• What is a network?
• Network types
• Network topology
• Elements of a network

We explain what a network is and what are the types of networks that exist. In addition, the different topologies and the elements that compose it.

The networks have processes of emission and reception of messages.

What is a network?

In computing, is understood by network (usuallycomputer network orComputer network) to the interconnection of a certain number of computers (or networks, in turn) through wired or wireless devices that, through electrical impulses, electromagnetic waves or other physical means, allow them to send and receive information in packets of data, share your resources and act as an organized group.

The networks haveprocesses emission and reception of messages, as well as a series of codes and standards that guarantee their understanding by the computers connected to the network (and not by any other). To these standards of communication they are known asprotocols, and the most common of them today is TCP / IP.

Building a network allows you to manage a internal communication, share the execution of programs or access toInternet, and even the administration of peripherals like printers, scanners, etc. This type of swarm systems currently support many of the management and information processing processes nowadays, such as telecommunications networks, the Internet or the various intranet companies or various organizations.

The emergence of networks revolutionized the way of understanding computing and opened a new field within it. discipline to meet the needs of improvement, security and operability of computer communication.

Network types

WAN networks are larger and more extensive, like global networks or the Internet.

Networks are classified according to their dimensions in:

• LAN. LocalTOarea Network (in English: "Local Area Network"). They are the smallest networks, such as those that we can install in our department.
• MAN.Metropolitan TOarea Network (in English: "Metropolitan Area Network"). These are medium-sized networks, optimal for a university campus or a building of a library or business multi-story, even for a portion of a town.
• WAN. Wide TOarea Network (in English: "Wide Area Network"). This is where the largest and most far-reaching networks come in, such as global networks or the Internet.

Networks can also be classified according to the physical method they use to connect, as follows:

• Guided media. Networks that link the machines through physical cable systems: twisted pair, coaxial or optical fiber. It has the advantage of being faster, not having as much noise, but being less comfortable and practical.
• Unguided media networks. Networks that establish the connection through dispersed and area-range systems: radio waves, infrared signal or microwave, such as satellite systems and theWifi. They are a little slower but much more comfortable and practical.

Network topology

There are three models of topology or ordering of a network:

• Bus networks. Also called linear, they have aserver at the head of a successive line ofcustomers, and they have a single communication channel called bus orbackbone.
• Star networks. Each computer has a direct connection to the server, which is in the middle of all of them. Any communication between clients must first go through the server.
• In ring. Also called circular, they connect the clients and the server in a circular circuit, although the server maintains its hierarchy over the system.

Elements of a network

Modems and routers allow communication to be established.

To install a computer network the following elements are needed:

• Hardware. Devices and machines that allow the establishment of communication, such as network cards, modems and routers, or repeater antennas if they are wireless.
• software. Programs required to manage the hardware communications, as is theOperating system Network (NOS acronym: NetworkOperating System), and the protocols communication such as TCP / IP.
• Servers Y customers. The servers process the flow of data on the network, attending to the requests of the other computers on the network called clients or workstations. These allow users access to information individually, sharing the resources managed by the server.
• Transmission media. This refers to the wiring or electromagnetic waves that, as the case may be, serve as a medium for the communication of the message.