Networking

CP2099-Individual Assessment

Networking Report

Contents

The report is broken down in 30 main sections in them the following can be viewed:

1. INTRODUCTION

2. WHAT IS A NETWORK?

3. WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS FROM NETWORKING?

4. NETWORK RELATIONSHIP TYPES

5. WIDE AREA NETWORKS (WAN)

6. LOCAL AREA NETWORKS (LAN)

7. METROPOLITAN AREA NETWORK (MAN)

8. PEER-TO-PEER NETWORK RELATIONSHIP

9. CLIENT/SERVER NETWORK RELATIONSHIP

10. COMPARING PEER-TO-PEER AND CLIENT/SERVER

11. ADVANTAGES OF PEER-TO-PEER

12. DISADVANTAGES OF PEER-TO-PEER

13. ADVANTAGES OF CLIENT/SERVER

14. DISADVANTAGES OF CLIENT/SERVER NETWORKS

15. NETWORK FEATURES OF CLIENT/SERVER

1 FILE SHARING

2 PRINTER SHARING

3 APPLICATION SERVICES

4 E-MAIL

16. THE INTERNET

17. NETWORK SECURITY

18. WORKSTATION HARDWARE

19. BUS TOPOLOGY

20. STAR TOPOLOGY

21. RING TOPOLOGY

22. TREE TOPOLOGY

23. FIREWALLS

24. DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE (DSL)

25. ACCOUNT SECURITY

26. CONCLUSION

27. RECOMMENDATION

28. BIBLIOGRAPHY

29. ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

30. APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1.1: THE SERVER

APPENDIX 1.2: THE NETWORK CARD

APPENDIX 1.3: THE ROUTER

INTRODUCTION

I have decided to research into Networking as my individual assignment for CP2099, because I am interested in setting up networks, as I already have set up my own small network at home. I also want to find out some of the advantages and disadvantages of the different types of networks.

I will research extensively in order to find the best possible network for:

* A small business such as a medium sized office

* A large business such as the University of Wolverhampton

* And a home network

WHAT IS A NETWORK?

A definition of a network is:

''Information system implemented with a collection of interconnected nodes''

Computers on a network are sometimes called 'nodes'.

There are many different ways to network computers together. A group of two or more computer systems linked together. There are many types of computer networks, including:

* Local-area networks (LANs): The computers are geographically close together (that is, in the same building).

* Wide-area networks (WANs): The computers are farther apart and are connected by telephone lines or radio waves.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS FROM NETWORKING?

There are many possible reasons that a company might need or benefit from a network. In order to understand your particular company, you should start by exploring the following questions. You may need to ask a variety of people in the company their perspectives on these questions. Some of the people you may need to interview include the chief executive or the owner, the chief financial officer, and the key departmental heads within the company, such as manufacturing, retail operations and so on. The range of people you interview will depend on the type of business (or at home the users); in this case it is a small and large company.

Before setting up a network whether a home network or a business network you should ask questions like:

* What is the function of the network (why it will be used)?

* What are the Key objectives of the network or the users?

* Why set up a network?

* What is the purpose of the network?

NETWORK RELATIONSHIP TYPES

Networking can be a very difficult subject especially if you have not done any networking before, but even so you can still set up your own network in minuets. There are a lot of complex aspects to networking. This report is set out to help you understand the essential aspects networking, as you progress through your understanding of networking it will become more easier. The term "network relationship" refers to two different concepts regarding how one computer makes use of another computers resources over a network.

Two fundamental types of network relationships exist:

* Peer-to-peer

* And Client/server

These two types of network relationships define the very formation of a network.