Netwok Basic

Networking is the practice of linking computing devices together with hardware and software that supports data communications across these devices.

There are two main types of the computer networking client-server and peer to peer. In the client server computing, a computer plays a major role known as server, where the files, data in the form of web pages, docs or spread sheet files, video, database & resources are placed.

All the other computers in the client/server networks are called clients and they get the data from the server. In the peer to peer networks all the computers play the same role and no computer act as a centralized server. In the major businesses around the world client-server networks model is in major use.

A network topology defines the structure, design or layout of a network. There are different topologies like bus, ring, star, mesh, hybrid etc. The star topology is most commonly used topology. In the star topology, all the computers in the network are connected with a centralized device such as hub or switch. Thus forms a star like structure. If the hubs/switch fails to work for any reason then all the connectivity and communication between the computers will be halted.

A common communication language is used by the computers and the communication devices is known as protocols. The most commonly used and popular protocol on the internet and in the home and other networks is called TCP/IP. TCP/IP is not a single protocol but it is a suite of several protocols. A computer network can be a wired or wireless and TCP/IP protocol can work both in types of a network. Data flow or communication can be divided into seven logical layers called OSI layers model that was developed by Intel and Xerox Corporation and was standardized by ISO.

1. Application layer

2. Presentation layer

3. Session layer

4. Transport layer

5. Network layer

6. Data Link layer

a. Media access control sub-layer

b. Logical link control sub-layer

7. Physical layer

A network can be divided into different scales and ranges and it depends on the requirement of the organization and the geographical location. Computer Network can be divided into Local Area Network, Personal Area Network, Campus Area Network, Wireless Local Area Network, Metropolitan Area Network and Wide Area Network.



There are several communication connection methods like Home PNA, Power line communication, Ethernet and Wi-Fi connection method.

A network can also be categorized into several different types based on the services it provides like Server farms, Storage area networks, Value control networks, Value-Added networks, SOHO networks, Wireless and Jungle networks.



I have explained the basic and advance data communication technologies, Router commands, communication devices, certifications, IP addressing basics, subnetting, networking tips, networking interview questions, windows networking, mobile technology and wireless computing. I have tried to cover all the hot topics in the area of computer networking so that maximum users can get benefit from this website.

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I have tried to add all the good features, how tos and networking related utilities in my website. I am hopeful that my visitors will like this website and find it very useful for the basic and advance data communication topics.



Local area network (LAN): A computer network that covers a relatively small area. Most LANs cover a single building or group of buildings. A system of LANs can be connected over any distance through telephone lines and radio waves, creating a wide-area network.



Workgroup: In computer networking, a workgroup is a collection of computers on a local area network (LAN) that share common resources and responsibilities. The Microsoft Windows family of operating systems supports assigning of personal computers to named workgroups



MAC Address In TCP/IP computer networks, each device possesses a Media Access Control (MAC) address used to uniquely identify the network adapter hardware.

MAC is the technology used for access control and identification of computers on an Internet Protocol (IP) network.

The MAC address is used by network adapters to uniquely identify themselves on a LAN. MAC addresses are 12-digit hexadecimal numbers that map to IP addresses through an address resolution protocol (ARP).

TCP/IP is an extremely popular network protocol that enables communication between most of today's computers. Did you know that TCP/IP is over 30 years old

Definition TCP/IP : Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP) are two distinct network protocols, technically speaking. TCP and IP are so commonly used together; however, that TCP/IP has become standard terminology to refer to either or both of the protocols.

IP addresses are the fundamental method for computers to identify themselves on the Internet and many other computer networks.

An IP address is a logical address of a network adapter. Home computers and many other devices acquire IP addresses to join Internet Protocol networks.

IP corresponds to the Network layer (Layer 3) in the OSI model, whereas TCP corresponds to the Transport layer (Layer 4) in OSI. In other words, the term TCP/IP refers to network communications where the TCP transport is used to deliver data across IP networks.

The average person on the Internet works in a predominately TCP/IP environment. Web browsers, for example, use TCP/IP to communicate with Web servers.

IP (Internet Protocol) is the primary network protocol used on the Internet, developed in the 1970s. On the Internet and many other networks, IP is often used together with the Transport Control Protocol (TCP) and referred to interchangeably as TCP/IP.

IP supports unique addressing for computers on a network. Most networks use the Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) standards that features IP addresses four bytes (32 bits) in length. The newer Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) standard features addresses 16 bytes (128 bits) in length.







An IP address is considered private if the IP number falls within one of the IP address ranges reserved for private uses by Internet standards groups. These private IP address ranges exist:

10.0.0.0 through 10.255.255.255

169.254.0.0 through 169.254.255.255 (APIPA only)

172.16.0.0 through 172.31.255.255

192.168.0.0 through 192.168.255.255

Private IP addresses are typically used on local networks including home, school and business LANs including airports and hotels.

Devices with private IP addresses cannot connect directly to the Internet. Likewise, computers outside the local network cannot connect directly to a device with a private IP. Instead, access to such devices must be brokered by a router or similar device that supports

Subnet : A subnet is a logical grouping of connected network devices. When a subnet is properly implemented, both the performance and security of networks can be improved.

Network/Subnet Masks

A network mask helps you which portion of the address identifies the network portion and the host portion of an IP address. The three different classes of the IP addresses have their own default masks as shown below.

Class Subnet Mask

Class A: 255.0.0.0

Class B: 255.255.0.0

Class C: 255.255.255.0

Default Gateway: In computer networking, a default gateway is the device that passes traffic from the local subnet to devices on other subnets. The default gateway often connects a local network to the Internet, although internal gateways for local networks also exist.

Ping is the name of a standard software utility (tool) used to test network connections. It can be used to determine if a remote device (such as Web or game server) can be reached across the network and, if so, the connection's latency. Ping tools are part of Windows, Mac OS X and Linux as well as some routers and game consoles.



Most ping tools use Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP). They send request messages to a target network address at periodic intervals and measure the time it takes for a response message to arrive. These tools typically support options like



DNS - Domain Name System

DNS technology allows hosts on TCP/IP networks (such as Internet Web sites) to be addressed by names. DNS includes a network protocol and a distributed data store for lookup of host names and addresses.

DNS technology allows hosts on TCP/IP networks (such as Internet Web sites) to be addressed by names. DNS includes a network protocol and a distributed data store for lookup of host names and addresses.

DNS automatically converts the names we type in our Web browser address bar to the IP addresses of Web servers hosting those sites.

A DNS server is a special type of computer on the Internet used to support the Domain Name System. Numerous DNS servers across the Internet maintain a distributed database of domain names and IP addresses.

A DNS cache is a small database maintained by a computer's operating system. The database contains records of all recently accessed Internet domains.



RJ-45 connectors are the ones you are most likely going to encounter in your network travels. RJ-45 connectors are used with twisted-pair cabling, the most prevalent network cable in use today. RJ-45 connectors resemble the aforementioned RJ-11 phone jacks, but support up to eight wires instead of the six supported by RJ-11 connectors. RJ-45 connectors are also larger. Figure 6 shows the RJ-45 connectors.



switches are the connectivity points of an Ethernet network. Devices connect to switches via twisted-pair cabling, one cable for each device. The difference between hubs and switches is in how the devices deal with the data that they receive. Whereas a hub forwards the data it receives to all of the ports on the device, a switch forwards it only to the port that connects to the destination device. It does this by learning the MAC address of the devices attached to it, and then by matching the destination MAC address in the data it receives. Figure 1 shows how a switch works

Routers In a common configuration, routers are used to create larger networks by joining two network segments. Such as a SOHO (small office and home network) router used to connect a user to the Internet. A router can be a dedicated hardware device or a computer system with more than one network interface and the appropriate routing software. All modern network operating systems include the functionality to act as a router.

A router derives its name from the fact that it can route data it receives from one network onto another. When a router receives a packet of data, it reads the header of the packet to determine the destination address. Once it has determined the address, it looks in its routing table to determine whether it knows how to reach the destination and, if it does, it forwards the packet to the next hop on the route. The next hop might be the final destination, or it might be another router