Computer Networks
Contents
Benefits of Networking
- Sharing devices like printers saves money. - Site licences are likely to be cheaper than buying several standalone licences. - Files can easily be shared between users. - Network users can communicate by email. - Security is good, users cannot see other users' files unlike on stand-alone machines. - Data is easy to backup as all the data is stored on the file server.
Drawbacks of Networking
Types of Network
Local Area Network
Local Area Networks (Also known as "LAN") is a form of networking that allows devices to communitcate to eachother and networks, LAN is connected via an Ethernet cable then connected to a server or a router to connect to a network or another device. LAN is connected by Ethernet Cables, these are made up of coxial cable in different types. This, for a long time, was the only way to connect a computer as they used to have where they would connect to a mainframe and then a computer would be connected by Ethernet cable to the mainframe, making it a Local Area Network.
Wide Area Network
A wide area network (WAN) is a collection of local area networks (LAN) over a geographical area. An example of a WAN is the internet.
