AP Networking 2.1 & 2.2

Personal Area Network (PAN)

Designed for short-range communication between personal devices such as smartphones, keyboards, headphones, and printers. PANs typically use Bluetooth and are limited to a few meters.

Local Area Network (LAN)

A network confined to a small physical area like a home, office, or school. Devices in a LAN are connected via switches or routers and can share resources like printers and files.

Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)

Spanning a city or large campus, MANs connect multiple LANs within a localized region. They are often used by organizations such as universities or banks to securely link multiple buildings.

Wide Area Network (WAN)

The largest type of network, WANs connect LANs across vast geographical distances. The Internet is the most well-known example of a WAN, linking computers and networks globally.

Network Topology

A network topology defines how devices (nodes) are arranged and how data flows between them.

Physical Topology

The actual layout of cables and devices.

Logical Topology

The path data takes through the network.

Bus Topology

All devices share a single communication line. It's simple and low-cost but struggles with scalability and security.

Ring Topology

Devices are connected in a circular loop. Data travels in one direction, and a single node failure can disrupt the network.

Star Topology

All devices connect to a central hub or switch. It's easy to troubleshoot and scale, but the central device is a single point of failure.

Mesh Topology

Every device connects directly to every other device. It's highly reliable and supports heavy traffic but is expensive and complex to manage.

Hybrid Topology

Combines two or more topologies to meet specific needs. It offers flexibility but can be complex to design and maintain.

Bandwidth

The amount of data that can be transmitted over a network in a given time.

LAN (Local Area Network)

A network covering a small geographic area, like a home or office.

MAN (Metropolitan Area Network)

A network that spans a city or large campus, larger than a LAN but smaller than a WAN.

Digital Communication Basics

Requires a sender, receiver, transmission medium (wired or wireless), and communication protocols.

Binary Representation

Computers use binary (0s and 1s) to represent data, transmitted as electrical signals, light, or electromagnetic waves.

Node

Any device connected to a network.

Host

Nodes that generate or consume data (e.g., computers, servers).

NIC (Network Interface Card)

Enables devices to connect to a network.

Protocols

Rules for data exchange, sequencing, and formatting.

Decimal (Base-10)

Uses digits 0-9.

Binary (Base-2)

Uses digits 0 and 1; each position represents a power of 2.

OSI Model

7 layers (Physical, Data Link, Network, Transport, Session, Presentation, Application).

TCP/IP Model

4 layers (Network Access, Internet, Transport, Application).

Encapsulation

Adding headers/trailers as data moves down layers.

De-encapsulation

Removing headers/trailers at the receiving end.

Application Layer

OSI layer handling user-facing applications and network processes.

Data Link Layer

OSI layer responsible for physical addressing within a LAN.

Network Layer

OSI layer responsible for logical addressing (IP).

Transport Layer

OSI layer ensuring end-to-end reliability and segmentation.

PDU (Protocol Data Unit)

Unit of data at each layer of the OSI/TCP-IP model.