A computer network is a collection of computers or devices connected to share resources. Any device which can share or receive the data is called a Node. Through which the information or data propagate is known as channels, It can be guided or unguided.
In this Computer network tutorial, you’ll learn basic to advanced concepts like the Basics of computer networks, data link layer, network layer, network security and cryptography, compression techniques, etc.
Recent Articles on Computer Networks
Basics :
- Basics of Computer Networking
- The Internet and the Web
- Internet and Web programming: Behind the scenes
- The New Internet | Internet of Everything
- Unknown facts of Networking
- Network goals
- Line Configuration in Computer Networks
- Transmission Modes in Computer Networks
- Types of Transmission Media
- Unicast, Broadcast and Multicast
- Introduction to basic Networking terminology
- Network Topologies
- Types of area networks – LAN, MAN and WAN
- Telecom Networks
- Access networks
- TCP/IP Model
- Layers of OSI Model
- Introduction to Active Directory Domain Service
- Advantages and Disadvantages of Computer Networking
Data Link Layer :
- Local Area Network (LAN) Technologies.
- Computer Network | Bridges (local Internetworking device)
- Internetworking
- Framing In Data Link Layer
- Introduction of MAC Address
- MAC Filtering
- Multiple Access Protocols
- Ethernet Frame Format
- EtherChannel
- Difference between Byte stuffing and Bit stuffing
- Implementing Byte stuffing using Java
- Circuit Switching
- Packet Switching and Delays
- Circuit Switching VS Packet Switching
- Differences between Virtual Circuits & Datagram Networks
- Switching techniques: Message switching
- Types of switches
- Maximum data rate (channel capacity) for noiseless and noisy channels
- Hot Spot 2.0
- Collision Avoidance in wireless networks
- Traditional wireless mobile communication
- Carrier sense multiple access (CSMA)
- Collision Detection in CSMA/CD
- Efficiency of CSMA/CD
- Back-off Algorithm for CSMA/CD
- Controlled Access Protocols
- Virtual LAN (VLAN)
- Inter VLAN Routing by Layer 3 Switch
- Computer Network | Private VLAN
- Computer Network | VLAN ACL (VACL)
- Access and trunk ports
- Role-based access control
- Port security
- Inter-Switch Link (ISL) and IEEE 802.1Q
- Dynamic Trunking Protocol (DTP)
- Sliding Window Protocol | Set 1 (Sender Side)
- Sliding Window Protocol | Set 2 (Receiver Side)
- Sliding Window Protocol | Set 3 (Selective Repeat)
- Sliding Window protocols Summary
- Stop and Wait ARQ
- Difference between Stop and Wait, GoBackN and Selective Repeat
- Manchester Encoding
- Error Detection
- Hamming Code
- Program to remotely Power On a PC over the Internet using the Wake-on-LAN protocol.
- Basics of Wi-Fi
- IEEE 802.11 Mac Frame
- Efficiency Of Token Ring
- Token Bus (IEEE 802.4)
- Multiplexing (Channel Sharing)
- Frequency division and Time division multiplexing
Network Layer :
- Integrated services digital network (ISDN)
- Introduction and IPv4 Datagram Header
- IP Addressing | Introduction and Classful Addressing
- IP Addressing | Classless Addressing
- IPv4 classless Subnet equation
- Supernetting
- Ipv4 Datagram Fragmentation and Delays
- Fragmentation at Network Layer
- Internet Protocol v6 | IPv6
- Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) Header
- Differences between IPv4 and IPv6
- Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP)
- Longest Prefix Matching in Routers
- Routing v/s Routed Protocols
- Fixed and Flooding Routing algorithms
- Classes of routing protocols
- Types of routing
- Classification of Routing Algorithms
- Routing Protocols Set 1 (Distance Vector Routing)
- Route Poisoning and Count to infinity problem
- Redundant link problems
- Administrative Distance (AD) and Autonomous System (AS)
- Unicast Routing – Link State Routing
- Link state advertisement (LSA)
- Securing Routing Protocols
- Distance vector routing v/s Link state routing
- Routing Information Protocol (RIP)
- Routing Interface Protocol (RIP) V1 & V2
- Redistribution
- EIGRP fundamentals
- EIGRP Configuration
- Features of Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP)
- EIGRP cost calculation
- Open shortest path first (OSPF) protocol fundamentals
- Open shortest path first (OSPF) router roles and configuration
- Open shortest path first (OSPF) protocol States
- Open shortest path first (OSPF) – Set 2
- Probabilistic shortest path routing algorithm for optical networks
- Types of Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)
- Network address translation (NAT)
- Types of Network address translation (NAT)
- Static NAT (on ASA)
- Dynamic NAT (on ASA)
- VRRP(Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol) | Introduction and configuration
- Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP)
- Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP) and Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP)
- Router on a stick | Introduction and Configuration
- Traceroute
- What’s difference between Ping and Traceroute?
- ARP, Reverse ARP(RARP), Inverse ARP(InARP), Proxy ARP and Gratuitous ARP
- How ARP works?
- Packet flow in the same network
- Packet flow in different network
- Wifi protected access (WPA)
- Wifi protected setup (WPS)
- LiFi vs. WiFi
- Service Set Identifier (SSID)
- Access-lists (ACL)
- Context based access control (CBAC)
- Standard Access-list
- Extended access-list
- Reflexive Access-list
- Time based access-list
- AAA (Authentication, Authorization and Accounting)
- AAA (authentication) configuration (locally)
- Challenge Response Authentication Mechanism (CRAM)
- Synchronous Optical Network (SONET)
- RADIUS
- TACACS+
- TACACS+ and RADIUS
Transport Layer :
- TCP Connection Establishment
- TCP 3-Way Handshake Process
- TCP Timers
- TCP Connection Termination
- TCP Sequence Number | Wrap Around Concept
- Transport Layer responsibilities
- Multiplexing and Demultiplexing in Transport Layer
- User Datagram Protocol (UDP)
- P2P(Peer To Peer) File Sharing
- Congestion Control
- TCP Congestion Control
- Congestion control techniques
- Leaky Bucket Algorithm
- Error Control in TCP
- TCP flags
- TCP | Services and Segment structure
- TCP Server-Client implementation in C
- TCP and UDP server using select
- Servers
Application Layer :
- Protocols in Application Layer
- Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)
- DNS (Domain Name Server)
- Why does DNS use UDP and not TCP?
- Address Resolution in DNS
- DNS Spoofing or DNS Cache poisoning
- Types of DNS Attacks and Tactics for Security
- What’s difference between http:// and https:// ?
- What’s difference between HTML and HTTP ?
- HTTP Non-Persistent & Persistent Connection | Set 1
- File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
- What are the differences between HTTP, FTP, and SMTP?
- Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)
- What is Local Host?
- Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)
- DHCP Relay Agent
- How DHCP server dynamically assigns IP address to a host?
- What’s difference between The Internet and The Web ?
- Simple network management protocol (SNMP)
- Multipurpose Internet mail extension (MIME)
- Computer Network | MIME Media Types
- Quality of Service and Multimedia
- Web Caching and the Conditional GET Statements
Network Security and Cryptography :
- The CIA triad
- Introduction to Firewall
- Types of firewall and possible attacks
- Firewall methodologies
- Zone-based firewall
- Zone-based firewall (Configuration)
- How to setup firewall in Linux?
- Message Authentication Codes
- How message authentication code works?
- HMAC Algorithm
- Password authentication protocol (PAP)
- Basic Network Attacks
- Birthday attack
- Vishing (Voice Phishing)
- System security
- Private Browsing
- Threat Modelling
- DFD Based Threat modelling | Set 1
- DFD Based Threat Modelling | Set 2
- Types of Viruses
- Deniel of Service and Prevention
- Denial of Service DDoS attack
- Unicode
- RC4 Encryption Algorithm
- RSA Algorithm in Cryptography
- RSA Algorithm using Multiple Precision Arithmetic Library
- Weak RSA decryption with Chinese-remainder theorem
- How to solve RSA Algorithm Problems?
- Hash Functions in System Security
- DNA Cryptography
- RC5 Encryption Algorithm
- ElGamal Encryption Algorithm
- Caesar Cipher
- Cryptography Introduction
- Cryptography | Traditional Symmetric Ciphers
- Block cipher modes of operation
- Cryptography | Development of Cryptography
- Difference between AES and DES ciphers
- Transforming a Plain Text message to Cipher Text
- What is a cryptocurrency?
- Introduction to Crypto-terminologies
- Quantum Cryptography
- End to End Encryption (E2EE) in Computer Networks
- IP security (IPSec)
- What is Packet Sniffing ?
- Introduction to Sniffers
- Data encryption standard (DES) | Set 1
- End to End Encryption (E2EE) in Computer Network
- Types of Security attacks | Active and Passive attacks
- Types of Wireless and Mobile Device Attacks
- Types of Email Attacks
- Sybil Attack
- Malware and its types
Compression Techniques :
Network Experiments :
- Let’s experiment with Networking
- Mobile Ad hoc Network
- Types of MANET
- Simple Chat Room using Python
- Socket Programming in Java
- C Program to find IP Address, Subnet Mask & Default Gateway
- Introduction to variable length subnet mask (VLSM)
- Extracting MAC address using Python
- Implementation of Diffie-Hellman Algorithm
- Java Implementation of Deffi-Hellman Algorithm between Client and Server
- Socket Programming in Python
- Socket Programming with Multi-threading in Python
- Cyclic Redundancy Check in Python
- Explicitly assigning port number to client in Socket
- Netstat command in Linux:
- nslookup command in Linux with Examples
- UDP Server-Client implementation in C
- C program for file Transfer using UDP
- Java program to find IP address of your computer
- Finding IP address of a URL in Java
- Program to calculate the Round Trip Time (RTT)
- Network configuration and trouble shooting commands in Linux
- Implementing Checksum Using Java
- C Program to display hostname and IP address
- Program to determine class, Network and Host ID of an IPv4 address
- Program to determine Class, Broadcast address and Network address of an IPv4 address
- Program for IP forwarding table lookup
- Wi-Fi Password of All Connected Networks in Windows/Linux
Devices :
Misc :
- Onion Routing
- Types of Server Virtualization
- Cloud Computing | Characteristics of Virtualization
- On-premises cost estimates of Virtualization
- Hardware Based Virtualization
- Operating system based Virtualization
- Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)
- Image Steganography
- Network Neutrality
- Basics of NS2 and Otcl/tcl script
- Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
- Cisco router modes
- Cisco router basic commands
- Backing up Cisco IOS router image
- Basic configuration of adaptive security appliance (ASA)
- Adaptive security appliance (ASA) features
- Default flow of traffic (ASA)
- Cisco ASA Redistribution example
- Telnet and SSH on Adaptive security appliance (ASA)
- Near Field Communication (NFC)
- Relabel-to-front Algorithm
- Berkeley’s Algorithm
- Cristian’s Algorithm
- Universal Serial Bus (USB) in Computer Network
- Type-C Port in Computer Network
FAQs on Computer Networks
Q.1 What are the types of computer network?
Answer:
- PAN(Personal Area Network): It is the network connecting computer devices for personal use within a range of 10 meters.
- LAN(Local Area Network): It is a collection of computers connected to each other in a small area for example school, office, or building.
- WAN(Wide Area Network): A Wide Area Network is a large area than the LAN. It is spread across the states or countries.
- MAN(Metropolitan Area Network): A Metropolitan area network is the collection of interconnected Local Area Networks.
Q.2 What are link and node?
Answer:
A link is a connection between two or more computers. Link can be wired or wireless between two nodes. A node is refer to any device in a network like computers, laptops, printers, servers, modems, etc.
Q.3 What is the network topology?
Answer:
Network topology is the physical design of the network, It represents the connectivity between the devices, cables, computers, etc.
Q.4 What are different types of network topology?
Answer:
There are different types of topology are given below:
- Bus Topology
- Star Topology
- Ring Topology
- Mesh Topology
- Tree Topology
- Hybrid