Today executives communicate with their office employees via email, sent with just a click of a mouse; thanks to computer networking.
In the early 1980s, standalone computers gave users the ability to create documents, database or spreadsheets; these documents were then saved on a floppy disk for future use. Unless a printer was attached to the computer from which these documents were created, they would be unable to print them right away. Whereas, clients on a networked computer can send both e-mail to hundreds of recipients and print documents without ever leaving their station. A computer network, therefore, allows a group of computers to link to each others resources for the purpose of sharing them, thus saving time and money.
LAN vs. WAN
Local Area Network (LAN)
Local area network, in its earliest development, was to connect all computers in a single office only. The first LAN program, ShareNet introduced by Novell, Inc. could only cover a single floor of an office building; moreover, it only allowed just one user at a time to access any resources on the network using the concept known as file locking.
By the late 1980s, there was a growing need for networks to support multiple users and cover larger geographical area. Although these capabilities existed in mainframe environments, businesses were unable to procure this type of system because of the prohibitive cost at that time; indeed, only very few governments in developed nations were able to afford them. Even then, its efficiency left much to be desired.
Wide Area Network (WAN)
As LAN technology evolved, wide area network (WAN) came to being and soon businesses with offices near and far were able to communicate as if they were in the same room. WAN revolutionized the way the world does business; and currently, the World Wide Web (www) is the largest and best-known WAN of all. Whereas LAN was limited to, at most, a single building, WAN covered states, countries and continents.
Components of a Network
Network, large and small are made up of 3 primary components namely: Servers, Clients or workstations, and Resources.
- Servers are the core components of a network and they come in different shapes and sizes. The main purpose of servers is to provide a link to resources necessary to perform a task; they offer directions to the client computers regarding where to go to get what they need. There are two types of servers: dedicated servers and non dedicated servers. Dedicated servers, as the name implies, provide specific applications or services for the network and nothing else. Non dedicated servers, on the other hand, are assigned to provide one or more network services and local access. Hence, non dedicated servers are more flexible than dedicated servers.
- Workstations are the computers on which network users do their work. This work includes word processing, e-mail, database design or any other computer- related personal tasks. In order for a client or workstation to communicate with a server, it must have a network interface card, also known as NIC. This card is usually installed in one of the expansion slots inside a PC. It must also have special software called client software that allows it to talk to servers and request resources from them. And, it must be connected to a cabling system that connects it to another computer. Once all these are in place, the computer is part of a network.
- Resources: A resource on a network is any item that can be used on a network. Resource includes a broad range of items such as printers, files, applications and disk storage. Since servers on a network can be allocated to handle only certain functions, a server can be assigned to store large files that are used more frequently, thus freeing up disk space on clients computer.
For a network to be fully functional, these three components must not only be present, they must work together.
Reference:
James F. Kurose: Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach Featuring the Internet., 2008.
William Ekpa - William Ekpa majored in Computer Science and has worked for several Information Technology firms as a consultant ever since he left ...
