Cabling

My dad always tells me, " You must have cable if you'd like to succeed your career."


Cable Cable, what does that mean? XD


In terms of telecommunication and networking, cabling is a medium through which information usually moves from one network device to another.




Several types of cable are commonly used with LANS. But in some cases, a network utilizes only 1 type of cable.


There are 5 types of Cable:




1.Unshielded Twisted Pair ( UTP) 

- Wires are twisted.
- 4 pairs of wires
- each pair is twisted with a different number of twists per inch 
- eliminate interference from adjacent pairs and other electrical devices

Standard connector: an RJ-45 connector 




2.Shielded Twisted Pair ( STP )

- 2 individual wires wrapped in a foil shielding
- provide more reliable data communication
- suitable for environment with electrical interference
- the extra shielding might make the cable bulky
- Often used on networks like  Token Ring Topology




3. Coaxial Cabling

- has a single copper conductor at its center
- a plastic layer provides insulation between the center conductor and a braided
  metal field.
- The metal shields help to block outside interference


-Connector : BNC connector ( available for different types of adapters)




4. Fibre optics cable

-consists of a center glass core surrounded by several layers of protective materials

- transmits light rather than electronic signals eliminating the problem of electrical interference.

-ideal for certain environments that contain a large amount of electrical interference..

- able to transmit signals over much longer distances than coaxial and twisted pair.

 

Physical Topology

Find stationary written notes boring? Click this video ^^

My little reflection of the day: 

Today my classmates shared us the baby steps of creating a blog.Very interesting. And I realise that the particulars of a blog are much more complex than what I know superficially.

I think class presentation is very immportant as it clearly points out our ignorance. :)

The 4th lecture :)

Seriously, while I'm still feeling like it's just the beginning of the semester, there goes the mid-term test and here it comes the
4th official lecture !

Ya, time and tide wait for no man.

This week, we got to explore more about network topology in the class, which I had covered through my own readings on last 2 week's blog entry :)

View me :) Scroll down :) Network topology's here :)


Furthermore, we learnt about ATM.

It's not the ATM  ( Automated Teller Machine ) which we withdraw money from okay XD

It's ATM ( Asynchronous Transfer Mode ) which is a standard switching technique designed to unify telecommunications and computer networks.

 

ATM

- uses asynchronous time-division multiplexing
- encode data into small, fixed-size cells
-provides data link layer services
- has functional similarity with both circuit switched networking and small packet switched networking.
- uses a connection-oriented in which a virtual circuit must be established between two endpoints before the actual data exchange begins.


There are 2 common types of architecture.

1. Peer-to-peer

* every workstation has equivalent capabilities and responsibilities. (workstations are peers to each other XD )
* generally simpler
* usually do not offer the same performance under heavy loads.
 
2. Client-server

* each computer or process on the network is either a client or a server.
* Servers are powerful computers or processes dedicated to managing disk drives (file servers), printers (print servers), or network traffic (network servers )
* Clients are PCs or workstations on which users run applications. 
* Clients rely on servers for resources.

Sharing is caring ^^ Click to view ^^

It's someone's coursework and he's doing a comparison of Peer-to-Peer Networks and Client/Server networks.

What is protocol ?

- special set of rules that end points in a telecommunication connection use when they communicate.
- specifies interactions between the communicating entities.
- a set of rules that governs the communications between computers on a network. In order for two computers to talk to each other, they must be speaking the same language.

There are 4 major network protocols:

1. Ethernet

 * a family of computer networking technologies for local area networks (LANs) commercially introduced in 1980.
 * uses a bus or star topology and supports data transfer rates of 10   Mbps.
 * The Ethernet specification served as the basis for the IEEE 802.3 standard, which specifies the physical and lower software layers.

2. Token Ring

* is a local area network protocol which resides at the data link layer (DLL) of the OSI model.
* second most widely-used protocol on local area networks after Ethernet.
* uses a special three-byte frame called a token that travels around the ring.


3. LocalTalk

* is a particular implementation of the physical layer of the AppleTalk networking system from Apple Computer.
* specifies a system of shielded twisted pair cabling, plugged into self-terminating transceivers, running at a rate of 230.4 kbit/s.

4. FDDI

* Fiber Distributed Data Interface
* a set of ANSI and ISO standards for data transmission on fiber optic lines in a local area network (LAN) that can extend in range up to 200 km (124 miles).
* based on the token ring protocol.
* frequently used on the backbone for a wide area network (WAN)



My little reflection of the day :


The more I sail into this subject , the more I realise my innocence.

It truly comprises a lot of facilities and resources behind the convenience of every single technology we use nowadays. 

We should have appreciated the ones who work these all out while enjoying the speed of internet and the ease of communication.

We should have learnt more and more, as there isn't anything simply coming by itself, so do knowledge and progress :)