btec national first assignment

[Dan08]

alright guys? i just started working on my first assignment for networking and its very unclear of what i have to do for my first PASS assignment! :'( It doesnt seem very hard, really just very unclear! alright, so this is what it says we have to do:

Give a brief description of the following types of network
LAN
WAN
PAN
Then describe the topologies available for each network and the standards and protocols that each type of network uses.

So the first part ive already done (Give a brief description of the following types of network LAN, WAN and PAN). Now where it becomes very unclear is the part about standards and protocols and topologies. Are topologies meant to be different for different types of networks? If yes where can i find information that talks/ explains about that?!? and the same applies for standards and protocols. where can i find information that talks about how they can be applied for different network types.

I dont really know if this is what i should be doing or if i should be doing something else. any hints are appreciated.

Thanks, Dan08ish.

EDIT: When they talk about standards, should i be looking at the OSI model or something?

[rubberman]

I assume you have some sort of book or manual for this class. I assume this is all covered there. I will help with the first, LAN

LAN (Local Area Network): a network that is typically limited in geography to a single building or campus, and size in number of nodes (computers). Typical LAN standards include 802.3 (Ethernet), 802.11 (Wireless Ethernet), 802.5 (Token Ring), and ARCNet.

You can do some Google searching (wikipedia has some good articles) to finish the question about the topologies and protocols for the standards listed above, and to answer the others.

So, please don't ask us to do your homework for you. That's how you learn - more from what you do than what you hear (or not hear) in class.

[suley04]

WAN (Wide Area Network): a network that usually connects several offices of the same company together across metropolitan, regional, or national boundaries.

For example, Businesses and the Government use WANs to pass data regarding employees, clients, buyers, and suppliers from various geographical locations. It essentially, allows a business to effectively carry out its daily function regardless of location.

WANs essentially connect several LANs together, and LAN topologies could be a Star Network, Token Ring, Mesh, Bus, Tree, Line, etc.

PAN (Personal Area Network): a network whose reach is usually only a few meters. PANs can be used for communication among the personal devices themselves (such as a mobile phone and laptop, or two mobiles phones via Bluetooth, etc), or for connecting to a higher level network and the Internet.

You can find out more information about Network Topologies, here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_topology