Networking Basics You Need to Know to Build Your Home Network

A network is a collection of network components and computers interconnected with some protocols to share some resources like printers, files and photos. Geographically networks are classified into three groups LAN (Local Area Network), WAN (Wide Area Network), MAN (Metropolitan Area Network).
Next I am going to describe basic networking terms and their definitions:

Hub: A hub is an electronic device that works as a central connection device. The hub will repeat everything what it receives from one port. Every hub has single collision domain. That means in a network only one hub can send a packet at a time. If more than one device attempts to send packet then collision occurs which is called collision domain.

Repeater: A repeater is a networking device that covers distance more than 100 meters. It works in physical layer and requires some time to regenerate its signal. Sometime it creates propagation delay which affect on network with many repeaters.

Switch: A switch is a communication device that breaks the collision domain. In a switch, every port has its own collision domain. Switch examines each node as separate connection and represent as a broadcast domain. That means in a network only one switch can broadcast at a time. Switch also can filter packets and regenerates forwarded packets to proper segment. Some switches work in layer 3 levels. That means it can be configurable like router.

Router: A router is a connecting device that works similar to switches by filtering out traffic and forward packets between protocols. It divides networks logically into various subnets. In a router, every port has its own separate broadcast domain. Moreover, in a complex network if we want to improve network efficiency, we must use a router rather than a switch. It works intelligently to calculate the latency. It can determine the best way to sent data between sources to destination.

Firewalls: It may be a hardware or software which is used for network security. It decides who can enter into your network and who can’t. In addition, it rejects request from unsafe sources. It protects secure network from unauthorized access. It creates a bridge between secured and unsecured network. The main objective of firewall is to protect network resources from cyber attacks, viruses, etc

TCP/IP: TCP/IP: It’s a combination of Transmission Control Protocol and the Internet Protocol. It provides connectivity and specifies how data should be transmitted and formatted. It is a standard protocol to communicate through internet. It has four layers.

Those are:
1. Application Layer.
2. Transport Layer.
3. Internet Layer.
4. Network Layer.

DHCP: Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. Main objective of this protocol is to automatically configure IP address, gateway and subnet mask. DHCP eliminates the manual task of assigning IP addresses and it also identifies duplicate IP assignments. It simplifies network administration by keeping the track of every IP address.

RJ-45 connector: It is a commonly used interface to connect network devices and it is also called Category 5 cable connector. This connector is mainly used in Ethernet interface.

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