https://github.com/lionbytes/how-the-internet-works-infographic
An infographic that simplifies the way the internet works.
https://github.com/lionbytes/how-the-internet-works-infographic
Last synced: about 1 month ago
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An infographic that simplifies the way the internet works.
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/lionbytes/how-the-internet-works-infographic
- Owner: lionbytes
- License: mit
- Created: 2018-12-08T14:14:21.000Z (over 6 years ago)
- Default Branch: master
- Last Pushed: 2018-12-09T10:35:58.000Z (over 6 years ago)
- Last Synced: 2025-02-16T08:43:07.801Z (3 months ago)
- Homepage:
- Size: 2.55 MB
- Stars: 21
- Watchers: 2
- Forks: 0
- Open Issues: 0
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Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- License: LICENSE
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README
# How The Internet Works Infographic
# Definitions
An image with the below definitions included is available as well. You can find a vertical and a horizontal version of it in the repo.
### ISP (Internet Service Provider)
An organization that provides its subscribers with services accessing and using the Internet.
### Clients
A client is a computer or a device that makes requests to a server. Clients can be Desktops, Phones, Tablets, Apps, etc.
### Servers
A server is both a piece of hardware, the computer itself, and a piece of software that responds to requests. Examples of servers would be Database Servers, DNS Servers, File Servers, Mail Servers, Web Servers, Gaming Servers.
### Protocols
Protocols are basically languages that Clients and Servers speak in order to communicate. Some of those common protocols are the following: HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, SMTP & WebSocket.
### HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol)
HTTP is a protocol followed in the web to GET, PUT, DELETE and POST data from and to servers. HTTP is how clients and servers transfer webpages on the web.
### HTTPS
The s stands for secure. It means communication between a client and a server is private and encrypted.
### TCP/IP
Responsible for transmitting data efficiently on the internet.
TCP = How
Transmission Control Protocol splits data up into packets and puts them back together at their destination.
IP = Where
Internet Protocol, tells the packets where to go and where they should return to.
### URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
### URI (Uniform Resource Identifier)
URL = DomainName.TLD/URI
### Domain Names
Domain names are organized from right to left, it means each label or section between the dots, specifies a subdomain of the section to its right. For example, in yoursite.com, .com is the Top Level Domain, teamtreehouse is its subdomain
### TLDs
.com .net .org .edu .us .ca .uk
Top Level Domains are considered a parent to domain names.
### DNS (Domain Name Server)
Servers use numbers to locate each other (i.e. IP addresses). The DNS system is the address book of the internet. Domain Name Servers are servers that match the domain name requested by a client with the IP address of the server hosting the requested content then forwards the request to that server.
### Resolving Name Servers
A resolving name server is usually provided by your ISP. Resolving name servers directly find out information about the root, top level domains (TLD) and authoritative name servers. It also speeds up queries by caching results locallly. At least two resolving name servers must be specified that the resolver should query.
### Resolver
A resolver is nothing but a standard set of routines in the Operating Systems (or C library) which provides access to the Internet Domain Name System. You can set 3 name servers. If there are multiple servers, the resolver library queries them in order. If no nameserver entries are present, the default is to use the name server on the local machine.
### IP Address (Internet Protocol Address)
A unique number that identifies every computer connected to the internet. The IP protocol uses IP addresses to route the TCP packets.
In order to transmit the data to the correct location, the IP protocol also adds a small header of information to the packet (e.g. the source IP address and the destination IP address.), just like TCP.
### IPv4
Nearly everything on the web uses Internet Protocol version 4. It is comprised of four numbers, each between 0 and 255, separated by dots (e.g. 0.0.0.0 , 255.255.255.255, etc.). It has the capacity to identify about 4.3 billion unique addresses.
### IPv6
The new IP, Internet Protocol version 6 will support every person on Earth having billions of devices connected to the web at once.
### Routers
Routers connect multiple networks. Routers are intermediary devices that route data packets destined for places outside the local network, and move them to other routers using protocols until all the data reaches its correct destination. Routers bridge the gap between computers across towns, states, and countries.
### Routing Tables
Routers determines the best path (route) to send each data packet from one router to the next. Each router keeps information about other routers in what’s called a routing table.
When a packet is received, a router examines the packet and determines where it needs to go next, using the information from the routing table, which contains at least three bits of information:
1. The network ID
2. The cost, (i.e. how efficient the path is)
3. The next gateway
### Switches
A switches is a device that connects individual computers together on a local area network. Switches are like routers, they also manage the flow of data across a network but in a slightly different way. A switch’s purpose is to physically connect devices on local networks with cables. Connecting a local network to an external network is done with a router.
### LAN
A switch connecting devices together creates what’s called a local area network, or LAN.
### WAN
Wide area network, or WAN
### Modems
Old technology devices that translate digital data from a computer into electrical signals to be transmitted over cable or telephone wires. Then an ethernet cable will connect the modem to a residential router. Today, a modem and a router are combined into one device used to connect homes to the internet.
### ICANN
TLDs are managed by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN. ICANN authorizes domain name registrars.
### Registrars
Domain name registrars are companies responsible for registering and reassigning domain names, companies like GoDaddy, NameCheap and many others.