Network Technology, Structure, And Protocols

But how does it work? The internet, based on the concept of “packet switching”, involves the travelling of small packets of data over one or more networks (Frenzel, 2013). This can be compared to “electronic postcards”, meaning that “a computer generates a piece of data and flings it into the net, just like the postal system, except 100 million times faster” (Cerf, 2013). This concept allows one computer to speak to many different computers around the network by sending out these “electronic postcards”. However, before these networks can work seamlessly together, they must use a common protocol, or set of rules for transmitting and receiving these packets of data. There are several protocols currently in use, including the OSI Model, the TCP/IP Model, UDP, HTTP, and FDP (Mitchell, 2014), but the most commonly used is Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) (Gilmer, 2011). Even as early as 1977, TCP/IP was being used by other networks to link to ARPANET (Kozierok,

The OSI (Open System Interconnection) model is a set of specifications that allow computers around the world to openly communicate. It is pivotal to understanding and developing computer to computer communications in a network. Each layer plays a role in the process of sending and receiving data. The application layer is the top layer (layer seven) it promotes communication between programs and lower-layer network services. The services at this layer allow the network to decipher a program's request and the program to decipher data sent from the network. The Application layer protocols, programs handles formatting, procedure, security, synchronization, and any other requirements with the network. The Presentation Layer (layer 6) acts as a translator. For instance these protocols decode the jpg/jpeg files sent within the Web server’s HTTP response. So, in the last step (the Application layer) we enter the Web address and it took us to the Web site. This step allows us to see the images and content of the site. The Session Layer (layer 5) regulates and controls the communication between two nodes on the network. It is an ongoing exchange of data between the two and keeps the connection between them for the duration. It keeps the communication secure, detects whether or not the communication has been cut off and if it has it determines where to restart the

You will discover different network topologies and different types of networks: LANs, WANs, and internetworks (internets). The concept of switching is discussed to show how small networks can be combined to create larger ones. You will learn about the Internet: its early history, the birth of the Internet, and the issues related to the Internet today. This module covers standards and standards organizations.

The OSI Model is a model is used to define how data is theoretically passed on a network. Each layer is responsible and has its own duties for a network. The name of layer 3 in the OSI is the Network Layer. This layer is responsible for creating the paths for the transmission of data across the network. This layer provides routing and switching capabilities, as well as, internetworking, congestion control, and packet sequencing (Beal, 1999).

6. Why is Ethernet technology more appealing to users than the rest of the LAN technologies?

The Internet is, quite literally, a network of networks. It is comprised of ten thousands of interconnected networks spanning the globe. The computers that form the Internet range from huge mainframes in research establishments to modest PCs in people's homes and offices. Despite the recent hype, the Internet is not a new phenomenon. Its roots lie in a collection of computers that were linked together in the 1970s to form the US Department of Defense's communications systems. Fearing the consequences of nuclear attack, there was no central computer holding vast amounts of data, rather the information was dispersed across thousands of machines. A set of rules, of protocols, known as TCP/IP was

Over the course of the next twenty years it was mainly utilized by the United States military and government to communicate with each other during the “cold war” with the Soviet Union, and the allies of the United States. By 1982 the concept and use of the Internet had been reshaped by the Internet Protocol Suite (IPS). (CNN.org) The idea eventually evolved and was adapted by the United States in 1986, when the Internet Protocol Suite expanded and began to provide access to supercomputer sites for research and educational organizations. The internet further evolved by the mid-1990’s into the mass commercial use we see today, with many early use restrictions lifted. Since then the Internet has continued to expand and continues to advance. (Wikipedia.org)

The two authors follow the story from the conception of the idea of "packet switching" in the early 1960s to the creation and development of the Internet. We see how one idea led to another and how the intelligent people around the circumstances influenced the developments.

2. The seven Layers in the OSI model are Physical Layer, Link Layer, Network Layer, Transport Layer, Session Layer, Application Layer and the presentation Layer. Each layer has a specific function to perform and consist of different protocols. Physical layer is the lowest one and handles transmission and reception of messages over the medium. Then comes the link layer , it allows error free transmission of the data frames in the physical layer. The network layer takes care of processes like routing, traffic control and fragmentation of the data. The next one is the transport layer, it takes care of the

The TCP/IP protocols are the heart and soul of the Internet, and they describe the fundamental rules that govern all communications in the network. The original address system of the Internet is Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4). The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) developed IPv6 to deal with the long-anticipated problem of IPv4 address exhaustion. However, IPv6 is not foreseen to supplant IPv4 instantaneously.

The internet matured in the 1970's as a result of the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), which is sill used today. It was adopted by the U.S. Department of Defense in 1980, and universally adopted in 1983. The usage of TCP/IP is what unites all elements of the net. Both public domain and commercial implementations of the roughly one hundred protocols of the TCP/IP protocol suite became available in the 1980's. During the early 1990's, Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) protocol implementations also became available by the end of 1991, the Internet has grown to include some 5,000 networks in over three dozen countries, serving over 700,000 host computers used be over 4,000,000 people. By December 1996, about 627,000 Internet domain names had been registered and now there are more than 30 million registered.

Internet: Global network of networks using universal standards to connect millions of different networks (Kenneth C Laudon and Jane P Laudon., 2010).

The ability to send and receive data efficiently is the most important objective of networking computers.

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to serve billions of users worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks, of local to global scope, that are linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries a vast range of information resources and services, such as the inter-linked hypertext documents of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the infrastructure to support electronic mail.

The OSI model defines internetworking in terms of a vertical stack of seven layers. The upper