Network Types - N10-008 CompTIA Network+ : 1.2

Summary

This script explores various network types, emphasizing the differences between peer-to-peer and client-server models. It covers local area networks (LAN), including wireless (WLAN), and expands to metropolitan (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). The script also touches on personal area networks (PAN), campus area networks (CAN), and the evolution of WAN technologies like MPLS and SDWAN. It highlights the shift from traditional data centers to cloud-based services and the role of SDWAN in optimizing network efficiency for direct cloud access.

Takeaways

• 🌐 **Peer-to-Peer Networks**: Devices act as both servers and clients, facilitating direct communication without a central server.
• 🛠️ **P2P Challenges**: Peer-to-peer networks are difficult to administer and secure due to their distributed nature.
• 💼 **Client-Server Model**: Offers centralized control and easier administration, but requires additional hardware and maintenance.
• 🏢 **Local Area Networks (LAN)**: Fast and local, typically within a single building, using technologies like 802.11 and Ethernet.
• 🌆 **Metropolitan Area Networks (MAN)**: Larger than LANs, covering a citywide area, often provided by third parties.
• 🌏 **Wide Area Networks (WAN)**: Span larger distances, often slower than LANs, and can use technologies like MPLS or satellite communication.
• 📡 **Wireless LANs (WLAN)**: Local and limited geographically, often using 802.11 networks, but can be extended with access points.
• 🎧 **Personal Area Networks (PAN)**: Smallest networks for personal use, typically using Bluetooth for connections.
• 🏫 **Campus Area Networks (CAN)**: Connect multiple buildings within a campus, often using private LAN technology.
• 💾 **Network Attached Storage (NAS)**: Provides file-level access to data stored in a central location.
• 🔄 **Storage Area Networks (SAN)**: Allows block-level access to data, offering faster and more efficient data management compared to NAS.

Q & A

What is a peer-to-peer network?

A peer-to-peer network is a distributed network where each device acts as both a server and a client, communicating directly with each other to share resources and data without the need for a centralized server.

What are the advantages of using a peer-to-peer network?

Peer-to-peer networks are easy to deploy since they don't require a dedicated server, and they have low implementation costs as they utilize existing systems. They also allow for direct communication among devices.

What is a significant disadvantage of peer-to-peer networks?

A significant disadvantage of peer-to-peer networks is the difficulty in administration and ensuring security due to the distributed nature of the application and authentication processes.

How does client-server communication differ from peer-to-peer networks?

In client-server communication, there is a clear separation of responsibilities where individual clients communicate with a centralized server, which manages and maintains the connection and data access. This setup allows for easier administration and performance management.

What is a local area network (LAN) and what are its characteristics?

A local area network (LAN) is a network confined to a relatively small area such as a building or a single floor, characterized by high-speed data transfer using technologies like 802.11 wireless networks and Ethernet.

What is a metropolitan area network (MAN) and how does it differ from a LAN?

A metropolitan area network (MAN) is a larger network that covers an entire city or a large part of it, often provided by a third-party provider. It differs from a LAN by covering a much larger geographical area and typically serving multiple organizations or government entities.

What is a wide area network (WAN) and how does it compare to LANs in terms of speed?

A wide area network (WAN) is a network that covers a broad area and often includes the internet. Compared to LANs, WANs tend to have slower throughput because they cover larger distances and may use various transmission media.

What is a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN)?

A Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) is a LAN that uses wireless communication to connect devices within a limited geographical area, typically employing 802.11 standards.

What is a Personal Area Network (PAN) and what technologies are commonly used in it?

A Personal Area Network (PAN) is a computer network used for communication among computer and other devices that are in close proximity to a person, typically within 10 meters. Technologies like Bluetooth are commonly used in PANs.

What is a Campus Area Network (CAN) and how does it function?

A Campus Area Network (CAN) is a network that covers multiple buildings within a limited area, such as a university or corporate campus. It allows high-speed communication between buildings, often using local area network technologies.

What is Network Attached Storage (NAS) and how does it differ from Storage Area Networks (SAN)?

Network Attached Storage (NAS) is a dedicated file-level storage device that allows multiple users and systems to store and access data. It differs from Storage Area Networks (SAN) in that NAS provides file-level access, whereas SANs offer block-level access, allowing more efficient data management and transfer.

What is Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) and how does it improve WAN communication?

Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a WAN communication protocol that uses labels to route and forward traffic efficiently. It allows for the use of various types of connections and data, making it flexible and efficient for data transfer across a wide area network.

What is Software Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) and how does it benefit cloud-based applications?

Software Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) is a WAN architecture that uses software to manage and define how network traffic is routed. It is particularly beneficial for cloud-based applications as it allows direct communication with cloud resources, bypassing the need to go through a central data center, thus improving efficiency and access speed.

Outlines

00:00

🌐 Peer-to-Peer and Client-Server Networks

The script discusses the concepts of peer-to-peer and client-server networks. In a peer-to-peer network, every device acts as both a server and a client, facilitating direct communication between devices without the need for a central server. This setup is cost-effective and easy to deploy but challenging to manage due to its distributed nature. On the other hand, client-server networks feature a centralized server that clients communicate with, offering better performance, easier administration, and security. However, they require additional hardware and maintenance costs.

05:02

🏢 Types of Networks Based on Geographical Scope

This paragraph covers various types of networks based on their geographical scope. Local Area Networks (LAN) are confined to a single building and offer high-speed connectivity through technologies like 802.11 wireless and Ethernet. Metropolitan Area Networks (MAN) span larger areas like a city and often require third-party providers. Wide Area Networks (WAN) cover even broader areas and are typically slower due to the increased distances involved. Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) are a type of LAN that uses 802.11 networks for wireless connectivity within a limited area. Personal Area Networks (PAN) are used for personal connections like Bluetooth devices. Campus Area Networks (CAN) connect multiple buildings within a campus using high-speed Ethernet.

10:02

🔄 Network Storage Solutions and Evolution of WAN Technologies

The script explains network storage solutions like Network Attached Storage (NAS) and Storage Area Networks (SAN). NAS devices provide file-level access to data stored on multiple drives, while SAN allows for block-level changes, offering faster and more efficient data access. The paragraph also discusses the evolution of Wide Area Network (WAN) technologies, including MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching), which uses label switching to route traffic efficiently. It also touches on dynamic WAN connections using MGRE for dynamic multipoint VPNs (DMVPN), which create connections only when necessary for efficiency. Lastly, it introduces SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network), which allows for more direct and efficient routing to cloud-based services, bypassing the need for a central data center.

Keywords

💡Peer-to-peer network

A peer-to-peer network is a distributed network where each computer has equal capabilities and responsibilities. In this type of network, there is no centralized server, and each device acts as both a client and a server. This concept is central to the video's theme of explaining different network architectures. The script mentions that peer-to-peer networks are easy to deploy since you just install the application on each computer, and they all communicate with each other without the need for a central server.

💡Client-server communication

Client-server communication is a model where the client, typically a user's computer, requests data or services from a server, which is a powerful computer or system that manages network resources. This model is contrasted with peer-to-peer networks in the video to highlight the differences in administration and security. The script explains that in client-server communication, all clients access data through a central server, which allows for better performance and easier administration.

💡Local Area Network (LAN)

A Local Area Network (LAN) is a network that connects devices within a limited area such as a home, school, or office building. LANs are characterized by high-speed data transfer and are typically used for communication within a single building or campus. The video discusses LANs in the context of fast throughput and the use of technologies like 802.11 wireless networks and Ethernet for connectivity.

💡Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)

A Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) is a large computer network that usually spans a city or a large group of buildings. MANs are used to connect LANs in different locations within the same city or metropolitan area. The script mentions MANs as a solution for organizations spread across different parts of a city, often provided by third-party providers.

💡Wide Area Network (WAN)

A Wide Area Network (WAN) is a network that covers a broad area and commonly refers to internet connections. WANs are characterized by slower speeds compared to LANs due to the larger distances involved. The video describes WANs as networks that can use technologies like MPLS or point-to-point serial connections to connect over large distances.

💡Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN)

A Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) is a LAN that uses wireless communication to connect devices within a limited area. WLANs are typically based on 802.11 standards and are used in homes, offices, and public spaces. The video script refers to WLANs when discussing how buildings can maintain connectivity while users move around within the building.

💡Personal Area Network (PAN)

A Personal Area Network (PAN) is a computer network used for communication among computer and other devices covering a small area around an individual person. PANs are often created using Bluetooth technology for devices like headsets, keyboards, and speakers. The video script includes PANs in the discussion of how personal devices can connect within close proximity.

💡Campus Area Network (CAN)

A Campus Area Network (CAN) is a computer network made up of multiple LANs within a limited area such as a university campus. CANs are designed to provide high-speed connectivity between multiple buildings. The video script uses CANs as an example of a network that connects multiple buildings on a single campus, often using conduits and fiber connections.

💡Network Attached Storage (NAS)

Network Attached Storage (NAS) is a dedicated file-level storage device that allows multiple users and computers to retrieve data from a centralized location. NAS is typically used for storing large amounts of data that can be accessed at the file level. The video script discusses NAS in the context of central data storage and how it differs from Storage Area Networks (SANs) in terms of data access and management.

💡Storage Area Network (SAN)

A Storage Area Network (SAN) is a high-speed network that provides access to consolidated block-level data storage. SANs are primarily used in data centers and are designed to connect storage devices with servers. The video script contrasts SANs with NAS, emphasizing the block-level access and the efficiency of data transfer in SANs.

💡Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS)

Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a protocol-independent routing method designed to speed up and shape network traffic flows across a packet-switched network. MPLS is discussed in the video as a technology that allows for smarter communication through WANs by using labels to route and forward traffic, making it easier to manage and transfer data across different locations.

Highlights

Peer-to-peer networks eliminate the need for a central server, as every device acts as both a server and a client.

P2P networks are cost-effective as they utilize existing systems without the need for additional servers.

The main disadvantage of P2P is the difficulty in administration and ensuring security due to its distributed nature.

Client-server communication offers a centralized server for data access, simplifying administration and improving performance.

Client-server architecture requires additional hardware and software, increasing costs and complexity.

Local Area Networks (LANs) are typically fast and confined to a single building or floor.

Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) are larger than LANs and usually provided by third-party providers.

Governments often use MANs due to their geographical dispersion and ability to deploy fiber optic networks.

Wide Area Networks (WANs) cover larger distances and tend to have slower throughput compared to LANs.

WLANs are specialized LANs that operate wirelessly, typically using 802.11 networks.

Personal Area Networks (PANs) connect personal devices over short distances, often using Bluetooth.

Campus Area Networks (CANs) connect multiple buildings within a campus using private LAN technology.

Network Attached Storage (NAS) allows file-level access to data stored in a central location.

Storage Area Networks (SANs) provide block-level access to data, offering faster and more efficient data handling.

MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) is a WAN technology that uses labels for efficient routing and forwarding of traffic.

MPLS allows for flexible data transfer across various types of connections and encapsulates different data types.

Dynamic multipoint VPNs (DMVPNs) create temporary network connections on-demand, reducing unnecessary network usage.

SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) allows for dynamic network configuration based on cloud-based applications.

SD-WAN enables direct access to cloud resources, bypassing the need to route through a central data center.

Transcripts

With a peer-to-peer network, there's

not a server or a client.

Instead, every device is a server and a client,

so everyone is communicating to each other

to be able to gain access to the data that they might need.

This is a very easy way to deploy an application,

because you simply install it on everyone's computer,

and they all talk amongst each other

to be able to use that particular app.

You don't need an additional server.

You don't have to purchase and maintain that server operating

system.

Everything runs on everyone's existing systems,

so the cost is relatively low to implement.

One of the significant disadvantages of peer-to-peer,

however, is that it's very difficult to administer

this type of system.

The entire application is distributed.

All of the authentication process is also distributed,

so it's very difficult to be sure

that a peer-to-peer application will remain secure.

With client-server communication,

the responsibilities are split.

You have individual clients, and then

you have a centralized server, and when

clients need to access data, everyone

will access the same server.

As you can see by this diagram, clients

are not communicating to each other

directly, or even through the server.

All the clients talk to the server,

and the server talks to the clients.

This gives you very good performance,

because you have a direct connection to the server

that you can manage and maintain.

This also allows for easy administration,

because you can configure the application

and the authentication for that app at the central point

where the server is.

As you can tell with this diagram,

though, there's additional hardware and software

that you'll need.

You'll need a server, and you'll need somewhere

to store it and maintain it, and that has an additional cost

associated with it.

This also adds a bit of complexity,

because you have a centralized server that

needs to be administered.

That's something you don't have on a peer-to-peer system.

If you're working inside of an office,

or you're working from home, that network

that's in your office or in your home is a local area network.

It's local because the network that you're using

is usually within the same building

that you happen to be in.

This could also be the network that's

within a single building, for example,

between different floors.

That is a local area network, because all of those resources

are local to us in that building.

Generally speaking, a local area network

will have a relatively fast throughput.

We're using 802.11 wireless networks and ethernet

connectivity to be able to have high-speed communication.

If you find that you're using slower connections,

or it's a link that doesn't run at these higher speeds,

then you're probably not communicating

over a local area network.

Many companies will have buildings or parts

of their organization that are located

in different parts of a city to be able to communicate

to those buildings, we need to use a metropolitan area

network, or a MAN.

This is obviously a much larger network than something

that's in our single building, and it's usually expanding out

to a large, citywide area.

Usually, you're working with a third-party provider in that

city to provide this service.

Occasionally, you'll see this referred

to as metro ethernet for this metropolitan area network.

It's very common to see governments

use metropolitan area networks, because they're obviously

very geographically dispersed throughout the metropolitan

area, and they have right of way, so it's very easy for them

to put fiber in the ground and connect up

all of their remote locations.

If you're going outside the scope of a metropolitan area

network and communicating over a much larger distance,

then you're probably using a wide area network, or a WAN.

One characteristic that tends to be very common when you start

expanding the distance of these networks

is that the networks tend to become a little slower

in their throughput.

So wide area networks generally don't

run at the same speeds as a local area network

that you might have in your building.

If you're connecting over an MPLS

network or point-to-point serial WAN connection,

then you're almost certainly communicating over a wide area

network.

These can be links that are connecting us

with fiber that's in the ground, but we could also

use satellite communication, which is certainly a wide area

network, and those nonterrestrial links

would allow us to connect locations

that may be very far away.

A specialized type of local area network

is one that is wireless.

This is the WLAN, or Wireless Local Area Network,

and usually these are 802.11 networks.

If you're within a building and you're

walking from one side of the building to another

and you're connected to your local network,

then you're probably connecting over one

of these wireless LANs.

This is one that does have a limited geographical area.

When you leave your building, you're

probably not going to be able to communicate

to this WLAN because of the short distances associated

with 802.11.

But if you're in a larger area, there

are ways to extend this distance using multiple access points.

So you could be in an entire downtown area

or in multiple buildings and still maintain connectivity

to that wireless LAN.

If you have a Bluetooth headset, you're

connecting to your computer with a Bluetooth keyboard,

or using some other type of personal connection between you

and the devices you use, then you're using a personal area

network, or a PAN.

If you're in your car and you connect

to a speaker and a microphone or you play audio

through your phone to the audio system of the car,

then you're using a Bluetooth-based personal area

network.

We also consider that Bluetooth connection

to a wireless headset to be a personal area network.

And if you're using some newer workout equipment at your gym,

you'll find that is connecting to your mobile phone

using this personal area network.

There's a middle ground between a local area network

in a building and a metropolitan area network

that might connect us to a site that is many miles away.

We could have multiple buildings within our local area

on a single campus.

You certainly would see this with schools and universities,

but this could also be the same for large organizations

that may span multiple buildings in a particular area.

This is a campus area network, or a CAN,

and it's very common to have these buildings connected

with conduit, making it very easy

to pull fiber from one building to another

and connect all of your users to each other.

We would usually run some type of local area network

technology so we would have high-speed ethernet between all

of these buildings, so that we're

able to communicate as if we were sitting

all in the same building.

This is usually a connection that's made on private LAN.

You've put your own conduit into the ground,

you've run your own fiber connection,

so usually there's not a third party

that needs to be involved.

There wouldn't be a monthly payment to an internet service

provider because you're the one that has built the conduit,

you've run your own fiber, and you don't

have to involve a third party.

One of the reasons for adding all of these connections,

especially on local and wide area networks

is so that users can have access to their data

usually this data is located in a central location

and we're usually storing it on something

like a network attached storage device, or a NAS.

This NAS contains multiple drives

and is able to store large amounts of data

in this one single area.

A network attached storage is usually

a device where you can access these files at the file level.

File-level access means that any changes you make to this file

have to be done to the entire file that's

located on this device.

This means if you have a file that's a gigabyte in size,

and you just need to change one byte within that file,

you have to overwrite the entire gigabyte,

because you're using a network attached storage.

If you just wanted to change that single block of data that

contained that information, then you

would want to use a storage area network, or a SAN.

To your computer, a SAN looks and feels

a lot like the local drive that's on your system.

So being able to make block-level changes

to this information can be done very quickly and very

efficiently when compared to something like a network

attached storage device.

Whether you're using a NAS or a SAN,

you're probably going to be sending and receiving

a lot of data to these devices.

For that reason, you would probably

have a dedicated network for the storage area networks

or network attached storage devices,

and you would probably connect these with the fastest network

possible.

Through the years, we've had a number of different wide area

network technologies.

We had frame relay and ATM, and as our needs changed

and the way we use these networks changed,

we needed a smarter way to communicate.

So we created MPLS, Multiprotocol Label Switching.

This is communication through the WAN,

but it uses labels to be able to determine

how we route and forward that traffic through the WAN.

One advantage of MPLS is that we can

use almost any type of connection for MPLS

and we can put almost any type of data inside of an MPLS

network.

This means that we could send IP traffic, ethernet frames,

or any other type of data we'd like through the MPLS network.

This makes MPLS relatively easy to get up and running

and have all of our data transferred

between two locations.

With IP routing, we're always concerned

about the IP subnetting and the next hop

that we're going to use.

But with MPLS, we make forwarding decisions

based on the label switching.

This label switching is something

that's added when we put information

into the MPLS network.

If we have data and we have information

on one side of the network, and we

would like that data to get to the other side of the MPLS

network, we send that data into the first provider edge

router that's closest to us.

That edge router is going to insert a label into this data.

We call that pushing the label onto the data.

It's going to then know how to forward

that traffic through the internals of the provider

switch network, and when this data reaches

the other side that label is popped off

of this communication.

And the remaining data is sent to the customer edge router.

With MPLS, we have to create an initial configuration that

defines where all of the different sites may be located

and what labels may be used to switch data to those locations.

Other types of wide area networks

could create network connections dynamically,

so that you're only connecting to those sites

when you need to.

This commonly uses MGRE, which is Multipoint Generic Router

Encapsulation, and you'll usually see networks

like a dynamic multipoint VPN, or DMVPN,

used to send data across one of these MGRE networks.

What's nice about these dynamic connections

is they're only created when they're needed,

and they're torn down when you don't have any information

that you need to send.

If you have a break in any of the connections,

the VPN can even rebuild itself to be

able to communicate between all of these different sites.

All of this is considered to be a dynamic mesh because you're

able to send data to whatever site

you would like based on where that data needs to go.

Normally, you would have a main office,

and you would have remote sites that

would connect to the main office over single links.

And if you needed to communicate between remote sites,

that remote site would have to first communicate

to the main office, and then the main office

would have to communicate down to that destination site.

With a dynamic multipoint VPN, you

can have these two sites recognize

that they want to communicate to each other,

they create their own link between the communication,

and when that link is no longer needed, it's disconnected.

If this site needs now to connect

to a different remote site, it can then

create a separate dynamic link to that site,

and of course you can have that site create

a dynamic link as needed.

All of these dynamic multipoint links

mean that you have a more efficient network.

You're only using connectivity when you have to have it,

and if you do need to send information between two

remote sites, you can send that data directly rather than

hopping through a main office.

A newer type of wide area network

is an SD wide area network, or SDWAN.

The SD stands for Software Defined, which

means that our wide area network can be defined however

we would like to lay it out.

This is especially useful if you have cloud-based applications

and you need the network to understand where data needs

to go at any particular time.

We used to have a data center that

was located in one central building,

and we simply connected all of our remote sites

to that one data center.

Now that we have cloud based applications,

we need to communicate to the cloud.

And instead of having to hop through this data center

to be able to access those cloud-based resources,

we can have the wide area network recognize

that we need to communicate directly to those resources

rather than sending all of that data

through one central data center.

Here's our wide area networks before we

had cloud-based services and before we had software

defined wide area networks.

We had our data center.

Inside of our data center were all

of our services, our email servers, our database servers,

and all of our other data.

All of these remote sites would need

to connect to the data center to be able to gain access

to those resources.

With cloud-based services, we've taken our email services,

we've moved them to the cloud.

All of our servers are now at a cloud provider,

and we might have our databases inside yet another cloud

provider.

Instead of having all these remote sites then

communicate to this central data center, and then hop

to all of these cloud-based services,

we could have our wide area network automatically

know where to send the data based on the type of data

that it is.

So if a remote site needs to access

data that's in a cloud database, they

can access that information directly from the cloud.

If another site needs to grab an email message that's

located in a cloud-based email service,

they can communicate directly to that email service instead

of hopping through a central data center.

The determination of how this data is routed

is in the wide area network itself.

That software defined aspect of the SDWAN

determines how data is rooted and sent

based on the type of services that are required.

This makes for a much more efficient network.

This allows us to have instant access

to our cloud-based resources instead

of having to hop through a central point

or build out a separate network to gain access

to those resources.