How to Create LAN Fillup 6 Requirement Components

A Local Area Networks connects computers together to exchange data. Apart from the computers, and other devices like printers and faxes, a LAN has to have six essential components to function.

Network Adapter

A computer needs a network adapter to connect to a network. It converts computer data into electronic signals. It listens for silence on the network cable and applies the data to it when it has an opportunity. The network access element of its job is called Media Access Control, or MAC. The physical address of every computer on a network is called its MAC address. The MAC address is the network adapter's serial number. Most computers are shipped with the network adapter integrated into the motherboard. However, early PCs didn't include this function and computer owners had to buy it separately and fit it into an expansion slot on the motherboard. These were called "network cards" because they were sold on a separate card. Although network adapters are now integrated, the name network card is still used. The wireless equivalent is called a Wireless Network Interface Controller.

Network Medium

Wired networks need cable. The most common form of

cable used in networks is called the "Unshielded Twisted Pair." In PC shops, it is generally just referred to as "network cable" or "Ethernet cable." Ethernet is the most widely implemented set of standards for the physical properties

of networks. UTP is so closely identified with Ethernet that it is often given that name. Other cable types used for networks are twin-axial, Shielded Twisted Pair and single-mode and multi-mode fiber optic cable. Wireless networks don't need cable; they send data on radio waves generated by the WNIC.

Cable Connectors

In wired networks, the most common form of connector is the RJ45. Every computer with networking capabilities has an RJ45 port. This is sometimes called a "network port" or an "Ethernet port." The RJ45 plug looks like a slightly larger telephone plug and connects the Unshielded Twisted Pair or the Shielded Twisted Pair cable.

Power Supply

Both wired and wireless networks need a power supply. A wireless network uses the current to generate radio waves. A cabled network sends data interpreted as an electronic pulse.

Hub/Switch/Router

In wired networks, one computer cannot connect to many others without some form of splitter.

A hub is little more than a splitter. It repeats any signals coming into one of its ports out onto all its other ports. A cable leads from each port to one computer. A switch is a more sophisticated version of a hub. It only sends the signal on to the computer with the address written in the arriving message. Routers are much more complicated and are able to forward messages all over the world. Larger networks sometimes use routers for their LAN traffic. The wireless networking device is called a "wireless router."

Network Software

Software on a communicating computer packages data into segments and puts that data into a structure called a "packet." The source and destination addresses of the packet are written into the header of the packet. The receiving computer needs to interpret these packets back into meaningful data and deliver it to the appropriate application.