Internet:-

Internet (disambiguation).

Visualization of the various routes through a portion of the Internet.

The Internet is a global network of interconnected computers, enabling users to share

information along multiple channels. Typically, a computer that connects to the Internet
can access information from a vast array of available servers and other computers by
moving information from them to the computer's local memory. The same connection
allows that computer to send information to servers on the network; that information is in
turn accessed and potentially modified by a variety of other interconnected computers. A
majority of widely accessible information on the Internet consists of inter-linked
hypertext documents and other resources of the World Wide Web (WWW). Computer
users typically manage sent and received information with web browsers; other software
for users' interface with computer networks includes specialized programs for electronic
mail, online chat, file transfer and file sharing.

The movement of information in the Internet is acheived via a system of interconnected

computer networks that share data by packet switching using the standardized Internet
Protocol Suite (TCP/IP). It is a "network of networks" that consists of millions of private
and public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope that
are linked by copper wires, fiber-optic cables, wireless connections, and other
technologies.

Computer network:-
Computer networking is the engineering discipline concerned with communication
between computer systems or devices. Networking, routers, routing protocols, and
networking over the public Internet have their specifications defined in documents called
RFCs.[1] Computer networking is sometimes considered a sub-discipline of
telecommunications, computer science, information technology and/or computer
engineering. Computer networks rely heavily upon the theoretical and practical
application of these scientific and engineering disciplines.

A computer network is any set of computers or devices connected to each other with the
ability to exchange data. Examples of different networks are:LAN,MAN,WAN

Advantages of computer network:-

Connectivity and Communication: Networks connect computers and the users of those
computers. Individuals within a building or work group can be connected into local area
networks (LANs); LANs in distant locations can be interconnected into larger wide area
networks (WANs). Once connected, it is possible for network users to communicate with
each other using technologies such as electronic mail. This makes the transmission of
business (or non-business) information easier, more efficient and less expensive than it
would be without the network.

 Data Sharing: One of the most important uses of networking is to allow the
sharing of data. Before networking was common, an accounting employee who
wanted to prepare a report for her manager would have to produce it on his PC,
put it on a floppy disk, and then walk it over to the manager, who would transfer
the data to her PC's hard disk. (This sort of “shoe-based network” was sometimes
sarcastically
 Hardware Sharing: Networks facilitate the sharing of hardware devices. For
example, instead of giving each of 10 employees in a department an expensive
color printer (or resorting to the “sneakernet” again), one printer can be placed on
the network for everyone to share.
 Internet Access: The Internet is itself an enormous network, so whenever you
access the Internet, you are using a network. The significance of the Internet on
modern society is hard to exaggerate, especially for those of us in technical fields.

 Internet Access Sharing: Small computer networks allow multiple users to share
a single Internet connection. Special hardware devices allow the bandwidth of the
connection to be easily allocated to various individuals as they need it, and permit
an organization to purchase one high-speed connection instead of many slower
ones.

 Data Security and Management: In a business environment, a network allows

the administrators to much better manage the company's critical data. Instead of
having this data spread over dozens or even hundreds of small computers in a
haphazard fashion as their users create it, data can be centralized on shared
servers. This makes it easy for everyone to find the data, makes it possible for the
administrators to ensure that the data is regularly backed up, and also allows for
the implementation of security measures to control who can read or change
various pieces of critical information.

 Performance Enhancement and Balancing: Under some circumstances, a

network can be used to enhance the overall performance of some applications by
distributing the computation tasks to various computers on the network.

 Entertainment: Networks facilitate many types of games and entertainment. The

Internet itself offers many sources of entertainment, of course. In addition, many
multi-player games exist that operate over a local area network. Many home
networks are set up for this reason, and gaming across wide area networks
(including the Internet) has also become quite popular. Of course, if you are
running a business and have easily-amused employees, you might insist that this
is really a disadvantage of networking and not an advantage.
Type of computer network:-
Below is a list of the most common types of computer networks in order of scale.

Personal area network:-

A personal area network (PAN) is a computer network used for communication among
computer devices close to one person. Some examples of devices that are used in a PAN
are printers, fax machines, telephones, PDAs and scanners. The reach of a PAN is
typically about 20-30 feet (approximately 6-9 meters), but this is expected to increase
with technology improvements.

Local area network :-

A local area network (LAN) is a computer network covering a small physical area, like
a home, office, or small group of buildings, such as a school, or an airport. Current LANs
are most likely to be based on Ethernet technology. For example, a library may have a
wired or wireless LAN for users to interconnect local devices (e.g., printers and servers)
and to connect to the internet. On a wired LAN, PCs in the library are typically connected
by category 5 (Cat5) cable, running the IEEE 802.3 protocol through a system of
interconnected devices and eventually connect to the Internet. The cables to the servers
are typically on Cat 5e enhanced cable, which will support IEEE 802.3 at 1 Gbit/s. A
wireless LAN may exist using a different IEEE protocol, 802.11b, 802.11g or possibly
802.11n. The staff computers (bright green in the figure) can get to the color printer,
checkout records, and the academic network and the Internet. All user computers can get
to the Internet and the card catalog. Each workgroup can get to its local printer. Note that
the printers are not accessible from outside their workgroup.

Typical library network, in a branching tree topology and controlled access to resources

All interconnected devices must understand the network layer (layer 3), because they are
handling multiple subnets (the different colors). Those inside the library, which have only

10/100 Mbit/s Ethernet connections to the user device and a Gigabit Ethernet connection
to the central router, could be called "layer 3 switches" because they only have Ethernet
interfaces and must understand IP. It would be more correct to call them access routers,
where the router at the top is a distribution router that connects to the Internet and
academic networks' customer access routers.

The defining characteristics of LANs, in contrast to WANs (wide area networks), include
their higher data transfer rates, smaller geographic range, and lack of a need for leased
telecommunication lines. Current Ethernet or other IEEE 802.3 LAN technologies
Campus area network :-

A campus area network (CAN) is a computer network made up of an interconnection of

local area networks (LANs) within a limited geographical area. It can be considered one
form of a metropolitan area network, specific to an academic setting.

In the case of a university campus-based campus area network, the network is likely to
link a variety of campus buildings including; academic departments, the university library
and student residence halls. A campus area network is larger than a local area network
but smaller than a wide area network (WAN) (in some cases).

The main aim of a campus area network is to facilitate students accessing internet and
university resources. This is a network that connects two or more LANs but that is
limited to a specific and contiguous geographical area such as a college campus,
industrial complex, office building, or a military base. A CAN may be considered a type
of MAN (metropolitan area network), but is generally limited to a smaller area than a
typical MAN. This term is most often used to discuss the implementation of networks for
a contiguous area. This should not be confused with a Controller Area Network. A LAN
connects network devices over a relatively short distance. A networked office building,
school, or home usually contains a single LAN, though sometimes one building will
contain a few small LANs (perhaps one per room), and occasionally a LAN will span a
group of nearby buildings. In TCP/IP networking, a LAN is often but not always
implemented as a single IP subnet.

Metropolitan area network :-

A metropolitan area network (MAN) is a network that connects two or more local area
networks or campus area networks together but does not extend beyond the boundaries of
the immediate town/city. Routers, switches and hubs are connected to create a
metropolitan area network.

Wide area network :-

A wide area network (WAN) is a computer network that covers a broad area (i.e., any
network whose communications links cross metropolitan, regional, or national
boundaries [1]). Less formally, a WAN is a network that uses routers and public
communications links [1]. Contrast with personal area networks (PANs), local area
networks (LANs), campus area networks (CANs), or metropolitan area networks (MANs)
are usually limited to a room, building, campus or specific metropolitan area (e.g., a city)
respectively. The largest and most well-known example of a WAN is the Internet. A
WAN is a data communications network that covers a relatively broad geographic area
(i.e. one city to another and one country to another country) and that often uses
transmission facilities provided by common carriers, such as telephone companies. WAN
technologies generally function at the lower three layers of the OSI reference model: the
physical layer, the data link layer, and the network layer.

Global area network :-

A global area networks (GAN) specification is in development by several groups, and

there is no common definition. In general, however, a GAN is a model for supporting
mobile communications across an arbitrary number of wireless LANs, satellite coverage
areas, etc. The key challenge in mobile communications is "handing off" the user
communications from one local coverage area to the next. In IEEE Project 802, this
involves a succession of terrestrial WIRELESS local area networks (WLAN).[1]

Virtual private network :-

A virtual private network (VPN) is a computer network in which some of the links
between nodes are carried by open connections or virtual circuits in some larger network
(e.g., the Internet) instead of by physical wires. The link-layer protocols of the virtual
network are said to be tunneled through the larger network when this is the case. One
common application is secure communications through the public Internet, but a VPN
need not have explicit security features, such as authentication or content encryption.

VPNs, for example, can be used to separate the traffic of different user communities over
an underlying network with strong security features.

A VPN may have best-effort performance, or may have a defined service level agreement
(SLA) between the VPN customer and the VPN service provider. Generally, a VPN has a
topology more complex than point-to-point.

A VPN allows computer users to appear to be editing from an IP address location other
than the one which connects the actual computer to the Internet.

Internetwork :-

A Internetworking involves connecting two or more distinct computer networks or

network segments via a common routing technology. The result is called an internetwork
(often shortened to internet). Two or more networks or network segments connected
using devices that operate at layer 3 (the 'network' layer) of the OSI Basic Reference
Model, such as a router. Any interconnection among or between public, private,
commercial, industrial, or governmental networks may also be defined as an
internetwork.
In modern practice, the interconnected networks use the Internet Protocol. There are at
least three variants of internetwork, depending on who administers and who participates
in them:

• Intranet
• Extranet
• Internet

Intranets and extranets may or may not have connections to the Internet. If connected to
the Internet, the intranet or extranet is normally protected from being accessed from the
Internet without proper authorization. The Internet is not considered to be a part of the
intranet or extranet, although it may serve as a portal for access to portions of an extranet.

Intranet :-

An intranet is a set of networks, using the Internet Protocol and IP-based tools such as
web browsers and file transfer applications, that is under the control of a single
administrative entity. That administrative entity closes the intranet to all but specific,
authorized users. Most commonly, an intranet is the internal network of an organization.

A large intranet will typically have at least one web server to provide users with
organizational information.

Extranet :-

An extranet is a network or internetwork that is limited in scope to a single organization

or entity but which also has limited connections to the networks of one or more other
usually, but not necessarily, trusted organizations or entities (e.g. a company's customers
may be given access to some part of its intranet creating in this way an extranet, while at
the same time the customers may not be considered 'trusted' from a security standpoint).
Technically, an extranet may also be categorized as a CAN, MAN, WAN, or other type
of network, although, by definition, an extranet cannot consist of a single LAN; it must
have at least one connection with an external network.

Internet :-

The Internet is a specific internetwork. It consists of a worldwide interconnection of

governmental, academic, public, and private networks based upon the networking
technologies of the Internet Protocol Suite. It is the successor of the Advanced Research
Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) developed by DARPA of the U.S. Department of
Defense. The Internet is also the communications backbone underlying the (WWW). The
'Internet' is most commonly spelled with a capital 'I' as a proper noun, for historical
reasons and to distinguish it from other generic internetworks.

Participants in the Internet use a diverse array of methods of several hundred

documented, and often standardized, protocols compatible with the Internet Protocol
Suite and an addressing system (IP Addresses) administered by the Internet Assigned
Numbers Authority and address registries. Service providers and large enterprises
exchange information about the reachability of their address spaces through the Border
Gateway Protocol (BGP), forming a redundant worldwide mesh of transmission paths.

Distributed system:-
It is an application that executes a collection of protocols to coordinate the actions of
multiple processes on a network, such that all components cooperate together to perform
a single or small set of related tasks.
Thus, a distributed system can be much larger and more powerful given the combined
capabilities of the distributed components, than combinations of stand-alone systems. But
it's not easy - for a distributed system to be useful, it must be reliable. This is a difficult
goal to achieve because of the complexity of the interactions between simultaneously
running components.

Characteristics:-

To be truly reliable, a distributed system must have the following characteristics:

 Fault-Tolerant: It can recover from component failures without performing
incorrect actions.
 Highly Available: It can restore operations, permitting it to resume providing
services even when some components have failed.
 Recoverable: Failed components can restart themselves and rejoin the system,
after the cause of failure has been repaired.
 Consistent: The system can coordinate actions by multiple components often in
the presence of concurrency and failure. This underlies the ability of a distributed
system to act like a non-distributed system.
  Scalable: It can operate correctly even as some aspect of the system is scaled to a
larger size. For example, we might increase the size of the network on which the

 system is running. This increases the frequency of network outages and could
degrade a "non-scalable" system. Similarly, we might increase the number of
users or servers, or overall load on the system. In a scalable system, this should
not have a significant effect.
 Predictable Performance: The ability to provide desired responsiveness in a timely
manner.
 Secure: The system authenticates access to data and services [1]

World wide web:-

The World Wide Web (commonly abbreviated as "the Web") is a system of interlinked
hypertext documents accessed via the Internet. With a Web browser, one can view Web
pages that may contain text, images, videos, and other multimedia and navigate between
them using hyperlinks. Using concepts from earlier hypertext systems, the World Wide
Web was begun in 1992 by the English physicist Tim Berners-Lee, now the Director of
the World Wide Web Consortium, and Robert Cailliau, a Belgian computer scientist,
while both working at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. In 1990, they proposed building a
"web of nodes" storing "hypertext pages" viewed by "browsers" on a network,[1] and
released that web in 1992. Connected by the existing Internet, other websites were
created, around the world, adding international standards for domain names & the HTML
language. Since then, Berners-Lee has played an active role in guiding the development
of Web standards (such as the markup languages in which Web pages are composed), and
in recent years has advocated his vision of a Semantic Web. Cailliau went on early
retirement in January 2005 and left CERN in January 2007.

The World Wide Web enabled the spread of information over the Internet through an
easy-to-use and flexible format. It thus played an important role in popularising use of the
Internet, to the extent that the World Wide Web has become a synonym for Internet, with
the two being conflated in popular u.
Working :-
The terms Internet and World Wide Web are often used in every-day speech without
much distinction. However, the Internet and the World Wide Web are not one and the
same. The Internet is a global data communications system. It is a hardware and software
infrastructure that provides connectivity between computers. In contrast, the Web is one

of the services communicated via the Internet. It is a collection of interconnected

documents and other resources, linked by hyperlinks and URLs.

Viewing a Web page on the World Wide Web normally begins either by typing the URL
of the page into a Web browser, or by following a hyperlink to that page or resource. The
Web browser then initiates a series of communication messages, behind the scenes, in
order to fetch and display it.

First, the server-name portion of the URL is resolved into an IP address using the global,
distributed Internet database known as the domain name system, or DNS. This IP address
is necessary to contact and send data packets to the Web server.

The browser then requests the resource by sending an HTTP request to the Web server at
that particular address. In the case of a typical Web page, the HTML text of the page is
requested first and parsed immediately by the Web browser, which will then make
additional requests for images and any other files that form a part of the page. Statistics
measuring a website's popularity are usually based on the number of 'page views' or
associated server 'hits', or file requests, which take place.

Having received the required files from the Web server, the browser then renders the
page onto the screen as specified by its HTML, CSS, and other Web languages. Any
images and other resources are incorporated to produce the on-screen Web page that the
user sees.

Most Web pages will themselves contain hyperlinks to other related pages and perhaps to
downloads, source documents, definitions and other Web resources. Such a collection of
useful, related resources, interconnected via hypertext links, is what was dubbed a "web"
of information. Making it available on the Internet created what Tim Berners-Lee first
called the WorldWideWeb (in its original CamelCase, which was subsequently
discarded) in November 1990.
History:-

This NeXT Computer used by Sir Tim Berners-Lee at CERN became the first Web
server.

The underlying ideas of the Web can be traced as far back as 1980, when, at CERN in
Switzerland, Sir Tim Berners-Lee built ENQUIRE (a reference to Enquire Within Upon
Everything, a book he recalled from his youth). While it was rather different from the

system in use today, it contained many of the same core ideas (and even some of the
ideas of Berners-Lee's next project after the World Wide Web, the Semantic Web).

In March 1989, Berners-Lee wrote a proposal[4] which referenced ENQUIRE and

described a more elaborate information management system. With help from Robert
Cailliau, he published a more formal proposal (on November 12, 1990) to build a
"Hypertext project" called "WorldWideWeb" (one word, also "W3")[1] as a "web of
nodes" with "hypertext documents" to store data. That data would be viewed in
"hypertext pages" (webpages) by various "browsers" (line-mode or full-screen) on the
computer network, using an "access protocol" connecting the "Internet and DECnet
protocol worlds".

Browser :-
WorldWideWeb for NeXT computer was the first browser (1991)
A Web browser is a software application which enables a user to display and interact
with text, images, videos, music, games and other information typically located on a Web
page at a Web site on the World Wide Web or a local area network. Text and images on a

Web page can contain hyperlinks to other Web pages at the same or different Web site.
Web browsers allow a user to quickly and easily access information provided on many
Web pages at many Web sites by traversing these links. Web browsers format HTML
information for display, so the appearance of a Web page may differ between browsers.

Web browsers are the most-commonly-used type of HTTP user agent. Although browsers
are typically used to access the World Wide Web, they can also be used to access
information provided by Web servers in private networks or content in file systems.

Web page:-
A web page or webpage is a resource of information that is suitable for the World Wide
Web and can be accessed through a web browser. This information is usually in HTML
or XHTML format, and may provide navigation to other web pages via hypertext links.

Web pages may be retrieved from a local computer or from a remote web server. The
web server may restrict access only to a private network, e.g. a corporate intranet, or it
may publish pages on the World Wide Web. Web pages are requested and served from
web servers using Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

Web pages may consist of files of static text stored within the web server's file system
(static web pages), or the web server may construct the (X)HTML for each web page
when it is requested by a browser (dynamic web pages). Client-side scripting can make
web pages more responsive to user input once in the client browser.

Web pages usually include instructions as to the colors of text and backgrounds and very
often also contain links to images and sometimes other media to be included in the final
view.

Layout, typographic and color-scheme information is provided by Cascading Style Sheet

(CSS) instructions, which can either be embedded in the HTML or can be provided by a
separate file, which is referenced from within the HTML. The latter case is especially
relevant where one lengthy stylesheet is relevant to a whole website: due to the way
HTTP works, the browser will only download it once from the web server and use the
cached copy for the whole site.(notepad)
Images are stored on the web server as separate files, but again HTTP allows for the fact
that once a web page is downloaded to a browser, it is quite likely that related files such
as images and stylesheets will be requested as it is processed. An HTTP 1.1 web server
will maintain a connection with the browser until all related resources have been
requested and provided. Browsers usually render images along with the text and other
material on the displayed web page.

Daynamic behavior:-
Client-side computer code such as JavaScript or code implementing Ajax techniques can
be provided either embedded in the HTML of a web page or, like CSS stylesheets, as
separate, linked downloads specified in the HTML (using for example .js file extensions
for JavaScript files). These scripts may run on the client computer, if the user allows
them to, and can provide a degree of interactivity between the web page and the user after
the page has downloaded.

Website:-
A website is a collection of web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that are
hosted on one or more web servers, usually accessible via the Internet.

A web page is a document, typically written in (X)HTML, that is almost always

accessible via HTTP, a protocol that transfers information from the web server to display
in the user's web browser.

IEEE 802 :-
IEEE 802 refers to a family of IEEE standards dealing with local area networks and
metropolitan area networks. More specifically, the IEEE 802 standards are restricted to
networks carrying variable-size packets. (By contrast, in cell-based networks data is
transmitted in short, uniformly sized units called cells. Isochronous networks, where data
is transmitted as a steady stream of octets, or groups of octets, at regular time intervals,
are also out of the scope of this standard.) The number 802 was simply the next free
number IEEE could assign, though “802” is sometimes associated with the date the first
meeting was held — February 1980.
The services and protocols specified in IEEE 802 map to the lower two layers (Data Link
and Physical) of the seven-layer OSI networking reference model. In fact, IEEE 802

splits the OSI Data Link Layer into two sub-layers named Logical Link Control (LLC)
and Media Access Control, so that the layers can be listed like this:

IEEE 802.2 :-
IEEE 802.2 is the IEEE 802 standard defining Logical Link Control (LLC), which is the
upper portion of the data link layer of the OSI Model. The LLC sublayer presents a
uniform interface to the user of the data link service, usually the network layer. Beneath
the LLC sublayer is the Media Access Control (MAC) sublayer, which is dependent on
the particular medium being used (Ethernet, token ring, FDDI, 802.11, etc.).

The IEEE standard adds this sublayer which adds the standard 8-bit DSAP (Destination
Service Access Point) and SSAP (Source Service Access Point) labels to a given packet
regardless of network type. There is also an 8 or 16 bit control field for use in auxiliary
functions such as flow control. There is room for 64 globally assigned SAP numbers, and
the IEEE does not assign them lightly. IP does not have an assigned SAP number,
because only “international standards” could be given globally assigned SAP numbers.
Protocols which are not international standards can use a SAP number from the locally
administered SAP number space. The Subnetwork Access Protocol (SNAP) allows
EtherType values to be used to specify the protocol being transported atop IEEE 802.2,
and also allows vendors to define their own protocol value spaces

IEEE 802.3 :-
IEEE 802.3 is a collection of IEEE standards defining the physical layer, and the media
access control (MAC) sublayer of the data link layer, of wired Ethernet. This is generally
a LAN technology with some WAN applications. Physical connections are made between
nodes and/or infrastructure devices (hubs, switches, routers) by various types of copper or
fiber cable.

802.3 is a technology that can support the IEEE 802.1 network architecture.

The maximum packet size is 1518 bytes, although to allow the Q-tag for Virtual LAN
and priority data in 802.3ac it is extended to 1522 bytes. If the upper layer protocol
submits a protocol data unit (PDU) less than 64 bytes, 802.3 will pad the data field to
achieve the minimum 64 bytes. The minimum Frame size will then always be of 64
bytes.

Although it is not technically correct, the terms packet and frame are often used
interchangeably. The ISO/IEC 8802-3 and ANSI/IEEE 802.3 standards refer to MAC
sub-layer frames consisting of the destination address, the source address, length/type,
data payload, and frame check sequence (FCS) fields. The preamble and Start Frame
Delimiter (SFD) are (usually) together considered a header to the MAC frame. This
header and the MAC frame constitute a packet.

The original Ethernet is called Experimental Ethernet today. It was developed by Robert
Metcalfe in 1972 (patented in 1978) and was based in part on the wireless ALOHAnet
protocol. The first Ethernet that was generally used outside Xerox was DIX Ethernet,
followed by Ethernet II. IEEE defines a 802.3 standard where the Type field is replaced
by Length, and an 802.2 LLC header follows with the Type field. However, as DIX
Ethernet was derived from Experimental Ethernet, and as many standards have been
developed that are based on DIX Ethernet, the technical community has accepted the
term Ethernet for all of them. Therefore, the term Ethernet can be used to name networks
using any of the following standardized media and functions:

IEEE 802.4 :-
IEEE 802.4 defines the medium access control (MAC) layer for bus networks that use a
token-passing mechanism (token bus networks). This is an application of the concepts
used in token ring networks. The main difference is that the endpoints of the bus do not
meet to form a physical ring. The IEEE 802.4 Working Group is disbanded.

IEEE 802.5
Token ring

Introduction :-

Stations on a token ring LAN are logically organized in a ring topology with data being
transmitted sequentially from one ring station to the next with a control token circulating
around the ring controlling access. This token passing mechanism is shared by ARCNET,
token bus, and FDDI, and has theoretical advantages over the stochastic CSMA/CD of
Ethernet.
Physically, a token ring network is wired as a star, with 'hubs' and arms out to each
station and the loop going out-and-back through each.

IBM hermaphroditic connector with locking clip

Cabling is generally IBM "Type-1" shielded twisted pair, with unique hermaphroditic
connectors, commonly referred to as IBM data connectors. The connectors have the
disadvantage of being quite bulky, requiring at least 3 x 3 cm panel space, and, composed
of many complex plastic pieces, being quite fragile.

Initially (in 1985) token ring ran at 4 Mbit/s, but in 1989 IBM introduced the first 16
Mbit/s token ring products and the 802.5 standard was extended to support this. In 1981,
Apollo Computer introduced their proprietary 12 Mbit/s Apollo token ring (ATR) and
Proteon introduced their 10 Mbit/s ProNet-10 token ring network in 1984. However, IBM
token ring was not compatible with ATR or ProNet-10.

Each station passes or repeats the special token frame around the ring to its nearest
downstream neighbor. This token-passing process is used to arbitrate access to the shared
ring media. Stations that have data frames to transmit must first acquire the token before
they can transmit them. Token ring LANs normally use differential Manchester encoding
of bits on the LAN media.

IBM popularized the use of token ring LANs in the mid 1980s when it released its IBM
token ring architecture based on active multi-station access units (MSAUs or MAUs) and
the IBM Structured Cabling System. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
(IEEE) later standardized a token ring LAN system as IEEE 802.5.[1]

Token ring LAN speeds of 4 Mbit/s and 16 Mbit/s have been standardized by the IEEE
802.5 working group. An increase to 100 Mbit/s was standardized and marketed during
the wane of token ring's existence while a 1000 Mbit/s speed was actually approved in
2001, but no products were ever brought to market.[1]

When token ring LANs were first introduced, there were widely circulated claims that
they were superior to Ethernet.[2] These claims did not hold up when tested.[3]

With the development of switched Ethernet and faster variants of Ethernet, token ring
architectures lagged badly behind Ethernet in both performance and reliability. The
higher sales of Ethernet allowed economies of scale which drove down prices further, and
added a compelling price advantage to its other advantages over token ring.

Token ring networks have since declined in usage and the standards activity has since
come to a standstill as switched Ethernet has dominated the LAN/layer 2 networking
market.

Token frame :-

When no station is transmitting a data frame, a special token frame circles the loop. This
special token frame is repeated from station to station until arriving at a station that needs
to transmit data. When a station needs to transmit data, it converts the token frame into a
data frame for transmission. Once the sending station receives its own data frame, it
converts the frame back into a token. If a transmission error occurs and no token frame,
or more than one, is present, a special station referred to as the Active Monitor detects the
problem and removes and/or reinserts tokens as necessary (see Active and standby
monitors). On 4 Mbit/s Token Ring, only one token may circulate; on 16 Mbit/s Token
Ring, there may be multiple tokens.

The special token frame consists of three bytes as described below (J and K are special
non-data characters, referred to as code violations

IEEE 802.6 :-
IEEE 802.6 is a standard governed by the ANSI for Metropolitan Area Networks (MAN).
It is an improvement of an older standard (also created by ANSI) which used the Fiber
distributed data interface (FDDI) network structure. The FDDI-based standard failed due
to its expensive implementation and lack of compatibility with current LAN standards.
The IEEE 802.6 standard uses the Distributed Queue Dual Bus (DQDB) network form.
This form supports 150 Mbit/s transfer rates. It consists of two
unconnected unidirectional buses. DQDB is rated for a maximum of 160 km before
significant signal degradation over fiberoptic cable with an optical wavelength of 1310
nm.

This standard has also failed, mostly due to the same reasons that the FDDI standard
failed. Most MANs now use Synchronous Optical Network (SONET).