Computer Network Components

To connect various computer and other shareable devices in the network, there is need of some additional hardware components and software depending upon the type of network.

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Some commonly used network components are :

Transmission Media
transmission media is a path by which travels from sender to receiver in the network. It may be some wire such as coaxial cable or Fiber optics or radio wave or microwave or satellite.

Transmission media is also known as communication channel or communication media.

Network Interface Card (NIC)
network interface card is known as LAN Card or Ethernet card. It makes computer compatible to participate in the network. Now-a-days most of the computers are supplied with an in build NIC

HUB
It is a central hardware device that manages the flow of information among various nodes in the network. Rate of flow of information among nodes depends upon the switches and the nodes

Bridge
bridge is a device used to connect two identical Local Networks (LANs)

Repeater
Information carrying signals in the network get weak after travelling certain distance. Repeater is a device that receives the signal before it becomes too weak and creates its copy bit by bit at the original strength. It does not change the functionality of the network in any way.

Unlike Amplifies, Repeater takes only signal and not noise.

Router
Router is a device used to connect two non-identical networks. It is used to route the data across different part of the network when the computers are connected in WAN (Wide Area Network ). Routers are generally classified to two types: static routers and dynamic routers.

Gateway
Gateway is a device used to connect two dissimilar LANs. It is required to convert data packets from one protocol format to another before forwarding it.

Connector
Connector is a device that joins two computers or networks together. For example. Rj-45 is connector used to connect computer on LANs.

Network Operating System (NOS)
NOS is a specialized operating system required by all the computers in the network. It enables services and sharing of the various resources in the network co-ordination among them.

Some common NOS are Windows NT, Windows Novell Netware, and Windows 8 server.

Protocol
It is a set of rules that governs how data and information is transferred among various node . Different networks uses different protocols. Most commonly used protocol are TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and IP (Internet Protocol).