2.8 - Network Types

Question 1

LAN

Answer 1

• Local Area Network
  – Local is relative
• A building or group of buildings
  – High-speed connectivity
• Ethernet and 802.11 wireless
  – Any slower and it isn’t “local”

Question 2

WAN

Answer 2

• Wide Area Network
  – Spanning the globe
• Generally connects LANs across a distance
  – And generally much slower than the LAN
• Many different WAN technologies
  – Point-to-point serial, MPLS, etc.
  – Terrestrial and non-terrestrial

Question 3

PAN

Answer 3

• Personal Area Network
  – Your own private network
  – Bluetooth, IR, NFC
• Automobile
  – Audio output
  – Integrate with phone
• Mobile phone - Wireless headset
• Health
  – Workout telemetry, daily reports

Question 4

MAN

Answer 4

• Metropolitan Area Network
  – A network in your city
  – Larger than a LAN, often smaller than a WAN
• Historically MAN-specific topologies
  – Metro Ethernet
• Common to see government ownership
  – They “own” the right-of-way

Question 5

SAN

Answer 5

• Storage Area Network (SAN)
  – Looks and feels like a local storage device
  – Block-level access
  – Very efficient reading and writing
• Requires a lot of bandwidth
  – May use an isolated network and high-speed
  network technologies

Question 6

WLAN

Answer 6

• Wireless LAN
  – 802.11 technologies
• Mobility
  – Within a building
  – In a limited geographical area
• Expand coverage with additional access points
  – Downtown area
  – Large campus