General faq, General information – SMC Networks Barricade SMC2404WBR User Manual
Page 110
SMC2404WBR: 11/22 Mbps Auto-Sensing Wireless Cable/DSL
Broadband Router F.A.Q.
TERMINOLOGY
Q. What is a LAN?
A. A communications network that serves users within a confined
geographical area. It is made up of servers, workstations, a network operating
system and a communications link. Servers are high-speed machines that
hold programs and data shared by network users. The workstations (clients)
are the users' personal computers, which perform stand-alone processing and
access the network servers as required.
Diskless and floppy-only workstations are sometimes used, which retrieve all
software and data from the server. Increasingly, "thin client" network
computers and Windows terminals are also used. A printer can be attached
locally to a workstation or to a server and be shared by network users. Small
LANs can allow certain workstations to function as a server, allowing users
access to data on another user's machine. These peer-to-peer networks are
often simpler to install and manage, but dedicated servers provide better
performance and can handle higher transaction volume. Multiple servers are
used in large networks.
The message transfer is managed by a transport protocol such as TCP/IP and
NetBEUI. The physical transmission of data is performed by the access
method (Ethernet, Token Ring, etc.), which is implemented in the network
adapters that are plugged into the machines. The actual communications path
is the cable (twisted pair, coax, optical fiber) that interconnects each network
adapter.