Unit 3.4 - network hardware Flashcards
What is a NIC?
A network interface card is a hardware device that is needed to connect a computer to a network.
- contains MAC address generated during manufacturing. May have more than 1 (e.g. for wireless and for wired)
- may be wired or wireless
- low cost, universal
- one device can have multiple NICs
What does it mean when a device is networked?
It communicates with other devices
What is a MAC address?
A media access control control address is the physical address of an individual device. It is used to route frames (chunk of data similar to packet) on a local area network (LAN).
- cannot be altered
- made up of 48 bits/6 pairs of hex digits
- first 6 digits are the manufacturer ID and last 6 digits are the serial number
What is an IP address?
An Internet protocol address is the logical address of a device on a network. At home, a private IP address is assigned by the router, while your public IP address is assigned by your Internet service provider. Used to route packets on a wide area network (WAN) and identify computers on the network.
Static vs dynamic IP addresses
Can be static - given the same address every time it joins the network. Often used by businesses, especially websites.
Can be dynamic - assigned any available address when it joins the network. Most home users have a dynamic IP address, which will be assigned by their Internet service provider when they connect to the Internet.
2 versions of IP addresses
IPv4 - 32 bits, represented with 4 numbers between 0 and 255 separated by periods. Only 4.3 billion addresses available, which began to run out.
IPv6 - 128 bits in size which gives 340 trillion trillion different unique static addresses. Represented with 32 hexadecimal characters split into groups of 4, separated with a colon
What is a device connected to a network called?
Node
What is a router?
A hardware device used to connect devices together to form a LAN.
- a network may have more than 1 router
- used to send data between networks
- can assign IP addresses to devices on a local network
- use device’s IP addresses to route traffic to other routes and route data to the correct destination
- connect LAN to Internet
What is a LAN?
A local area network is a computer network within a single location.
What is WAN?
Wide area network is a network made up of multiple connected LANs.
What happens when there is more than 1 route to destination device?
The router attempts to find the most efficient route (fastest connection or least traffic) for the packet to travel on. Packets may take different routes as they will be recombined automatically at the destination.
