- The cabling: This is a basic component in a wired network, as cables allow all the devices in a network to communicate with each other. The connection can also be wireless, that is, without cables.
- Network Interface Card (NIC): It is used to connect a computer to a network. According to the number of bits, there are different types of NICs. The more bits a NIC has, the faster it can transfer data to the network.
- Workstation: Each computer connected to a network is a 'workstation'. It is linked to a server and can access files and applications stored in that server.
- Peripheral: This refers to any devices, such as a printer, a scanner, a CD ROM drive or a backup device that the users of a network can share.
- Server: It is the central computer on a network to which all the other networked computers are connected. It stores the data files and application software programs that the users need on a network.
- Backbone: It refers to the main cabling that connects all the segments in a network. It is the main transmission path, and handles the major data traffic
- Hub: It is a connection point of the elements of a network and it is used to redistribute the data. In other words, hubs are intermediary electronic devices that enable communication between servers and all the computers on a network. Hubs are quite simple, as they do not do any error checking or data filtering, but they only pass data.
- Switchs: It is a device which is used to find other devices connected to its ports. It leads data packets from its source to the destination port, instead of doing so at random, like the hubs. It is an essential component in a switched network topology to connect devices directly.
- Firewall: It prevents unauthorised users from connecting to a specific machine on the network.
- Protocol: It is a specific software element. It is a set of formal rules which describe how to transmit data across a network. It includes such specifications as the methods that can be used to control congestion in a network and how application programs will communicate and exchange data. Today, TCP/IP is by far the most dominant suite of networking protocols.
