Introduction to Computer Networks

 We are living in a connected world.

 Information is being produced, exchanged, and traced across the globe in real time.
 It's possible as almost everyone and everything in the digital world is
interconnected through one way or the other.
 A group of two or more similar things or people interconnected with each other is called
network.
 Some of the examples of network in our everyday life includes:
 Social network
 Mobile network
 Network of computers
 Airlines, railway, banks, hospitals networks

 A computer network is an interconnection among two or more computers or computing

devices.
 Such interconnection allows computers to share data and resources among each other.
 A basic network may connect a few computers placed in a room.
 The network size may vary from small to large depending on the number of computers it
connects.
 A computer network can include different types of hosts (also called nodes) like server,
desktop, laptop, cellular phones.
 Apart from computers, networks include networking devices like switch, router, modem, etc.
 Networking devices are used to connect multiple computers in different settings.
 For communication, data in a network is divided into smaller chunks called packets.
 These packets are then carried over a network.
 Devices in a network can be connected either through wired media like cables or wireless
media like air.
 In a communication network, each device that is a part of a network and that can receive,
create, store or send data to different network routes is called a node.
 In the context of data communication, a node can be a device such as a modem, hub, bridge,
switch, router, digital telephone handset, a printer, a computer or a server.
 Interconnectivity of computing devices in a network allows us to exchange information
simultaneously with many parties through email, websites, audio/video calls, etc.
 Network allows sharing of resources.
 For example, a printer can be made available to multiple computers through a network; a
networked storage can be accessed by multiple computers.
 People often connect their devices through hotspot, thus forming a small personal network.

Evolution of Networking

 In the 1960s a research project was commissioned by Advanced Research Projects Agency
Network (ARPANET) in the U.S. Department of Defence to connect the academic and
research institutions located at different places for scientific collaborations.
 The first message was communicated between the University of California, Los Angeles
(UCLA) and Stanford Research Institute (SRI).
 Slowly but gradually, more and more organisations joined the ARPANET, and many
independent smaller networks were formed.
 Few of the milestones in the magnificent journey of evolution of computer networks is
depicted in the timeline
Types of Networks

 There are various types of computer networks ranging from network of handheld devices
(like mobile phones or tablets) connected through Wi-Fi or Bluetooth within a single room to
the millions of computers spread across the globe.
 Some are connected wireless while others are connected through wires.
 Based on the geographical area covered and data transfer rate, computer networks are
broadly categorised as:

 PAN ( Personal Area Network)

 LAN (Local Area Network)
 MAN (Metropolitan Area Network)
 WAN (Wide Area Network)

Personal Area Network (PAN)

 It is a network formed by connecting a few personal devices like computers, laptops, mobile
phones, smart phones, printers etc.,
 All these devices lie within an approximate range of 10 metres.
 A personal area network may be wired or wireless.

For example, a mobile phone connected to the laptop through USB forms a wired PAN while two
smartphones communicating with each other through Bluetooth
technology form a wireless PAN or WPAN.

Local Area Network (LAN)

 It is a network that connects computers, mobile phones, tablet, mouse, printer, etc., placed at
a limited distance.
 The geographical area covered by a LAN can range from a single room, a floor, an office
having one or more buildings in the same premise, laboratory, a school, college, or university
campus.
 The connectivity is done by means of wires, Ethernet cables, fibre optics, or Wi-Fi.
 LAN is comparatively secure as only authentic users in the network can access other
computers or shared resources.
 Users can print documents using a connected printer, upload/download documents and
software to and from the local server.
 Such LANs provide the short range communication with the high speed data transfer rates.
 These types of networks can be extended up to 1 km.
 Data transfer in LAN is quite high, and usually varies from 10 Mbps (called Ethernet) to 1000
Mbps (called Gigabit Ethernet), where Mbps stands for Megabits per second.
 Ethernet is a set of rules that decides how computers and other devices connect with each
other through cables in a local area network or LAN

Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)

 Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) is an extended form of LAN which covers a larger
geographical area like a city or a town.
 Data transfer rate in MAN also ranges in Mbps, but it is considerably less as compared to
LAN.
 Cable TV network or cable based broadband internet services are examples of MAN.
 This kind of network can be extended up to 30-40 km.
 Sometimes, many LANs are connected together to form MAN
Wide Area Network (WAN)

 Wide Area Network connects computers and other LANs and MANs, which are spread
across different geographical locations of a country or in different
countries or continents.
 A WAN could be formed by connecting a LAN to other LANs
 Large business, educational and government organisations connect their different branches in
different locations across the world through WAN.
 The Internet is the largest WAN that connects billions of computers, smartphones and
millions of LANs from different continents

Networking Topologies

 The arrangement of computers and other peripherals in a network is called its topology.
 Common network topologies are Bus, Star and Tree.

Bus Topology

 In bus topology each communicating device connects to a transmission medium, known as

bus.
 Data sent from a node are passed on to the bus and hence are transmitted to the length of the
bus in both directions.
 That means, data can be received by any of the nodes connected to the bus.
 In this topology, a single backbone wire called bus is shared among the nodes, which makes it
cheaper and easier to maintain.
 Bus topologies are considered to be less secure and less reliable.

Star Topology

 In star topology each communicating device is connected to a central node, which is a

networking device like a hub or a switch.
 Star topology is considered very effective, efficient and fast as each device is directly
connected with the central device.
 Although disturbance in one device will not affect the rest of the network, any failure in a
central networking device may lead to the failure of complete network.
 The central node can be either a broadcasting device means data will be transmitted to all the
nodes in the network, or a unicast device means the node can identify the destination and
forward data to that node only

Tree Topology

 It is a hierarchical topology, in which there are multiple branches and each branch can have
one or more basic topologies like star, ring and bus.
 Such topologies are usually realised in WANs where multiple LANs are connected. Those
LANs may be in the form of a ring, bus or star.
 In this type of network, data transmitted from source first reaches the centralised device and
from there the data passes through every branch where each branch can have links for more
nodes.
Protocol

 In communication, Protocol is a set of standard rules that the communicating parties — the
sender, the receiver, and all other intermediate devices need to follow.
 We know that the sender and receiver can be parts of different networks, placed at different
geographic locations.
 Besides, the data transfer rates in different networks can vary, requiring data to be sent in
different formats.
 We need protocols for different reasons such as flow control, access control, addressing, etc.
 Flow control is required when the sender and receiver have different
speeds of sending and receiving the data.
 Computer A is sending data at the speed of 1024 Mbps and computer B is receiving data at
the speed of 512 Mbps.
 Computer B must be able to inform computer A about the speed mismatch
so that computer A can adjust its data transmission rate.

HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP)

 HTTP stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol.

 It is the primary protocol used to access the World Wide Web.
 Tim Berners-Lee led the development of HTTP at CERN in 1989 in collaboration with
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
 HTTP is a request-response (also called client-server) protocol that runs over TCP.
 The common use of HTTP is between a web browser (client) and a web
server (server).
 HTTP facilitates access of hypertext from the World Wide Web by defining how information
are formatted and transmitted, and how the Web servers
and browsers should respond to various commands.
 A web page is written using a markup language like HTML and is stored on a web server for
access via its URL.
 Once a user opens a web browser and types in the URL of the intended web page, a logical
communication link between the user machine (client) and the web server is created using
HTTP.
 For example, whenever we enter the URL http// www.tn.gov.in in a browser, it sends HTTP
request to the web-server where www.tn.gov.in is hosted.
 The HTTP response from the web-server fetches and sends the requested Web-page, which is
displayed on your browser

File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

 File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is the protocol used for transferring files from one machine to
another.
 Like HTTP, FTP also works on a client-server model.
 When a user requests for a file transfer with another system, FTP sets up a connection
between the two nodes for accessing the file.
 Optionally, the user can authenticate using user ID and password.
 The user then specifies the file name and location of the desired file.
 After that, another connection sets up and the file transfer happens directly between the two
machines.
 However, some servers provide FTP logins without authentication for accessing files.
 File transfer between two systems seems simple and straightforward because FTP takes care
of issues between two communicating devices, such as:
 use of different conventions while naming files.
 representation of text and data in different formats.
 having different directory structure
Point to Point Protocol (PPP)

 PPP is a communication protocol which establishes a dedicated and direct connection

between two communicating devices.
 This protocol defines how two devices will authenticate each other and establish a direct link
between them to exchange data.
 For example, two routers with direct connection communicate using PPP. The Internet users
who connect their home computers to the server of an Internet Service Provider (ISP) through
a modem also use PPP.
 The communicating devices should have duplex modes for using this protocol. This protocol
maintains data integrity ensuring that the packets arrive in order.
 It intimates the sender about damage or lost packets and asks to resend it.

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)

 SMTP is a protocol used for email services.

 It uses information written on the message header (like an envelope on a letter sent by post),
and is not concerned with the content of the email message. Each email header contains email
addresses of recipients.
 The email containing header and body are entered into a queue of outgoing mails.
 The SMTP sender program takes mails from the outgoing queue and transmits them to the
destination(s).
 When the SMTP sender successfully delivers a particular mail to one or more destinations, it
removes the corresponding receiver’s email address from the mail’s destination list.
 When that mail is delivered to all the recipients, it is removed from the outgoing queue.
 The SMTP receiver program accepts each mail that has arrived and places it in the
appropriate user mailbox.
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) / Internet Protocol (IP)

 TCP/IP stands for Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol.

 It is a set of standardised rules that uses a client-server model of communication in which a
user or machine (a client) requests a service by a server in the network.
 The IP protocol ensures that each computer or node connected to the Internet is assigned an
IP address,which is used to identify each node independently.
 It can be considered to be the adhesive that holds the whole Internet together.
 TCP ensures that the message or data is broken into smaller chunks, called IP packets.
 Each of these packets are routed (transmitted) through the Internet, along a path from one
router to the next, until it reaches the specified destination.
 TCP guarantees the delivery of packets on the designated IP address.
 It is also responsible for ordering the packets so that they are delivered in sequence.

 There are many redundant connection paths in the Internet, with backbones and ISPs
connecting to each other in multiple locations.
 So, there are many possible paths between two hosts.
 Hence, two packets of the same message can take two different routes
depending on congestion and other factors in different possible routes.
 When all the packets finally reach the destination machine, they are reassembled into the
original message at the receiver’s end.

Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3)

 Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3) is an mail protocol used to retrieve mail from a remote
server to a local email client.
 POP3 copies the mail from the remote server into the local mail client. Optionally, mail
is deleted after it is downloaded from the server.
 This saves space on the server.
 If you frequently access your mail account from multiple devices/locations, POP3 may not be
the best option for you since it is not able to synchronize your mailbox across multiple
devices.
 However, POP3 is a very simple mail protocol making it less prone to errors and allows for a
much easier implementation.
 Ports used for POP3:

 Port 110 – Default POP3 port.

 Port 995 – POP3 port used for SSL/TLS.

Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS)

HTTPS stands for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure.

This protocol is mainly used for providing security to the data sent between a website and the
web browser
It is widely used on the internet and used for secure communications.
This protocol uses the 443 port number for communicating the data.

HTTP HTTPS
1. It is an abbreviation of Hypertext Transfer 1. It is an abbreviation of Hypertext Transfer
Protocol Protocol Secure.
2. This protocol operates at the application
2. This protocol operates at the transport layer.
layer.
3. The data which is transferred in HTTP is 3. The data which is transferred in HTTPS is
plain text. encrypted, i.e., ciphertext.
4. By default, this protocol operates on port 4. By default, this protocol operates on port
number 80. number 443.
5. The URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of 5. The URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of
HTTP start with http:// HTTPS start with https://
6. But, this protocol requires an SSL (Secure
6. This protocol does not need any certificate.
Socket Layer) certificate.
7. Encryption technique is available or present in
7. Encryption technique is absent in HTTP.
HTTPS.
8. The speed of HTTP is fast as compared to 8. The speed of HTTPS is slow as compared to
HTTPS. HTTP.
9. It is un-secure. 9. It is highly secure.
10. Examples of HTTP websites are 10. Examples of HTTPS websites are shopping
Educational Sites, Internet Forums, etc. websites, banking websites, etc.
TELNET (TErminal NETwork)

TELNET is basically the short form for TErminal NETwork.It is basically a TCP/IP protocol that is
used for virtual terminal services
It is a general-purpose client/server application program
It is a standard TCP/IP protocol that is used for virtual terminal service

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)

 Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), is a technology that allowing you to make voice calls
over a broadband Internet connection instead of an analog (regular) phone line.
 Some VoIP services allow you to call people using the same service, but others may allow you
to call anyone.
 Some VoIP services only work over your computer or a special VoIP phone while other
services allow you to use a traditional phone connected to a VoIP adapter
 Voice is converted into a digital signal by VoIP services that travel over the Internet.
 If the regular phone number is called, the signal is converted to a regular telephone signal i.e.
an analog signal before it reaches the destination.
 VoIP can allow you to make a call directly from a computer having a special VoIP phone, or a
traditional phone connected to a special adapter.
 Wireless hot spots in locations such as airports, hospitals, cafes, etc allow you to connect to
the Internet and can enable you to use VoIP service wirelessly.
Network Devices

To communicate data through different transmission media and to configure networks with
different functionality, we require different devices like Modem,Hub, Switch, Repeater, Router,
Gateway, etc.

Modem

 Modem stands for ‘MOdulator DEModulator’.

 It refers to a device used for conversion between analog signals and
digital bits.
 We know computers store and process data in terms of 0s and 1s.
 However, to transmit data from a sender to a receiver, or while browsing the internet, digital
data are converted to an analog signal and the
medium (be it free-space or a physical media) carries the signal to the receiver.
 There are modems connected to both the source and destination nodes.
 The modem at the sender’s end acts as a modulator that converts
the digital data into analog signals.
 The modem at the receiver’s end acts as a demodulator that converts
the analog signals into digital data for the destination node to understand.

Ethernet Card

 Ethernet card, also known as Network Interface Card (NIC card in short) is a network adapter
used to set up a wired network.
 It acts as an interface between computer and the network.
 It is a circuit board mounted on the motherboard of a computer
 The Ethernet cable connects the computer to the network through NIC.
 Ethernet cards can support data transfer between 10 Mbps and 1 Gbps (1000
Mbps).
 Each NIC has a MAC address, which helps in uniquely identifying the
 computer on the network.

RJ45

 RJ 45 or Registered Jack-45 is an eight-pin connector that is used exclusively with Ethernet

cables for networking.
 It is a standard networking interface that can be seen at the end of all network cables.
 Basically, it is a small plastic plug that fits into RJ-45 jacks of the
 Ethernet cards present in various computing devices.

Repeater

 Data are carried in the form of signals over the cable.

 These signals can travel a specified distance (usually about 100 m).
 Signals lose their strength beyond this limit and become weak.
 In such conditions, original signals need to be regenerated.
 A repeater is an analog device that works with signals on the cables to which it is connected.
 The weakened signal appearing on the cable is regenerated and put back on the cable by a
repeater.

Hub

 An Ethernet hub is a network device used to connect different devices through wires.
 Data arriving on any of the lines are sent out on all the others.
 The limitation of Hub is that if data from two devices come at the same time, they will collide
Switch

 A switch is a networking device that plays a central role in a Local Area Network (LAN).
 Like a hub, a network switch is used to connect multiple computers or communicating
devices.
 When data arrives, the switch extracts the destination address from the data packet and looks
it up in a table to see where to send the packet.
 Thus, it sends signals to only selected devices instead of sending to all.
 It can forward multiple packets at the same time.
 A switch does not forward the signals which are noisy or corrupted.
 It drops such signals Cables connected to a network switch
 and asks the sender to resend it.
 Ethernet switches are common in homes/offices to connect multiple devices thus creating
LANs or to access the Internet.

Router

 A router is a network device that can receive the data, analyse it and transmit it to other
networks.
 A router connects a local area network to the internet.
 Compared to a hub or a switch, a router has advanced capabilities as it can analyse the data
being carried over a network, decide/alter how it is packaged, and send it to another network
of a different type.
 For example, data has been divided into packets of a certain size. Suppose these packets are to
be carried over a different type of network which cannot handle bigger packets.
 In such a case, the data is to be repackaged as smaller packets and then sent over the network
by a router.
 A router can be wired or wireless.
 A wireless router can provide Wi-Fi access to smartphones and other
devices.
 Usually, such routers also contain some ports to provide wired Internet access. These days,
home Wi-Fi routers perform the dual task of a router and a modem / switch.
 These routers connect to incoming broadband lines, from ISP (Internet Service Provider), and
convert them to digital data for computing devices to process.

Gateway

 As the term “Gateway” suggests, it is a key access point that acts as a “gate” between an
organisation's network and the outside world of the Internet.
 Gateway serves as the entry and exit point of a network, as all data coming in or going out of
a network must first pass through the gateway in order to use routing paths.
 Besides routing data packets, gateways also maintain information about the host network's
internal connection paths and the identified paths of other remote networks.
 If a node from one network wants to communicate with a node of a foreign network, it will
pass the data packet to the gateway, which then routes it to the destination using the best
possible route
 For simple Internet connectivity at homes, the gateway is usually the Internet Service
Provider that provides access to the entire Internet.
 Generally, a router is configured to work as a gateway device in computer networks.
 But a gateway can be implemented completely in software, hardware, or a combination of
both.
 Because a network gateway is placed at the edge of a network, the firewall is usually
integrated with it
WiFi Card

 A Wi-Fi card connects to your laptop either in your USB port or a wider card slot.
 This card generally is geared to a particular Wi-Fi network, so to use it you must be in range
of a wireless Internet signal dedicated to that network. In this way, the Wi-Fi card acts as both
a receiver and transmitter.
 Wireless Internet cards, also known as Local Area Network, or LAN, cards, are one of the
many types of adapter cards that add capabilities to your computer.
 Other adapter cards can enable teleconferencing, improve sound systems or download photos
from a digital camera.
 Wireless Internet cards come in several forms.
 On most full-size PCs, you just need to remove a side panel so you can get to the card
slots—usually on the left side of the PC if you're facing its front.
 Wi-Fi uses radio waves to transmit information between your device and a router via
frequencies.
 Two radio-wave frequencies can be used, depending on the amount of data being sent: 2.4
gigahertz and 5 gigahertz.

Identifying Nodes Communication in a Networked

 Each node in a network should be uniquely identified so that a network device can identify
the sender and receiver and decide a routing path to transmit data.
 Let us explore further and know how each node is distinguished in a network.

MAC Address
 MAC stands for Media Access Control.
 The MAC address, also known as the physical or hardware address, is a
unique value associated with a network adapter called a NIC.
 The MAC address is engraved on NIC at the time of manufacturing and thus it is a
permanent address and cannot be changed under any circumstances.
 The machine on which the NIC is attached, can be physically identified on the network using
its MAC address.
 Each MAC address is a 12-digit hexadecimal numbers (48 bits in length), of which the first six
digits (24 bits)contain the manufacturer’s ID called Organisational Unique Identifier (OUI)
and the later six digits (24 bits)
represents the serial number assigned to the card by the manufacturer.
 A sample MAC address looks like:

IP Address

 IP address, also known as Internet Protocol address,is also a unique address that can be used
to uniquely identify each node in a network.
 The IP addresses are assigned to each node in a network that uses the Internet Protocol for
communication.
 Thus, if we know a computer’s IP address, we can communicate with that computer from
anywhere in the world.
 However, unlike MAC address, IP address can change if a node is removed from one
network and connected to another network.
 The initial IP Address called version 4 (IPV4 in short), is a 32 bit numeric address, written as
four numbers separated by periods, where each number is the decimal (base-10)
representation for an 8-bit binary (base-2) number and each can take any value from 0 - 255.
 A sample IPV4 address looks like:
192:168:0:178
 With more and more devices getting connected to the Internet, it was realised that the 32-bit
IP address will not be sufficient as it offers just under 4.3 billion unique addresses.
 Thus, a 128 bits IP address, called IP version 6 (IPV6 in short) was proposed. An IPv6 address
is represented by eight groups of hexadecimal (base-16)
numbers separated by colons.
 A sample IPV6 address looks like:
2001:CDBA:0000:0000:0000:0000:3257:9652

Introduction to Web Services

 The Internet is the global network of computing devices including desktop, laptop, servers,
tablets, mobile phones, other handheld devices, printers, scanners, routers, switches,
gateways, etc.
 Moreover, smart electronic appliances like TV, AC, refrigerator, fan, light, etc. can also
communicate through a network.
 The list of such smart devices is always increasing e.g., drones, vehicles, door lock, security
camera.
 The Internet is evolving every day and it is difficult to visualise or describe each and every
aspect of the architecture of the Internet.
 Computers are either connected to a modem through a cable or wirelessly (Wi- Fi).
 That modem, be it wired or wireless, is connected to a local Internet Service Provider (ISP)
who then connects to a national network.
 Many such ISPs connect together forming a regional network and regional networks connect
together forming a national network, and such country-wise networks form the Internet
backbone.
 The Internet today is a widespread network, and its influence is no longer limited to the
technical fields of computer communications.
 It is being used by everyone in the society as is evident from the increasing use of online tools
for education, creativity, entertainment, socialisation, and e-commerce.

The World Wide Web (WWW)

 The World Wide Web (WWW) or web in short, is an ocean of information, stored in the form
of trillions of interlinked web pages and web resources.
 The resources on the web can be shared or accessed through the Internet.
 Earlier, to access files residing in different computers, one had to login individually to each
computer through the Internet.
 Besides, files in different computers were sometimes in different formats, and it was difficult
to understand each other’s files and documents.
 Three fundamental technologies that lead to creation of web:

HTML – HyperText Markup Language

 It is a language which is used to design standardised Web Pages so that the Web contents can
be read and understood from any computer.
 Basic structure of every webpage is designed using HTML

URI – Uniform Resource Identifier

 It is a unique address or path for each resource located on the web.

 It is also known as Uniform Resource Locator (URL).
 Every page on the web has a unique URL.
 Examples are: https://www.mhrd.gov.in, http://www.ncert.nic.in, http://www.airindia.in, etc.
 URL is sometimes also called web address.
 However, a URL is not only the domain name.
 It contains other information that completes a web address, as depicted below:

HTTP - The HyperText Transfer Protocol is a set of rules which is used to retrieve linked web
pages across the web.
The more secure and advanced version is HTTPS.

Domain Name System

 The Internet is a vast ocean where information is available in the form of millions of websites.
 Each website is stored on a server which is connected to the Internet,
which means each server has an IP address.
 Every device connected to the Internet has an IP address.
 To access a website, we need to enter its IP address on our web browser.
 But it is very difficult to remember the IP addresses of different websites as they are in terms
of numbers or strings.
 However, it is easier to remember names, and therefore, each computer server hosting a
website or web resource is given a name against its IP address.
 These names are called the Domain names or hostnames corresponding to unique IP
addresses assigned to each server.
 For easy understanding, it can be considered as the phonebook where instead of
remembering each person’s phone number, we assign names to their numbers.

XML (Extensible Markup Language)

 XML (Extensible Markup Language) is a markup language similar to HTML, but without
predefined tags to use.
 Instead, you define your own tags designed specifically for your needs.
 This is a powerful way to store data in a format that can be stored, searched, and shared.
 XML (Extensible Markup Language) is used to describe data.
 The XML standard is a flexible way to create information formats and electronically share
structured data via the public internet, as well as via corporate networks
 The key difference between HTML and XML is that HTML displays data and describes the
structure of a webpage, whereas XML stores and transfers data. XML is a standard language
which can define other computer languages, but HTML is a predefined language with its own
implications.
 Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing,
transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data.
 It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and
machine-readable.
(Uniform Resource Locators)

 A URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is a unique identifier used to locate a resource on the
Internet.
 It is also referred to as a web address. URLs consist of multiple parts -- including a protocol
and domain name -- that tell a web browser how and where to retrieve a resource.
 End users use URLs by typing them directly into the address bar of a browser or by clicking a
hyperlink found on a webpage, bookmark list, in an email or from another application
 The URL contains the name of the protocol needed to access a resource, as well as a resource
name. The first part of a URL identifies what protocol to use as the primary access medium.
 The second part identifies the IP address or domain name -- and possibly subdomain -- where
the resource is located.
 URL protocols include HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) and HTTPS (HTTP Secure) for
web resources, mail to for email addresses, FTP for files on a File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
server, and telnet for a session to access remote computers. Most URL protocols are followed
by a colon and two forward slashes; "mail to" is followed only by a colon.
 Just as buildings and houses have a street address, webpages also have unique addresses to
help people locate them.
 On the Internet, these addresses are called URLs (Uniform Resource Locators)

Website

 A website is a collection of publicly accessible, interlinked Web pages that share a single
domain name.
 Websites can be created and maintained by an individual, group, business or organization to
serve a variety of purposes.
 Together, all publicly accessible websites constitute the World Wide Web
 If you host your website on a server and register a domain, then a user can access your
website!
 They type your domain into the browser, which sends a request to your server.
 Then they can access the HTML code on the server and translate it into a web page that they
can interact with. So there you have it!
 5 types of websites and how to create & design them E-commerce websites. E-commerce
websites allow users to shop for and purchase products or services online. ...
 Personal websites. ...
 Portfolio websites. ...
 Small business websites. ...
 Blog websites.

Web Browser

 A web browser (also referred to as an Internet browser or simply a browser) is application

software for accessing the World Wide Web or a local website.
 When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the web browser retrieves the
necessary content from a web server and then displays the page on the user's device.
 A web browser is not the same thing as a search engine, though the two are often confused.
 A search engine is a website that provides links to other websites.
 However, to connect to a website's server and display its web pages, a user must have a web
browser installed.
 Web browsers are used on a range of devices, including desktops, laptops, tablets, and
smartphones. In 2020, an estimated 4.9 billion people used a browser.
 The most used browser is Google Chrome, with a 63% global market share on all devices,
followed by Safari with 20%.
 In Hypertext Transfer Protocol technical texts, web browsers (and other clients) are
commonly referred as user agents.

Web Servers

 A web server is computer software and underlying hardware that accepts requests via HTTP
(the network protocol created to distribute web content) or its secure variant HTTPS.
 A user agent, commonly a web browser or web crawler, initiates communication by making a
request for a web page or other resource using HTTP, and the server responds with the
content of that resource or an error message.
 A web server can also accept and store resources sent from the user agent if configured to do
so.
 The hardware used to run a web server can vary according to the volume of requests that it
needs to handle.
 At the low end of the range are embedded systems, such as a router that runs a small web
server as its configuration interface.
 A high-traffic Internet website might handle requests with hundreds of servers that run on
racks of high-speed computers.
 A resource sent from a web server can be a preexisting file (static content) available to the
web server, or it can be generated at the time of the request (dynamic content) by another
program that communicates with the server software.
 The former usually can be served faster and can be more easily cached for repeated requests,
while the latter supports a broader range of applications.

Web Hosting

 A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that hosts websites for clients, i.e.
 it offers the facilities required for them to create and maintain a site and makes it accessible on
the World Wide Web.
 Companies providing web hosting services are sometimes called web hosts.
 Typically, web hosting requires the following:

 one or more servers to act as the host(s) for the sites; servers may be physical or
virtual
 colocation for the server(s), providing physical space, electricity, and Internet
connectivity;
 Domain Name System configuration to define name(s) for the sites and point
them to the hosting server(s);
 a web server running on the host;
  for each site hosted on the server:

 space on the server(s) to hold the files making up the site

 site-specific configuration
 often, a database;
 software and credentials allowing the client to access these, enabling them to
create, configure, and modify the site;
 email connectivity allowing the host and site to send email to the client.

Concept of Communication

 The term “Data Communication” comprises two words: Data and Communication. Data can
be any text, image, audio, video, and multimedia files.
 Communication is an act of sending or receiving data.
 Thus, data communication refers to the exchange of data between two or more networked or
connected devices.
 These devices must be capable of sending and receiving data over a communication medium.
 Examples of such devices include personal computers, mobile phones, laptops, etc.
 four different types of devices — computer, printer, server and switch are connected to form
the network.
 These devices are connected through a media to the network, which carry information from
one end to other end

Components of Data Communication

 Whenever we talk about communication between two computing devices using a network,
five most important aspects come to our mind.
 These are sender, receiver, communication medium, the message to be communicated, and
certain rules called protocols to be followed during communication.
 The communication media is also called transmission media.
 Five components in data communication are:
Sender

 A sender is a computer or any such device which is capable of sending data over a network.
 It can be a computer, mobile phone, smartwatch, walkie-talkie, video recording device, etc.

Receiver

 A receiver is a computer or any such device which is capable of receiving data from the
network.
 It can be any computer, printer, laptop, mobile phone, television, etc.
 In computer communication, the sender and receiver are known as nodes in a network

Message

 It is the data or information that needs to be exchanged between the sender and the receiver.
 Messages can be in the form of text, number, image, audio, video, multimedia, etc.
Communication media

 It is the path through which the message travels between source and destination.
 It is also called medium or link which is either wired or wireless.
 For example, a television cable, telephone cable, ethernet cable, satellite link, microwaves, etc.

Protocols

 It is a set of rules that need to be followed by the communicating parties in order to have
successful and reliable data communication.
 You have already come across protocols such as Ethernet and HTTP

Measuring Capacity of Communication Media

 In data communication, the transmission medium is also known as channel.

 The capacity of a channel is the maximum amount of signals or traffic that a channel can
carry.
 It is measured in terms of bandwidth and data transfer rate

Bandwidth
 Bandwidth of a channel is the range of frequencies available for transmission of data through
that channel.
 Higher the bandwidth, higher the data transfer rate.
 Normally, bandwidth is the difference of maximum and minimum frequency contained in the
composite signals.
 Bandwidth is measured in Hertz (Hz).

1 KHz =1000 Hz
1 MHz =1000 KHz = 1000000 Hz

Data Transfer Rate

 Data travels in the form of signals over a channel.

 One signal carries one or more bits over the channel.
 Data transfer rate is the number of bits transmitted between source and destination in one
second.
 It is also known as bit rate.
 It is measured in terms of bits per second (bps).
 The higher units for data transfer rates are:
1 Kbps=2 10 bps=1024 bps
1 Mbps=2 20 bps=1024 Kbps
1 Gbps=2 30 bps=1024 Mbps
1 Tbps=2 40 bps=1024 Gbps

Example:
A user wants to upload a text document at the rate of 10 pages per 20 second. What will be the
required data rate of the channel? (Assume that 1 page contains 1600 characters and each
character is of 8 bits).

Switching Techniques

 In a network having multiple devices, we are interested to know how to connect the sender
and receiver so that one-to-one communication is possible.
 One solution is to make a dedicated connection between each pair of devices (mesh topology)
or between a central device and every other device (a star topology).
 However, we know that such methods are costly in case of large networks.
 An alternative to this is switching whereby data is routed through various nodes in a
network.
 This switching process forms a temporary route for the data to be transmitted. Two
commonly used switching techniques are — Circuit Switching and Packet Switching.
Circuit Switching

 In circuit switching, before a communication starts, a dedicated path is identified between the
sender and the receiver.
 This path is a connected sequence of links between network nodes.
 All packets follow the same path established during the connection.
 In earlier days, when we placed a telephone call, the switching equipment within the
telephone system finds out a physical path or channel all the way from our telephone at home
to the receiver’s telephone.
 This is an example of circuit switching.

Packet Switching

 In packet switching, each information or message to be transmitted between sender and

receiver is broken down into smaller pieces, called packets.
 These packets are then transmitted independently through the network. Different packets of
the same message may take different routes depending on availability.
 Each packet has two parts — a header containing the address of the destination and other
information, and the main message part.
 When all the packets reach the destination, they are reassembled and the complete message is
received by the receiver.
 Unlike circuit switching, a channel is occupied in packet switching only during the
transmission of the packet.
 On completion of the transmission, the channel is available for transfer of packets from other
communicating parties.
Transmission Media

 A transmission medium can be anything that can carry signals or data between the source
(transmitter) and destination (receiver).
 For example, as we switch on a ceiling fan or a light bulb, the electric wire is the medium that
carries electric current from switch to the fan or bulb.
 In data communication, transmission media are the links that carry messages between two or
more communicating devices.
 Transmission can be classified as guided or unguided.
 In guided transmission, there is a physical link made of wire/cable through which data in
terms of signals are propagated between the nodes.
 These are usually metallic cable, fiber-optic cable, etc.
 They are also known as wired media.
 In unguided transmission, data travels in air in terms of electromagnetic waves using an
antenna.
 They are also known as wireless media
 Dish-shaped antennas are used for sending and receiving data at longer distances.
 These antennas are mounted on taller buildings so that it would be in line-of-sight.
 Waves gradually become weaker and weaker after travelling a certain distance through the
air.
 Therefore repeaters are installed to regenerate the signals of the same energy.
Wired Transmission Media

 Any physical link that can carry data in the form of signals belongs to the category of wired
transmission media.
 Three commonly used guided/wired media for data transmission are,
 twisted pair,
 coaxial cable,
 fiber optic cable.
 Twisted-pair and coaxial cable carry the electric signals whereas the optical fiber cable carries
the light signals.

Twisted Pair Cable

 A twisted-pair consists of two copper wires twisted like a DNA helical structure.
 Both the copper wires are insulated with plastic covers.
 Usually, a number of such pairs are combined together and covered with a protective outer
wrapping.
 Each of the twisted pairs act as a single communication link.
 The use of twisted configuration minimises the effect of electrical interference from similar
pairs close by.
 Twisted pairs are less expensive and most commonly used in telephone lines and LANs.
 These cables are of two types: Unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) and Shielded
twisted-pair (STP)
Coaxial cable

 Coaxial cable is another type of data transmission medium.

 It is better shielded and has more bandwidth than a twisted pair.
 It has a copper wire at the core of the cable which is surrounded
with insulating material.
 The insulator is further surrounded with an outer conductor.
 This outer conductor is wrapped in a plastic cover.
 The key to success of coaxial cable is its shielded design that allows the cable's copper core to
transmit data quickly, without interference of environmental factors.
 These types of cables are used to carry signals of higher frequencies to a longer distance.

Optical Fibre

 The optical fiber cable carries data as light, which travels inside a thin fiber of glass.
 Optic fiber uses refraction to direct the light through the media.
 A thin transparent strand of glass at the centre is covered with a layer of less dense glass
called cladding.
 This whole arrangement is covered with an outer jacket made of PVC or Teflon. Such types of
cables are usually used in backbone networks.
 These cables are of light weight and have higher bandwidth which means higher data
transfer rate.
 Signals can travel longer distances and electromagnetic noise cannot affect the cable.
 However, optic fibers are expensive and unidirectional.
 Two cables are required for full duplex communication
Wireless Transmission Media

 In wireless communication technology, information travels in the form of electromagnetic

signals through air.
 Electromagnetic spectrum of frequency ranging from 3 KHz to 900 THz is available for
wireless communication.
 Wireless technologies allow communication between two or more devices in
short to long distance without requiring any physical media.
 There are many types of wireless communication technologies such as Bluetooth, WiFi,
WiMax etc.
 The electromagnetic spectrum range (3KHz to 900THz) can be divided into 4 categories -
Radio waves, Microwaves, Infrared waves and Visible or Light waves, according to their
frequency ranges.
 Some of the properties of each wave are listed three are useful for
 wireless communication

Classification of transmission waves and their properties

SETTING UP A COMPUTER NETWORK—AN EXAMPLE

The network functioning is based on Client-Server architecture which requires effective and
efficient network design.
It defines how clients are connected to server machine(s) on a network.The most important rule
or methodology for network (LAN) design is the 80:20 rule.

The 80:20 Thumb Rule

This thumb rule states that in a well-organized and designed network, 80 percent of the traffic on
a given network segment is local (i.e., destined for a destination system in the same work-group),
and not more than 20 per cent of the network traffic should move across a backbone.
The backbone in a network which violates this 80:20 rule leads to network congestion and traffic
jams.
Keeping the above significant rule in mind, let us take an example to understand how to go
about LAN design.

An educational society (say XYZ Educational Society), with its head office in Chennai (Tamil
Nadu) and schools in various parts of the globe, is setting up a new senior secondary school, ‘SF
School’, in Bahadurgarh (Haryana). The ‘SF School’ will have 3 computer labs with 30 computers
in each lab, one Accounts office with three computers, one Administrative block with five
computers, and a Principal’s office with one computer.

Let us see how a computer network can be set up in the school. First of all, we can draw a rough
sketch of the school with computers at various locations as follows:

1. Independent LANs can be set up in each of the following buildings: Computer Lab1, Computer
Lab2, Computer Lab3, Administrative Block and Accounts Office.
2. These LANs can be set up in STAR topology using UTP cable (economical, reliable and easily
available).
3. For this, one switch (with suitable number of ports) will be required in each of these buildings.
More than one switch can be used in computer labs if a switch with more than 30 ports is not
available.
4. Two internet connections (broadband for high speed) can be procured in Administrative Office.
Two connections should be procured from two different ISPs so that:
(a) Internet connection in Administrative office can be kept separate from the other Computer
labs where students may do a lot of experimentation.
(b) If one internet connection is not working, the other can be used in case of urgent requirements.
5. These buildings can then be connected as follows:

6. This interconnection will ensure that each building is directly connected to Administrative
block.
7. This way, internet connection will be available in each building irrespective of the status of
the other building.
8. Server (if any) of the school may be placed in the Administrative block so that it remains
safe (physically) and a firewall can be set up so that the whole network remains safe from
any kind of virus or intrusion attacks.
There is no need to put in any extra efforts or expenses to link the school to its head office.
This can be taken care of using the internet connections.

Tips to solve technical questions based on Networking

Where Server should be placed: Server should be placed in the building where the number
of computers is maximum.

1. Suggest a suitable cable layout of connection: A suitable cable layout can be suggested
in the following two ways:

(a) On the basis of Server: First, the location of the Server is found out. Server should be placed
in that building where the number of computers is maximum (according to the 80:20 rule). After
finding the server position, each building distance is compared with the Server building directly
or indirectly (taking other building(s) in between). The shortest distance is counted, whether it is
directly or indirectly calculated.

(b) On the basis of distance from each building: The distance between each building is
compared to all other buildings, either directly or indirectly. The shortest distance is calculated,
whether it is direct or through some other building.

2. Where the following devices should be placed:

Server : Large number of computers in the building

HUB/Switch : Each building

Modem : In the server room

Repeater : It is used if the distances are higher than 70m. It regenerates data and voice signals.

Router : When one LAN is required to be connected to the other LAN

Best Layout : Star (from Server), BUS topology

Best Cable : Twisted Pair, Ethernet Cable, Coaxial cable (when distance is in metres);

For large distances—Fibre optics cable.

Best connecting technique : In hilly regions, radio waves should be used and city-to-city,

state-to-state satellite should be used.