Computer Network Essay

In this piece of work I am going to explain the key components and network devices needed for connection to network systems.
Network devices
Workstation
A workstation is a computer intended for individual use that is faster and more capable than a personal computer. It's intended for business or professional use (rather than home or recreational use). Workstations and applications designed for them are used by small engineering companies, architects, graphic designers, and any organization, department, or individual that requires a faster microprocessor, a large amount of random access memory (RAM), and special features such as high-speed graphics adapters. Historically, the workstation developed technologically about the same time and for the same audience as the UNIX operating system, which is often used as the workstation operating system. Among the most successful makers of this kind of workstation is IBM. Workstations and applications designed for them are used by small engineering companies, architects, graphic designers, and any organization, department, or individual that requires a faster microprocessor, a large amount of random access memory (RAM), and special features such as high-speed graphics adapters. A workstation has enough computing power to be used without a network.
Server
A server is a running instance of an application (software) capable of accepting requests from the client and giving responses accordingly. Servers can run on any computer including dedicated computers, which individually are also often referred to as "the server".
Servers operate within a client-server architecture. Servers are computer programs running to serve the requests of other programs, the clients. Thus, the server performs some tasks on behalf of clients. It facilitates the clients to share data, information or any hardware and software resources. The clients typically connect to the server through the network but may run on the same computer. In the context of Internet Protocol (IP) networking, a server is a program that operates as a socket listener.
Printer server
A print server is a software application, network device or computer that manages print requests and makes printer queue status information available to end users and network administrators. Print servers are used in both large enterprises.
In a large organisation, a computer serving as a print server might manage hundreds of printers. For example in a school, a print server is often a focused plug-in board or small network device about the size of a hub that performs the same function as a dedicated print server, but frees up valuable disk space on the office's limited number of computers.

Mail server
Often referred to as simply mail server an e-mail server is a computer within your network that works as your virtual post office. A mail server usually consists of a storage area where e-mail is stored for local users, a set of user definable rules which determine how the mail server should react to the destination of a specific message, a database of user accounts that the mail server recognizes and will deal with locally, and communications modules which are the components that actually handle the transfer of messages to and from other mail servers and email clients.
Network Interface Cards: to use the service of the network, the workstation will use a network interface card and an operating system. The purpose of NIC is to provide a workstation with network connectivity. There are types of NIC it will differ with the network topology and media type in use e.g. Bluetooth transceivers, used for close-range communication. Another example will be the fibre-optic network cards, used for high speed communication, such as servers on a corporate network. Also the UTP network cards automatically detect the network speed, for example as 10Mbps, 100 Mbps and 1000 Mbps.
Interconnection devices
A router is a networking device that forwards data packets between

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