0Introduction
What is Network?
A network is a group of two or more computer systems linked together. In general Networking means connectivity.
Why Networking?
Computers are interconnected for serving different purposes like data sharing, resource sharing, remote operations, etc.
Data Transmission
To transmit a data from one computer to another computer, we may make use of an external storage device like USB pen drive, DVD/CD-ROM or an external hard disk. This is good when the data transmission is not frequent and not dynamic. Suppose if the data transmission is frequent, then it is very difficult to rely on these external memory devices.
Is it not great if this data transmission can be done at the click of mouse without any movement of external memory devices?
Yes, With the help of networking it can be done.
Connecting these two computers via switches or hubs or modems will help us in transmitting the data from one computer to another very easily. This is data sharing.
The question that might be running in your mind now is what are these Switches, Hubs and Modems?
Do not worry much about these things right now.Let me explain these things in detail later.
For time being just understand that these are the devices which helps in connecting one computer to another computer.
Now let us continue our discussion of Data transmission or Data sharing.
Data Sharing
Data will be present in server (Server is a computer with high configuration) and all other computers will access the data from the server, process this data and stores back in the server.
Resource Sharing
Suppose, there are 10 computers in an office and there is only one printer. All these computers are spread over different corners of the office. If employees working on these 10 computers need to access the printer, then they have to connect their computer to the printer via a printer cable. They have to do this every time they need a print. Organizations cannot provide printer for every computer and is not a wise thing to do also. But, when these computers are interconnected and are also connected to a printer, irrespective of the position of the computer, employees can access the printer and take the print of their documents at will.
In this case, printer is a resource and with the help of networking, the printer can be shared among all the users. This is resource sharing. With networking, resources can be shared and used efficiently.
Similarly, High configuration servers are shared by low configuration computers for running some applications. This is also the case of resource sharing. Here CPU, RAM, etc of server are the resources.
To summarize, data transmission, data sharing and resource sharing are important reasons for networking.
What are the applications of Networking?
E- commerce (Online shopping, Online ticket booking, Online banking)
Remote operations (Telnet, Remote login, NMS/EMS )
Powerful social medium – Facebook, Twitter, Videoconferencing, email, etc)
Mobile Communication
What next ?
Having understood, the need of networking, the next question is how to connect these computers or is there any pattern or way to connect them?
Yes, the way of connection determines the topology of the network. We will discuss about different types of topology, their features, advantages, limitations applications,etc in detail in the next post..
Have a nice time.
