A local area network (LAN) connects devices in a limited local setting, such as a room, home, or office. In a simple wired LAN, four computers plug into one Ethernet switch. The switch lets them communicate locally; it does not, by itself, connect them to the internet.
What is a network?
A network is a set of connected devices that can exchange data. The connection may be wired or wireless, and the devices might be computers, phones, printers, or other equipment.
A LAN is a network for a local area. “Local” describes the scope of the network, not whether it has internet access. A LAN can work on its own, or it can connect through a router to other networks.
How do four computers make a wired LAN?
Imagine four computers in one room. Run an Ethernet cable from each computer to a port on a central Ethernet switch. The computers and switch now form a basic wired LAN.
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- Computers: The devices that send and receive data.
- Ethernet cables: The physical links between each computer and the switch. Cat 5 and Cat 6 patch cables are among the options used for end-device-to-switch connections; the suitable category depends on the equipment and installation. Cisco’s Ethernet auto-negotiation guidance discusses these cable options.
- Ethernet switch: The central device that connects the wired devices and forwards traffic within the LAN.
In this example, the switch is the meeting point. If one computer sends data to another, the switch helps carry it across the local network rather than requiring a direct cable between every pair of computers.
How does an Ethernet switch deliver data?
Ethernet data travels in frames. An Ethernet switch reads a frame’s destination MAC address and checks its learned MAC address table to choose an outgoing port. The table associates MAC addresses with the ports on which the switch has learned those devices.
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If the switch does not know the destination MAC address, it floods the frame out other ports in the same VLAN. A VLAN is a logical segment of a switched network; traffic is not flooded across every VLAN. Cisco’s overview explains Ethernet switches, MAC addresses, and frame forwarding.
This corrects a common simplification: the switch does not need to inspect an IP packet to make its basic Ethernet forwarding decision. It uses the destination MAC address in the Ethernet frame.
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Is a LAN the same as the internet?
No. A LAN connects devices locally. The internet is the much wider network of interconnected networks. A switch can let computers in the same LAN communicate, but that alone does not provide a path to the internet.
To reach the internet, a LAN typically also needs a router connected to an internet service. The router links the local network to other networks; the switch provides connections among devices on the LAN. A home router may include switch ports, but the roles are still distinct.
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What comes next: connecting without Ethernet cables
The four-computer example uses cables and a switch to make the local connections. A wireless LAN uses radio rather than an Ethernet cable for device access, commonly through a wireless access point. The connection method changes, but the distinction remains: a local network connects nearby devices, while internet access requires a connection beyond that local network.
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