Computer Network

A network is simply a set of devices(nodes) connected by a communication link. A node can be a computer or any other device capable of sending and receiving data generated by other nodes in a network. A link can be a cable, air, optical fiber or any medium which can transport a signal carrying information.

Components of Network

1. NIC

1. Media

2. Topology

3. Protocol

4. IP Addresses

   1. NIC

A network interface card (NIC) is a hardware component without which a computer cannot be connected over a network. It is a circuit board installed in a computer that provides a dedicated network connection to the computer. It is also called network interface controller, network adapter or LAN adapter.

Functions of the Network Interface Card

1. NIC is used to convert data into a digital signal.

2. NIC is a middleware between a computer/server and a data network.

3. NIC allows both wired and wireless communications.

1. Media

The computer and other communicating devices represent data in the form of signals. The signals transmit between communicating devices in the form of electromagnetic energy, and hence the signals are called electromagnetic signals. Electromagnetic signals can travel through various transmission media. The transmission media is broadly classified into two categories that are guided and unguided media.

Guided

Guided media is a wired communication; it transmits data either using twisted pair cable, coaxial cable or fiber optics; it requires a maintenance Charge.

Unguided

Unguided media is a wireless communication; it transmits signals by broadcasting it through the air.

1. Topology

Network topology refers to how various nodes and connections on your network are physically or logically arranged in relation to each other. There are different types of topology

1. Bus

2. Star

3. Mesh

4. Ring

1. Protocol

A Protocol is nothing but a set of rules that applies on the full data communication procedure. This is like an agreement between the two devices to successfully communicate with each other

1. IP Address

An IP address is a unique address that identifies a device on the internet or a local network. IP stands “Internet Protocol”, which is the set of rules governing the format of data sent via the internet or local network

TCP/IP and UDP Comparison

Transmission Control Protocol (TCP or TCP/IP) and User Datagram Protocol (UDP or UDP/IP) are both transport protocols layered on top of the Internet Protocol (IP). Use the TCP/IP and UDP interfaces for reading and writing both binary data and ASCII data.

Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)	User Datagram Protocol
TCP is a connection-oriented protocol. Connection orientation means that the communicating devices should establish a connection before transmitting data and should close the connection after transmitting the data.	UDP is the Datagram-oriented protocol. This is because there is no overhead for opening a connection, maintaining a connection, or terminating a connection. UDP is efficient for broadcast and multicast types of network transmission.
TCP is reliable as it guarantees the delivery of data to the destination router.	The delivery of data to the destination cannot be guaranteed in UDP.
An acknowledgment segment is present.	No acknowledgment segment.
TCP is comparatively slower than UDP.	UDP is faster, simpler, and more efficient than TCP.