Network

Network

1. Advantages

   • Share files so you can access them from whichever computer you use
   • Share recources such as printers and internet connectiom
   • Share logins so the same username and password can be used on every computer in the network

2. Disadvatages

   • Expensive to st up
   • Viruses can spread quickly
   • Expertese is needed to setup and maintain a network

3. Types of network

   • WAN
     • Wide Area Network
     • The network spans a large area or multiple organisations
   • LAN
     • Local Area Network
     • The network only spans organisation or a small area

4. Topologies

   • BUS
     • Advantages
       • Cheap to install
     • Disadvantages
       • High chance of catastrophic failures
       • Lots of collisions
       • slows down as more computers are added
   • RING
     • Advantages
       • Cheap to install
       • No collisions (fast)
     • Disadvantages
       • High chance of catastrophic failure
       • Difficult to expand
   • STAR
     • Advantages
       • Low Chance of failure
       • No colisions (fast)
     • Disadvantages
       • Expensive
       • Depends on a Switch

5. IP Address

   • An IP Address is a unique value assigned to every computer on a network, used to identify it
   • Messages on a network have an IP address attached, which is how a computer knows whether or not to keep the message
   • The internet is a huge network with more devices than its possible to assign a unique address to
     • so they assigned unique addresses to businesses and houses and gave them mini networks

6. The internet is a giant mesh of computers

   • The internet is a giant mesh of computers
   • There are multiple different routes between any two nodes
   • It is impossible to break the internet because there is always another route to be used
   • A cost is assigned to each connection in a mesh
   • Route finding algorithms are you used to find the lowest cost route between two nodes
   • Dat is split into small chunks called packets, each packet is sent along the lowest cost route
   • There are multiple different routes between any two nodes
   • It is impossible to break the internet because there is always another route to be used
   • A cost is assigned to each connection in a mesh
   • Data is split up into small chunks called packets, each packet is sent along the lowest cost route
     • The packets are re-assembled on the other side
   • Route finding algorithms are used to find the lowest cost route between two nodes