https://www.britannica.com/technology/computer-network

Computer Network

Computer network, two or more computers that are connected with one another for the purpose of communicating data electronically. Besides physically connecting computer and communication devices, a network system serves the important function of establishing a cohesive architecture that allows a variety of equipment types to transfer information in a near-seamless fashion. Two popular architectures are ISO Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) and IBM’s Systems Network Architecture (SNA).

Local Area Network (LAN)

  Definition:

A local area network (LAN) is a collection of devices connected together in one physical location, such as a building, office, or home. A LAN can be small or large, ranging from a home network with one user to an enterprise network with thousands of users and devices in an office or school.

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/switches/what-is-a-lan-local-area-network.html

Wide Area Network (WAN)

definition:

In its simplest form, a wide-area network (WAN) is a collection of local-area networks (LANs) or other networks that communicate with one another.  A WAN is essentially a network of networks, with the Internet the world's largest WAN. Today, there are several types of WANs, built for a variety of use cases that touch virtually every aspect of modern life.

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/switches/what-is-a-wan-wide-area-network.html

Peer-2-Peer Architecture

Definition

In the common client-server architecture, multiple clients will communicate with a central

server. A peer-to-peer (P2P) architecture consists of a decentralized network of peers -

nodes that are both clients and servers. P2P networks distribute the workload between

peers, and all peers contribute and consume resources within the network without the need

for a centralized server. However, not all peers are necessarily equal. Super peers may have more resources and can contribute more than they consume. Edge peers do not contribute any resources, they only consume from the network.

https://student.cs.uwaterloo.ca/~cs446/1171/Arch_Design_Activity/Peer2Peer.pdf

Client-Server Architecture

Definition

The Client-server model is a distributed application structure that partitions task or workload between the providers of a resource or service, called servers, and service requesters called clients. In the client-server architecture, when the client computer sends a request for data to the server through the internet, the server accepts the requested process and deliver the data packets requested back to the client. Clients do not share any of their resources. Examples of Client-Server Model are Email, World Wide Web, etc.

https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/client-server-model/

Bus Topology

Definition

is one of the simplest physical topology used for the network. This topology is famously used for the Local Area Network. The bus network is very easy to install and maintain. It requires less amount of cabling when compared to other network topologies.

https://www.elprocus.com/bus-topology-in-computer-networks/

Ring Topology

Definition

is a network configuration where device connections create a circular data path. Each networked device is connected to two others, like points on a circle. Together, devices in a ring topology are referred to as a ring network. In a ring network, packets of data travel from one device to the next until they reach their destination. Most ring topologies allow packets to travel only in one direction, called a unidirectional ring network. Others permit data to move in either direction, called bidirectional.

https://www.computerhope.com/jargon/r/ringtopo.htm

Star Topology

DEFINITION

Star topology has become the dominant physical topology for LANs. The star was first popularized by ARCNET, and later adopted by Ethernet. Each node is connected directly to a central device such as a hub or a switch, as shown in Figure 5.17.configuration, the remote branches can communicate securely with the corporate headquarters or central site. However, intercommunication between the branches is not permitted. Such a configuration could be deployed in a bank network so that compromise of one branch will not immediately lead to the compromise of a second branch without being detected. To gain access to a second branch, the attacker would have to first compromise the central network that would hopefully be able to detect such an attack

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/computer-science/star-topology

Mesh Topology

Definition 

Mesh topology is a type of networking in which all the computers are inter-connected to each other. In Mesh Topology, the connections between devices take place randomly. The connected nodes can be computers, switches, hubs, or any other devices. In this topology setup, even if one of the connections goes down, it allows other nodes to be distributed. This type of topology is very expensive and does not have any hierarchy, interdependency, and uniform pattern between nodes. The connections of the mesh topology are not easier to establish.

https://www.javatpoint.com/what-is-mesh-topology

Protocol

Definition

Ideally, runs as single instance on single server (but there is no obstacle to having several workers on single machine). It needs the following:

logical name

method of coordination

It then creates an instance of a coordinator, passes to it the method of coordination and awaits instructions. These include command start, which starts the topology with provided definition.

https://qminer.github.io/qtopology/protocols.html