What Is The WAN Network?

What is the WAN Network: What is a Network?

A Network is a group of devices which are connected to each other to share information or resources. A group of devices may include computers, routers, switches, printers and servers etc. A network can be divided into three categories such as LAN, MAN and WAN.

What is the WAN Network?

Let’s start about what is the WAN network? WAN stands for Wide Area Network. WAN connects a group of computers over long and large distances. In other words, we can say that Wide Area Network (WAN) connects multiple cities or different countries together and it connects multiple LANs, MANs and WANs together.  It could connect the whole World; a good example of WAN is Internet. WANs could use a combination of different types of connections such as fiber-optic cable, Microwave transmissions and satellite links to transfer data across the network.

Know LAN and MAN

LAN stands for Local area Network, which connects a group of computers within a building or a campus. It ranges between 1-1000 Meters (Up to 1 KM).

MAN stands for Metropolitan Area Network, which connects a group of computers within a city or between two different towns and cities. It ranges between 5-50 KM.

WAN Architecture

WAN architecture depends on specific requirements and the resources available, but WAN architecture has been divided into two categories.

1. Point-to-Point Architecture
2. Packet-Switched Architecture

1. Point-to-Point Architecture: In Point-to-Point WAN architecture device are connected directly with each other with a dedicated link. This type of WAN architecture connects multiple office branches to the main branch office to share resources and data. These types of connections are established through a dedicated link like leased lines, E1 lines or DSL etc.

• Packet-Switched Architecture: In Packet-Switched WAN Architecture, data is transferred over a shared network such as Internet or ISP network. In this type of WAN architecture, data is divided into packets and sent from source to destination. The flexibility of this Wan architecture is better than point-to-point architecture because same network resources could be used by multiple devices.

WAN Technologies

There are a wide range of technologies used in data transmission over a long-distance network.

Leased Line: These types of links are dedicated links (P2P Links) which use a dedicated path to connect multiple office branches or data centers. These types of links are reliable, secured and have a high-speed data transmission.

Frame Relay: This technology is packet-switched WAN technology that uses same network infrastructure and allows multiple devices to send data over it.

ATM: ATM stands for Asynchronous Transfer Mode and is a type of WAN technology which uses fixed length cells to transmit data over a computer network. ATM is fast, reliable and have low latency.

MPLS: MPLs stands for Multiprotocol Label Switching. This WAN technology uses labels over a data packet to transmit over a network. It is very popular because it provides benefits of both packet-switched network and leased lines and provides high speed data transfer, high security, reliability and a better performance that makes it popular.

VPN: VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. With the help of VPN, multiple devices can be connected securely over a public network like Internet. VPN creates a tunnel between source and destination over a public network that makes it secure. VPN also uses encryption and authentication to secure data over a public network.

WAN Topologies

1. Hub-and-Spoke: In this network topology, devices are connected to a central hub and all data transmission passes through this central HUB. Device can be Routers, Switches and servers etc.

• Mesh Topology: In this type of network topology, all devices are connected to each other, and any device can communicate with any device in the network and there is no central point here where data needs to be passed from.

• Ring Topology: In this type of network topology, all devices are connected in loop forming a ring or circular shape. Here data transmission takes place in unidirectional manner where it passes through each device to reach the destination.

• Hybrid Topology: As the name suggests, hybrid topology have features of both mesh topology and hub-and-spoke topology or can say it is the combination of mesh topology and hub-and-spoke topology and can provide features of both topologies and minimize the issues of Mesh and Hub-and-spoke topology.

Wide Area Network (WAN) Security

As we know that security is an essential part of any network to keep the data privacy. As Internet is one of the biggest example of WAN so there are chances of being hacked or data theft. So, there are some measures which can help in proving security in WAN environment.

1. Firewalls: Firewalls play an important role when it comes to security. With the help of firewalls, multiple policies can be defined to secure the data like which site to be blocked and what to be accessed over internet etc. or preventing any malware to protect your data.

• VPN: As we know that VPN creates a tunnel between source and destination over a public network such as Internet. VPN uses encryption to secure your data or information.

• Access Control: This security mechanism allows authentic users to access the network and protect sensitive data from an unauthorized access.

• Intrusion Detection and Prevention (IDS/IPS): IDS/IPS are software or hardware devices that not only detect an unauthorized access rather it prevents an unauthorized user to access the network and it can detect malicious program and block it to prevent data theft.