A computer network is a collection of computers and devices connected to each other.

The network allows computers to communicate with each other and share resources and information. The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) designed "Advanced Research Projects Agency Network" (ARPANET) for the United States Department of Defense. It was the first computer network in the world in late 1960s and early 1970s.

1) Scale
Local Area Network (LAN) Wide Area Network (WAN) Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) Personal Area Network (PAN) Virtual Private Network (VPN) Campus Area Network (CAN) Storage Area Network (SAN)

2) Functional relationship (network architecture)

Client-server Peer-To-Peer (workgroup) Active Networking

3) Network topology
Bus topology Star topology Ring topology Mesh topology Tree or hierarchical topology

A local area network (LAN) is a computer network covering a small physical area, like a home, office, or small group of buildings, such as a school, or an airport.

Wide Area Network (WAN) is a computer network that covers a broad area i.e. any network whose communications links cross metropolitan, regional, or national boundaries. The largest and most well-known example of a WAN is the Internet.

Metropolitan area networks, or MANs, are large computer networks usually spanning a city. They typically use wireless infrastructure or Optical fiber connections to link their sites.

A personal area network (PAN) is a computer network used for communication among computer devices (including telephones and PDAs) close to one's person. The reach of a PAN is typically a few meters. PANs can be used for communication among the personal devices themselves, or for connecting to a higher level network and the Internet. A wireless personal area network (WPAN) can also be made possible with network technologies such as IrDA, Bluetooth, and WiFi.

A virtual private network (VPN) is a computer network in which some of the links between nodes are carried by open connections or virtual circuits in some larger networks (such as the Internet), as opposed to running across a single private network. One common application is to secure communications through the public Internet, but a VPN does not need to have explicit security features such as authentication or content encryption.

A campus area network (CAN) is a computer network that interconnects local area networks throughout a limited geographical area, such as a university campus, a corporate campus, or a military base. A campus area network is, therefore, larger than a local area network but smaller than a wide area network.

A storage area network (SAN) is an architecture to attach remote computer storage devices (such as disk arrays, tape libraries) to servers in such a way that the devices appear as locally attached to the operating system. Although the cost and complexity of SANs are dropping, they are still uncommon outside larger enterprises.

Client/Server computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or work loads between service providers (servers) and service requesters, called clients. A server is a high-performance host that is a registering unit and shares its resources with clients. A client does not share any of its resources, but requests a server's content or service function.

Client

Client Server

Client

Client

Client

Fig:- Client/Server

Peer-To-Peer (P2P) networking is a method of delivering computer network services in which the participants share a portion of their own resources, such as processing power, disk storage, network bandwidth, printing facilities. Peer-to-peer network participants are providers and consumers of network services simultaneously.

Fig:- Peer-To-Peer

Active networking is a communication pattern that allows packets flowing through a telecommunications network to dynamically modify the operation of the network.

A bus topology is a network architecture in which a set of clients are connected via a shared communications line, called bus. Bus networks are the simplest way to connect multiple clients.

Advantages Easy to implement and extend. Cheaper than other topologies. Cost effective as only a single cable is used. Cable faults are easily identified. Disadvantages Limited cable lengths and number of stations. If there is a problem with the cable, the entire network goes down. Maintenance cost maybe higher in the long run. It is slower than the other topologies.

Fig:- Bus topology

Star topologies are the one of the most common computer network topologies. In its simplest form, a star network consists of one central switch, hub or computer, which acts as a conduit to transmit messages.

Advantages Passing of Data Packet through unnecessary nodes is prevented by this topology. Each Device is inherently isolated by the link that connects it to the hub. Benefits from centralization. This topology is easy to understand, establish, and navigate. Disadvantages Failure of the central node affects entire network. Performance and scalability of the network is depending on the capabilities of the hub.

Fig:- Star topology

A ring topology is a network topology in which each node connects to exactly two others nodes, forming a single continuous pathway for signals through each node - a ring. Data travels from node to node, with each node along the way handling every packet.

Advantages
Very orderly network where every device has access to the token and the opportunity to transmit. Performs better than a star topology under heavy network load. Can create much larger network using Token Ring. Does not require network server to manage the connectivity between the computers. Disadvantages One malfunctioning workstation or bad port cans create problems for the entire network. Moves, add, and changes of devices can affect the network. Much slower than an Ethernet network under normal load.

Fig:- Ring topology

Mesh topology is a way to route data, voice and instructions between nodes. It allows for continuous connections and reconfiguration around broken or blocked paths by hopping from node to node until the destination is reached.

Fig:- Mesh topology

A tree topology (hierarchical topology) can be viewed as a collection of star networks arranged in a hierarchy. This tree has individual peripheral nodes (e.g. leaves) which are required to transmit to and receive from one other node only and are not required to act as repeaters or regenerators. Unlike the star network, the functionality of the central node may be distributed.

Fig:- Tree topology

An intranet is a private computer network that uses Internet technologies to securely share any part of an organizations or operational systems with its employees.

An intranet can be understood as a private version of the Internet, or as a private extension of the internet confined to an organization.

 Intranets can help users to locate and view information faster and use applications relevant to their roles and responsibilities.
Intranets can serve as powerful tools for communication within an organization. Every user is viewing the same information within the intranet. With information easily accessible by all authorized users, teamwork is enabled. The intranet can be linked to a companys management information system.

An extranet is a private network that uses internet protocols, network connectivity, and possibly the public telecommunication system to securely share part of an organizations information or operations with suppliers, vendors, partners, customers or other businesses.
Briefly, an extranet can be understood as an intranet mapped onto the public Internet or some other transmission system not accessible to the general public, but managed by more than one company administrator(s).

Advantages
Exchange large volumes of data using Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). Share product catalogs exclusively with wholesaler or those in the trade. Collaborate with other companies on joint development efforts. Jointly develop and use training programs with other companies, Share news of common interest exclusively. Disadvantages Extranets can be expensive to implement and maintain within an organization. Security of extranets can be a big concern when dealing with valuable information.

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standardized Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP). It is a network of networks.
The internet carries a vast array of information resources and services, most notably the inter-linked hypertext documents of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the infrastructure to support electronic mail, in addition to popular services such as, online chat, file transfer, online gaming and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) person-to-person communication via voice and video.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is the authority that coordinates the assignment of unique identifier on the Internet, including domain names, Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, and protocol port and parameters. A globally unified name space (i.e. a system of names in which there is at most one holder for each possible name) is essential for the internet to function.

 E-mail The World Wide Web (WWW) Remote access

Collaboration
File sharing Streaming Media Internet Telephony (VoIP) E-commerce (Electronic Commerce)

A network card, network adapter or NIC (network interface card) is a piece of computer hardware designed to allow computers to communicate over a computer network. It provides physical access to a networking medium and often provides a low-level addressing system through the use of MAC addresses.

Fig: - Network card

A repeater is an electronic device that receives a signal and retransmits it at a higher power level, or to the other side of an obstruction, so that the signal can cover longer distances without degradation. In most twisted pair Ethernet configurations, repeaters are required for cable which runs longer than 100 meters.

Fig: - Repeater

A hub contains multiple ports. When a packet arrives at one port, it is copied unmodified to all ports of the hub for transmission. The destination address in the frame is not changed to a broadcast address.

Fig: - Hubs

A network bridge connects multiple network segments at the data link layer of the OSI model. Bridges do not promiscuously copy traffic to all ports, as hubs do, but learn which MAC addresses are reachable through specific ports.

Fig: - Bridge

A switch is a device that forwards and filters OSI layer 2 datagrams (chunk of data communication) between ports (connected cables) based on the MAC addresses in the packets.

Fig: - Switch

Routers are networking devices that forward data packets between networks using headers and forwarding tables to determine the best path to forward the packets. Routers work at the network layer.

Fig: - Router

Modem (modulator demodulator) is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information.

Fig: - Modem