CompTIA A+ 220-1201 (2.7 - Network Types)

LAN

• Local Area Network

- Local is relative

• A building or group of buildings

- High-speed connectivity

• Ethernet and 802.11 wireless

- Any slower and it isn't "local"

WAN

• Wide Area Network

- Spanning the globe

• Generally connects LANs across a distance

- And generally much slower than the LAN

• Many different WAN technologies

- Point-to-point serial, MPLS, etc.

- Terrestrial and non-terrestrial

PAN

• Personal Area Network

- Your own private network

- Bluetooth, IR, NFC

• Automobile

- Audio output

- Integrate with phone

• Mobile phone

- Wireless headset

• Health

- Workout telemetry, daily reports

MAN

• Metropolitan Area Network

- A network in your city

- Larger than a LAN, often smaller than a WAN

• Historically MAN-specific topologies

- Metro Ethernet

• Common to see government ownership

- They "own" the right-of-way

SAN

• Storage Area Network (SAN)

- Looks and feels like a local storage device

- Block-level access

- Very efficient reading and writing

• Requires a lot of bandwidth

- May use an isolated network and high-speed

network technologies

WLAN

• Wireless LAN

- 802.11 technologies

• Mobility

- Within a building

- In a limited geographical area

• Expand coverage with additional access points

- Downtown area

- Large campus