What’s a Network?
The dictionary defines the word network as “a group or system of interconnected people or things.” Similarly, in the computer world, the term network means two or more connected computers that can share resources like data and applications, office machines, an Internet connection, or some combination of these, as shown in Figure 1.1
Figure 1.1 shows a really basic network made up of only two host computers connected together; they share resources like files and even a printer hooked up to one of the hosts. These two hosts “talk” to each other using a computer language called binary code, which consists of lots of 1s and 0s in a specific order that describes exactly what they want to “say.”
The Local Area Network (LAN): –
Just as the name implies, a local area network (LAN) is usually restricted to spanning a particular geographic location like an office building, a single department within a corporate office, or even a home office.
Or. A Local Area Network (LAN) is a network that connects devices within a limited geographic area, such as a home, office, or campus. It allows devices to communicate with each other and share resources like printers, files, and internet access. LANs are typically managed locally and can be wired (using Ethernet cables) or wireless (using Wi-Fi).
First, don’t stress about the devices labeled hub and switch—these are just connectivity devices that allow hosts to physically connect to resources on a LAN.
Anyway, back to the figure… Notice that there’s a Marketing workgroup and a Sales workgroup. Any device that connects to the Marketing LAN can access the resources of the Marketing LAN—in this case, the servers and printer. If you want to access resources from the Sales LAN, then you must connect directly to the Sales LAN.
There are two problems with this:
1. You must be physically connected to each LAN to get the resources from that specific workgroup’s LAN.
2. You can’t get from one LAN to the other LAN and use its server data and printing resources remotely. This is a typical network issue that’s easily resolved by using a cool device called a router to connect the two LANs together, as shown in Figure 1.3.
Nice—problem solved! Even though you can use routers for more than just connecting LANs together, the router shown in Figure 1.3 is a great solution because the host computers from the Sales LAN can get to the resources (server data and printers) of the Marketing LAN, and vice versa.
Question: How many LANs are connected to the router: –
Four individual LANs are connected to the router
