LANs + WANs

LANs + WANs

1. LANs

   • Local Area Network
     • Network for a small geographical area
   • Examples
     • Home
       • Allows household members access to internet with wireless router
     • School
     • Small office
     • Group of buildings on a single site
   • Usually managed by a local manager or team on the site

2. Network

   • A network is a group of computer systems or devices linked together
     • Can communicate and share resources
       • Such as printers

3. WANs

   • Wide Area Networks
     • Connects separate LANs over large geographical area
       • Forms a network of networks
   • Used by large companies
     • Can connect LANs at their different sites
       • Share resources + data
     • Can communicate with computers in other locations
   • Managed by several people or parts of an organisation
     • Or each LAN could be managed inderpendently
       • Distributed ownership
     • Collective ownership

4. Factors affecting network performance

   • Bandwidth
     • Maximum amount of data then can pass through a network per second
   • Hardware + Software limitations
     • e.g switches and routers
       • Can affect performance
   • High number of users
     • Network congestion
       • queued packets
   • High network traffic
     • Collision of data packets
       • Transmission errors