Background on the Internet

• The Internet is a loose federation of networks.

• Cooperative organization - no administration, no fees. Protocols and standards are evolved through the IETF, Internet Engineering Task Force.

• Most national and international networks are members: NSFNET, ESNET, ARPANET, BITNET

• All these networks are packet switched systems based on TCP/IP. Together these protocols allow for communication over a wide variety of technologies. Machines called gateways connect the networks.

• Standard domain name system - names are looked up by name server to obtain routing information.

  • symbolic names: npac.syr.edu
  • internet addresses: 128.230.7.2

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