[ Kiro ]
(?)Community Member
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- Posted: Wed, 28 Apr 2004 17:23:29 +0000
An Introduction to Networking
Networking. The term is used nearly everywhere now, and anyone reading this is already part of a network, wether you know it or not ninja . But before we get into the intricacies of networking and how to hook up your awesome box with your friends to share pr0n, we must answer one simple question.
What in Sam Hell is a network?
A network is 2 or more computers, linked together in order to share data and peripherals, such as hard disks and printers. This is the basic dictionary definition, but what does it really mean?
Think of a football team. Each and every part of the team is important, and every individual player has many things to contribute, wether it is time, talent, resources, or what have you. When they work and communicate together, they are able to accomplish a goal. This is, in short, a network.
In the beginning, a network was connecting two computers and having them share data. This is networking at it's most basic. While this may have worked for a while, it was far too slow and inneficient. What if we were to connect SEVERAL computers, but not only that, other resources such as Printers and Fax Machines, into one large network? This is the concept of modern networking.
Now why in the world would you want to do that? Simple. Large coorporations need information to be moved quickly from one place to another. Home users don't want to have to buy one printer for every computer, so they just share it. And more importantly, from this concept grew the biggest and most used network in the world, The Internet.
LAN WAN Thank you ma'am
So your buddies invited you over for a LAN party. You have the booze, the computers, your awesome hat, and 10 gigs of pr0n all set and ready to go. But... what the hell is a LAN in the first place!
There are two major types of networks, namely LAN (Local Area Networks) and WAN (Wide Area Network).
Due to a bit of confusion, i'm going to try to explain, briefly, a few more of the *AN setups:
LAN - Local Area Network - A single network confined to one building or area of a building. There may be links to other locations at the same site, but it will be very localized.
CAN - Campus Area Network - A group of interconnected LANs in a small area. i.e. School Campus, Universities, Hospitals, Military Bases, etc.
MAN - Metropolitan Area Network - Usually used to describe networks within a sociopolitical boundary. i.e. District Authority Offices. They are usually interconnected using high speed Fiber Optics or other High Speed Digital Circuits (as opposed to phone lines)
WAN - Wide Area Network - Two or more interconnected LANs spread over a large geographical area, spanning even over continents. The Internet is the largest WAN in existence.
GAN - Global Area Network - A single network with connecting points all around the world. The difference between a GAN and a WAN is that a GAN is a single network, a WAN is several.
(Terminology heavily borrowed from the wonderful work of M. Meyers &
N. Kendrick)
There are, however, grey areas. So what if you have computers hooked up in two buildings? Across the same city? State? Is it a LAN or a WAN? PAN? SAN? GOD DAMN IT MAN!. Calm down, no one is going to arrest you for using the wrong terms. Just think of a WAN as being various LANs hooked together across the globe, and a LAN being computers interconnected pretty much in the same building (however large it may be) and you should get the idea.
Networking. The term is used nearly everywhere now, and anyone reading this is already part of a network, wether you know it or not ninja . But before we get into the intricacies of networking and how to hook up your awesome box with your friends to share pr0n, we must answer one simple question.
What in Sam Hell is a network?
A network is 2 or more computers, linked together in order to share data and peripherals, such as hard disks and printers. This is the basic dictionary definition, but what does it really mean?
Think of a football team. Each and every part of the team is important, and every individual player has many things to contribute, wether it is time, talent, resources, or what have you. When they work and communicate together, they are able to accomplish a goal. This is, in short, a network.
In the beginning, a network was connecting two computers and having them share data. This is networking at it's most basic. While this may have worked for a while, it was far too slow and inneficient. What if we were to connect SEVERAL computers, but not only that, other resources such as Printers and Fax Machines, into one large network? This is the concept of modern networking.
Now why in the world would you want to do that? Simple. Large coorporations need information to be moved quickly from one place to another. Home users don't want to have to buy one printer for every computer, so they just share it. And more importantly, from this concept grew the biggest and most used network in the world, The Internet.
LAN WAN Thank you ma'am
So your buddies invited you over for a LAN party. You have the booze, the computers, your awesome hat, and 10 gigs of pr0n all set and ready to go. But... what the hell is a LAN in the first place!
There are two major types of networks, namely LAN (Local Area Networks) and WAN (Wide Area Network).
Due to a bit of confusion, i'm going to try to explain, briefly, a few more of the *AN setups:
LAN - Local Area Network - A single network confined to one building or area of a building. There may be links to other locations at the same site, but it will be very localized.
CAN - Campus Area Network - A group of interconnected LANs in a small area. i.e. School Campus, Universities, Hospitals, Military Bases, etc.
MAN - Metropolitan Area Network - Usually used to describe networks within a sociopolitical boundary. i.e. District Authority Offices. They are usually interconnected using high speed Fiber Optics or other High Speed Digital Circuits (as opposed to phone lines)
WAN - Wide Area Network - Two or more interconnected LANs spread over a large geographical area, spanning even over continents. The Internet is the largest WAN in existence.
GAN - Global Area Network - A single network with connecting points all around the world. The difference between a GAN and a WAN is that a GAN is a single network, a WAN is several.
(Terminology heavily borrowed from the wonderful work of M. Meyers &
N. Kendrick)
There are, however, grey areas. So what if you have computers hooked up in two buildings? Across the same city? State? Is it a LAN or a WAN? PAN? SAN? GOD DAMN IT MAN!. Calm down, no one is going to arrest you for using the wrong terms. Just think of a WAN as being various LANs hooked together across the globe, and a LAN being computers interconnected pretty much in the same building (however large it may be) and you should get the idea.
