What is Networking?
Hey folks, I want to start a new series in Information Technology that addreses networking and some basic fundamentals of how it works and how it all comes together. There are many aspects, contributing factors and hardware that make up a network however for now I would start with the basics and deal with the LAN, WAN and how it works.
- What is a LAN ?
Lan is abbreviated for local area network and for most of we dont even realise that in some way or the other that we are a a part of a LAN at our offices or even when we are at home on our wireless network which is called a wlan - wireless local area network.
So for instance at our offices as regular users, we understand that we communicate with servers for services however we dont realise that in order to communicate to the servers we do this via lan switches which the servers are directly connected to. That is the general make up of a lan and everything is wired phyically in the background to lan switches.
Here is a typical lan diagram for most office users:
- What is a WAN ?
A wan is a wide area network that connects larger networks together and this is basically for businesses that are larger with multiple branches. Have you ever wondered how businesses extend their networks for branch offices ? Well this is done via the WAN. ISP's create a point to point network which generally communicates over layer 2 so that branch offices literally become an extension of the head office.
Please see a diagram below that explains this perfectly:
Hope this has been informative.
Regards
@trev03