INTRODUCTION TO INTERNET

Q: what is internet?

The Internet is the largest computer network in the world, connecting millions of computers. A network is a group of two or more computer systems linked together.

 

Internet is network of networks. it begin in 1969 as an experiment for computers of U.S. defense and they connected their network with the research institute for the purpose of technological weapon those research institutes connect that network to academic centers like university and colleges. Then they connect that network with one more network which is commercial network at that time it became a network which used by government and some specialized people its call ARPANET [advance research project agency network].

Then in 1990 it made available to all the people of world using telephone lines and other networks and all networks of different countries and centers are connected together and became internet [inter-connection of networks].

The network or computer operating in different platform is connected to internet by common protocol known as TCP/IP. Internet is a window to global information super high-way.

It is a worldwide network of independent smaller networks or other connected machines spanning the entire globe.

Around the world each country has at least one backbone network that operates at very high speed and carries the bulk of the traffic.

Internet was established by VSNL in India at 15^th august 1995.Internet is providing services like e-mail service, downloading and uploading services, forums, network news, blog , search engine, communication services in form of chatting and voice and video conferencing and shopping carts online, online customer supports etc.

Internet is managed by following organizations:

IAB: Internet Architecture Board

An organization (originally Internet Activities Board) that oversees standards and development for the Internet. This board also administrates, with the help of the IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority), the internet(1) sub tree in the global tree in which all networking knowledge is stored. The IAB has two task forces: IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) and IRTF (Internet Research Task Force).

IESG: Internet Engineering Steering Group

In the Internet community, the executive committee for the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).

IETF: Internet Engineering Task Force.

A committee that operates under the auspices of the Internet Activities Board (IAB) to help establish standards relating to the Internet. The IETF is largely responsible for formulating the Remote Network Monitoring Management Information Base (RMON MIB), which is expected to become the standard for monitoring and reporting network activity in the Internet environment.

IRTF: Internet Research Task Force

A group within the Internet community that works on long-term research projects. These projects may concern any aspect of Internet operations, and some results have led or may lead to major changes in certain aspects of Internet activity.

InterNIC: Internet Network Information Center.

InterNIC is responsible for the assigning and registering IP address.

ICANN: The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is the authority that coordinates the assignment of unique identifiers on the Internet, including domain names, Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, and protocol port and parameter numbers. A globally unified namespace (i.e., a system of names in which there is at most one holder for each possible name) is essential for the Internet to function. ICANN is headquartered in Marina del Rey, California, but is overseen by an international board of directors drawn from across the Internet technical, business, academic, and non-commercial communities. The US government continues to have the primary role in approving changes to the root zone file that lies at the heart of the domain name system. Because the Internet is a distributed network comprising many voluntarily interconnected networks, the Internet, as such, has no governing body. ICANN's role in coordinating the assignment of unique identifiers distinguishes it as perhaps the only central coordinating body on the global Internet, but the scope of its authority extends only to the Internet's systems of domain names, IP addresses, protocol ports and parameter numbers.

 

Summary of internet

In 1969, the US Department of Defense started a project to allow researchers and military personnel to communicate with each other in an emergency. The project was called ARPAnet and it is the foundation of the Internet.

Throughout the 1970's, what would later become the Internet was developed. While mostly military personnel and scientists used it in its early days, the advent of the World Wide Web in the early 1990's changed all that.

Today, the Internet is not owned or operated by any one entity. This worldwide computer network allows people to communicate and exchange information in new ways.

According to www.commerce.net, in April of 1999, there were 92.2 million Internet users over the age of 16 in the United States and Canada. By 2005, it is predicted 75% of the total US population will be online.

 

Q: what is intranet?

An intranet is a private computer network that uses Internet protocols and network connectivity to securely share part of an organization's information or operations with its employees. Sometimes the term refers only to the most visible service, the internal website. The same concepts and technologies of the Internet such as clients and servers running on the Internet protocol suite are used to build an intranet. HTTP and other Internet protocols are commonly used as well, such as FTP. There is often an attempt to use Internet technologies to provide new interfaces with corporate "legacy" data and information systems.

Briefly, an intranet can be understood as "a private version of the Internet," or as a version of the Internet confined to an organization. The term first appeared in print on April 19, 1995, in Digital News & Review in an article authored by technical editor Stephen Lawton.

Intranets differ from "Extranets" in that the former are generally restricted to employees of the organization while extranets can generally be accessed by customers, suppliers, or other approved parties.

There does not necessarily have to be any access from the organization's internal network to the Internet itself. When such access is provided it is usually through a gateway with a firewall, along with user authentication, encryption of messages, and often makes use of virtual private networks (VPNs). Through such devices and systems off-site employees can access company information, computing resources and internal communications.

Intranets are also being used as culture change platforms. For example, large numbers of employees discussing key issues in an online forum could lead to new ideas.

Intranet traffic, like public-facing web site traffic, is better understood by using web metrics software to track overall activity, as well as through surveys of users.

Advantages of intranets

1. Workforce productivity: Intranets can help users to locate and view information faster and use applications relevant to their roles and responsibilities. With the help of a web browser interface, users can access data held in any database the organization wants to make available, anytime and - subject to security provisions - from anywhere within the company workstations, increasing employees' ability to perform their jobs faster, more accurately, and with confidence that they have the right information. It also helps to improve the services provided to the users.
   
2. Time: With intranets, organizations can make more information available to employees on a "pull" basis (i.e.: employees can link to relevant information at a time which suits them) rather than being deluged indiscriminately by emails.
   
3. Communication: Intranets can serve as powerful tools for communication within an organization, vertically and horizontally. From a communications standpoint, intranets are useful to communicate strategic initiatives that have a global reach throughout the organization. The type of information that can easily be conveyed is the purpose of the initiative and what the initiative is aiming to achieve, who is driving the initiative, results achieved to date, and who to speak to for more information. By providing this information on the intranet, staffs have the opportunity to keep up-to-date with the strategic focus of the organization.
   
4. Web publishing allows 'cumbersome' corporate knowledge to be maintained and easily accessed throughout the company using hypermedia and Web technologies. Examples include: employee manuals, benefits documents, company policies, business standards, newsfeeds, and even training, can be accessed using common Internet standards (Acrobat files, Flash files, CGI applications). Because each business unit can update the online copy of a document, the most recent version is always available to employees using the intranet.
   
5. Business operations and management: Intranets are also being used as a platform for developing and deploying applications to support business operations and decisions across the internetworked enterprise.
   
6. Cost-effective: Users can view information and data via web-browser rather than maintaining physical documents such as procedure manuals, internal phone list and requisition forms.
   
7. Promote common corporate culture: Every user is viewing the same information within the Intranet.
   
8. Enhance Collaboration: With information easily accessible by all authorized users, teamwork is enabled
   
   
9. Cross-platform Capability: Standards-compliant web browsers are available for Windows, Mac, and UNIX.
   

 

INTERNET APPLICATION AND SERVICES

Email [Electronic Mail]:

• Email service is used to communicate with each other by the message we can read or write or send or receive message from any one at any time.
  
• This service is very easy , speedy and available at minimum cost.
  
• Mail service is provided by mail server .mail server will store the all messages in to the inbox and for sending message it will use protocols in mail server user can login and manages the emails.
  
• User can save time and money using mail-client application like, Microsoft outlook express and Netscape mail for transferring emails the mail application use some protocols
  
• Protocols used in email services are:-
  

  POP & IMAP: [Post Office Protocol And Internet Message Access Protocol]
  

  This protocol will connect mail-client application to mail server and then receive all emails in the mail-client inbox from the mail server.
  

  SMTP:[Simple Mail Transfer Protocols]
  

  This protocol will sent the email from mail server to another mail server this will send text emails only.
  

  MIME:[Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions]
  

  MIME is a mail handling standard developed by the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) to provide support for multimedia and multipart messages. MIME makes it possible to encode and transmit sound, video, and formatted data in a single message, and also to receive and handle (read, see, or hear) the message.
  

 

Chatting Services:

• Chatting is also one type of internet service with the help of this service we can talk with each other via text messages.
  
• If we can joint or attached web camera then also we can see each other.
  
• Chatting service is provided by the chat server. This server will manage the text messages traffic in the chat box or chat application.
  

Internet News:

• With the help of internet we can gather all the information about all the countries.
  
• Internet news provides all the information and news about while world.
  
• News server are used to store the news and also information and it will be used NNTP [Network News Transfer Protocol] for the transferring the news.
  

  
   

Voice and Video Conferencing:

• Voice and video conferencing is important service for the internet
  
• They can provide any voice chatting and video conferencing with the help of this service we can solve any query or question and they give directly answers or responses.
  

Online services:

• Uploading: when we are putting information from our system to remote system or web server its call uploading, we can upload site and other files which contain information.
  
• Downloading: when we are getting information in our system from remote system or web server its call downloading. We can download files and other resources like picture, sound files etc.
  
• AOL[America On-Line]: AOL offering searching, shopping, channels online services , chatting and mailing services.
  
• MSN[Microsoft Network]: Microsoft provide search of the web, news, images and its having its own encyclopedia also offers desktop searching via tool bar application. MSN messenger will allow you chat with the other users.
  
• CompuServe: CompuServe is online service which can provide services to those users who subscribe for the services. Members can also exchange information with CompuServe's other members. It provide consumer information service. It had the largest consumers for their services approximately 2 million.
  
• Telnet: it allows an internet user to access a remote login after properly connected the remote host user can enter data or running programs from that login.
  
• Usenet: It is a bulletin board services of internet messages in this network are organized into thousands of topical groups or news groups which cover specific areas of internet.
  

 

 

TYPE OF ACCOUNTS

TCP/IP ACCOUNT

• TCP/IP account is point to point protocol (PPP) or serial line protocol account (SLIP).
  
• PPP or SLIP account is an internet amount that uses the PPP or SLIP communication protocol respectively.
  
• There are most popular account because the most popular browsers. Internet explorer and Netscape navigator designed to work with PPP and SLIP.
  
• PPP mere contemporary communication protocol then SLIP so choose PPP is if you have a choice when opening an account.
  
• Compressed SLIP [CSLIP] is a simple efficient version of SLIP but still is not as good as PPP.
  
• To use a PPP account you need a PPP compatible communication .The programmed dials phone using your modem and connect to the ISP logs in to your account by using your user name and password and then establish a PPP connection.
  
• While connected you can be use a variety of program to read your emails browse the web and access other information from the internet.
  

SHELL ACCOUNT:

• Before the advent of PPP and SLIP account most internet accounts were text only shell accounts and this account are still available from same ISP.
  
• You can run a terminal emulation program on your pc to connect and internet host computer.
  
• Most internet host runs unique operating system which is powerful but frequently confusing system and also we have to type unique commands to use a shell account.
  
• When you use shell account you don't see graphics or use mouse and you can't easily store information on your own computer.
  
• Shell account is generally use for file uploading and downloading process because uniqueness of file transfer speed.
  

  ISP [Internet Service Provider]
  

An ISP is a service provider that provides some way to connect to the Internet. Severe access methods are possible, and a particular ISP may allow any or all of these methods. ISPs (Internet Service Providers) fall along a spectrum with respect to service At one end, ISPs provide only Internet access; at the other end, online service providers have Internet access as only a small part of their business. Most ISPs charge at monthly rate, which allows the subscriber a limited number of hours online additional hours cost extra. Some ISPs will provide unlimited access for a (higher) fee.

ISP is an internet service provider is an organization that provides dial in internet account usually PPP, CSLIP, SLIP accounts and also sometimes unique shell account.

Features of ISP

Local Phone Number: Most of ISP has many phone numbers that your computers having a local phone number you don't need to spend mere on a long distance charges for internet connection.

Price: ISP externally charge for hours or speed they provide so you can select your ISP by calculating your usage or speed required.

Software: some ISP provides a CD-ROM or diskette with software that you can use to connect to use of internet.

Support: you never know when you are going to a problem so your ISP's technical support phone number and e-mail address should be open in 24 hours.

Speed: Some ISP has local access number that work with 28.8 kbps [kilo byte per second],33.6 kbps and 56 kbps modems some also support high speed of connections such as ISDN[Integrated service digital network],ADSL[Asynchronous digital subscriber line] at extra cost.

Accessibility: If the ISP's access numbers are frequently busy. You can have to do redialing until you connect. Ask internet users in your area whether they have trouble getting connected to the ISP.