When two or more computers are connected close together in a local area eg building or office is called?

A Local Area Network (LAN) is a group of computers or other devices interconnected within a single, limited area, typically via Ethernet or Wi-Fi.

Índice

  • What is a Local Area Network?
  • What are the Basic Layouts of Local Area Networks
  • How Does Local Area Network Work
  • How to Design a Local Area Network
  • How to Secure a Local Area Network
  • Virtual Local Area Network Definition
  • Importance of Local Area Network in an Organization
  • Does HEAVY.AI Offer a Local Area Network Solution?
  • Disadvantages of PAN
  • Disadvantages of WAN
  • Disadvantages of MAN
  • 2) Storage-Area Network (SAN)
  • 3) System-Area Network
  • 4) Passive Optical Local Area Network
  • 5) Home Area Network (HAN):
  • 6) Enterprise Private Network :
  • 7) Campus Area Network (CAN):
  • 8) Virtual Private Network:

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FAQs

What is a Local Area Network?

A LAN is a computer network that consists of access points, cables, routers, and switches that enable devices to connect to web servers and internal servers within a single building, campus, or home network, and to other LANs via Wide Area Networks (WAN) or Metropolitan Area Network (MAN). Devices on a LAN, typically personal computers and workstations, can share files and be accessed by each other over a single Internet connection.  

A router assigns IP addresses to each device on the network and facilitates a shared Internet connection between all the connected devices. A network switch connects to the router and facilitates communication between connected devices, but does not handle Local Area Network IP configuration or sharing Internet connections. Switches are ideal tools for increasing the number of LAN ports available on the network.

What are the Basic Layouts of Local Area Networks

The Local Area Network layout, also known as Local Area Network topology, describes the physical and logical manner in which devices and network segments are interconnected. LANs are categorized by the physical signal transmission medium or the logical manner in which data travels through the network between devices, independent of the physical connection.

LANs generally consist of cables and switches, which can be connected to a router, cable modem, or ADSL modem for Internet access. LANs can also include such network devices as firewalls, load balancers, and network intrusion detection.

Logical network topology examples include twisted pair Ethernet, which is categorized as a logical bus topology, and token ring, which is categorized as a logical ring topology. Physical network topology examples include star, mesh, tree, ring, point-to-point, circular, hybrid, and bus topology networks, each consisting of different configurations of nodes and links.

How Does Local Area Network Work

The function of Local Area Networks is to link computers together and provide shared access to printers, files, and other services. Local area network architecture is categorized as either peer-to-peer or client-server. On a client-server local area network, multiple client-devices are connected to a central server, in which application access, device access, file storage, and network traffic are managed. 

Applications running on the Local Area Network server provide services such as database access, document sharing, email, and printing. Devices on a peer-to-peer local area network share data directly to a switch or router without the use of a central server. 

LANs can interconnect with other LANs via leased lines and services, or across the Internet using virtual, private network technologies. This system of connected LANs is classified as a Wide Local Area Network or a metropolitan area network. Local Area and Wide Area Networks differ in their range. An Emulated Local Area Network enables routing and data bridging an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) network, which facilitates the exchange of Ethernet and token ring network data.

How to Design a Local Area Network

The first step in Local Area Network design is determining network needs. Before building a Local Area Network, identify the number of devices, which determines the number of ports required. A switch can extend the number of ports as the number of devices increases.

In order to connect devices wirelessly, a router is required to broadcast a wireless LAN. A router is also required to establish an internet connection for devices on the network. The distance between hardware devices should be measured in order to determine the length of cables required. Switches can connect cables for very long distances.

The setup simply requires connecting the router to a power source, connecting the modem to the router, connecting the switch to the router (if using), and connecting the devices to the open LAN ports on the router via Ethernet. Next, set up one computer as a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol server by installing a third-party utility. This will enable all of the connected computers to easily obtain IP addresses. Turn on “Network Discovery” and “File and Printer Sharing” capabilities.

For wireless Local Area Network Installation, start by connecting the computer into one of the router's LAN ports via Ethernet. Enter the router's IP address into any Web Browser and log in with the network administrator account when prompted for a username and password. Open the “Wireless” section in the router settings and change the name of the network in the “SSID” field.

Enable “WPA-2 Personal” as the security or authentication option. Create a password under “"Pre-Shared Key," ensure that the wireless network is “enabled,” save changes, restart the router, and connect wireless devices to the wireless network, which should appear on the available network list of devices within range.

Characteristics of wireless Local Area Network include: high capacity load balancing, scalability, network management system, role-based access control, indoor and outdoor coverage options, performance measuring abilities, mobile device management, web content and application filtering, roaming, redundancy, wireless Local Area Network Application prioritization, network switching, and network firewalls.

A common Local Area Network issue is a disabled Local Area Network adapter or adapter error, which can be caused by faulty network adapter settings or by VPN software. Typical solutions include: updating the network adapter driver, resetting the network connection, and checking WLAN AutoConfig dependency services.

How to Secure a Local Area Network

The majority of Local Area Network problems and solutions are concerned with the matter of security. There are a variety of strategies for designing a secure Local Area Network. A common approach is to install a firewall behind a single access point, such as a wireless router. Another valuable measure is to use security protocols such as WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) or WPA2 for password encryption on incoming Internet traffic.

Implementing specialized authentication policies enables network administrators to inspect and filter network traffic in order to prevent unauthorized access. Specific access points can be secured with the use of technologies such as VPNs. Internal Local Area Network security can be managed by installing antivirus or anti-malware software.

Virtual Local Area Network Definition

A Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) is a logical grouping of devices that can assemble together collections of devices on separate physical LANs, and is configured to communicate as if the devices were attached to the same wire. This enables network administrators to easily configure a single switched network to match the security and functional requirements of their systems without requiring any additional cables or significant changes to the current network infrastructure. VLANs are categorized as Protocol VLAN, Static VLAN, or Dynamic VLAN.

Importance of Local Area Network in an Organization

There are several advantages of Local Area Networks in business:

  • Reduced Costs: LANs present a significant reduction in Local Area Network hardware costs and efficient resource pooling.
  • Increased Storage Capacity: By pooling all data into a central data storage server, the number of storage servers required is decreased and the efficiency of operations is increased.
  • Optimized Flexibility: Data can be accessed by any device from anywhere via Internet connection.
  • Streamlined Communication: Files and messages can be transferred in real time and accessed easily from anywhere on any device.

Does HEAVY.AI Offer a Local Area Network Solution?

Real-time monitoring of network activity is essential to the security of a network. When linked together, LANs create Wide Area Networks and Metropolitan Area Networks, which are sometimes inundated with data sets that are too massive for the capabilities of a traditional analytics platform. With HEAVY.AI, telecommunications network operators and data scientists can monitor, analyze, and visualize billions of rows of data in real-time to diagnose and mitigate issues, optimize performance, improve the customer experience, and maintain the network’s high standards of reliability.

A Computer Network is a group of two or more interconnected computer systems that use common connection protocols for sharing various resources and files. You can establish a computer network connection using either cable or wireless media. Every network involves hardware and software that connects computers and tools.

In this Computer networking tutorial, you will learn:

There are various types of Computer Networking options available. The classification of network in computers can be done according to their size as well as their purpose.

The size of a network should be expressed by the geographic area and number of computers, which are a part of their networks. It includes devices housed in a single room to millions of devices spread across the world. Following are the popular types of Computer Network:

Types of Computer Networks

Some of the most popular computer network types are:

  • PAN (Personal Area Network)
  • LAN (Local Area Network)
  • MAN (Metropolitan Area Network)
  • WAN (Wide Area Network)

Let’s study all of these types of networking in detail.

PAN (Personal Area Network) is a computer network formed around a person. It generally consists of a computer, mobile, or personal digital assistant. PAN can be used for establishing communication among these personal devices for connecting to a digital network and the internet.

Below are the main characteristics of PAN:

  • It is mostly personal devices network equipped within a limited area.
  • Allows you to handle the interconnection of IT devices at the surrounding of a single user.
  • PAN includes mobile devices, tablet, and laptop.
  • It can be wirelessly connected to the internet called WPAN.
  • Appliances use for PAN: cordless mice, keyboards, and Bluetooth systems.

Here are the important pros/benefits of PAN network:

  • PAN networks are relatively secure and safe
  • It offers only short-range solution up to ten meters
  • Strictly restricted to a small area

Disadvantages of PAN

Here are the cons/drawbacks of using PAN network:

  • It may establish a bad connection to other networks at the same radio bands.
  • Distance limits.

A Local Area Network (LAN) is a group of computer and peripheral devices which are connected in a limited area such as school, laboratory, home, and office building. It is a widely useful network for sharing resources like files, printers, games, and other application. The simplest type of LAN network is to connect computers and a printer in someone’s home or office. In general, LAN will be used as one type of transmission medium. It is a network which consists of less than 5000 interconnected devices across several buildings.

Local Area Network (LAN)

Here are the important characteristics of a LAN network:

  • It is a private network, so an outside regulatory body never controls it.
  • LAN operates at a relatively higher speed compared to other WAN systems.
  • There are various kinds of media access control methods like token ring and ethernet.

Here are the pros/benefits of LAN:

  • Computer resources like hard-disks, DVD-ROM, and printers can share local area networks. This significantly reduces the cost of hardware purchases.
  • You can use the same software over the network instead of purchasing the licensed software for each client in the network.
  • Data of all network users can be stored on a single hard disk of the server computer.
  • You can easily transfer data and messages over networked computers.
  • It will be easy to manage data at only one place, which makes data more secure.
  • Local Area Network offers the facility to share a single internet connection among all the LAN users.

Here are the cons/drawbacks of LAN:

  • LAN will indeed save cost because of shared computer resources, but the initial cost of installing Local Area Networks is quite high.
  • The LAN admin can check personal data files of every LAN user, so it does not offer good privacy.
  • Unauthorized users can access critical data of an organization in case LAN admin is not able to secure centralized data repository.
  • Local Area Network requires a constant LAN administration as there are issues related to software setup and hardware failures

WAN (Wide Area Network) is another important computer network that which is spread across a large geographical area. WAN network system could be a connection of a LAN which connects with other LAN’s using telephone lines and radio waves. It is mostly limited to an enterprise or an organization.

Wide Area Network (WAN)

Below are the characteristics of WAN:

  • The software files will be shared among all the users; therefore, all can access to the latest files.
  • Any organization can form its global integrated network using WAN.

Here are the benefits/pros of WAN:

  • WAN helps you to cover a larger geographical area. Therefore business offices situated at longer distances can easily communicate.
  • Contains devices like mobile phones, laptop, tablet, computers, gaming consoles, etc.
  • WLAN connections work using radio transmitters and receivers built into client devices.

Disadvantages of WAN

Here are the drawbacks/cons of WAN network:

  • The initial setup cost of investment is very high.
  • It is difficult to maintain the WAN network. You need skilled technicians and network administrators.
  • There are more errors and issues because of the wide coverage and the use of different technologies.
  • It requires more time to resolve issues because of the involvement of multiple wired and wireless technologies.
  • Offers lower security compared to other types of network in computer.

Also Check: LAN vs WAN: What’s the Difference?

A Metropolitan Area Network or MAN is consisting of a computer network across an entire city, college campus, or a small region. This type of network is large than a LAN, which is mostly limited to a single building or site. Depending upon the type of configuration, this type of network allows you to cover an area from several miles to tens of miles.

Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)

Here are important characteristics of the MAN network:

  • It mostly covers towns and cities in a maximum 50 km range
  • Mostly used medium is optical fibers, cables
  • Data rates adequate for distributed computing applications.

Here are the pros/benefits of MAN network:

  • It offers fast communication using high-speed carriers, like fiber optic cables.
  • It provides excellent support for an extensive size network and greater access to WANs.
  • The dual bus in MAN network provides support to transmit data in both directions concurrently.
  • A MAN network mostly includes some areas of a city or an entire city.

Disadvantages of MAN

Here are drawbacks/cons of using the MAN network:

  • You need more cable to establish MAN connection from one place to another.
  • In MAN network it is tough to make the system secure from hackers

Apart from above mentioned computer networks, here are some other important types of networks:

  • WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network)
  • Storage Area Network
  • System Area Network
  • Home Area Network
  • POLAN- Passive Optical LAN
  • Enterprise private network
  • Campus Area Network
  • Virtual Area Network

Let’s see all these different types of networks in detail:

1) WLAN

WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) helps you to link single or multiple devices using wireless communication within a limited area like home, school, or office building. It gives users an ability to move around within a local coverage area which may be connected to the network. Today most modern day’s WLAN systems are based on IEEE 802.11 standards.

2) Storage-Area Network (SAN)

A Storage Area Network is a type of network which allows consolidated, block-level data storage. It is mainly used to make storage devices, like disk arrays, optical jukeboxes, and tape libraries.

3) System-Area Network

System Area Network is used for a local network. It offers high-speed connection in server-to-server and processor-to-processor applications. The computers connected on a SAN network operate as a single system at quite high speed.

4) Passive Optical Local Area Network

POLAN is a networking technology which helps you to integrate into structured cabling. It allows you to resolve the issues of supporting Ethernet protocols and network apps.

POLAN allows you to use optical splitter which helps you to separate an optical signal from a single-mode optical fiber. It converts this single signal into multiple signals.

5) Home Area Network (HAN):

A Home Area Network is always built using two or more interconnected computers to form a local area network (LAN) within the home. For example, in the United States, about 15 million homes have more than one computer.

These types of network connections help computer owners to interconnect with multiple computers. This network allows sharing files, programs, printers, and other peripherals.

6) Enterprise Private Network :

Enterprise private network (EPN) networks are build and owned by businesses that want to securely connect numerous locations in order to share various computer resources.

7) Campus Area Network (CAN):

A Campus Area Network is made up of an interconnection of LANs within a specific geographical area. For example, a university campus can be linked with a variety of campus buildings to connect all the academic departments.

8) Virtual Private Network:

A VPN is a private network which uses a public network to connect remote sites or users together. The VPN network uses “virtual” connections routed through the internet from the enterprise’s private network or a third-party VPN service to the remote site.

It is a free or paid service that keeps your web browsing secure and private over public WiFi hotspots.

Summary

  • Types of connections in computer networks can be categorized according to their size as well as their purpose
  • PAN is a computer network which generally consists of a computer, mobile, or personal digital assistant
  • LAN (Local Area Network) is a group of computer and peripheral devices which are connected in a limited area
  • WAN (Wide Area Network) is another important computer network that which is spread across a large geographical area
  • A metropolitan area network or MAN is consisting of a computer network across an entire city, college campus, or a small region
  • WLAN is a wireless local area network that helps you to link single or multiple devices using. It uses wireless communication within a limited area like home, school, or office building.
  • SAN is a storage area network is a type of network which allows consolidated, block-level data storage
  • System area network offers high-speed connection in server-to-server applications, storage area networks, and processor-to-processor applications
  • POLAN is a networking technology which helps you to integrate into structured cabling
  • Home network (HAN) is a always built using two or more interconnected computers to form a local area network (LAN) within the home
  • Enterprise private network (EPN) networks are build and owned by businesses that want to securely connect various locations
  • Campus area network (CAN) is made up of an interconnection of LANs in a specific geographical area
  • A VPN is a private network which uses a public network to connect remote sites or users together
  • What does LAN stand for? – LAN stands for Local Area Network.
  • What is the difference between LAN and WAN? – LAN is a computer network that covers a small geographic area, like a home, office, or group of buildings, while WAN is a computer network that covers a broader area.

What is it called when two or more devices are connected together?

A network consists of two or more computers that are linked in order to share resources (such as printers and CDs), exchange files, or allow electronic communications.

When two or computers are connected in small area like room or office building?

Detailed Solution.

Is a system in which two or more computers are connected to each other?

A computer network (Figure 10.2) is an interconnection among two or more computers or computing devices. Such interconnection allows computers to share data and resources among each other.

What do we call a group of two or more computers that are close together and connected to each other either directly or indirectly *?

A network is a collection of two or more computers connected to one another so as to share data.