Basic LAN structures
A. Gill Waters · Institution of Engineering and Technology eBooks · 1994
The purpose of a local area network (LAN) is to provide interconnection between a variety of computing systems within a building or small site, typically within an area of up to 5 km diameter. This interconnection helps users to communicate effectively (by sending messages or formal documents) and to share resources (by sharing printers, file storage, databases etc.). LANs are now commonplace in many organisations as cheaper, smaller and more powerful systems find their way onto an increasing number of desks. This chapter is constructed as follows. The remainder of this section presents an overall introduction to the characteristics of LANs and to the principles under which they work. The second section discusses standardisation of LANs. This is followed by a description of the three principal LAN standards: CSMA/CD, the token passing bus and the token ring. This chapter concentrates on each of the three LAN technologies in turn.