1.4

1.4

1. LAN (Local area network) - Computers are connected together over a small geographical area such as a single building or a single site

   • E.gs of LANs Home network School network
   • Has its own infrastructure of cables and network hard ware due to distance and practicalities

2. WAN (Wide area network) - Computers are connected over a large geographical area. This could be buildings/sites, town wide, county wide, country wide.

   • The largest WAN network would be a global collection of networks (known as the internet)
   • Uses external hard drives and an external infrastructure such as satellites, phone lines or The Internet

3. Network

4. Client-server - This type of network relies on central servers

   • All clients (devices) request services from the server (e.g. print services)
   • Additional hardware would be needed e.g. high end powerful servers

5. Peer-to-peer - All computers have equal status

   • All devices can request and provide network services
   • Each device can act as a client and a server
   • No additional hardware/ software needed to set up this type of network

6. Packets - Data transmitted over a network is broken down into packets. They will contain the IP address of both the sender and receiver. They will contain sequence numbers. They will have a time to live and if that time runs out they will disappear

7. Wireless access point (WAP) - Allows for a device to connect to a wireless network. Also includes connection through wifi and bluetooth

8. Router - An interconnection device used to connect two or more devices. Routers examine packets

9. Switch

10. Network interface card (NIC) - Allows a computer to connect to a wired network. Allows a packet to travel to and from a computer.

11. Transmission media