Computer networks What are they, what are they for and what are the most used types of networks?

computer networks they help us to optimize all the circuits in a company, and each individual who wishes to connect with a database that it is in another place and can be accessed through a cable or other element of private public transport.

This computer network is also used to access distant hardware, for example a printer. Computer networks provide solutions and convenience to users when it comes to make the work, the costs and above all the execution time of the tasks efficient.

Here you will find all the necessary information for you to learn to work in the different networks that exist today. We have analyzed each one of them so that you can choose the best one according to your needs.

What is a computer network and what is it for?

A computer network is a set of two or more computers that are connected to each other through a common element (for example, a LAN cable) and each of these computers can be accessed remotely.

With this interconnected information system you can achieve, among other things, agility when it comes to transmitting data, printing remotely, accessing other users’ files and modifying them in your database.

One of the great advantages of computer networks is that you manage to stream. This is no small thing as it is considered by many to be a key success factor for different business tasks.. For example, you can enter YouTube and transmit the video over Wi-Fi to a computer or smartTV, thus avoiding annoying and messy cables for the people who watch the video.

In work environments, computer networks are very successful when you need to have few printers for many computers, With this, companies avoid spending more money on the purchase of hardware. Let’s say that they become more efficient since by buying a single piece of equipment they acquire the one with the best features.

What are the different types of computer networks and how are they different?

There are different types of computer networks that they are differentiated by the place where each of the interconnected computers are locatedfor the element that transmits the data among other things.

Next, we detail you according to its use each of the computer networks that exist today:

Red lan

It is a local area network that has its computers communicated with each other and that belong to the same individual (it can be a company, an office, etc.). The speed of data transfer in this class of networks is 10 megabits per second (Mbps). The number of users or computers that connect to the network varies, and in some cases can reach up to 800 connected computers.

WAN network

This is one much wider area network than LAN, is widely used for internet servers in which their computers are not all in the same physical location. Some WANs are designed to provide public access services. The data transfer varies, but nowadays it is of very good quality and a lot of information can be sent with quite high Mbps.

MAN network

The metropolitan area network is a broadband network that provides coverage over a large geographic area. According to its technical characteristics, it provides an integration of multiple services in the transmission of voice, data and video. It is considered the largest network that exists in the world today in relation to copper pair technology, providing low latency, no magnetic interruptions and great stability.

these networks, fiber optic and twisted pairfor example, provide speeds between 10 Mbit/s or 20 Mbit/s over copper pairs, while with an optical fiber it can reach up to 10Gbit/s It can also be found under the name of MAN BUCLE.

WMAN Network

It is a technological communication between computers in metropolitan areas, is a wireless version of the MAN network and as it happens with the mentioned network, it has the great advantage of having a low cost in its installation between cables and other equipment in the physical connections between nodes.

This type of network it has a considerable disadvantage, since it needs more efforts to protect it against intruders. Their security system is not the best.

WLAN network

This type of networks are characterized by having equipment or computers that are not connected by a cable. They are characterized by transmitting data and communications through radio waves. They have the characteristic of having a low installation cost, since the user avoids the installation of cables for communication between computer equipment.

PAN Network

When the user needs a technological communication system close to his environment, this network is ideal for this purpose.. Data can be transmitted in a practical simple way without losing its speed.

It is widely chosen for its many advantages it offers, highlighting among them the lack of wiring in its installation. When you need to have a network connection between devices at home, this is a good option.

SAN network

This type of computer communications is not recommended for home use, rather it is aimed at professionals in which it is necessary to have a connection between the communication networks of a company. It offers the common interface of any network plus a dedicated interface that connects to the SAN.

WiFi network

We are now in a position to speak one of the words that we perhaps pronounce the most throughout our days, a word that we see even in bars. It’s the Wi-Fi.

Wireless Fidelity for its acronym in English, is a system that uses 802.11 wireless technology to create computer networks. The most common use of this technology is when connecting portable computers to the Internet, as long as they are close to an access point called hot spot.

The interconnection with this hotspot is done through radio frequency. The 2.4 gigahertz connection type is the most used, but we can also mention the 5 gigahertz connection whose speed is higher, although with a much smaller range to the point of Connection.

What are the most important components to create a computer network?

With everything that we mentioned above, we can now say what are the most necessary components when creating a computer network. Basically 4 resources are needed for a computer network to work:

Server

in which they run the operating system that the network has and offers the different services to the workstations or computers. It has the great advantage that the computers that work with the server may not have a storage disk since the database that is on a server disk is always accessed.

For wireless networks we will talk instead of a router or switch that serves as a network bridge. The job of this team is to receive the requests from the different workstations or computers.

Interface boards for connection to the server

also called network cards, these are necessary so that the computers can be recognized by the server, assigning each of them a specific protocol. The speed and security that the network has will depend a lot on this type of card, in the market there are different prices and they vary by their quality and guarantee that they offer.

Their job is to encode and decode the data and deliver it to the different members of the network..

Cables

As we pointed out earlier, this point can be omitted for those networks in which wireless communication has been chosen. When applicable to a wireless network radiofrequency or infrared waves will be needed in some cases.

Work stations

They can be anything from printers to smartphones. More elements can be added to a specific network, but the intention of our work is to show you each component that is present yes or yes in any computer circuit.

What is a network topology and which are the most used?

A network topology is nothing more than a map to exchange data. This topology describes the entire set of interconnections between nodes.

We could say that the network topology is a picture of all the components that exist in it from its connection to the Internet service up to the latest computer equipment that presents it. There are different kinds of these “network photos”, We can name among the most important:

Point to Point (PtP)

It is the simplest of all since two points or two computers communicate without interference. It can be done wired or wireless.

Star Network

It consists of connecting all the nodes to a central server, in which everything is directly related to it. Its great advantage is that there are no interferences in this scheme, while its most important problem is that when this central node fails, all the others cease to be.

Tree Network

This network system owes its name to the physical resemblance that the map has with a tree, in some places also called hierarchical network. Its main characteristic is that the nodes need to act as repeatersUnlike the Star Network, they do not depend on a central node, thus considerably reducing the risk of failure presented by the network that is centralized in the main node.

In this type of computer connection you usually work a lot with switcheswhich receive, quickly store and transmit the information to another work team.

We hope that these basic concepts will help you to be encouraged to make some of the computer networks you need and know that an expert is not needed to configure any of them.