What is Local Area Network (LAN), Advantages and Disadvantages

When a Network connected to a limited number of computers or systems within a small geographical area is called the local area network. We have different topologies to administrate the structure of the local area network. Let us discuss each type of topology in detail.

1. Star Topology
2. Bus Topology
3. Ring Topology

The local area network connects arranged in the different topologies. Ring, star, and bus topologies are used for the arrangement of the local area network.

Ring Topology

All the computers and systems are connected in a closed-loop called the Ring topology. In the Ring topology, the transmission of the message can be done only in one direction.

The below figure represents the diagram for the Ring Topology

Star Topology

In the Configuration of the Start topology, all the systems are connected to a single hub, switch, or router. The data is transmitted through a single switch or hub. With the Center Network, all the messages, and data are transmitted throughout the network.

The below represents the diagram for the star topology

Bus Topology

In the bus topology, all the systems and nodes are connected through a single communication line. All the messages and the data are traveled in both directions of the bus.

In Bus Technology, Ethernet has become the standard for the local area network. The local area network has fewer errors and data loss network. The local area network uses both commercial and academic environments.

Examples of the Local Area Network

Below is an example of the Local Area Network. In the given figure different types of topological arrangements are connected through a LAN connection. Certain systems are connected to a switch or router and these switches are connected to a router that is again connected to the internet. The Connection of different systems to a router or a switch is called a Local area network.

All the different types of topologies are together connected through a network is called the local area network.

History of the Local Area Networks

In the early 1860’s many scientists facing a challenge to communicate faster for the emergent needs. Many people use post boxes to send messages to different areas. Hence, after research in 1862, the first telephone line graph is built between the Littleton and the Christchurch kiwis using a system of codes. After this, the telegraph lines are spread hugely in different areas. A cable is established to connect the network through a certain area. The radio waves are discovered after not less than world war 2 to send urgent voice communication messages.

By 1930, the radiowaves are broadcasted through radio to the public networks. We can send voice messages to a limited area of distance.

A single router is maintained to provide access to different systems.

How Does the Local Area Network

To understand the working of the local area Network. Let us take an example, suppose When User A wants to send messages to User B, the data that sent are divided in the form of packets. During transmission, the data is sent in different forms of the packets like UDP packet, TCP Packet.

The Router receives all these packets that are sent by User A. Each packet stores only a limited amount of the data in it. These packets consist of labeled information such as the sender’s address and receiver’s address and what type of packet it is like TCP, UDP, etc.

Now, these packets will be launched in the local area network. Now, this local network connects all the locally computed networks within the limited area. Different types of data are sent through the local area network.

Now the Local router reads the address of the sender and the destination address and moves towards the corporate area network and searches for the router Switch. After the packets have arrived at the destination address, these routers are then moved into the proxy server.

Now, these proxy server stores the data as per the size of the data. Now, these proxy servers open the packet and search for the web address, and sent it on to the Internet. And a firewall is established before entering into the corporate server, this firewall is used to prevent the corporate sensitive information and any unnecessary information.

Now, these packets are entered into the Internet where different routers, switches are linked together and sent the information to the destination address system.

Equipment required to Set Up Local area Network

To set up a local area network, multiple computer systems, a router or switch or any hub, and many local cable connections are required.

How these equipment are connected to the local network

A router is a central device that connects multiple user computers to a single central device called a router or switch. The arrangement of the local area network can be bus topology, star topology, or ring topology. These three topologies are used to connect the local connection of networks.

The below figure represents the LAN is connected in the form of the Bus topology. A router was established between the two Bus topology in the Local Connection.

Different types of Local area network

To learn the types of the local area network, let discuss the quick review introduction to the local area network.

As we mentioned earlier, a Local area network is the connection of the multiple networks with a limited distance. Multiple user’s computers are connected through a router or switch to provide internet access to the limited range of the distance. The name itself represents the connection of the different devices only for a certain geographical area. The connection between the home, buildings are coming under the local area network.

Multiple computers are connected through a switch by using different topological structures. There are different types of components that are used for the connection between the local area network. They are :

1. Switch
2. Cable
3. Router

And there are different factors of the LAN like

1. Topologies
2. Protocols
3. Media

In the local area network, we also use the different types the Local networks.

1. Wired Network
2. Wireless Network

Wired Local Area Network

In Wired Network, the systems are connected using physical cable connections. All the computers and devices are connected through a traditional cable connection. Bus, Star, Ring topologies come under the local area network.

Wireless Local Area Network

 

For Wireless Networks, the Ethernet connection is established to provide Internet access to the local area network. All the systems and devices are connected through a router, these Router is used to give the Internet access for the authorized nearer devices.

There are many different ways to connect a LAN. The local area networks are Ethernet, Token ring, Wi-Fi LANs, etc are used to connect through the local area network. Local area networks

Features of the Local Area Network

Let us know the primary functions of the local area network.

• File server

The storage disk will act as the main central storage for storing the data in it.

• Print server

It provides the authorization to the particular user to access the printer. Only the authorized users can access the print server.

• Transferring the Video

A high speed can be capable of supporting the images and the videos.

• Manufacturing support

The local area network can support both the manufacturing and the industrial environment.

• Academic Support

The local area network is used in classrooms, labs, and all related to academics.

• Email Support

In Email support, it interconnects the different systems.

How the Local area Network is getting connected

Let us know the brief explanation for the connection of the local area network. The below figure represents the connection of the bus topology via a bride using Ethernet Technology. Here the bridge represents the router, switch, or hub. This Bridge is connected through another Bus topology on the other side of the Bridge.

Some of the important features of the local area network

• The local area network is connected to a limited range of distance.
• We use the transmission technology in which only a single cable connection is used.
• We use Different topologies for the arrangement of the local area network. Bus Topology, ring topology, star topology are used for the connection of the local area network. Bus Technology uses the Ethernet connection with a speed of 10 to 100 Mbps. In the Ring Topology, we use IBM token ring with 4 to 16 Mbps.

Virtual Local Area Network

The Virtual Local Area Network is commonly called the VLAN. Let us discuss the concept in detail. Simply, VLANs make the logical connection between the two networks. In the Virtual local area network, a single switch is maintained to connect multiple local area networks.

This is called the virtual local area network. Let us take an example, The below figure represents the diagram for the virtual LANs.

The router consists of different ports. Different ports are connected to the different Virtual local area networks. Suppose if one Network IP address wants to send a message, only the same Network IP address devices can receive the message.

The IP address with 192.168.1.1/24 can only send the message to the same IP address networks. Similarly, the same IP address can send the message to the same network devices. One IP network doesn’t disturb the other IP network devices.

If One System wants to communicate with another IP address network the router is established between the two networks. This router is connected to the ports of the switch, it carries the information to the other network devices.

These ports are called the trunk ports and the connection between the two routers and the trunk port is called the trunk line. These Line will carry the information from one IP address network to another IP address network.

It is the logical partition that connects the two-layer networks. We create a logical partition for the different ports. Each VLAN has its own IP network.

Only with the help of the router, we can transmit or send the data from one IP network to another IP network.e

The main benefits of the virtual local area network

• High security is maintained in the VLANs because one VLAN doesn’t disturb the other VLANs.
• The Virtual Local area network is cost-effective. We purchase only a single switch instead of multiple networks.
• It has a high performance and the maximum utilization of the switch.

Data VLAN, Default VLAN, Native VLANs, Management VLAN, Voice VLAN are the different types of Virtual Local area networks.

Local Area Network Security

There are two types of wireless local area network security. Adhoc network and the infrastructure network.

Adhoc Network

The base stations will communicate directly to the Adhoc networks and the infrastructure wireless local area network uses the access points.

Infrastructure Network

Mobile stations, access points, authentication server, and wireless access points. All the base stations are connected to the access points and different access points are then connected through each other.

Local Area Network Topologies

There are different Local area network topologies in the network. They are

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

• Bus Topology

The Bus Topologies are connected in the form of the line. There is no central device connected to the networks. Every device is attached to the Bus cable. Any information can be shared through the Bus cable. Two different terminators are used in the Bus cable.

• Ring topology

In the Ring Topology, there is no termination end in the ring topology. Each device reads the data and sends the data to the next device, the data packets are forwards until it reaches to the destination address.

• Star Topology

In the Star Topology, all the devices are connected to the central device or switch or hub. It has huge benefits than the bus and ring topology.

• Hybrid Topology

In the hybrid topology, it is the combination of the star-ring and the star bus topologies. In the star-ring topology, the combination of both the physical and the logical ring. In the Logical ring topology, the data flows through the central device.

Deploying Wireless Local Area Network

The following are the deployment considerations that support wireless LAN application services. Data, voice, video, real-time locations, mobile services.

In Data, it handles the data like email and web browsing. It also supports voice communications, but the transmission of the video is more complex than Video communications. In real-time location services, we locate and track the locations.

Advantages of the Local Area Network

• All the resources are shared among all the devices. It shares the resources to the different connected devices.
• Any number of devices are added to the network, the addition of the network is a simple and easy process.
• The local area network gets enables them to work through different devices.
• The local area network is very cost-effective and can share resources with multiple devices.
• The local area network is reliable in the data sharing process.

Disadvantages of the Local Area Network

• It is difficult to set up a local area network. and it requires maintenance for all the technicians and the network administer.
• In the local area network, only a limited number of the systems are connected to the network.
• The main disadvantage of the local area network is we can not provide internet access for the large geographical area.
• It is easy to attack any virus in the local area network.

Main Difference Between the LAN and WAN

There are some differeces between LAN and WAN. these are followings:

Local Area Network (LAN):

• In the local area network, the group of computers is connected through a limited geographical area. Internet access is provided only for a certain distance.
• The Ownership of the local area network is maintained as public.
• There is no delay and data loss during the transmission in the local area network.
• It has a high speed of 1000 Mbps as it has a shorter communication distance.
• The local area network works efficiently even there is any fault in the network.
• The local area networks have less data transmission errors.
• The local area network has a higher bandwidth transmission.
• Buildings, hospitals are the best example for the local area networks.

Wide Area Network (WAN):

• In the Wide Area Network, internet access is provided to the large area distances. It is the combination of multiple local area networks.
• The Ownership of the Wide area network is for both the public and the private network.
• In the wide-area network, there is a huge delay due to the larger distance area.
• It has a data transfer of the 10 Mbps.
• The wide area network has a low data transfer than the local area networks.
• In the Wide area network, there is less fault tolerance compared to the local area networks.
• The wide area network has larger data transmission errors than LANs
• The wide area network has less bandwidth transmission.
• Internet is the best example of a wide-area network.

Network administrators.

The network administrators are the support staff for an organization. These administrators don’t involve directly with the customers. These administrators build a network that is used by all the users and the system administrators. The network is used for communication purposes. They implement the virtual LANs, a security boundary in the network.

The network administration is a high risking job. All the VLANs, access controls, wireless networks, and routing protocols are the sample topics in the job of the Local area network.

Local Area Network (LAN) Second Explanation

As we talk about Local Area Network (LAN), this is not a new type of network. A network of computers is a set of computers together connected allowing users to transfer or share all the resources and communicate with each other. Resources can be data, files, hardware or software. Without a connection of network, each employer or worker might need a system printer connected to a workstation or single and unique copy of the software of application.

LANs generally used for connecting systems in a small area locality. Most commonly used in schools, banks, hospitals, etc. The technology of LANs was introduced in the late 1970s. In 1982, many commercial computer industries may be declared that the coming years are said to be “Years of the LANs”. Basically, each and every vendor has its own protocol, cabling, and network operating system.

As a result, the appearance of Novell Netware which furnished even handled support for a large number of competing cards and cables. Netware influenced the LAN business of personal computers from early after its foundation in 1983 until the mid of the 1990s when windows are influenced by Microsoft.

Also, read…

From the challengers of Netware, only Banyan Vines had the corresponding technical strengths. These made the base of cooperation of Microsoft and 3 com for the creation of a normal network OS LAN manager, IBM’s local area network server.

The TCP/IP LANs, fortunately, supported Telnet, an application of the Defense Department and FTP. This indicated the practicability of working TCP/IP LANs to interconnect World Wide Military Command and Controlled Systems (WWMCCS) at centers of command all through the states of the United Nation. Moreover, WWMCCS was replaced by Global Command and Controlled System (GCCS).

Cables in LAN

4 twisted pair un-shield cable, commonly an Ethernet cables, type of cables are most frequently used to connecting a LAN system. Twisted cables are made for networking LAN are rated for the speed over the long-distance area. Cat 3 cables are used for LAN Ethernet and given 10 Mbps and also not very reliable even at this speed. Cat 4 cable mostly used for 100 Mbps LAN Ethernet but it is not much reliable for the connection.

This is commonly used in homes, offices, schools for telephone lines over a distance where creating the problem in cross-talk between the Cat 3 twisted pairs.

Advantages of LAN

Data Security – Data security is easy in LAN because all the computers are connected to the server system and all the data is stored at one place in the server so easy to maintain secured too.

Software Applications Sharing – As we know all computers are connected to the server so it can also share application licensing software with them. It is not required to licensing each computer individually. All worked on only one licensed system.

Internet Sharing – LANs also provided an advantage of cheaper cost on internet connection. As the single interconnection is required for the server system and all the other computers are worked with that connection.

Easy and Cheap Communication – All the data and files are shared easily in LAN because all the data has stored in a server so it is shared easily, fast and secured. Hence, also save a lot of time and money.

Disadvantages of LAN

Covers Limited Area – LAN is only worked in a small working area locality like in offices, schools, banks, etc. So, it covers a small and limited area for the connection.

High Setup Cost – LAN required many hardware machines and equipment for the first time setup. So, it requires a high cost for the first setup.

Privacy Violation – As a server computer-stored all the data of connected computer systems. So, it violated privacy by checking the browsing history and downloads of all the computers.

Jobs for LAN maintenance – LAN required an employee for maintenance for full time because if there is a hardware problem or system failure in the server then any computer does not work properly. Also, a LAN administrator may be a degree holder person like BSCS or MCS with a diploma in networking.

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