Belilios Public School

S2 Computer Literacy

Topic 1
Computer Networking
Introduction
 Computer network is two or more computers being
connected together in order to share
 Information

 Files sharing (folders, websites, software)

 Interactive information (video conference, banking)

 Hardware resource (printers, cameras, firewall)

 Computer network can be classified according to their

 Scale

 Distance between physical computers (Bluetooth to

satellite)
 Organizational boundaries (local Vs globalization)

 Topology

 How the computers are being connected together

(layout)
 Hardware equipment

 Medium of transmission (wired Vs wireless)

Network Scale
 Distance between physical computers
 LAN
 local area network
 connects computers in a limited area
 Home (SOHO) to Building (ITEDA01A)
 WAN
 wide area network
 connects computers in a large area
 across cities to countries
 Organizational boundaries
 Intranet - for the same organization (ITEDA01A, ATM)
 Extranet - intranet mapped onto the public Internet managed by more
than one company's administrators (eClass, military)
 accessed by the public under limited conditions
 Internet - different extranets together to form a large network (WWW,
FTP, SMTP)
 Networking Topology
 Patterns of connections between computers
 Basic network topologies
 Bus network
 computers/equipments are connected to a backbone line (bus)
 No extra central device required and cheapest to implement
 A breakdown in backbone will disrupt the entire network
 Ring network
 computers/equipments are connected to other two computers and form a ring
 Performance is better than bus network
 A breakdown in single computer node may affect the network solve by Double ring or Token
ring by IBM
 Star network
 All the computers are connected to a central device which will add extra cost to the network
 Easier to add new member computers
 Better performance than bus network and ring network
 A breakdown in any connection or node will not affect other parts of the network
 The most popular topology used nowadays
 Several basic network topologies together form a
large network e.g. Tree network
 Networking Hardware
 Hub and switches (star network central devices)
 Simply joins computers within the same organizational boundary
 Hubs will forward data to all other ports while switches will only forward
data to specific port
 Can be stacked to provide more network connections
 Routers
 Joins two or more networks from different organizational
boundaries together
 Two different intranets
 Intranet and extranet
 Extranet and internet
 Home-use routers usually have wireless function integrated
 Firewalls
 Restricts the type of connections being established between two
networks
 Protects network from unwanted or unauthorized access
 Modulator-demodulators (Modems)
 Connects a computer, intranet or extranet to internet through
telephone line
 Converts computer digital signals to audio analog signals and vice
versa
 Networking Hardware
Interface + medium
 NIC
 Network interface controller (LAN card)
 Allows individual computers to connect to a
network
 Wired or Wireless
 Wired NICs usually have different interface for
different network cables
 Wireless NICs usually have one or more antenna to
received radio signals
 Network cables
 Connects different components together
 Types of network cables
 Coaxial cables (bus network)
 UTP - Unshielded twisted pair (star network)
 Optical fibre (high-speed star network)
 Some special NICs (Homeplug adapters) uses
indoor electrical cables for data transmission
Wireless Network
 Wireless Signals
 Bluetooth
 Infra-red
 Base stations – radio waves
 Earth-based transmitters & receivers – microwaves
 Satellite – mircowaves
 Mobile Devices
 Portable computers (tablet, notebook, netbook, laptop)
 Personal digital assistant (PDA), Smartphone
 Disadvantages:
 Data interferences electromagnetic interference 電磁干擾

 Lower speed of transmission

Wireless Network Security
 Physical address filters
 White list – allows NICs with listed physical address to
connect to the wireless router and blocks all the others
from connecting
 Black list – blocks NICs with listed physical address from
connecting to the wireless router and allows all the others
to connect
 Security protocols
 Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)
 Wifi Protected Access (WPA)
 Wifi Protected Access 2 (WPA2)
 Hide the service set identification (SSID)
 More difficult for the intruders to connect to the network if
they do not know the network’s “name”
Cat5 network cable
arrangement

AB BB
(cross-over for Hub to Hub connection) (parallel for workstation to Hub
connection)
Speed of Data Transmission
 Amount of data being transferred per second
 Bits per second (bps or b/s) will be used as unit of
hardware network speed (wire speed)
 1 bit = 1 “0” or “1” being transferred
 Kbps – 1,000 bits per second

 Mbps – 1,000,000 bits per second

 Bytes per second (Bps or B/s) will be used as unit

of software transfer speed
 1 byte = 1 English character / symbol / digit
 1 byte = 8 bits
 Don’t mix up “bps” and “Bps” as the difference is
quite large
Speed of Data Transmission
 Classwork (example)
The backup of an audio disk has a storage
capacity of 780MB. The speed of transmission
is 10 Mbps. Find the time of uploading the file
to the Backup Server. (Give your answer in
nearest s).
= Speed
File size 1 b (bit)
Time 1 B (Byte)
1 KB (Kilo Byte)
 Time =( )( ) (Mega Byte)
1 MB
1 GB (Giga Byte)
1 TB ( ………... Byte)
=( )s

( )s
Network Design
 Sharing the use of software on the web (web-based)
 www.draw.io
Network Design (Classwork)
Imagine you are the network administrator of a company.
There are two departments (Sales Department and Accounting
Department) with ten employees. You are asked to design a
computer network with the following network services:
 All employees are able to communicate with each others

 The two departments are able to connect to the internet

 High speed of communication between departments

 All employees are able to share the use of network printer

connecting one of the workstation computer in the Sales

Department
 A file server is used to store huge amount of sales records in

the Accounting Department

 A file server is used to execute the DBMS storing current

sales records which also allows the customers access

 A file server is used to store static information for the public

to browse with a firewall server for security purposes