Chapter 2 - Network hardware. The layered model that dominated data communication and networking literature before 1990 was the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model. Everyone believed that the OSI model would become the ultimate standard for data communications - but this did not happen. The TCP/IP protocol suite became the dominant commercial architecture because it was used and tested extensively in the Internet; the OSI model was never fully implemented. In this chapter, we first briefly discuss the OSI model and then we concentrate on TCP/IP as a protocol suite. | Chapter Overview Network Cables Network Interface Adapters Network Hubs Cable Topologies Bus Star Ring Hierarchical star Mesh Wireless Bus Topology Star Topology Ring Topology Ring Network Types Physical ring Logical ring Double ring Hierarchical Star Topology Mesh LAN Topology Mesh Internetwork Wireless Topologies Ad hoc topology: Connects two or more wireless computers communicating with each other only Infrastructure network: Connects wireless computers communicating with a network access point that provides access to a standard cabled network Coaxial Cable Coaxial Cable Types RG-8 RG-58 Application Thick Ethernet Thin Ethernet Thickness inch inch Connector Type N BNC with a T-fitting Twisted-Pair Cable UTP Cable Grades EIA/TIA Grade Applications Category 3 Voice-grade telephone networks, 10-Mbps Ethernet, 4-Mbps Token Ring, 100Base-T4 Fast Ethernet, and 100Base-VG-AnyLAN Category 4 16-Mbps Token Ring Category 5 . | Chapter Overview Network Cables Network Interface Adapters Network Hubs Cable Topologies Bus Star Ring Hierarchical star Mesh Wireless Bus Topology Star Topology Ring Topology Ring Network Types Physical ring Logical ring Double ring Hierarchical Star Topology Mesh LAN Topology Mesh Internetwork Wireless Topologies Ad hoc topology: Connects two or more wireless computers communicating with each other only Infrastructure network: Connects wireless computers communicating with a network access point that provides access to a standard cabled network Coaxial Cable Coaxial Cable Types RG-8 RG-58 Application Thick Ethernet Thin Ethernet Thickness inch inch Connector Type N BNC with a T-fitting Twisted-Pair Cable UTP Cable Grades EIA/TIA Grade Applications Category 3 Voice-grade telephone networks, 10-Mbps Ethernet, 4-Mbps Token Ring, 100Base-T4 Fast Ethernet, and 100Base-VG-AnyLAN Category 4 16-Mbps Token Ring Category 5 100Base-TX Fast Ethernet, Synchronous Optical Network (SONET), and Optical Carrier (OC3) Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) Category 5e or higher 1000Base-T (Gigabit Ethernet) Fiber Optic Cable Fiber Optic Connectors Fiber Optic Cable Types Singlemode: Used for wide area networks (WANs) and other long cable runs Multimode: Used for local area networks (LANs) and short cable runs Network Interface Adapters Called network interface cards (NICs) when installed in expansion slots Provide the computer with an interface to the network Usually take the form of an expansion card Can be integrated into the motherboard Network Interface Adapter Functions Data-link protocol implementation Data encapsulation Signal encoding and decoding Data transmission and reception Data buffering Serial/parallel conversion Media Access Control (MAC) NIC Purchasing Checklist Does the NIC use the correct data-link layer protocol? Does the NIC use the correct bus type? Does the NIC have the .
