Depending upon the geographical area covered by a network, it is classified as,
1. Local Area Network (LAN)
2. Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)
3. Wide Area Network (WAN)
4. Personal Area Network (PAN)
Local Area Network (LAN)
A LAN is a network that is used for communicating among computer devices, usually within an office building or home. LANs can be a single network installed in a home or small office, the definition of LAN has evolved to include interconnected local networks consisting of many hundreds of hosts, installed in multiple buildings and locations.
LAN’s enable the sharing of resources such as files or hardware devices that may be needed by multiple users. LAN is limited in size, typically spanning a few hundred meters, and no more than a mile it is fast, with speeds from 10 Mbps.
LAN’s can be either wired or wireless. Twisted pair, coaxial cable or fiber optic cable can be used in wired LAN’s. Every LAN uses a protocol which means a set of rules that governs how packets are configured and transmitted.
LANs consist of the following components :
- Computers
- Network interface cards
- Peripheral devices
- Networking media
- Network devices
LAN include following technologies :
- Ethernet
- Token Ring
- FDDI
