Overview of Network Components

The path that a message takes from source to destination can be as simple as a single cable connecting one computer to another, or as complex as a collection of networks that literally spans the globe. This network infrastructure provides the stable and reliable channel over which these communications occur.
The network infrastructure contains three categories of network components:

• Devices

• Media

• Services

Click each button in the figure to highlight the corresponding network components.
Devices and media are the physical elements, or hardware, of the network. Hardware is often the visible components of the network platform such as a laptop, PC, switch, router, wireless access point, or the cabling used to connect the devices.
Services include many of the common network applications people use every day, like email hosting services and web hosting services. Processes provide the functionality that directs and moves the messages through the network. Processes are less obvious to us but are critical to the operation of networks.