Introduction
Internet has become an important part of life today and we receive a lot of important data from the Internet daily. But have you ever wondered what the Internet is? It should be said that the Internet is a global collection of large and small networks. These networks are connected to each other in many different ways to form a single entity called the Internet.
What is the Internet?
In answer to the question of what is the Internet, in simple words, we must say that the Internet is closely related to the concept of network. In general, the Internet is a network formed by connecting computers around the world. The main reason for the creation of this huge network was the exchange of information. There are a large number of computer and electronic devices that create this network and communicate. Some of these equipment are on the ocean floor (such as cables) and some are in the sky (such as satellites).
It is interesting to know that even your mobile phone and computer are part of the Internet network. In addition to these, there are a number of software and programming codes in the background that make it possible to operate on the Internet. In fact, when you connect two computers together with a network cable, a local area network called a LAN is created. If you connect various devices such as mobile phones, TVs, laptops or any other electronic device to a modem or router via Wi-Fi, a wireless local network called WLAN is formed. It is necessary to know that the Internet is the most famous network in the whole world.
Introduction to the history of the Internet
Maybe the question arises in your mind, who is the owner of the internet and how did it come about?! The origin of the Internet dates back to 1969. At that time, the US Department of Defense had a division called the Advanced Research Projects Agency (A.R.P.A), which financially supported important projects across the United States. At that time, they supported the development of the Computer Link Project to facilitate data transfer between universities. They named this project ARPANET, which can be considered as the first Internet.
This project was a great success and eventually many computers were connected. 20 years later and in 1989, an important step was taken to create the Internet. Mr. Berners-Lee was an English citizen and computer engineer who developed the HTML language and created the http system to enable information sharing and searching on the Internet. According to statistics reported in 2018, there were more than 4.2 billion users on the Internet, which is equivalent to 55% of the world’s population.
What is the use of the Internet?
From small tasks such as ordering food to complex activities such as financial affairs between different countries, all are based on the Internet and can be implemented quickly. Until several years ago, we had to walk a distance to the newsstand every morning to get the news of the day. But now, thanks to the presence of the Internet, we can access any local or international newspaper with a click or two.
One of the uses of the Internet is to use it to benefit from new job opportunities. By starting a business on the Internet, you will introduce your services to millions of users around the world. In short, in the modern world, learning internet skills seems to be one of the necessary requirements.
What is Internet infrastructure?
The main components of the Internet infrastructure include the following:
Data centers
networks
servers
Storage devices
Server programs
Note that the hardware may be localized in a specific country, but they connect the global and international network together. Infrastructures are like roads and highways that connect different cities and countries.
Do you know how the internet works?
Now, it’s time to know how the internet works? When you connect to a website through a browser (such as Google Chrome), many processes take place behind the scenes to display website information for you. In fact, when you enter the website address in the browser, your computer is not able to send data packets directly to the server.
The truth is that this data package and even the location information that is supposed to be sent there, is sent to the modem or router. Then, your modem sends the same information to your service provider’s (ISP) router. Then, the ISP finds the desired website address (IP) through the domain name service (DNS) and sends it to the routers of other ISPs. (These ISPs may be out of the area). The comment is there, it is found and the information of the files is transferred to your computer system. Received files are interpreted and displayed by the browser.
Difference between Internet and Web
The Internet is a global connection of networks, and the Web (WWW) is actually a collection of information that we can access using the Internet. Through the links we create or exist on the web, we can access thousands of other web pages and use their information. The basis of all these accesses is the Internet. It can be said that the Internet is like electricity to turn on a light bulb!
How does the hierarchy of the Internet network work?
Any computer connected to the Internet is part of a network, even the computer in your home. For example, you may connect to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) through a modem that takes a local number. At work, you may be part of a local area network (LAN), but most likely you still connect to the Internet through an ISP that your company contracts with. When you connect to your ISP, you are part of their network. The ISP then connects to a larger network and becomes part of their network. It can be simply said that the Internet is a network of networks.
The largest telecommunications companies have their own backbones that connect other areas. In each district, each company has a POP (Point of Presence). POPs are places where local users often access the company’s network through a dedicated phone number or line. The surprising thing here is that there is no national controller network. Instead, there are several high-level networks that are connected through Network Access Points or NAPs.
What is the backbone of the Internet?
The backbone of the Internet consists of several fiber optic cables that are placed together to increase the capacity of the network. These cables use light instead of electron flow to transmit data. By the backbone of the Internet, the proper path of data transmission is specified and as a result, every person who is present on the Internet is able to communicate with others.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) created the first high-speed backbone in 1987, known as NSFNET. It was a T1 line that was divided into 170 smaller networks and operated at a speed of 1.544 Mbps. IBM, MCI, and Merit worked with NSF to build the backbone and expanded it to a T3 line (with speeds of 45 Mbps) the following year.
Today, there are many companies that use their high-capacity backbones, and all of them are connected to different NAPs. In this way, anyone on the Internet, regardless of where they are or what company they use, will be able to chat with anyone on the planet. The entire Internet is a giant, wide-ranging agreement between companies for free communication.
Some important concepts in the Internet
Internet protocol
Every computer on the Internet has a unique number called IP, which stands for TCP/IP PROTOCOL. In fact, it is a special language and instructions through which computers communicate with each other.
Domain name system
Your online identity on the Internet is made up of two parts: a specific name and an extension.
URL
url, which stands for Uniform Resource Locator, is an address for files and pages in the web world. By looking at the address bar at the top of any page on the Internet, you can see the URL and find out exactly where and at what address you are standing.
Clients and servers
All devices and machines on the Internet are either servers or clients. Servers are powerful machines that are always on and serve other machines on the Internet. On the other hand, the machines that are used to communicate with the servers are clients.
server
In Farsi modification, server means server. A computer that is very powerful and should always be on so that users can use its resources at any time.
Bandwidth
The rate of receiving and sending information per unit of time is called broadband. For example, when you are downloading a program and you are planning to watch an online movie, it is possible that one of these two will be interrupted because your bandwidth is busy with the download, and when one of the two stops, your bandwidth will be freed. to be As a result, the more bandwidth you have, the more internet tasks you can do at the same time.
Internet hardware
Computer
Smart mobile phone
Satellite
server
Mobile phone antenna tower
Types of internet
Internet of Things
Domestic or national internet
satellite Internet
