Week 3: Clear
The material covered in Week 3 was clear. In lecture 2.10,
Professor Olson began with describing the various types of networks and lots of
new terminology. A network is simply a collection
of devices connected together by communication devices and transmission media.
First, we have the LAN, which stands for local area network. LAN covers a
small, limited geographic area, such as a building or campus. This is one of
the most common types of networks that we encounter and can be in two forms,
either Ethernet or 802.11, also known as Wifi. For example, the UF campus is in
a LAN network (UFW). Second, we have the WAN, also known as a wide area
network. The most obvious example of this is the Internet itself. Third, we have
the MAN, which stands for metropolitan area network. This is basically just a
smaller version of a WAN. For instance, a MAN would cover an area larger than a
LAN like Alachua County in its entirety.
The easiest way for me to comprehend this week’s material
was to think of the entire computer networking system in the way Professor
Olson described it, using the analogy of the postal/mail service. A workstation
is simply our laptops or desktops, or a client. Any device that you attach to
the network is a node. A server is a computing device that we attach to the
network whose primary purpose is to provide services to other devices.
As we stated above, there are two types of local area
networks. The first is Ethernet, which requires a cord to be connected from
your computer into a jack to receive Internet capabilities. The Ethernet packet
consists of the structure, header, and payload trailer. The header is the
control info, or more simply put the address label. This gives us who the
information is coming from and its destination where it is going to. The
payload is the contents inside your package that you are sending. The trailer
is the information at the end that signals the Ethernet it is the end of the
package. The second form of LAN is 802.11, or as we know it, Wifi. This is a wireless connection that is available
almost anywhere in today’s times. Since it is wireless, there is obviously no
physical component of actual wires like Ethernet has. Rather, the physical part
contains signaling, radio waves, or possibly an antenna. It is the same as an
Ethenet connection, regarding the packet. One difference is that 802.11 has
SSID (Service Set Identifier). In other words, this is the public name for the
Internet. The University of Florida’s SSID is “UFW.” In the locations on campus
where Wifi is available, you connect to “UFW,” which is the identifier of which
network.
Below are a few Internet sites that I have found very useful
in further explaining the material.
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