Intro to Computer Networks Internet and Networking Terms Bob Bradley The University of Tennessee at Martin

Intro to Computer Networks The Internet The global collection of connected networks that use TCP/IP protocols. The Internet was created from research done by the U.S. Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) in the late 1960s – early 1970s. The Internet became a commercial success in the 1990s. No one group or country owns or “runs” the Internet, because it is a collection of networks.

Intro to Computer Networks Growth of the Internet The Internet has experienced exponential growth over two decades. It has been doubling in size every nine to twelve months. In 2001, there were over 100 Million computers attached to the Internet. In 2002, there are almost 200 Million computer and nearly 800 Million Internet users. Click here to see the real-time Internet growth charts

Intro to Computer Networks

World Wide Web The hypermedia system used on the Internet in which a page of information can contain text, images, audio or video clips, and references to other pages. The main protocol of the Web is HTTP and the main information format is HTML. Information on the web is identified by a URL.

Intro to Computer Networks URL (Uniform Resource Locator) A syntactic form used to identify a page of information on the World Wide Web. Example: Consists of a protocol :// hostname / page name URLs are universal and unique. The URL to a page can be used to identify and access it from anywhere in the world on the Internet.

Intro to Computer Networks TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol The protocol suite used in the Internet. Allows all the computers on the internet to communicate with each other. The common language of the Internet A computer must be able to “speak” TCP/IP before it can talk on the Internet.

Intro to Computer Networks Protocol A design that specifies the details of how computers interact, including the format of messages they exchange and how errors are handled.

Intro to Computer Networks Protocol Suite A set of protocols that work together to provide a seamless communication system. Each protocol handles a subset of all possible details. The Internet uses the TCP/IP protocol suite.

Intro to Computer Networks RFC (Requests For Comments) Most of the Internet standards and protocols are fully described in documents called RFCs. See The Requests for Comments (RFC) document series is a set of technical and organizational notes about the Internet. Memos in the RFC series discuss many aspects of computer networking, including protocols, procedures, programs, and concepts, as well as meeting notes, opinions, and sometimes humor.

Intro to Computer Networks Example RFCs The following protocols are described by the indicated RFC documents: SMTP (RFC 821) POP (RFC 1725) IMAP (RFC 1730) DNS (RFC 1034, RFC 1035)

Intro to Computer Networks IETF & IESG The official specification documents of the Internet Protocol suite that are defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG ) are recorded and published as standards track RFCs. As a result, the RFC publication process plays an important role in the Internet standards process. RFCs must first be published as Internet Drafts.IETFIESGInternet standards processInternet Drafts

Intro to Computer Networks IP Address A 32-bit address assigned to a computer that uses the TCP/IP protocols. The sender must know the IP address of the destination computer before sending a packet. This is like a phone number for the computer. A program on one computer communicates with a program on another computer, by connecting to its IP address. The 32-bit address is usually represented as four 8- bit decimal numbers separated by periods. Example: IP address is

Intro to Computer Networks IPv4 (Internet Protocol Version 4) The version of IP currently used in the Internet. IPv4 uses 32-bit addresses

Intro to Computer Networks Dotted Decimal Notation The syntactic notation used to express a 32-bit IPv4 address. Each octet is written in decimal with a period separating octets. Example: Mars.utm.edu’s IP address is IP address is IP addresses are , , , , , , , ,

Intro to Computer Networks DNS (Domain Name System) The automated system used to translate computer names into equivalent IP addresses. A DNS server responds to a query by looking up the name and returning the address. DNS is a global distributed database. If you tell your web browser to connect to the web browser will use the DNS system to convert the host name ( into an IP address ( )

Intro to Computer Networks Packet A small, self-contained parcel of data sent across a computer network. Each packet contains a header that identifies the sender and recipient, and a payload area that contains the data being sent. All messages sent on a network such as the Internet are broken into small chucks called packets.

Intro to Computer Networks Packets For example, if I download a web page, my web browser sends a message in a packet like this to the web server: When the web server receives this request, it will send the web page back to my computer by breaking it down into smaller parts and sending each part in a packet: ToFromPayload / Data : GET /index.html Part 1 of web page Part 2 of web page Header ToFromPayload / Data Packet 1 Packet 2

Intro to Computer Networks Protocols SMTP – Simple Mail Transfer Protocol Used to transfer from one computer to another across the Internet. SMTP is part of the TCP/IP protocol suite. POP3 – Post Office Protocol A simple protocol used by a client program to download mail from a server. IMAP - Internet Message Access Protocol A more complicated protocol used by some clients to download and manage

Intro to Computer Networks Web Protocol and Language HTTP – Hyper Text Protocol The simple protocol used to transfer a World Wide Web page from one computer to another. A web client opens up a connection to a web server and sends GET PAGENAME and then the web server sends back the page text (usually HTML) over the connection. HTML – Hyper Text Markup Language The source form used for documents on the World Wide Web. HTML embeds commands that determine formatting along with the text to be displayed (e.g., to move to a new line or indent text).

Intro to Computer Networks LAN (Local Area Network) A network that uses technology designed to span a small geographic area. For example, an Ethernet is a LAN technology suitable for use in a single building. LAN’s can be “bridged” together to allow multiple buildings to be on the same LAN, but a LAN cannot span for much more than a few thousand feet. The University of Tennessee at Martin has a LAN that connects all of the computers on its campus. LAN’s have lower propagation delay than WANs.

Intro to Computer Networks WAN (Wide Area Network) A network that uses technology designed to span a large geographic area. For example, a satellite network is a WAN because a satellite can relay communication across an entire continent. WANs have higher propagation delay than LANs. The University of Tennessee System has a state wide WAN network connection it’s campuses.

Intro to Computer Networks Reference Slides created by Bob Bradley, The University of Tennessee at Martin Most of these terms were taken from the Glossary of Networking Terms and Abbreviations in the back of the book Computer Networks and Internets with Internet Applications Third Edition, Douglas E. Comer Comments and notes added by Bob Bradley, The University of Tennessee at Martin