How the LAN and WAN work
A collection of servers, mainframes, personal computers, and network devices all connected ideally forms a network. The extensive use of the network in enterprise institutions and remote sites has become the backbone of communication strategies today. The essay will focus on the operation of Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN) hardware protocols, and Network Address Translation (NAT).
In a bid to understand how the LAN and WAN work, it is worth using real-time analogies to exemplify how WAN and LAN work. LAN is an interconnection of computers and computer devices connected within a short distance or small area. For example, a LAN can be created in an open office, interconnecting a limited number of personal computers and work stations. Each computer operates on individual CPUs to execute commands while running different programs. Users can communicate among themselves and share expensive devices such as laser printers.
Notably, LAN is restricted within a given area. Therefore, it means that users must be within the range to access it. The need to access the network remotely and long distances away from the LAN led to the establishment of WAN.
A Wide Area Network operates over a much larger area, as it interconnects LANs allowing the exchange of data. It provides a connection to a remote branch office and to employees who work from home. Service providers at a fee provide the connection services because setting up the network would be expensive for an organization. A good example of WAN is internet service providers who have invested in creating an appropriate WAN infrastructure that allows million domestic users to connect.
Network Address Translation (NAT) is where a system gadget, generally a firewall, assigns a public address to a PC (or interconnected PCs) inside a private network. The primary utilization of NAT is to constrain the number of open IP addresses an association or organization must use, for both economy and security purposes.