What is LAN? And types of LAN. | 2020
Definition of LAN?
LAN is known as Local Area Network.
LAN is a group of devices connected with each other in one physical location such as a building, room or single floor in a building. It is a network or two or more computers. LAN is a way for sharing resources among networks which means you can share documents, files among each other. Also, LAN is not restricted to any operating system all operating systems can operate on it which result any OS will be operable in LAN.
LAN uses wired or wireless connection between multiple networking devices such as printers, scanners, servers. As computers are connected with each other with wire connection they can easily access any machine in their network. LAN can be implemented to a limited physical area such as a building, school, etc. You cannot create LAN from once city to another because of its limitation. But you possibly have a question what if i have one office in one city and other in far away what the way? well that’s when WAN (Wide Area Connection) or MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) came with their features.
LAN uses both wired and wireless connections to connect multiple devices in the network. Wired connections use Ethernet (a protocol for physical connection requiring cables). WiFi is a wireless connection that uses radio waves as a protocol known as wireless LAN. LAN works in the physical layer of the OSI model.
How does LAN work?
LAN is connected to the internet at a central point such as a router, switch. If a person wants to build a LAN network at home, the majority of the time the router becomes the central point. On other hand companies use network switches as they have larger space and large quantities of networking devices. Network Switches allow organizations to drive more packet delivery.
LAN works as messenger, it receives and delivers in-going and outgoing messages from network and to the network. All these information travels through the cable.
Which cable is used in LAN or Ethernet?
There is a long history about cables used in LAN or Ethernet but nowadays the majority of LAN’s are using twisted pair cables.
A pair of wires creates a circuit that can transmit data within it. The reason behind them are twisted because they provide protection against cross talk, the noise generated by adjacent pairs. When a wire is carrying a current, the current will create a magnetic field around the wire. This field then can connect with signals on nearby wires. To learn more about wires click on this link Cables Used in LAN.
Further it has two types
- Shielded Twisted pair (STP)
- Un-shielded Twisted pair (UTP)
Types Of LAN?
There are two types of LAN connections:
- Client to Server
- Peer-To-Peer
1. Client to Server
It is also called a two-tier LAN. In this connection network devices (clients) are connected to a central server which manages all tasks such as backups, device access, application access, network access. Clients can run the application on their side but in order to get access over the database documents it needs to connect to a server which is running all this information in the network on LAN and this is most common method of LAN.
2. Peer-To-Peer (P2P)
In this connection it is not the server who shares the database it is the computers which are connected with each other and share information without any central server. In this connection every computer works as a central server. Given image will explain the peer to peer connection visually.
Examples of P2P connection:
A P2P network can be an ad hoc connection, it can be computers in an office connected to their workstation over copper wires or with use of some software to create Peer to Peer connection.
More Information:
There are also different type of network topologies of LAN that will help you to learn more. It will help you to learn types of computer networks how it works what is the data flow in the network.
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