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Question 1) Local Area Netowrk (LAN) & Its Examples

A local area network (LAN) supplies networking capability to a group of computers in close proximity to each other such as in an office building, a school, or a home. A LAN is useful for sharing resources like files, printers, games or other applications. Most local area networks are built with relatively inexpensive hardware such as Ethernet cables, network adapters, and hubs. Wireless LAN and other more advanced LAN hardware options also exist. Specialized operating system software may be used to configure a local area network. For example, most flavors of Microsoft Windows provide a software package called Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) that supports controlled access to LAN resources. (Donnet & Friedman, 2009)

The most common type of local area network is an Ethernet LAN. The smallest home LAN can have exactly two computers; a large LAN can accommodate many thousands of computers. Many LANs are divided into logical groups called subnets. An Internet Protocol (IP) "Class A" LAN can in theory accommodate more than 16 million devices organized into subnets.

Question 2) Benefits Of Having a LAN

Having a network can become a competitive advantage when companies use it to increase employee productivity and open their business to new streams of revenue. The benefits of LANs are:

Resource sharing capability allows storage space and network peripherals, such as printers, to be shared by workstations, reducing hardware requirement, expenses and improving productivity. • Standard PC hardware is used for network workstations and servers, which provide a great deal of design flexibility, easy maintenance and cost efficiency. • Common applications are network aware, which significantly help in user transition time when relocating to different network environments. Additionally, network licensing is substantially less expensive than that of stand-alone licensing. (Bertsekas, 2008)• Through file sharing, users can easily transfer files to one another, in order to improve productivity. Shared file access allows multi-user access to user applications. • With centralized data storage, LANs offer the ability to place shared data on a single server within a central location. Network backups are easier and more reliable because all data resides on one physical location. This reduces the cost incurred by loss of any data during system failure. • LANs support a number of fault tolerance features, such as disk mirroring, disk-duplexing, disk striping with parity (RAID5) and UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply). This improves reliability and minimizes network downtime. • LANs offer centralized security, which allows control over access to the network and its resources. Depending on an organization's requirements, this functionality is customizable to help protect sensitive data from loss, destruction, theft, or unauthorized disclosure. • Communication to other users is also provided through a messaging system. It is the basis for implementing sophisticated systems

Question 3) Difference Between A Hub And Switch

A switch is effectively a higher-performance alternative to a hub. Technically speaking, hubs operate using a broadcast model and switches operate using a virtual circuit model. When four computers are connected to a hub, for example, and ...