Unit 5 — 5-minute revision
- LAN: Local Area Network — room/campus, fastest, cheap | MAN: Metropolitan Area Network — city | WAN: Wide Area Network — country/globe, slowest (Internet is largest WAN)
- Topologies: Bus (one cable, terminator), Star (central hub, most common), Ring (circular, token passing), Mesh (every device linked, most reliable/expensive), Tree (star of stars)
- Hub: broadcasts to all, dumb, slowest; Switch: sends to specific port, smarter/faster; Router: connects different networks, chooses best path; Bridge: joins two LAN segments, filters traffic; Gateway: connects different protocols; Modem: modulates/demodulates analog↔digital
- Guided media: twisted pair, coaxial, fiber optic (fastest, no interference); Unguided: radio waves, microwaves, infrared, satellite
- Repeater: boosts weak signals; Bandwidth: data capacity (bps); MAC address: unique hardware address
🔥 High-yield: Internet = largest WAN; star topology most common; switch is smarter than hub; router connects different networks; fiber optic = fastest guided medium.
| Term | Full form |
|---|---|
| LAN | Local Area Network |
| MAN | Metropolitan Area Network |
| WAN | Wide Area Network |
| IP | Internet Protocol |
| TCP | Transmission Control Protocol |
| DNS | Domain Name System |
| FTP | File Transfer Protocol |
| MAC | Media Access Control |
| NIC | Network Interface Card |