Introduction to Networking

Put simply, networking is the connection of many computers. Once computers are connected together, they create a network. The largest network is the Internet (which also happens to be a Wide-Area Network). The smallest network is the computer itself, the interaction of the motherboard with the other components. Before networking is explained, it is best to become familiar with the computer itself.

The computer is made up of many parts, and one quite unknown fact is that 5 or more different manufacturers go into making a computer. There is a company who makes the CD-ROM, a company who makes the hard drive, a company who makes the microprocessor, and more. The outside components of a computer, like the keyboard, mouse, printer, and speakers, are the peripheral components. However, what you're probably interested in are the inside parts. Inside the chassis, which is the casing holding everything together, are many PCBs, or printed circuit boards. PCBs have many very small components on them, as well as having conducting tracks superimposed on both sides of them. The most important of these boards is the motherboard. The motherboard has the microprocessor, which holds the CPU (central processing unit), and that controls everything else. The motherboard also has the bus, which is a compact series of wires which transmit data. There are also slots which hold RAM (random access memory) cards, sound cards, video cards, and a network interface card, which is used to connect to a network (usually the Internet). The hard drive is a small rectangular box which holds rotating metal plates called platters (sounds kind of like plates), which are the actual devices which store information. There are various other PCBs in the computer, all helping to perform various functions.

Besides these major components, there are many smaller ones. Transistors, which are very important, amplify electrical signals passed through them. Integrated circuits, which originally could only hold several transistors, now hold millions! In the beginning (not biblical), before integrated circuits, computers had to be huge to fit all the transistors. Since integrated circuits came around and advanced, computers were able to become smaller. Another component is the resistor, which is the opposite of a transistor, in that it lowers the power of an electrical signal. Yet another small component is the capacitor, which stores small amounts of data in an electrostatic field. These small devices are peppered all over the motherboard and other PCBs.

Now that the computer has been described, it's time to go into basic networking. For a computer to be in a network, it needs to have two things: A physical connection, and a logical connection. Additionally, for the Internet, a web browser is required. The physical connection can be a NIC (remember, network interface card), modem (short for modulator-demodulator), or a number of other things. The logical connection is as important. It is the protocols, which is a formal set of rules that computers follow for sharing information. Without them, computers would not be able to communicate. There are different types of logical connections, which are relatively complex and won't be described here.

Before networking, businesses using computers had it rough. To exchange information, they had to save to a floppy disc, run to another computer, and upload it there. Since not all computers had a printer, they would have to run to the computer that had the printer. In large businesses, where files were constantly being changed, a file might become outdated while it was being printed! This primitive type of "networking" was referred to as the Sneakernet. Businesses need a way to become more efficient, and thus Local Area Networks, referred to as LANs, were born. LANs cover an area of about 100 meters, perfect for a building or other small area. LANs allowed computers grouped together to share and distribute information freely, without the use of floppy discs. However, when companies expanded, LANs weren't good enough. So WANs, wide area networks, came about, which could cover the globe. This connected many, many LANs together, and businesses were happy.


That is all for this Introduction to Networking. If you have any more questions, feel free to email me at kaabinator@gmail.com.