January 2021
Beginner
565 pages
19h 27m
English
Content preview from Fundamentals of Communications and Networking, 3rd Edition
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
Start your free trial
Network Topology Overview
A computer network is how computers, servers, printers, and users share information and communicate with one another. The public Internet is a computer network allowing individuals to share information, send email, and communicate in real time via VoIP, instant message (IM chat), or store-and-forward messaging such as email. Networks interconnect network-attachable devices. A network-attachable device (sometimes simply known as a node) can physically connect to the network and has an assigned IP host address. The following are examples of network-attachable devices:
- Computers
- Printers
- Mobile devices and tablets
- Servers (application, web, email, network-attached storage, and so on)
- LAN switches
- Routers
Devices can ...