Overview of Data Data Communication

and Computer Networks

Mizan-Tepi University

School of Computing and Informatics

Department of
Information Technology
Tepi, Ethiopia

Chapter One
(Phone : +251921789156, Email : habtewold@mtu.edu.et)
Compiled By Habtewold Desta (MSc, Networking and Information Security) 1
Introduction to Computer Networks

What are the trends?

• Three forces are driving the evolution of data
communications and networking
1. Growth of communication traffic
– Voice traffic
• telephone
– Data traffic
• Internet access, video conferencing
– Challenges (to the network service providers):
• how to maximize the capacity and minimize the cost?
2. Development of new services
3. Advances in technology
– Faster and cheaper computing and communications
– Networks are more intelligent: quality of service (QoS)
– Internet, Web, intranets, extranets, etc.
– Pervasive computing/ ubiquitous computing
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Introduction to Computer Networks

INTRODUCTION
• Data Communications: the movement of
computer information from one point to
another by means of electrical or optical
transmission systems (called networks).

• Telecommunications: broader term that

includes the transmission of voice and
video, as well as data, and may imply
longer distances.

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Introduction to Computer Networks

A Communications Model
• What is the purpose of communications?
– Exchange of information between two parties
• Key elements
• Source: Generates data to be transmitted. E.g., telephones, PCs.
• Transmitter: A transmitter transforms and encodes the information in
such a way as to produce electromagnetic signals that can be
transmitted across some sort of transmission system.
• Transmission System
− It can be a single transmission line or a complex network connecting
source and destination.
• Destination: Takes incoming data from the receiver
• Receiver: The receiver accepts the signal from the transmission
system and converts it into a form that can be handled by the
destination device.

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Introduction to Computer Networks

Simplified Communications Model

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Introduction to Computer Networks

Simplified Data Communications Model

• Assume the source and destination are PCs.
• The source wishes to send a message m to the
destination.

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Introduction to Computer Networks

Transmission of Information
• One basic choice facing a business user is the
selection of transmission medium.
– Within the business premise
• Completely up to the business
– Long-distance communications
• Up to the long-distance carrier

New technologies
» Optical fiber transmission
» Wireless transmission
– How to improve the efficiency of the use of network
facilities?
• Multiplexing and compression
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Introduction to Computer Networks

Computer Networks
Computer network
connects two or more
autonomous computers.

The computers can be

geographically located
anywhere.

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Introduction to Computer Networks

LAN, MAN & WAN

Based on Geographical coverage (LAN, MAN, WAN)

Network in small geographical Area (Room, Building

or a Campus) is called LAN (Local Area Network)

Network in a City is call MAN (Metropolitan Area

Network)

Network spread geographically (Country or across

Globe) is called WAN (Wide Area Network)
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Introduction to Computer Networks

Applications of Networks
Resource Sharing
Hardware (computing resources, disks, printers)
Software (application software)
Information Sharing
Easy accessibility from anywhere (files, databases)
Search Capability (WWW)
Communication
Email
Message broadcast
Remote computing
Distributed processing (GRID Computing) 10
Introduction to Computer Networks

Network Topology
The network topology
defines the way in
which computers,
printers, and other
devices are connected.
A network topology
describes the layout of
the wire and devices as
well as the paths used
by data transmissions.

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Introduction to Computer Networks

Bus Topology
Commonly referred to
as a linear bus, all the
devices on a bus
topology are connected
by one single cable.

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Introduction to Computer Networks

Star & Tree Topology

The star topology is the most
commonly used architecture in
Ethernet LANs.
When installed, the star
topology resembles spokes in
a bicycle wheel.
Larger networks use the
extended star topology also
called tree topology. When
used with network devices that
filter frames or packets, like
bridges, switches, and routers,
this topology significantly
reduces the traffic on the wires
by sending packets only to the 13
wires of the destination host.
Introduction to Computer Networks

Ring Topology
A frame travels around the ring called
Token, stopping at each node. If a node
wants to transmit data, it adds the data
as well as the destination address to the
frame.
The frame then continues around the
ring until it finds the destination node,
which takes the data out of the frame.
Single ring – All the devices on the
network share a single cable
Dual ring – The dual ring topology allows
data to be sent in both directions.

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Introduction to Computer Networks

Mesh Topology
The mesh topology
connects all devices
(nodes) to each other
for redundancy and
fault tolerance.
It is used in WANs to
interconnect LANs and
for mission critical
networks like those
used by banks and
financial institutions.
Implementing the mesh
topology is expensive
and difficult. 15
Introduction to Computer Networks

Network Components

Physical Media
Interconnecting Devices
Computers
Networking Software
Applications

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Introduction to Computer Networks

Networking Media
Networking media can
be defined simply as
the means by which
signals (data) are sent
from one computer to
another (either by cable
or wireless means).

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Physical Media

PHYSICAL MEDIA

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Physical Media

PHYSICAL MEDIA

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Physical Media

PHYSICAL MEDIA
Copper
Coaxial Cable - Thick or Thin
Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) - CAT 3,4,5,5e&6
Shielded Twisted Pair (STP)
Optical Fiber
Multi mode
Single mode
Wireless
Short Range
Medium Range (Line of Sight)
Satellite

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Physical Media

Copper Media: Coaxial Cable

Coaxial cable is a copper-
cored cable surrounded by a
heavy shielding and is used
to connect computers in a
network.
Outer conductor shields the
inner conductor from picking Category Impedance Use
up stray signal from the air.
RG-59 75 W Cable TV
High bandwidth but lossy
Thin
channel. RG-58 50 W
Ethernet
Repeater is used to Thick
RG-11 50 W
regenerate the weakened Ethernet
signals. 21
Physical Media

Copper Media: Twisted Pair

Twisted-pair is a type of
cabling that is used for
telephone communications
and most modern Ethernet
networks.
A pair of wires forms a circuit
that can transmit data. The
pairs are twisted to provide
protection against crosstalk,
the noise generated by
adjacent pairs.
There are two basic types,
shielded twisted-pair (STP)
and unshielded twisted-pair 22
Physical Media

Shielded Twisted Pair (STP)

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Physical Media

Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP)

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Physical Media

Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP)

Consists of 4 pairs (8 wires) of insulated
copper wires typically about 1 mm thick.
The wires are twisted together in a
helical form.
Twisting reduces the interference
between pairs of wires.
High bandwidth and High attenuation
channel.
Flexible and cheap cable.
Category rating based on number of
twists per inch and the material used
CAT 3, CAT 4, CAT 5, Enhanced CAT 5,
CAT 6 and now CAT 6E.
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Physical Media

Categories of UTP
UTP comes in several categories that are
based on the number of twists in the wires,
the diameter of the wires and the material
used in the wires.
Category 1 is the wiring used primarily for telephone
connections.
Category 2 transmits 4 MBps
Category 3 transmits 10 MBps
Category 4 Transmits 100 MBps
Category 5 Transmits 1000 MBps
Category 5e, 6 and Category 6E are currently the
most common Ethernet cables used up to 10 GBPs.26
Physical Media

Fiber Media
Optical fibers use light
to send information
through the optical
medium.
It uses the principal of
total internal reflection.
Modulated light
transmissions are used
to transmit the signal.

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Physical Media

Fiber Media
Light travels through the optical media by the way of
total internal reflection.
Two types of Fiber media :
Multimode
Singlemode
Multimode Fiber can support less bandwidth than
Singlemode Fiber.
Singlemode Fiber has a very small core and carry
only one beam of light. It can support Gbps data
rates over > 100 Km without using repeaters.

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Physical Media

Single and Multimode Fiber

Single-mode fiber
Carries light pulses
along single path
Uses Laser Light
Source
Multimode fiber
Many pulses of light
generated by LED
travel at different
angles

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Physical Media

Fiber Media
The bandwidth of the fiber is limited due to
the dispersion effect.
Distance Bandwidth product of a fiber is
almost a constant.
Fiber optic cables consist of multiple fibers
packed inside protective covering.
62.5/125 µm (850/1310 nm) multimode fiber
50/125 µm (850/1310 nm) multimode fiber
10 µm (1310 nm) single-mode fiber

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Physical Media

Fiber-Optic Cable
Contains one or several glass fibers at its core
Surrounding the fibers is a layer called cladding

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Physical Media

Wireless Media
Very useful in difficult
terrain where cable
laying is not possible.
Provides mobility to
communication nodes.
Right of way and cable
laying costs can be
reduced.
Susceptible to rain,
atmospheric variations
and Objects in
transmission path.
Physical Media

Wireless Media
Indoor : 10 – 50m : BlueTooth, WLAN
Short range Outdoor : 50 – 200m: WLAN
Mid Range Outdoor : 200m – 5 Km : GSM, CDMA,
WLAN Point-to-Point, Wi-Max
Long Range Outdoor : 5 Km – 100 Km : Microwave
Point-to-Point
Long Distance Communication : Across Continents :
Satellite Communication
Physical Media

Frequency Bands
Propagatio
Band Range Application
n
VLF 3–30 KHz Ground Long-range radio navigation
Radio beacons and
LF 30–300 KHz Ground
navigational locators
MF 300 KHz–3 MHz Sky AM radio
Citizens band (CB),
HF 3–30 MHz Sky
ship/aircraft communication
Sky and VHF TV,
VHF 30–300 MHz
line-of-sight FM radio
Line-of- UHF TV, cellular phones,
UHF 300 MHz–3 GHz
sight paging, satellite
Line-of-
SHF 3–30 GHz Satellite communication
sight
Line-of-
EHF 30–300 GHz Long-range radio navigation
sight
Physical Media

Wireless LAN

PC

Access Point

Internet Switch
Router

PC

Access Point
Physical Media

Terrestrial Microwave
Microwaves do not
follow the curvature of
earth
Line-of-Sight
transmission
Height allows the
signal to travel farther
Two frequencies for
two way
communication
Repeater is used to
increase the distance
Hop-by-Hop
Physical Media

Satellite Communication
Introduction to Computer Networks

Networking Devices
HUB, Switches, Routers,
Wireless Access Points,
Modems etc.

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Introduction to Computer Networks

Today’s network switches

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Introduction to Computer Networks

Computers: Clients and Servers

In a client/server
network arrangement,
network services are
located in a dedicated
computer whose only
function is to respond
to the requests of
clients.

The server contains the

file, print, application,
security, and other
services in a central
computer that is
continuously available
to respond to client 40
requests.
Introduction to Computer Networks

Networking Protocol: TCP/IP

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Introduction to Computer Networks

Protocol Data Units (PDUs)

• Data
• Segment
• Packet
• Frame
• Bits

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Encapsulation

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Introduction to Computer Networks

De-encapsulation

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Introduction to Computer Networks

Moving Data in the Network

Accessing Local Resources

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Introduction to Computer Networks

Accessing Remote Resources

Default Gateway

PC 1 R2
R1 172.16.1.99
192.168.1.110 192.168.1.1
AA-AA-AA-AA-AA-AA 22-22-22-22-22-22
11-11-11-11-11-11

Web Server
172.16.1.99
AB-CD-EF-12-34-56

PC 2 FTP Server
192.168.1.111 192.168.1.9
BB-BB-BB-BB-BB-BB CC-CC-CC-CC-CC-CC

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Introduction to Computer Networks

Internet Elements
• The purpose of the Internet is to interconnect end systems, called
hosts
– Such as PCs, servers, notebooks, PDAs, smart phones, etc.
• Most hosts that use the Internet are connected to a network, such
as a LAN or a WAN
• Networks are in turn connected by routers. Each router attaches to
two or more networks.
• A host may send data to another host anywhere on the Internet:
– The source host breaks the data into a sequence of packets, called IP
packets, or IP datagrams.
– Each packet includes the unique numeric addresses of the source host
and destination host, called IP addresses.
– Based on the destination IP address, each packet travels through a
series of routers and networks from source to destination.
• Each router, upon receiving an IP packet, makes a routing decision and
forwards the packet along its way to the destination.
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Introduction to Computer Networks

Internet Elements

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Introduction to Computer Networks

Internet Architecture
• Today’s Internet is made up of thousands of overlapping
hierarchical networks.
• Individual hosts and LANs are connected to an Internet
Service Provider (ISP) through a Point of Presence
(POP).
– Customer Premises Equipment (CPE): the communications
equipment located onsite with the host, such as the modem.
• Different levels of ISPs
– Local ISP, Regional ISP, Backbone ISP
• Backbone ISPs may be connected through the Network
Access Point (NAP).

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Introduction to Computer Networks

Internet Architecture

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Introduction to Computer Networks

Types of Standards

• There are two main types of standards:

• Formal: a standard developed by an industry or
government standards-making body
• De facto: standards that emerge in the
marketplace and are widely used, but lack
official backing by a standards-making body

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Introduction to Computer Networks

The Standardization Processes Three

Steps
• Specification: developing the nomenclature and
identifying the problems to be addressed.
• Identification of choices: identify solutions to
the problems and choose the “optimum”
solution.
• Acceptance: defining the solution, getting it
recognized by industry so that a uniform solution
is accepted.

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Introduction to Computer Networks

Some Major Standards Making

Bodies
• ISO: International Organization for Standardization
(www.iso.ch)
• ITU-T: International Telecommunications Union –
Telecom Group (www.itu.int)
• ANSI: American National Standards Institute
(www.ansi.org)
• IEEE: Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers
(see standards.ieee.org)
• IETF: Internet Engineering Task Force (www.ietf.org)
• ISOC: The Internet Society
• IAB : The Internet Architecture Board
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Introduction to Computer Networks

Some Major Standards Making

Bodies

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Introduction to Computer Networks

Some data communications standards

. Layer Common Standards
5. Application layer HTTP, HTML (Web)
MPEG, H.323 (audio/video)
IMAP, POP (e-mail)
4. Transport layer TCP (Internet)
SPX (Novell LANs)
3. Network layer IP (Internet)
IPX (Novell LANs)
2. Data link layer Ethernet (LAN)
PPP (dial-up via modem)
1. Physical layer RS-232c cable (LAN)
Category 5 twisted pair (LAN)
V.92 (56 kbps modem)
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Introduction to Computer Networks

Applications
E-mail
Searchable Data (Web Sites)
E-Commerce
News Groups
Internet Telephony (VoIP)
Video Conferencing
Chat Groups
Instant Messengers
Internet Radio

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Introduction to Computer Networks

Network Security

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Introduction to Computer Networks

Security Threats
The most common external threats to networks
include:
✓ Viruses, worms, and Trojan horses
✓ Spyware and adware
✓ Zero-day attacks, also called zero-hour attacks
✓ Hacker attacks
✓ Denial of service attacks
✓ Data interception and theft
✓ Identity theft
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Introduction to Computer Networks

Security Solutions
Network security components often include:
✓ Antivirus and antispyware
✓ Firewall filtering
✓ Dedicated firewall systems
✓ Access control lists (ACL)
✓ Intrusion prevention systems (IPS)
✓ Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)

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Introduction to Computer Networks

Thank You!!!

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