9
Introduction to Local Area Networking
Local Area Networking (LAN) is the term used when connecting several com-
puters together over a small area such as a building or group of buildings. LAN’s
can be connected over large areas. A collection of LANs connected over a large
area is called a Wide Area Network (WAN).
A LAN is consists of multiple computers connected to each other. There are
many types of media that can connect computers together. The most common
media is CAT5 cable; UTP or STP twisted pair wire. Each computer must have
a Network Interface Card (NIC), which communicates the data between com-
puters. A NIC is usually a 10Mbps network card or 10/100Mbps network cards.
Most networks use hardware devices such as hubs or switches that each cable
can be connected to in order to continue the connection between computers. A
hub simply takes any data arriving through each port and forwards the data to
all other ports. A switch is more sophisticated, in that a switch can determine
the port that each piece of data is supposed to be delivered to. A switch mini-
mizes network traffic and speeds up the communication over a network.
Networks take some time in order to plan and implement correctly. There are
many types of scenarios to consider which could affect the operability of a net-
work. Some of these issues are discussed in the manual under the
Networking Basics
section.
