We explain what a LAN network is and the types of networks that exist. Also, what a router is and how it works. What is Internet.
What is a LAN network?
It is known as a LAN network (English acronym: Local Area Networkwhich translates Local Area Network) to a computer network whose scope is limited to a small physical space like a house, an apartment or at most a building.
Through a LAN resources can be shared between multiple computers and computing devices (such as cell phones, tablets, etc.), such as peripherals (printers, projectors, etc.), information stored on the server (or on connected computers) and even Internet access points, despite being in rooms or even different floors.
These types of networks are for common and daily use in businesses, companies and homes being able to present a different network topology according to the specific needs of the network, such as:
- Network andn bus. In which the same cable (or backbone) connects to computers and allows data transmission in a straight line, making it simple but susceptible to cable damage or traffic interruption.
- Star network. In which all computers connect to a central server that manages network resources and assigns them as requested.
- Ring network. In which all computers are connected to their neighbors through a unidirectional transmission, which interrupts the network if there is a failure at some level of it.
- Mixed network. Combine two or more of the previous models.
See also: OSI model
Network types
Computer networks are generally classified based on their physical or geographic reach, which generally reflects their power or data volume. In that sense, one can speak of:
- LAN networks (Local Area network) Local area networks that cover concrete and specific sites with little reach, such as a house, an office, at most a few floors within a building. They are common in businesses, schools, companies, etc.
- MAN networks (Metropolitan Area network) Metropolitan area networks, that is, with a scope greater than local but not international. A perfect example of these are the networks of university campuses, or bureaucratic management between various State agencies, each of which has its headquarters in different places in the city.
- WAN networks (Wide Area network) Wide area networks that cross vast regions of geography, which can be national or international, like the Internet itself.
What is a router?
Is called router or router to a device that allows interconnection of subnets managing the way data packets are routed from one to another. This means that the router, as its name indicates, finds an appropriate path for the sent packets by analyzing their origin and destination information. This function is carried out through two simultaneous processes:
- Packet forwarding The router receives packets and sends them back to the appropriate exit point as determined by the routing table, an electronic document that contains the routes to the various nodes on the network.
- Packet routing Using routing algorithms, it determines the path that packets should follow as they flow from a sender to a receiver.
Internet
The Internet is called a Wan network composed of a specialized set of computer networks interconnected through the TCP/IP protocol family thus achieving a global and massive reach.
This network dates back to the mid-20th century, when ARPANET was established, a precursor that encompassed only three American universities in the state of California, but since then it has grown enormously to become the largest known network of networks.
Among its services, the best known (so much so that they are confused as a single thing) is the World Wide Web (WWW): a set of protocols that allow remote consultation of hypertexts and thus share tons of remote information. This service was created in 1990, and it is not the only one that the Internet is currently capable of supporting.
