NETWORK

LAN (local area network)

A local area network (LAN) consists of two or more computers connected together in a building or home using software and hardware. A LAN is contrasted to a wide area network (WAN) such as the Internet, which covers a large geographic area. In a LAN, there is a main computer or server, and remote computers called clients. By creating a LAN in the home or office, computers on the LAN can share files, resources, and if desired, an Internet connection.
A lan can be one of two types: wired or wireless. A wired LAN requires Ethernet cable to physically connect all computers on the network to a main device called a switch. A wireless LAN uses radio waves to communicate, eliminating the need for wires. Therefore, the hardware used in a LAN should all be of either the wireless or wired type.WAN (wide area network)

A wide area network (WAN) is a computer network that covers a broad area (i.e., any network whose communications links cross metropolitan, regional, or national boundaries ^[1]). This is in contrast with personal area networks (PANs), local area networks (LANs), campus area networks (CANs), or metropolitan area networks (MANs) which are usually limited to a room, building, campus or specific metropolitan area

Network Protocols

Network protocols like HTTP, TCP/IP, and SMTP provide a foundation that much of the Internet is built on. Find out more about these protocols and how they work.

HTTP - the Hypertext Transfer Protocol - provides a standard for Web browsers and servers to communicate. The definition of HTTP is a technical specification of a network protocol that software must implement.
HTTP is an application layer network protocol built on top of TCP. HTTP clients (such as Web browsers) and servers communicate via HTTP request and response messages. The three main HTTP message types are GET, POST, and HEAD.
HTTP utilizes TCP port 80 by default, though other ports such as 8080 can alternatively be used.
Short for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, the suite of communications protocols used to connect hosts on the Internet. TCP/IP uses several protocols, the two main ones being TCP and IP. TCP/IP is built into the UNIX operating system and is used by the Internet, making it the de facto standard for transmitting data over networks. Even network operating systems that have their own protocols, such as Netware, also support TCP/IP.

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is a protocol for sending email messages across the Internet. It is used in conjunction with both POP3 and IMAP, protocols that enable you to download messages from a mail server to your computer. SMTP is used for outgoing mail while POP3 and IMAP are used for incoming mail.

If you want to use an email client such as Microsoft Outlook to send email messages, you will need to configure the client so that it connects to the correct SMTP mail server to send mail.