Communication System

• Communication is the process of transferring a message from one point

to another.

• The three basic elements of any communication system are:-

 A Sender (source) that creates and sends a message.

 A medium that carries the message.

 A receiver (sink) that receives the message.

Data Communication System

• Electronic Systems that transfer data from one point to another are
called data communication systems.

• In data communication systems sender and receiver are normally

machines (such as computers, terminals, peripheral devices like printers,
plotters, disks etc.)

Basic Elements of a Data Communication System

Data Communication has 5 components:-

1. Message: - Information to be communicated. Like text, pictures, audio.

2. Sender:- Device that sends the data message, like comp. telephone,
workstation.

3. Receiver:- That receives the massage.

4. Transmission medium: Physical path by which a message travels from

sender to receiver. Like radio waves, coaxial cables.
5. Protocol :- Set of rules that govern data communicate without this two
devices may be connected between but not communicating, just as person
speaking French cannot be understand by person who speaks only Japanese.

Data Transmission Modes

• Simplex Transmission

• Half Duplex Transmission

• Full Duplex Transmission

Simplex Transmission

• A Simplex communication system can transmit data in one direction

only. It is suitable for connecting send-only (such as keyboard) or
receive-only (such as printer) devices.
Half Duplex Transmission

• Half duplex communication system can transmit data in both directions,

but in only one direction at a time. Hence, it can alternately send and
receive data. It requires two wires. It is suitable for voice communication
using telephones in which one person speaks at a time.

Full Duplex Transmission

• Some applications require bi-directional data transfer simultaneously.

• Systems with such requirements use a full duplex communication

system which allows data to flow in both directions simultaneously

• It improves efficiency because it eliminates the direction switching delay

of a half-duplex system.

Data Transmission Speed

Bandwidth

• Bandwidth of a communication system refers to its data transfer rate

(amount of data that it can transfer per unit of time).

• Bandwidth is measured in bits per second (bps) also called as baud.

• Hence, rate of 300 baud means 300 bps.

• Based on speed three basic categories of communication channels are:-

narrowband, voice band and broadband.
Narrowband

• Narrowband channels have speed in the range of 45 to 300 baud.

• Low speed devices (such as low speed terminals) and communication

systems for low data volumes use narrowband channels.

Voice band/Baseband

• Voice band channels have speed up to 9600 baud.

• Their major application is in ordinary telephone communication.

• Communication systems for data transmission from slow I/O device to

CPU or vice-versa use voice band channels.

Broadband

• Broadband channels have speed of 1 million baud or more.

• Communication systems for transmission of large volume of data at high

speed (such as high speed computer to computer communication or
data transmission to several different devices simultaneously) use
broadband channels.

Analog and Digital Transmission

• Communication systems that transmit data by means of electrical signals

may use either digital or analog signals.

• Analog signal is a power range that varies continuously. Amplitude (V) of

an analog signal is measured in volts and its frequency (f) in Hertz.

• Amplitude is the value of signal at any point on the wave.

• Frequency is the no. of cycles a signal completes in one second.

• Digital signal is a sequence of voltage pulses represented in binary form.

• Computer generated data is digital whereas telephone lines used for

data communication in computer networks usually carry analog signals.
 • When the data communication system transmits digital data on an
analog facility, it must first convert it from digital to analog form at
sender’s end and from analog to digital for at receiver’s end.

• Modulation is the technique of converting digital signal into its analog

form and demodulation is the reverse process of converting an analog
signal to digital form.

Analog Signal

Digital Signal

Computer Network
• A Computer network is a network of computers that are geographically
distributed, but connected in a manner to enable meaningful
transmission and exchange of data among them.

• A computer network is a group of computer systems and other

computing hardware devices that are linked together through
communication channels to facilitate communication and resource-
sharing among a wide range of users.

Objectives of Computer Network

• To provide connectivity between various hardware and software

products for communication.
 • To permit simple and easy installation of software and operation of all
network components.

• To allow the network to grow in all dimensions.

• To permit reliable and error free transmission.

• Flexibility to permit availability of new technologies in the network.

Advantages of Networking
• Sharing of hardware resources

• Sharing of Information

• Transfer of Text

• Easy communication

Types of Computer Networks

• Local Area Network (LAN)

• Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)

• Wide Area Network (WAN)

Local Area Network (LAN)

• Network that covers a small distance or geographical area such as a

room, office, building or campus is known as local area network.

• LANs are designed to allow resources to be shared between personal

computers or workstations.

• LANs transfer data in digital form at high speed and have low
implementation cost.

Generally LAN offers a bandwidth of 10 Mbps to 1 Gbps.

• The main usage of LANs are:-

 File Transfer & Access

 Accessing the Internet

Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)

• Network of computers that extends LAN and covers a metropolitan area

such as entire city is known as MAN.

• It may be a single network or may be a means of connecting a number of

LANs.

• It is a set of networks which is usually reserved for metropolitan areas

where the city bridges its LAN with a series of backbones making it a
large network.
Wide Area Network (WAN)

• A WAN is a system of networks covering a large geographical area such

as a state, country or even the whole world.

• These networks use telephone lines, satellite links & various other
communication technologies for connection.

• Such networks are designed for hundreds or thousands of miles

connectivity.
Connecting Devices in Networks

Repeaters

• A repeater is a device used on communication circuits that decreases

distortation by generating a signal so that it can be transmitted in its
original form.

Bridges

• It is a device that connects the same type of networks or LANs using

same communication protocols so that information can be passed from
one to another.

• Bridge can act as a repeater as well as link.

Gateways

• It is a device that connects dissimilar networks using different

communication protocols so that information can flow from one to the
other.

• A gateway performs two functions, it transfers the information and it

converts information to a form compatible with the protocol used by the
receiving network.
 Switch

• In networking, switch is a device capable of forwarding packets directly

to the ports associated with particular network address.

Hub

• In a network, hub is a device joining communication lines at a central

location, providing common connection to all devices on the network.
The hub provides a connection over a high speed link to other LANs, the
company’s WAN at the internet.

Line Configuration
• A network is two or more devices connected through links.

• A link is a communication pathway that transfers data from one device

to another.

• For communication to occur, two devices must be connected in some

way to the link at the same time.

• There are two possible types of connections: point to point and

multipoint.

Point to Point Configuration

• It provides a dedicated link between two devices.

• The entire capacity of the link is reserved for transmission between

those two devices. Most point to point connections use an actual length
of wire or cable to connect the two ends.

• For e.g. when you change television channels by infrared remote

control, you are establishing a point to point connection between
remote control and television control system.
Multipoint Configuration

• This connection is one in which more than two specific devices share a
single link.

• In multipoint environment, the capacity of the channel is shared.

Network Topologies
• Topology refers to the way a network is laid out either physically or
logically.

• The topology of a network is the geometric representation of the

relationship of all the links and linking devices.

• There are five basic topologies:-

 Bus Topology

 Ring Topology

 Star Topology

 Tree Topology

 Mesh Topology
Bus Topology

• Bus Topology is multipoint Configuration.

• Bus topology uses a common bus or backbone to connect all devices

with terminators at both ends.

• Its backbone acts as a shared communication medium and each node is

attached to it with an interface connector known as tap. The main cable
and the station is connected via cable known as drop line.

• Whenever a message is to be transmitted it is passed back and forth

along the cable.

• As the message passes each station, the station checks the message
destination address.

• If the address in the message matches the station address, the station
receives it otherwise it is passed on to the next station.

Bus Topology

Advantages of Bus Topology

• Easy to connect a computer or peripheral device.

• It requires least amount of cabling to connect the computers and

therefore is less expensive.

• It is easy to extend a bus since two cables can be joined into a long cable
with connector.
Disadvantages of Bus Topology

• A fault or a break in the main cable stops all transmission.

• Heavy traffic can slow down a bus.

Ring Topology

• It is point to point configuration.

• Ring topology is similar to bus having a single cable forming a complete

loop/cycle.

• Every node has exactly two neighbors for communication purpose.

• This network communicates by sending a signal around the ring in one

direction (clockwise/counterclockwise) until it reaches the destination.

• Each node in the ring incorporates a repeater.

• When the node receives a signal intended for another device, its
repeater regenerates the bits and passes them along the network.

• Rings can be unidirectional, with all traffic travelling either clockwise or

anticlockwise around the ring, or bidirectional(C-Ring).

• Unidirectional ring networks may be disrupted by the failure of a single

link. A node failure or cable break might isolate every node attached to
the ring.

• In response, some ring networks add a "counter-rotating ring" (C-Ring)

to form a redundant topology: in the event of a break, data are wrapped
back onto the complementary ring before reaching the end of the cable.
 Ring Topology

Advantages of Ring Topology

• Ring topology is easy to install and reconfigure. Each device is linked to

only its immediate neighbors.

• To add or delete a device requires changing only two connections.

• Fault isolation is simplified.

Disadvantages of Ring Topology

• In a unidirectional ring, a break in the ring can disable the entire

network. This can be solved by using bidirectional ring.

Star Topology

• In star topology, each device has a dedicated point to point link to a

central controller called as hub.

• In this topology the devices are not directly linked to each other but they
communicate only via a central controller.
 • The controller acts as an exchange: If one device wants to send data to
one another, it sends the data to the controller, which then relays the
data to the other connected device.

Star Topology

Advantages of Star Topology

• It is less expensive than mesh topology.

• Each device needs only one link and one I/O port to connect it to any
number of others.

• It is easy to install and reconfigure.

• Far less cabling needs to be housed, as additions and deletions involve

only one connection between the device and the hub.

• It is robust. If one link fails, only that link is affected.

Disadvantage of Star Topology

• The whole topology is dependent on the central controller, the hub. If

the hub goes down, the whole system is dead.

• Two terminals can’t interact directly which leads to loss of privacy.

Tree Topology

• It is a variation of Star topology.

• It requires the computers to be linked in hierarchical way.

• Nodes in a tree are linked to central hub also known as active hub.

• Not every node is connected directly to the central hub but are
connected to the central hub via a secondary hub.

• The secondary hubs may be active or passive.

• An active hub contains a repeater and a passive hub provides a simple

connection between the attached nodes.

Tree Topology

Advantages of Tree Topology

• It allows more devices to be attached to a single hub and can therefore

increase the distance a signal can travel.

• It allows the network to isolate and prioritize communication from

different nodes.

Disadvantages of Tree Topology

• Data transmission is relatively slow.

Mesh Topology

• Every device has a dedicated point to point link to every other device.

• Dedicated means that link carries traffic only between two devices it
connects.

• In fully connected mesh network with n nodes we must consider that

each node is connected to every other node.

• Fully connected mesh network has n(n-1)/2 physical channels to link n

devices.

Mesh Topology

Advantages of Mesh Topology

• It Eliminates traffic problem that occur due to sharing of multiple

devices.

• It is robust. If one link becomes unusable, it does not effects the entire
system.

• It maintains privacy and security.

• Point to point link make fault identification & fault isolation easy.
Disadvantages of Mesh Topology

• Amount of cabling required is comparatively high.

• High no. of Input/output ports are required.

• Installation & reconfiguration is difficult.

• The hardware required to connect to each other can be expensive.

Hybrid Topology

• When a network combines several topologies as sub-networks linked

together in a larger topology then it is hybrid topology.

• Hybrid topology combines various topologies in a single network.

• For e.g. in an organization different departments can use different

topologies and are connected together makes a hybrid topology.

• The two topologies are connected to each other via a hub.

Hybrid Topology
Transmission media / Communication media
• The transmission media is the physical media over which communication
takes place in computer networks.

• Transmission medium is the means through which we send our data

from one place to another.

Bounded/Guided Transmission Media

• The guided transmission media includes cables/wires to transmit the

information from source to destination.

• It is the transmission media in which signals are confined to a specific

path using wire or cable.

• The wire may be made up of copper or other metal or may be of

glass/fiber.

• It includes electrical and light signals to flow in these wires.

• These cables are very sensitive to noise and this degrades the signal also
called as attenuation.
Twisted Pair Cable

• It has two copper wires twisted with one another to form a helical
structure.

• It is twisted to lower the attenuation and crosstalk from the noise.

• This cable is the most commonly used and is cheaper than others.

• It is lightweight, can be installed easily, and supports many different

types of network.

• Twisted Pair is of two types :

 Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP)

 Shielded Twisted Pair (STP)

Unshielded Twisted Pair(UTP)

• It is the most common type of communication media which consists of

two conductors usually copper, each with its own color plastic insulator.

• Colored plastic insulator is used for Identification.

• UTP cables consist of 2 or 4 pairs of twisted cable.

Advantages

• Installation is easy

• Flexible

• Cheap

• High speed capacity

Disadvantages

• Bandwidth is low when compared with Coaxial Cable

• Provides less protection from interference.

Shielded Twisted Pair (STP)

• This cable has a metal foil or braided-mesh covering which encases each
pair of insulated conductors.

• Electromagnetic noise penetration is prevented by metal casing.

Shielding also eliminates crosstalk.

• It is faster than unshielded and coaxial cable.

• It is more expensive than coaxial and unshielded twisted pair.

Advantages:

• Easy to install

• Performance is adequate

• Can be used for Analog or Digital transmission

• Increases the signaling rate

• Higher capacity than unshielded twisted pair

• Eliminates crosstalk

Disadvantages:

• Difficult to manufacture

• Heavy
Coaxial Cable

• It contains two conductors that are parallel to each other.

• Copper is used in this as centre conductor which can be a solid wire or a

standard one.

• It is surrounded by PVC installation, a sheath which is encased in an

outer conductor of metal foil, barid or both.

• Outer metallic wrapping is used as a shield against noise and as the

second conductor which completes the circuit.

• The outer conductor is also encased in an insulating sheath. The

outermost part is the plastic cover which protects the whole cable.

Types of Coaxial cable

BaseBand

• This is a cable which is used for digital transmission.

• It is mostly used for LAN’s. Baseband transmits a single signal at a time

with very high speed.

• The major drawback is that it needs amplification after every 1000 feet.
BroadBand

• This uses analog transmission on standard cable television cabling.

• It transmits several simultaneous signal using different frequencies.

• It covers large area when compared with Baseband Coaxial Cable.

Advantages of Coaxial cables

• Bandwidth is high

• Used in long distance telephone lines.

• Transmits digital signals at a very high rate of 10Mbps.

• Much higher noise immunity

• Data transmission without distortion.

• It can span to longer distance at higher speeds as they have better

shielding when compared to twisted pair cable.

Disadvantages of Coaxial cables

• Single cable failure can fail the entire network.

• Difficult to install and expensive when compared with twisted pair.

• If the shield is imperfect, it can lead to grounded loop.

• Not compatible with any other cable.

Fiber Optic /Optical Fiber Cable

 • These cables are made up of glass or plastic fibers.

• It uses light beam to transmit the signals.

• The core in fiber optic cable is surrounded by glass cladding with lower
index of refraction as compared to core to keep all the light in core.

• This is covered with a thin plastic jacket to protect the cladding.

• The fibers are grouped together in bundles protected by an outer shield.

• Fiber optic cable has bandwidth more than 2 gbps (Gigabytes per
Second).

• At the centre is the glass core through which light propagates.

• Firstly, the signal converted in to light signal from electrical signal.

Advantages:

• Provides high quality transmission of signals at very high speed.

• These are not affected by electromagnetic interference, so noise and

distortion is very less.

• Used for both analog and digital signals.

• It guarantees the secure transmission of information

Disadvantages:

• It is expensive

• Difficult to install.

• Maintenance is expensive and difficult.

• Do not allow complete routing of light signals.

Unbounded/Unguided/Wireless Transmission Media

• Unguided or wireless media sends the data through air (or water), which
is available to anyone who has a device capable of receiving them.
Radio wave Transmission

• Radio waves are a type of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths in

the electromagnetic spectrum longer than infrared light.

• Like all other electromagnetic waves, they travel at the speed of light.

• Naturally-occurring radio waves are made by lightning, or

by astronomical objects.

• Artificially generated radio waves are used for fixed and mobile radio
communication, broadcasting, radar and other navigation systems,
satellite communication, computer networks and innumerable other
applications.

Microwave Transmission

• Microwave transmission is line of sight transmission.

• The transmit station must be in visible contact with the receive station.

• This sets a limit on the distance between stations depending on the local
geography. Typically the line of sight due to the Earth's curvature is only
50 km to the horizon.

• Repeater stations must be placed so the data signal can hop, skip and
jump across the country.

• Microwaves operate at high operating frequencies of 3 to 10 GHz. This

allows them to carry large quantities of data due to their large
bandwidth.
Advantages of Microwave Transmission

• They can carry high quantities of information due to their high operating
frequencies.

• Low cost land purchase: each tower occupies only a small area.

• High frequency/short wavelength signals require small antennae.

Disadvantages of Microwave Transmission

• Attenuation by solid objects: birds, rain, snow and fog.

• Reflected from flat surfaces like water and metal.

• Diffracted (split) around solid objects.

• Refracted by atmosphere, thus causing beam to be projected away from

receiver.

Satellite Transmission

• Satellites are transponders (units that receive on one frequency and

retransmit on another) that are set in geostationary orbits directly over
the equator.

• These geostationary orbits are 36,000 km from the Earth's surface.

• At this point, the gravitational pull of the Earth and the centrifugal force
of Earth's rotation are balanced and cancel each other out.
 • The uplink is the transmitter of data to the satellite.

• The downlink is the receiver of data. Uplinks and downlinks are also
called Earth stations because they are located on the Earth.

• The footprint is the "shadow" that the satellite can transmit to, the
shadow being the area that can receive the satellite's transmitted signal.

Infrared Transmission

• Infrared waves, with frequencies from 300 GHz to 400 THz (wavelengths
from 1 mm to 770 nm), can be used for short-range communication.

• Infrared waves, having high frequencies, cannot penetrate walls.

• This advantageous characteristic prevents interference between one

system and another; a short-range communication system in one room
cannot be affected by another system in the next room.

• When we use our infrared remote control, we do not interfere with the
use of the remote by our neighbours. However, this same characteristic
makes infrared signals useless for long-range communication.
• In addition, we cannot use infrared waves outside a building because the
sun's rays contain infrared waves that can interfere with the
communication.
Parallel Transmission
• Binary data, consisting of Is and Os, may be organized into groups of n
bits each.

• Computers produce and consume data in groups of bits much as we

conceive of and use spoken language in the form of words rather than
letters. By grouping, we can send data n bits at a time instead of 1. This
is called parallel transmission.

• The mechanism for parallel transmission is a conceptually simple one:

Use n wires to send n bits at one time. That way each bit has its own
wire, and all n bits of one group can be transmitted with each clock tick
from one device to another.

• Figure shows how parallel transmission works for n =8. Typically, the
eight wires are bundled in a cable with a connector at each end.

• The advantage of parallel transmission is speed. , parallel transmission

can increase the transfer speed by a factor of n over serial transmission.
Disadvantage of Parallel Transmission

• But there is a significant disadvantage: cost. Parallel transmission

requires n communication lines (wires in the example) just to transmit
the data stream. Because this is expensive, parallel transmission is
usually limited to short distances.

Serial Transmission

• In serial transmission one bit follows another, so we need only one

communication channel rather than n to transmit data between two
communicating devices.

• The advantage of serial over parallel transmission is that with only one
communication channel, serial transmission reduces the cost of
transmission over parallel by roughly a factor of n.

• Serial transmission occurs in one of three ways: asynchronous,

synchronous, and isochronous.
Asynchronous Transmission

• Asynchronous transmission is so named because the timing of a signal is

unimportant.

• Instead, information is received and translated by agreed upon patterns.

• As long as those patterns are followed, the receiving device can retrieve
the information without regard to the rhythm in which it is sent.

• Patterns are based on grouping the bit stream into bytes. Each group,
usually 8 bits, is sent along the link as a unit. The sending system handles
each group independently, relaying it to the link whenever ready,
without regard to a timer.

• In asynchronous transmission, we send 1 start bit (0) at the beginning

and 1 or more stop bits (Is) at the end of each byte. There may be a gap
between each byte.

Synchronous Transmission

• In synchronous transmission, the bit stream is combined into longer

"frames," which may contain multiple bytes.

• Each byte, however, is introduced onto the transmission link without a

gap between it and the next one.

• It is left to the receiver to separate the bit stream into bytes for
decoding purposes.

• In other words, data are transmitted as an unbroken string of 1s and Os,

and the receiver separates that string into the bytes, or characters, it
needs to reconstruct the information.

• In synchronous transmission, we send bits one after another without

start or stop bits or gaps. It is the responsibility of the receiver to group
the bits.

Isochronous

• In real-time audio and video, in which uneven delays between frames

are not acceptable, synchronous transmission fails.
 • For example, TV images are broadcast at the rate of 30 images per
second; they must be viewed at the same rate. If each image is sent by
using one or more frames, there should be no delays between frames.

• For this type of application, synchronization between characters is not

enough; the entire stream of bits must be synchronized.

• The isochronous transmission guarantees that the data arrive at a fixed

rate.

Client and Server Computers

• Client-server computing environment has multiple clients, one or more
servers, and a network.

• Client is a PC/Workstation with user friendly interface running client

processes that send service requests to the server.

• Server is generally a relatively large computer that manages a shared

resource and provides a set of shared user services to the clients.

• Server runs the server process that services client requests for use of
managed resources.

• Network may be a single LAN or WAN or an internetwork.

Client-Server Computing
• Involves splitting an application into tasks and putting each task on
computer where it can be handled most efficiently.

• Computers and operating systems of a client and a server may be

different.

• Common for one server to use the services of another server, and hence
act both as client and server.

• Concept of client and server computers is purely role based and may
change dynamically as the role of a computer changes.
Internet
• The Internet is the global system of interconnected computer networks
that use the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to link devices worldwide.

• It is a network of networks that consists of private, public, academic,

business, and government networks of local to global scope, linked by a
broad array of electronic, wireless, and optical networking technologies.

• The Internet carries an extensive range of information resources and

services, such as the inter-linked hypertext documents and applications
of the World Wide Web (WWW), electronic mail, telephony, and peer-
to-peer networks for file sharing.
Advantages of Internet

• Information on almost every subject is available on Internet.

• Powerful search engines

• Ability to do research from your home versus research libraries.

• Information at various levels of study. Everything from scholarly articles

to ones directed at children.

• Message boards where people can discuss ideas on any topic. Ability to
get wide range of opinions. People can find others that have a similar
interest in whatever they are interested in.

• The internet provides the ability of emails. Free mail service to anyone in
the country.

Intranet
• An Intranet is a private computer network that uses Internet protocols,
network connectivity, and possibly the public telecommunication system
to securely share part of an organization’s information or operations
with its employees.

• It uses the same concepts and technologies of the Internet (clients and
servers) running on the TCP/IP protocol suite.

• HTTP, FTP and SMTP are very commonly used protocols.

• Access to information is typically through browsers

 Platform Independent.

 No need to install special software on clients.

Advantages of Intranet
• Intranets help employees to quickly locate information and applications
relevant to their roles and responsibilities.
 • Standard interface, allowing “access from anywhere”.

• Can serve as a powerful tool for communication within an organization,

both vertically and horizontally.

• Permits information to be published.

Extranet
• An Extranet is a private network that uses Internet protocols, network
connectivity, and possibly the public communication system to securely
share part of an organization’s information or operations with suppliers,
partners, customers or other businesses.

• Can be viewed as part of a company’s Intranet that is extended to users

outside the company.

Basically,

• It is “a private internet over the internet”.

• Used to designate “private parts” of a website i.e only registered users

can navigate.

• It requires security and privacy.

 Firewall server management.

 Encryption of messages.

 Use of Virtual private networks (VPNs) that tunnel through the public
network.

Advantages of Extranet
• Can improve organization productivity.

• Allows information to be viewed at times convenient for external users.

• Information can be updated instantly.

• Can improve relationships with customers.

Protocol

• Protocol is a set of rules used to define a method of exchanging data

over a computer network such as local area network, Internet, Intranet
etc.

• Each protocol has its own method of how data is formatted when sent
and what to do with it once received, how that data is compressed or
how to check for errors in data.

• One of the most common and known protocol is HTTP (Hypertext

Transfer Protocol), which is a protocol used to transmit data over the
World Wide Web (Internet).

Domain Name

• A domain name is a unique name that identifies a website.

• Each website has a domain name that serves as an address, which is

used to access the website.

• Whenever you visit a website, the domain name appears in the address
bar of the web browser.

• Some domain names are preceded by "www" (which is not part of the
domain name), while others omit the "www" prefix.

• All domain names have a domain suffix, such as .com, .net, or .org.

• The domain suffix helps identify the type of website the domain name
represents.

• For example, ".com" domain names are typically used by commercial

website, while ".org" websites are often used by non-profit
organizations.

• Some domain names end with a country code, such as ".in" (India) or
".se" (Sweden), which helps identify the location and audience of the
website.
IP Address

• An IP address, or simply an "IP," is a unique address that identifies a

device on the Internet or a local network.

• It allows a system to be recognized by other systems connected via the

Internet protocol.

• There are two primary types of IP address formats used today — IPv4
and IPv6.

• An IPv4 address consist of four sets of numbers from 0 to 255, separated

by three dots.

• For example, the IP address of TechTerms.com is 67.43.14.98. This

number is used to identify the TechTerms website on the Internet. When
you visit http://techterms.com in your web browser, the DNS system
automatically translates the domain name "techterms.com" to the IP
address "67.43.14.98."

URL (Universal Resource Locator)

• A URL is the address of a specific webpage or file on the Internet. For

example, the URL of the TechTerms website is "http://techterms.com."
The address of this page is "http://techterms.com/definition/url" and
includes the following elements:

• http:// – the URL prefix, which specifies the protocol used to access the
location

• techterms.com – the server name or IP address of the server

• /definition/url – the path to the directory or file

• You can manually enter a URL by typing it in the address bar of your web
browser.

• For example, you might enter a website URL printed on a business card
to visit the company's website.

• Most URLs, however appear automatically when you click on a link or

open a bookmark.
 • If the server name in the URL is not valid, your browser may display a
"Server not found" error. If the path in the URL is incorrect, the server
may respond with a 404 error.

• URLs use forward slashes to denote different directories and cannot

contain spaces.

• Therefore, dashes and underscores are often used to separate words

within a web address.

World Wide Web

• The World Wide Web (abbreviated as WWW or W3, commonly known

as the web), is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via
the Internet.

• With a web browser, one can view web pages that may contain text,
images, videos, and other multimedia, and navigate between them via
hyperlinks.

• The Internet and the World Wide Web are not one and the same.

• The Internet is a global data communications system. It is a hardware

and software infrastructure that provides connectivity between
computers. Simply, "Internet is a network of networks", where two or
more than two computers connected through the wired or wireless
network for sending and receiving the date like- mails, video, song etc.

• In contrast, the Web is one of the services communicated via the

Internet. The Web is a collection of interconnected documents and other
resources, linked by hyperlinks and URLs.

Web Browser

• A web browser (commonly referred to as a browser or web client) is a

software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing
information resources on the World Wide Web.

• An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier

(URI/URL) and may be a web page, image, video or other piece of
content.
 • Hyperlinks present in resources enable users easily to navigate their
browsers to related resources. Example- Google chrome, MS internet
explorer, Netscape Navigator, Mozilla Firefox etc.

Web Server

• A Web server is a program that uses HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol)

to serve the files that form web pages to users, in response to their
requests, which are forwarded by their computers' HTTP clients.

Internet Services

• E-Mail

• Online Chat

• Instant Messaging

Email

• Electronic mail is a method of exchanging digital messages between

computer users.

• Email first entered substantial use in the 1960s and by the 1970s had
taken the form now recognized as email.

• Email operates across computer networks, which in the 2010s is

primarily the Internet. Some early email systems required the author
and the recipient to both be online at the same time, in common with
instant messaging.

• Today's email systems are based on a store-and-forward model.

• Email servers accept, forward, deliver, and store messages.

• Neither the users nor their computers are required to be online

simultaneously; they need to connect only briefly, typically to a mail
server, for as long as it takes to send or receive messages.

• E-mail is a rapid and productive communication tool because:

 Faster than paper mail.

  Unlike telephone, the persons communicating with each other need not
be available at the same time.

 Unlike fax documents, e-mail documents can be stored in a computer

and be easily edited using editing programs.

Limitations of E-Mail

• Spam

• Hacking and Spoofing

• Only limited Information can be sent

• Limited space in Mailbox

• Chances of Bankruptcy

Online Chat

• It may refer to any kind of communication over the Internet that offers a
real-time transmission of text messages from sender to receiver.

• Chat messages are generally short in order to enable other participants

to respond quickly. Thereby, a feeling similar to a spoken conversation is
created, which distinguishes chatting from other text-based online
communication forms such as Internet forums and email.

• Online chat may address point-to-point communications as well as

multicast communications from one sender to many receivers and voice
and video chat, or may be a feature of a web conferencing service.

• Online chat in a less stringent definition may be primarily any direct text-
based or video-based (webcams), one-on-one chat or one-to-many
group chat (formally also known as synchronous conferencing), using
tools such as instant messengers, Internet Relay Chat (IRC), talkers and
possibly MUDs.
Instant Messaging

• Instant messaging (IM) is a way of chatting between two or more people

by typing text. The text is then sent by computers over a network such
as the Internet.

• Instant messaging must have an instant messaging client that hooks up

to a service that can send instant messages. Instant messaging is
different from e-mail because conversations happen and can be read
right away (instantly). A multiprotocol instant messaging application lets
one connect to many IM networks.

• Instant messaging services got many ideas from an older and still
popular way to online chat named Internet Relay Chat (IRC).

• In early instant messaging programs, each letter appeared when it was

typed and when letters were deleted to correct typos. These were also
seen by the reader. This made it more like a telephone conversation
than sending letters.

• In newer instant messaging programs, the other readers in the

conversation generally only sees each line of text right after a new line is
started. Most instant messaging programs have a way to set a status
message.

• This works likes the message on a telephone answering machine. It

shows whether or not people are online and want to chat.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)

• File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard network protocol used to

transfer computer files between a client and server on a computer
network.

• FTP is built on a client-server model architecture and uses separate

control(port no. 21) and data(port no. 20) connections between the
client and the server.
 • FTP users may authenticate themselves with a clear-text sign-in
protocol, normally in the form of a username and password, but can
connect anonymously if the server is configured to allow it.

• For secure transmission that protects the username and password, and
encrypts the content, FTP is often secured with SSL/TLS (FTPS).

Telnet

• Telnet is a protocol that allows you to connect to remote computers

(called hosts) over a TCP/IP network (such as the Internet).

• Using telnet client software on your computer, you can make a

connection to a telnet server (i.e., the remote host).

• Once your telnet client establishes a connection to the remote host,

your client becomes a virtual terminal, allowing you to communicate
with the remote host from your computer.

• In most cases, you'll need to log into the remote host, which requires
that you have an account on that system. Occasionally, you can log in as
guest or public without having an account.

Some common uses of Telnet service are:-

• Using the computing power of the remote computer.

• Using software on the remote computer.

• Accessing remote computer’s database or archive.

• Logging in to ones own computer from another computer.

OSI Model

• Open system interconnection model, used to connect incompatible

networks.

OSI Layer Functions