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An Explanation on What a LAN Is
When people ask, What is LAN, an easy explanation is the following, LAN is more commonly known as Local Area Network which connects groups of computers in a close proximity to each other. Such places can be an office, a school, a business and shop, pretty much anywhere. The smallest LAN available can connect 2 computers but a larger LAN can connect many if not thousands.
There are 2 kinds of LANs, either a wired connection or wireless. If you opt for a wired LAN, then each computer must be connected by an Ethernet cable which in turn connects all the computers to a main device which is called a switch. A wireless LAN does not need cable as it uses radio waves to communicate.
A wired LAN tends to be harder to install as it requires cables to be fitted, called Ethernet to the modem, switch or router. A wireless LAN is much easier and cheaper to install but the software that comes with the wireless is more in depth. It is possible that a wireless LAN may run slower than a wired LAN. This will be down to the wireless quality.
The great advantage of using LAN is that all computers connected can share everything. It makes it much easier to communicate around the office or workplace, share files, resources and share other equipment such as printers. It is possible to select which files and programmes can be shared by all the computers connected. This also means that many different computers can be connected to the internet without the use of so many connectors.
Having a LAN installed can also bring down the running costs, which is a great advantage to businesses. Sharing one central printer saves electricity for starters. Being able to communicate without leaving your work station is also a plus and this also helps to run a business more efficiently.
A great feature for those who like computer games is the LAN Party. Basically, this is where people get together in one place to play multi player games all connected to the same LAN. This can be done in your own home, where friends can bring their own computers to one central location and connect to the LAN to play games. Larger LAN parties need much more organizing and can go on for days.
LAN Messenger is like all the other familiar instant messaging systems but there are advantages to using LAN messenger. This type of messenger operates inside a private home or company and can not be accessed by outside influences and spammers, which means any information shared is private. Features that come with the LAN Messenger are like the usual messengers available, including file sharing, chat rooms and messages.
So in short, What is LAN, well, it is a great invention. It benefits both companies and the general public alike. Parents can control the access their children have to the internet. Business owners can help to run and operate their companies more smoothly and efficiently, this was much harder before this type of technology was invented. It made a huge difference to the gaming world as now; many friends can get together in one place to play games for multi players.
LAN - Local Area Network and Resources!
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Local area network
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A local area network (LAN) is a computer network covering a small geographic area, like a home, office, or group of buildings e.g. a school. The defining characteristics of LANs, in contrast to Wide Area Networks (WANs), include their much higher data transfer rates, smaller geographic range, and lack of a need for leased telecommunication lines.
Ethernet over unshielded twisted pair cabling, and Wi-Fi are the two most common technologies currently, but ARCNET, Token Ring and many others have been used in the past.
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History
The first LAN put into service occurred in 1964 at the Livermore Laboratory to support atomic weapons research. LANs spread to the public sector in the late 1970s and were used to create high-speed links between several large central computers at one site. Of many competing systems created at this time, Ethernet and ARCNET were the most popular.
The development and proliferation of CP/M and then DOS-based personal computers meant that a single site began to have dozens or even hundreds of computers. The initial attraction of networking these was generally to share disk space and laser printers, which were both very expensive at the time. There was much enthusiasm for the concept and for several years, from about 1983 onward, computer industry pundits would regularly declare the coming year to be “the year of the LAN”.
In reality, the concept was marred by proliferation of incompatiblephysical layer and network protocol implementations, and confusion over how best to share resources. Typically, each vendor would have its own type of network card, cabling, protocol, and network operating system. A solution appeared with the advent of Novell NetWare which provided even-handed support for the 40 or so competing card/cable types, and a much more sophisticated operating system than most of its competitors. Netware dominated[1] the personal computer LAN business from early after its introduction in 1983 until the mid 1990s when Microsoft introduced Windows NT Advanced Server and Windows for Workgroups.
Of the competitors to NetWare, only Banyan Vines had comparable technical strengths, but Banyan never gained a secure base. Microsoft and3Com worked together to create a simple network operating system which formed the base of 3Com's 3+Share, Microsoft's LAN Manager and IBM'sLAN Server. None of these were particularly successful.
In this same timeframe, Unix computer workstations from vendors such as Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, Silicon Graphics, Intergraph, NeXTand Apollo were using TCP/IP based networking. Although this market segment is now much reduced, the technologies developed in this area continue to be influential on the Internet and in both Linux and Apple Mac OS X networking—and the TCP/IP protocol has now almost completely replaced IPX, AppleTalk, NBF and other protocols used by the early PC LANs.
Technical aspects
Although switched Ethernet is now the most common data link layer protocol and IP as a network layer protocol, many different options have been used, and some continue to be popular in niche areas. Smaller LANs generally consist of a one or more switches linked to each other - often with one connected to a router, cable modem, or DSL modem for Internetaccess.
Larger LANs are characterized by their use of redundant links with switches using the spanning tree protocol to prevent loops, their ability to manage differing traffic types via quality of service, and to segregate traffic via VLANing.
LANs may have connections with other LANs via leased lines, leased services, or by 'tunneling' across the Internet using VPN technologies.
See also
- Computer network - general overview
- Ethernet physical layer
- Network card
- Wide area network
- Metropolitan area network
- LAN Party
References
External links
- IEEE: The working group setting LAN standards
- Setting up a network using Linux
- Building a local area network
- Local Area Networks for K-12 Schools - From the ERIC Clearinghouse on Information and Technology.
- LAN design
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