with each other, devices follow some rules. These rules are called protocols. The list of some common protocols is given below-

1) TCP (Transmission control protocol)

2) UDP (User Data gram Protocol)

3) IP (Internet Protocol)

4) HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol)

5) SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)

Networks communicate a model for communication. This model is a blueprint. Which defines how the communication on the network will be.

Types of networks
Networks have been divided into several categories according to their size. Types of networks are given below -

LAN (Local Areal Network)

- LAN is a high speed network. This is a very small network. Such as a building or campus Different technologies are used in LAN for communication, in which Ethernet is the most common technology.

WAN (Wide Area Network) -

 A WAN network connects multiple LAN networks among themselves. It does a very large area cover. Networks of different countries remain connected only by WAN. This is a global network.

MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) - It connects several LAN networks among themselves. But the area of ​​this network type is small, like a city or state.

VPN (Virtual Private Network) - With this network you can securely send your information through a public network. You can establish this network between 2 branches of an organization.

Network architecture
Network architectures are of 3 types. Before learning about architectures, let's try to know about some basic terms.

• Host - Host is any device that is connected to the network.

• Client - The host who requests a data or service is called a client. For example, you request a web page via web browser.

• Server - The host that provides data or service is called a server.

• Peer - A host who can also request and provide data or service, is also called Peer.

Let us now know about different architectures.

Peer to peer architecture
You can also request for all host data / service in any peer to peer architecture and also provide data / service.

Client / server architecture
The client / server architecture contains a host server and the rest is the host client. All clients request server for data / service and the server responds to all clients.

Mainframe architecture
In the Mainframe architecture, the data / services are stored on the same host, which is called mainframe. All hosts are connected to this mainframe called terminals. These terminals are dumb and do not perform any task themselves. Terminals are used only for input and output.

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