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Learning Objectives
In this chapter, you will learn about: The origin, growth, and current structure of the Internet How packet-switched networks are combined to form the Internet
Internet protocols and Internet addressing The history and use of markup languages on the Web, including SGML, HTML, and XML
Learning Objectives
How HTML tags and links work on the World Wide Web
Technology Overview
Computer networks and the Internet form the basic technology structure for electronic commerce.
The computers in these networks run such software as: Operating systems, database managers, encryption software, multimedia creation and viewing software, and the graphical user interface
Technology Overview
The Internet includes: The hardware that connects the computers together and the hardware that connects the networks together
Rapid change in these technologies requires businesses to be flexible.
Packet-Switched Networks
A local area network (LAN) is a network of computers close together.
A wide area network (WAN) is a network of computers connected over a great distance. Circuit switching is used in telephone communication. The Internet uses packet switching Files are broken down into small pieces (called packets) that are labeled with their origin, sequence, and destination addresses.
Routing Packets
The computers that decide how best to forward each packet in a packet-switched network are called routers. The programs on these routers use routing algorithms that call upon their routing tables to determine the best path to send each packet.
When packets leave a network to travel on the Internet, they are translated into a standard format by the router.
These routers and the telecommunication lines connecting them are referred to as the Internet backbone.
Routing Packets
Internet Protocols
A protocol is a collection of rules for formatting, ordering, and error-checking data sent across a network. ARPANET is the earliest packet-switched network.
The open architecture of this experimental network used Network Control Protocol (NCP) which later became the core of the Internet.
Internet Protocols
This open architecture has four key rules that have contributed to the success of the Internet. Independent networks should not require any internal changes to be connected to the network. Packets that do not arrive at their destinations must be retransmitted from their source network.
Router computers act as receive-and-forward devices; they do not retain information about the packets that they handle. No global control exists over the network.
Internet Protocols
The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Internet Protocol (IP) are the two protocols that support the Internet operation (commonly referred to as TCP/IP).
The TCP controls the disassembly of a message into packets before it is transmitted over the Internet and the reassembly of those packets when they reach their destination. The IP specifies the addressing details for each packet being transmitted.
IP Addresses
IP addresses are based on a 32-bit binary number that allows over 4 billion unique addresses for computers to connect to the Internet. IP addresses appear in dotted decimal notation (four numbers separated by periods).
They are assigned by three not-for-profit organizations (ARIN, RIPE, and APNIC).
IP Addresses
Approximately two billion IP addresses are either in use or unavailable for use.
Private IP addresses are a series of IP numbers that have been set aside for subnet use and are not permitted on the Internet. IPv6 is a possible solution that uses a 128-bit hexadecimal number for addresses.
Domain Names
To make the numbering system easier to use, an alternative addressing method that uses words was created. An address, such as www.course.com, is called a domain name.
The last part of a domain name (i.e., .com) is the most general identifier in the name and is called a top-level domain (TLD).
E-mail sent across the Internet must also be formatted to a common set of rules, otherwise e-mail created by one company (or Web site) could not be read by a person at another company.
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) specifies the exact format of a mail message and describes how mail is to be administered at the Internet and network level.
HTML Tags
HTML Links
Hyperlinks are bits of text that connect the current document to: another location in the same document another document on the same host machine another document on the Internet Hyperlinks are created using the HTML anchor tag. Two popular link structures are: Linear hyperlink structure Hierarchical hyperlink structure
HTML Editors
HTML documents can be created in any generalpurpose text editor or word processor.
Sophisticated editors can create full-scale, commercial-grade Web sites with database access, graphics, fill-in forms, and display the Web page along with the HTML code.
Microsoft FrontPage and Macromedia Dreamweaver are examples of Web site builders.
HTML Editors
Intranets An intranet is an interconnected network (or internet small i intended) that does not extend beyond the organization that created it.
Intranets are an extremely popular and low-cost way to distribute corporate information.
An intranet uses Web browsers and Internet-based protocols (including TCP/IP, FTP, Telnet, HTML, and HTTP) and often includes a firewall.
Extranets Extranets are intranets that have been extended to include specific entities outside the boundaries of the organization (business partners, suppliers, etc.).
An extranet can be a public network, a secure (private) network, or a virtual private network (VPN).
Connectivity Overview
The most common connection options that ISPs offer to the Internet are telephone, broadband, leased-line, and wireless. Bandwidth is the amount of data that can travel through a communication line per unit of time.
Bandwidth can differ for data traveling to or from the ISP.
Broadband Connections
Connections that operate at speeds of greater than 200 Kbps are called broadband services.
ADSL uses the DSL protocol to provide bandwidths between 100-640 Kbps upstream and 1.5-9 Mbps downstream. Cable modems provide transmission speeds between 300 Kbps-1 Mbps from the client to the server and a downstream rate as high as 10 Mbps. Satellite microwave transmissions handle Internet downloads at speeds around 500 Kbps.
Leased-Line Connections
Large firms can connect to an ISP using higherbandwidth connections that they can lease from telecommunications carriers. A T1 line operates at 1.544 Mbps and a T3 line operates at 44.736 Mbps.
Wireless Connections
Many researchers and business managers see great potential for wireless networks and the devices connected to them. The term m-commerce (mobile commerce) is used to describe the kinds of resources people might want to access using devices that have wireless connections.
Internet Options
Internet2
Internet2 is an experimental test bed for new networking technologies that is separate from the original Internet.
200 universities and a number of corporations joined together to create this network. It has achieved bandwidths of 10 Gbps.
Internet2 promises to be the proving ground for new technologies and applications of those technologies that will eventually find their way to the Internet.