LANS
or local area networks connect users in small geographical areas, while WANS or
wide area networks connect users across a very wide geographical area or
multiple LANs. With these networks are different
types of network topologies or configurations.
The most common are ring, star, and bus.
There
are different types of transmission media for networks. Infrared light-wave signals as short-range
transmission medium between computers. Radio
frequency broadcasts radio waves to transmit data over short distances.
Bluetooth is short-range RF technology that sends and receives wireless
transmissions between devices such as PCs PDAs and headsets. A WLAN or wireless LAN, uses a wireless
medium such as radio frequency transmissions to connect computers, printers and
other devices.
There
are different types of cabling used in networks. The most common is twisted pair cable, which
is insulated copper wires twisted around each other in pairs and enclosed in
plastic. The more expensive option is
fiber optic cable, which consists of glass fibers surrounded by a layer of
glass cabling.
To
connect items on a network, both connectivity hardware and software are needed. A variety of hubs, bridges, routers, and switches
can be used. Switches are intelligent
devices that interpret MAC addresses and then filter and forward those MAC
address packets to other network segments. Routers are intelligent device with
multiple ports, which can run something called a tracert utlity that traces hops on a network from a command
prompt.
A
network gateway is a hardware device or software that runs on a mainframe or
server and connects two or more networks that use different packet formatting,
different protocols, and different access methods.
There
are many types of internal network security threats that have to be planned for
when developing a disaster recovery plan for a network. This type of plan will identify the
procedures that may help prevent an attack, should include both hardware and
software, and should determine how to respond if such an event does occur. Case in point - take what happened recently with the Heartbleed bug - it's not over yet. Read more below:
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