Hello and welcome to the Network Direction video channel. What you've found
here is the start of a new group of videos designed to help you understand
the foundations of Networking. If you're new to networking or studying for a
certification like CCNA, Network + or JNCIA
this is a great place to start. For the first few videos I'm going to assume
that you have no networking experience. My goal is to create a solid foundation
for you to build on. In this video we're going to start with understanding what a
network actually is and some of the network types you'll see. We will follow up
in part two with a look at how a network may be cabled and get an overview of
addresses.
If you like this video please, let me know with the like button.
It's important to me to know if I'm on the right track with my videos so a
comment would be helpful too. If you want to see more, please use the subscribe and
notification buttons. Now if you're ready let's start right at the beginning.
What is a Network?
So maybe you already know what a network is.
Maybe you've built your own network
at home or help someone to run the network at school or at your job. That's
okay I don't want to bore you so if this applies to you I would like to give you
this challenge pause the video and think of a good description of what a network
is if you've come up with something you're happy with well done feel free to
skip ahead otherwise stay with me and I'll see if I can come up with something
for you. At work or home you have a bunch of devices; Computers, printers, TVs, and so
on. You connect these by means of a network. When the devices are connected
they're able to share data. This could be sending a print job to a printer, sending
an email or streaming video. This can also be used for sharing an internet
connection. Mostly network users are unaware of the
network they're using as long as they can browse the Internet do their job
browse YouTube they're usually fine. For all of these devices to communicate they
need to be connected together somehow. One way is to plug cables into the devices
and connect them to another device called a switch. An example is in a
school's computer lab in this case a computer in the lab connects to a wall
socket with a cable. Another cable runs through the wall which comes out at a
patch panel. This may be in a cabinet on the wall somewhere in the room or in
another room entirely. The port on the patch panel then connects to the switch
you might have a switch at home too most homes don't have wall sockets so devices
are connected directly to the switch we'll talk more about how switches work
later. We can also connect devices wirelessly a common way to do this is to
use a wireless access point a wireless network like this is also called Wi-Fi
an example of this is if you have a tablet. It is impractical to cable it in
so Wireless is a good option. The access point is like a switch without cables
more than one device can connect to the access point over time but without the
messy cabling. The access point can also be connected to the switch with a cable
this way wired and wireless devices can all be part of the same network. Having
both wired switches and wireless access points, gives you more connection options
imagine you have a laptop in an office you may connect it to the network with a
cable when you're at your desk when you have a meeting in the conference room
you remove the cable and connect to Wi-Fi. Whether the wired or wireless, the
goal of the network is to move information from one device to another
for this to work the sender and the receiver must understand each other. They
need to speak the same language. In the network speaking the same language means
that devices agree on how data is sent, received, organized, and handled. Basically
they agree on a process that they all follow. It's a bit like filling out
paperwork. This is called a protocol. A lot of different protocols are used
depending on what's needed at the time. Network software and hardware are
designed with these protocols in mind. You will hear of protocols like Ethernet
and TCP which are used for sending and receiving data. You may also hear of
protocols like HTTP which is used for accessing the web and SMTP which is used
for email usually several protocols are used together to achieve a task. We'll look
at protocols further in future videos
in summary networks are used to connect devices together. Devices use the network
to communicate and to share information. To share information, devices need to
speak the same language. This language is called a protocol which is a set of
instructions of how to handle the information
we're going to start with some simple questions to get the brain working
firstly what are the two ways computers can connect to the network to follow on
from that what devices do they usually connect to and finally how many
protocols are used when one computer accesses another computer. When you're
ready to see the answers follow the link at the bottom of the screen.
Networks connect devices. You could call devices on the network nodes. Nodes may include
devices that help control the traffic flowing through a network like switches
and routers. Nodes also include end points or hosts. These are devices that
send and receive the bulk of the traffic this includes workstations servers
printers and so on. Networks come in different sizes a network at home is an
example of a small network these networks usually only have a few nodes
this is called a SOHO Network. SOHO means Small Office Home Office these networks
typically have a couple of computers a printer a few phones and tablets some
devices will be wireless and some are connected to a switch this might be a
good time to mention that people often say hub when they mean switch you can
see why of course as the switch looks like a central hub in a Soho Network but
please keep in mind that switches and hubs are very different things
hubs are really old technology that you generally don't see anymore outside of a
museum while switches are modern and commonly used they look very similar so
it's easy to mix them up have a look at the model number to see if it gives you
any clues about what the device really is. In a Soho Network a router is used to
connect to the internet you might find that the router switch
access point are all integrated into one device
While a SOHO network will only have a few devices a corporation for example the
bank will have many devices this is called an enterprise network
the enterprise network may cover several floors in a building. They may also have
several office buildings in different cities or even across different
countries. An internet provider has a very large network this is called a
service provider network. Not only do they provide Internet access
they also offer services to connect their customers together. Consider the
bank with offices all around the country the service provider uses part of their
network to join these officers together when devices are collected into a local
area we call this a local area network or LAN. The LAN may be a small network
in a SOHO Network the LAN is the switch with the handful of devices connected or
the LAN may be part of a bigger network like an enterprise network. This network
may have many switches routers and access points depending on their needs
think of the bank from before they have an office with several floors you could
consider the whole building as a LAN or more likely the network is broken up
into smaller parts. Perhaps there is a separate network on each floor each of
these could also be called the LAN. These separate LANs may be connected together
but we'll talk more about that later. But a banks network is going to be larger
than just one building. Banks have offices all over the country and all
over the world even though they are far apart these networks can be joined
together. This is called a WAN or Wide Area Network. Imagine for a moment that
you work for a company with an office in Sydney and an office in Melbourne you
could contact a service provider and they can connect these officers for you
WANs are a topic all of their own, so we'll cover them in detail in a later
video
let's take a moment for a quick summary all networks are different and this
includes their size a Soho Network is very small
while an enterprise network may be very large. Of course your network could fit
in anywhere in between. A LAN or local area network is a collection of network
devices in a local area like a single building. A WAN or wide area network
connects networks that are far apart. And once again it's time to get the brain
working. Here's something to think about you work for a company that has a
finance division an engineering division and an admin division each group have
their own network and the networks are joined together is this network still a
LAN or is it something else entirely the company grows and adds a retail division
in addition to the head office there is now six branch offices what type of
network is this as before go to the link below to see the answers
I hope you've enjoyed part one of this series join me in part two where we'll
have a look at different types of cabling the Ethernet protocol and a bit
of an introduction into network addressing if you found this helpful
subscribe and click the notification button also if you liked it please click
the like button and tell me what you thought in the comments