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Local Area Network (lan)

priya Jamanu's photo
priya Jamanu
·Mar 18, 2022·

3 min read

Computer networks are classified into the following:

  1. Local Area Network (LAN)

  2. Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)

  3. Wide Area Network (WAN)

Definition:

  • The Local Area Network (LAN) is a network that is designed to operate over a small
    physical area such as an office, factory, or a group of buildings.

  • LANs are very widely used in a variety of applications. LANs are easy to design and troubleshoot.

  • The personal computers and workstations in the offices are interconnected via LAN.

  • The exchange of information and sharing of resources becomes easy because of LAN.

  • LAN has the following topologies:

    1. Star Topology
    2. Bus Topology
    3. Ring Topology
    4. Mesh Topology
    5. Hybrid Topology
    6. Tree Topology

  • In LAN all the machines are connected in a single cable.

  • LAN uses a layered architecture and they are capable of operating hundreds of Mbits/sec.

  • A Local Area Network (LAN) is usually privately owned and links the devices in a single office, building, or campus of up to a few kilometers.

  • Depending on the needs of an organization and the type of technology used, a LAN can be as simple as a few computers and a printer at home or it can contain many computers in a company and include voice, sound, and video peripherals.

  • LANs are widely used to allow resources to be shared between personal computers or workstations.

  • The resources to be shared can be hardware like a printer or software or data.

  • In a LAN one of the computer can become a server serving all the remaining computers called clients.

LAN.gif

  • Software can be stored on the server and it can be used by the remaining clients.

  • LANs are also distinguished from MANs and WANs based on the transmission media they use and topology.

  • In general, a given LAN will use only one type of transmission medium.

  • The most common networking topologies used are bus, star, and ring.

  • The data rates for LAN can now range from 10Mbps to 16Gbps.

Important characteristics / Features of LAN:

  • Very high degree of interconnection between the computers.

  • High rate of transmission.

  • Physical connection of computers in a LAN is easy.

  • Every computer in the LAN can communicate with every other computer.

  • The medium used for data transmission is inexpensive.

Advantages of LAN:

  • High reliability, Failure of individual computers does not affect the entire LAN.

  • It is possible to add a new computer easily.

  • The transmission of data is at a very high rate.

  • Sharing of peripheral devices such as printers is possible.

LAN-DEVICES:

  • The connection among the devices could be wired or wireless.

  • Wired LAN (Example:- Ethernet-Hub, Switch)

Ethernet: Ethernet is the most widely used LAN technology, which is defined under IEEE standards 802.3. The reason behind its wide usability is Ethernet is easy to understand, implement, maintain, and allows low-cost network implementation. Also, Ethernet offers flexibility in terms of topologies that are allowed.

  1. Wireless LAN (Example:- Wi-Fi)