Local area network

A LAN is a network of devices that are connected over a small geographical area.

Generally, they connect the devices in a single building to each other, but are not connected to other devices outside the region (such as the Internet).

They’re essentially a little mini network which can only be accessed from a certain area and organisation. So they are useful for connecting devices locally - but they don’t connect to anything outside of the LAN unless you connect them to a WAN using a router - which may, for example, connect to the Internet, which is the world’s largest Wide Area Network.

Central server

Because a LAN is a small network, it can usually be managed by a single central server. That’s a computer that manages the network and all the devices on it.

It can do things like:

• Store files and data for the devices on the network to access
• Manage user accounts and permissions for the devices on the network
• Provide security and other protections for the devices on the network
• make sure the computers are up to date with the latest version of software (which is important for security and performance)
• Keep backups of important data, so that if something goes wrong, the data can be restored easily from one central location.