ELSA Cable manual

50Technical basics

Network, transmission medium, interfaces

Packets

Cells

Host

Router

Network technology

This section will give you a brief introduction to the basics of network technology. These descriptions do not cover all possible techniques, processes and terms associated with network technology. They only cover the topic to the degree necessary to provide an understanding of the product information.

The network and its components

Whenever several computers communicate with one another, this connection is called a network. For computers to be able to communicate, they need a physical medium through which the information can be transmitted. This can be a cable or radio link, for example, that is connected to the computers using special interfaces (e.g. network adapters).

The term network cable (or simply cable) in the following text also refers to any other physical medium that can take on the function of the cable, such as wireless links.

The individual bits of electronic information that are sent from one computer to another through a medium are called packets or cells, depending on the process.

For most of the following explanations, the difference between packets and cells is irrelevant. Therefore, we will use the term packet or data packet in a general sense and only detail the special characteristics of cells as necessary.

The computer and other terminal devices (e.g. the printer) in a network that generate or process information are called hosts. Ideally, a host is not responsible for the task of forwarding information. A host normally has exactly one interface to the network.

The transport of packets between two hosts occurs indirectly through exchanges that pass packets on to the target computer. These exchanges are called routers. A router has at least two interfaces so that it can receive the data from a sender and pass them on to a recipient. Apart from the exchange function, the router also has the properties of a host so that it can also be the recipient of data packets, for configuration purposes for example.

Point-to-point connection

Connection modes

The connection of exactly two hosts via a medium is called a “point-to-point connection”. In this case a host sends packets that can only be received by one specific recipient (unambiguous connection).

ELSA MicroLink Cable