CompTIA A+ 1101 Network Types

LAN (Local Area Network)

- a group of devices in the same broadcast domain

- usually contains devices in your building or in a group of buildings nearby

- high-speed connectivity, typically provided by ethernet and 802.11 wireless networks

WAN (Wide Area Network)

- spans the globe

- generally connects LANs across a distance

- much slower than LAN

- can be terrestrial or non-terrestrial

MAN (Metropolitan Area Network)

- larger than a LAN, smaller than a WAN

- common to see government ownership

SAN (Storage Area Network)

- extends local drives to a centralized form of storage

- looks and feels like a local storage device

- block-level access

- requires a lot of bandwidth

WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network)

- uses 802.11 technologies

- short range

- typically used within a building or in a localized area

- can expand coverage with access points

VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network)

- a group of devices in the same broadcast domain, separated logically, instead of physically

VPN (Virtual Private Network)

- encrypted data traversing a public network

- connected to a concentrator device

- often integrated into a firewall

- may use specialized cryptographic hardware or be software based

- may be used with client software, or built into the OS

Client-To-Site VPN (Virtual Private Network)

- on demand access from a remote location

- software connects to the VPN concentrator

- may be configured as always-on