Local area network

In the world of “computer-technology” the term network means: 2 or more computers which are connected with each other and sharing a resource (printer, share, applications or a combination). A local area network is just one specific type of network (other for instance: WAN or MAN). A important thing to know is that a Local Area Network (also known as LAN) is commonly confined to just one building, or just one office in a building. However, a LAN is restricted to one area.

An office may have an LAN. The nodes(clients) connected to this network now have some interesting shared functionality’s. They may share the same printer,or all the nodes are using the same file server. What about an LAN party where a bunch of people are playing the same game against each other in the same area. An LAN is flexible and can be used for many different purposes.

A term often used with LAN is “Ethernet” (IEEE 802.3). Ethernet is an popular and often used network-specification. Ethernet uses the CSMA/CD (Carries Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection) method. This method allows one workstation at the time to send data(frames) over the network. If two or more workstations triggering data at the same time it leads to an conflict(or collision). At this moment the workstations will stop sending data and wait for a specific amount of time before they try it again. All the stations are listening to the network, and if the network is free (no other station is transferring data), the station can begin with transmitting data over the network.

Nowadays a bandwidth of 100 Mbps is commonly used in a local area network, while 1 Gbps connections are winning ground and 10 Gbps are not strange anymore but only often used in newer implementations.

Simple LAN setup

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