The purpose of this study is to enable us to learn the basic principles behind the Local Area Network by applying

these to reality-based situations. Description of the system provides a deeper discussion about Local Area Networks (LAN) and the principles around the system. Design considerations include the parameters needed for the establishment of a computer shop. These aspects are the most essentials factors for starting a computer shop. This section includes the location, cost, topologies and other factors. Design parameters and computations will provide the group decision in the selection of the parameters and the specifications of these factors. The design proper lets you know the decision in planning the construction of the computer shop. This provides the type of topology, the overview of the LAN interconnection and other factors related. With these detailed structure of my study, I hope to give you some insights about Local Area Network (LAN) and at least enlighten you to some basic principles of the network. I also hope to give you some techniques and tips in case you decide to establish your own computer shop in the near future. All in all, I hope that this study will be informative for some things new to you. I would now let you go to continue reading the study. Enjoy reading and learning.

THE COMPUTER SHOP With the advancement of technologies today, it captured the whole world in an instant. Technology is still in its way of advancing but now targeting a much young generation. One evident example of this Computer shops or the Internet Cafs located everywhere like mushrooms. And the most important thing to think of is that technology is still in its way-up. Computer shops easily solve the problem for those people who need the services only the computer can provide. These include: Surfing the net Productivity suite (word, power points, spreadsheets, ets.) Printing services Gaming Applications and many more.

And when we talk of advancement, be ready for a real-time advancement. This list is just few of the benefits computer gives us. And I assure you this list will be filled up with lots of surprises. When we talk of computer shops, one thing that pops out on our minds is networking, interconnection of computers. The next article will be about the most common technique used in interconnection, Local Area Network (LAN).

DEFINITION OF A LAN The institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) defines a LAN as follows: A data communication system allowing a number of independent devices to communicate directly with each other, within a moderately sized geographic area over a physical communications channel of moderate data rates. In its simplest form a Local Area Network (LAN) is a set of Personal Computers (PCs) and printers connected together in a defined, limited geographic area. The connected PCs are referred to as stations. Technically, two connected PCs next to each other can be considered a LAN-this would be a two-station LAN, the smallest possible configuration.

Typical characteristics of an LAN environment: The stations on the network are peers-any station can initiate data exchange with any other station. Full connectivity among all stations. Fully administered by the owner. Runs over a shared transmission medium-often, cabling. The network is confined to a small area-a single building or cluster of buildings. The data rate is high-several Mbps (million bits per second).

PURPOSE OF A LAN A LAN permits users to share resources-hardware, software or user-created files. Sharing of resources makes it possible to maximize the investments made in each resource. Ideally, distant resources should appear to be local to the user. OBJECTIVES OF AN EFFECTIVE LAN When implemented, LANs are expected to achieve certain basic objectives: To improve employee productivity. To improve information management. To improve interaction between staff. To reduce/control costs. To provide for standardized hardware and software usage.

An effective LAN is one that meets objectives while fulfilling certain fundamental requirements: Simplicity. The technology should be easy to use. Telephones are an example of such a technology. People are able to use a telephone with minimal training. It therefore becomes a useful tool rather than something to be avoided. Working with the LAN must be as simple as working with a stand-alone PC. Otherwise, users may refuse to accept the LAN. Employee productivity is unlikely to increase if the LAN is difficult to use. Similarly, interaction between staff is unlikely to improve if users are unable to gain access to the system. Reliability.

If the LAN does not work reliably, people may not use it. Reliability is often seen as the single factor having the greatest impact on whether or not a LAN is accepted. A system is seen as being reliable if: o Devices are functional when needed. o Access to distant shared devices and files is as fast as when these devices/files are on the users local PC. The voice network illustrates this concept of reliability. It works when expected as expected. Transparency.

An understanding of the technology used to implement the LAN should not be a prerequisite to using it. The technical aspect of making a LAN work should not be seed by the users. The art of good technology is that it isnt seen. Few people understand how a telephone works, but they have little difficulty using it. Users should be able to work on a LAN in the same manner as they would with a non-LANattached PC. Manageability.

The LAN must be easy to manage and administer. This includes all aspects of the LAN environment: o The hardware o The software o The people The planning and installation of the LAN determines how manageable it will be in the future.

Factors to be considered at the earliest stages of LAN implementation include examining: o Possible points-of-failure. o Future growth requirements. o The expense of downtime.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A LAN There are four characteristics used to describe the architecture of a given LAN. These characteristics allow for comparisons among the many varied LAN environments. Transmission medium. The type of cable/wireless system used to connect the network devices. Topology. The physical appearance and/or manner of operation over the transmission medium when used to connect network devices. Access control method. In a LAN environment, many devices share a common transmission medium but generally, only a few are able to use it at any given instant. Access control determines the way in which network devices are granted or denied access to the transmission medium. Transmission technique. The manner in which the transmission medium is used for communications.

HARDWARE Processor The processor is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, and is the primary element carrying out the computers functions. This term has been in use in the computer industry at least since the early 1960s. The form, design and implementation of CPUs have changed dramatically since the earliest examples, but their fundamental operation remains much the same. The performance or speed of a processor depends on e.g. the clock rate and the Instructions Per Clock (IPC), which together are the factors for the Instructions Per Second (IPS) that the CPU can perform. Many reported IPS values have represented peak execution rates on artificial instruction sequences with few branches, whereas realistic workloads consist of a mix of instructions and applications, some of which take longer to execute than others. The performance of the memory hierarchy also greatly affects processor performance, an issue barely considered in MIPS calculations. Motherboard A mother board is the central printed circuit board (PCB) in many modern computers and holds many of the crucial components of the system, while providing connectors for other peripherals. The motherboard is sometimes alternatively known as the main board, system board, or, on Apple computers, the logic board. It is also sometimes casually shortened to mobo. Video Card Video card is an expansion card whose function is to generate and output images to a display. Many video cards offer added functions, such as accelerated rendering of 3D scenes and 2D graphics, video capture, TV-tuner adapter, MPEG-2/MPEG-4 decoding, Fire Wire, light pen, TV output, or the ability to connect multiple monitors (multi-monitor). Other modern high performance video cards are used for more graphically demanding purposes, such as PC games. Memory Computer memory refers to devices that are used to store data or programs (sequences of instructions) on a temporary or permanent basis for use in an electronic digital computer. Computers represent information in binary code, written as sequences of 0s and 1s. each binary digit (or bit) may be stored by any physical system that can be in either of two stable states, to represent 0 and 1. Such a system is called bistable. This could be an on-off switch, an electrical capacitor that can store or lose a charge, a magnet with its polarity up or down, or a surface that can have a pit or not. Today, capacitors and transistors, functioning as tiny electrical switches, are used for temporary storage, and either disks or tape with a magnetic coating, or plastic discs with patterns of pits are used for long-term storage. Computer memory is usually meant to refer to the semiconductor technology that is used to store information in electronic devices. Current primary computer memory makes use of integrated circuits consisting of silicon-based transistors. There are two main types of memory: volatile and nonvolatile.

Optical Drive An Optical Disk Drive (ODD) is a disk drive that uses laser light or electromagnetic waves near the light spectrum as part of the process of reading or writing data to or from optical discs. Some drives can only read from discs, but recent drives are commonly both readers and recorders. Recorders are sometimes called burners or writers. Compact discs, DVDs, HD DVDs and Blu-ray discs are common types of optical media which can be read and recorded by such drives. Optical disc drives are an integral part of stand-alone consumer appliances such as CD players, DVD players and DVD recorders. They are also very commonly used in computers to read software and consumer media distributed in disc form, and to record discs for archival and data exchange. Optical drives-along with flash memory-have mostly displaced floppy disk drives and magnetic tape drives for this purpose because of the low cost of optical media and the near-ubiquity of optical drives in computers and consumer entertainment hardware. Hard Drive A hard disk drive (often shortened as hard disk, hard drive, or HDD) is a non-volatile storage device that stores digitally encoded data on rapidly rotating rigid (i.e. hard) platters with magnetic surfaces. Strictly speaking, drive refers to the motorized mechanical aspect that is distinct from its medium, such as a tape drive and its tape, or a floppy disk drive and its floppy disk. Early HDDs had removable media; however, an HDD today is typically a sealed unit (except for a filters vent hole to equalize air pressure) with fixed media. Mouse Mouse is a pointing device that functions by detecting two-dimensional motion relative to its supporting surface. Physically, a mouse consists of an object held under one of the users hands, with one or more buttons. It sometimes features other elements, such as wheels, which allow the user to perform various system-dependent operations, or extra buttons or features can add more control or dimensional input. The mouses motion typically translates into the motion of a cursor on a display, which allows for fine control of a Graphical User Interface. Monitor A monitor or display (sometimes called a visual display unit) is an electronic visual display for computers. The monitor comprises the display device, circuitry, and an enclosure. The display device in modern monitors is typically a thin film transistors liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD), while older monitors use a cathode ray tube (CRT). Keyboard A keyboard is an input device, partially modeled after the typewriter keyboard, which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys, to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches. A keyboard typically has characters engraved or printed on the keys and each press of a key typically corresponds to a single written symbol. However, to produce some symbols requires pressing and holding several keys

simultaneously or in sequence. While most keyboard keys produce letters, numbers or signs (characters), other keys or simultaneously key presses can produce actions or computer commands. Printer A printer is a peripheral which produces a hard copy (permanent readable text and/or graphics) of documents stored in electronic form, usually on physical print media such as paper or transparencies. Many printers are primarily used as local peripherals, and are attached by a printer cable or in most new printers, a USB cable to a computer which serves as a document source. Some printers, commonly known as network printers, have built-in network interfaces (typically wireless and/or Ethernet)k, and can serve as a hardcopy device for any user n the network. Individual printers are often designed to support both local and network connected users at the electronic media such as memory sticks or memory cards, or to image capture devices such as digital cameras, scanners; some printers are combined with a scanners and/or fax machines in a single unit, and can function as photocopiers. Hubs A network hub or repeater hub is a device for connecting multiple twisted pair or fiber optic Ethernet devices together and making them act as a single network segment. Hubs work at the physical layer (layer 1) of the OSI model. The device is a form of multiport repeater. Repeater hubs also participate in collision detection, forwarding a jam signal to all ports if it detects a collision. Hubs also often come with a BNC and/or AUI connector to allow connection to legacy 10BASE2 or 10BASE5 networks segments. The availability of low-priced network switches has largely rendered hubs obsolete but they are still seen in older installations and more specialized applications. Router Router is an electronic device that is used to forward data between computer networks. More technically, a router is a networking device whose software and hardware are usually tailored to the tasks of routing and forwarding information. Routers connect two or more logical subnets, which do not necessarily map one-to-one to the physical interfaces of the router. The term layer 3 switching is often used interchangeably with routing, but switch is a general term without a rigorous technical definition. In marketing usage, a switch is generally optimized for Ethernet LAN interfaces and may not have other physical interface types. In comparison, the network hub (predecessor of the switch or switching hub) does not do any routing, instead every packet it receives on one network line gets forwarded to all the other network lines.