Chapter 4: Internet and Internet services

4.1 Introduction
The Internet, sometimes called simply "the Net," is a worldwide system of computer networks - a
network of networks in which users at any one computer can, if they have permission, get information
from any other computer (and sometimes talk directly to users at other computers). It was conceived by
the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the U.S. government in 1969 and was first known as
the Arpanet. The original aim was to create a network that would allow users of a research computer at
one university to "talk to" research computers at other universities. A side benefit of Arpanet’s design
was that, because messages could be routed or rerouted in more than one direction, the network could
continue to function even if parts of it were destroyed in the event of a military attack or other disaster.

Today, the Internet is a public, cooperative and self-sustaining facility accessible to hundreds of millions
of people worldwide. Physically, the Internet uses a portion of the total resources of the currently
existing public telecommunication networks. Technically, what distinguishes the Internet is its use of a
set of protocols called TCP/IP (for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol). Two recent
adaptations of Internet technology, the intranet and the extranet, also make use of the TCP/IP protocol.

For most Internet users, electronic mail (email) practically replaced the postal service for short written
transactions. People communicate over the Internet in a number of other ways including Internet Relay
Chat (IRC), Internet telephony, instant messaging, video chat or social media.

The most widely used part of the Internet is the World Wide Web (often abbreviated "WWW" or called
"the Web"). Its outstanding feature is hypertext, a method of instant cross-referencing. In most Web
sites, certain words or phrases appear in text of a different color than the rest; often this text is also
underlined. When you select one of these words or phrases, you will be transferred to the site or page
that is relevant to this word or phrase. Sometimes there are buttons, images, or portions of images that
are "clickable." If you move the pointer over a spot on a Web site and the pointer changes into a hand,
this indicates that you can click and be transferred to another site.

Using the Web, you have access to billions of pages of information. Web browsing is done with a
Web browser, the most popular of which are Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer. The appearance of
a particular Web site may vary slightly depending on the browser you use. Also, later versions of a
particular browser are able to render more "bells and whistles" such as animation, virtual reality, sound,
and music files, than earlier versions.

The Internet has continued to grow and evolve over the years of its existence. IPv6, for example, was
designed to anticipate enormous future expansion in the number of available IP addresses. In a related
development, the Internet of Things (IoT) is the burgeoning environment in which almost any entity or

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object can be provided with a unique identifier and the ability to transfer data automatically over the
Internet.

History of the Internet

From its earliest beginnings on pages of paper and in brilliant minds, the Internet has always been an
emerging technology and an emerging ideal. What follows is a selective and developing chronology of
some of the most important events in the cultural and technological development of cyberspace and the
internet. Primarily intended for interested readers without a technological background, this selective
chronology seeks to present a brief narrative chronology of the technological innovation of the internet
and its predecessors as well as accompanying consumer and cultural developments. Due to the ongoing
nature of the internet and society, this chronology is a work in progress.

1960s-1970s: ARPANET: Commonly thought of as the predecessor to the Internet and created by the US
Department of Defenses Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). The first known fully operational
packet-switching network, the ARPANET was designed to facilitate communication between ARPA
computer terminals during the early 1960s, at a time when computers were far too expensive for
widespread usage.

1962-63: Working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), J.C.R. Licklider authored a series
of memos concerning theoretical network structures. His concept of a Galactic Network envisioned a
world-wide computer network in which computer terminals would be linked to one another, allowing
anyone with access to a terminal the ability to access and send information to other computers and
users.

1959-1964: Stemming from an interest in the survivability of communications networks in the event of a
Soviet Nuclear attack, Paul Baran, an engineer at the RAND military think tank, developed a conceptual
model of communication called distributed communications.

1965: The first network experiment linking two computers takes place between the TX-2 computer by
Lincoln Labs and the Q-32 mainframe operated by the RAND corporations System Development
Corporation. It is the first time in which two computers directly communicated with one another.

1970: The first radio network which makes use of random packet transmission, the Alohanet, is
launched at the University of Hawaii.

1972: Robert Kahn exhibits the first public demonstration of the ARPANET at the International Computer
Communication Conference. This public demonstration is also the first time that electronic mail (email)
is exhibited and is a major catalyst for increasing interest in developing network technology. The first
email programs called SNDMSG and READMAIL are written by Ray Tomlinson marking the beginning of
one of the most widely used applications today.

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1973: Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf helped to develop a networking protocol that would allow an open-
architecture for multiple networks to be joined together. This protocol later emerged as the
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol or TCP/IP.

1973-1975: While working at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, Robert Metcalfe develops a system
which replaces radio transmission of network data with a cable that provides a larger amount of
bandwidth, enabling the transfer of millions of bits of data per second in comparison with the thousands
of bits per second when using a radio channel transmission. This system is originally known as the Alto
Aloha network but which was later known as Ethernet.

1974: Ted Nelson proposes hypertext as a way of organizing information, making it possible to link
information in a less linear manner.

1975: The first commercially available popular personal computer, the Altair 8800 is introduced as a kit.

1976: Apple Computer founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

1977: ARPA funds the Bolt, Beranek, and Newman electronics company (intimately involved in the
evolution of the ARPANET and the Internet) to use the TCP/IP protocol along with the emerging and
popular Unix operating system.

1978: The first mass-marketed personal computer, the Apple II, is launched.

1979: Tom Truscott and Steve Bellovin make use of a UNIX program that allows files to be transferred
between networked computers to exchange electronic newsletters between Duke University and the
University of North Carolina by way of a dial-up connection. This system spreads and comes to be known
as USENET.

1981: 3Com announces an Ethernet product for workstation computers followed by a version for
personal computers in 1982. The 3Com Ethernet networking system allows users to build more
affordable local area networks (LANs) and has come to be the standard way of building personal
networks. In the same year, IBM releases its own Personal Computer (PC) which will become the
industry standard. Sun Microsystems launches the Sun I workstation.

1982-1983: ARPANET is split into two separate entities: MILNET to serve the needs of national defense
and the military community and ARPANET which is primarily utilized by academics and researchers. This
is the first step toward the commercialization of the Internet. The unofficial birth of the Internet occurs
when both ARPANET and Defense Data Networks begin to use TCP/IP protocol.

1984: Apple Macintosh is launched.

1985: The first domain is registered.

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1989: Performance Systems International begins offering TCP/IP network services to businesses.

1990: Tim Berners-Lee, Robert Cailliau, and other CERN scientists begin to create the first actual
incarnation of the World Wide Web. Berners-Lee and his colleagues developed a shared format for
hypertext documents which was named hypertext markup language or HTML. In addition to HTML,
Berners-Lee and others created uniform resource locator (URL) as a standard address format that could
specify the computer being targeted and the type of information being requested.

1993: The Whitehouse and the United Nations go online and develop an official internet presence.

1994: Jeff Bezos designs the business plan for [Link].

1995: 1995 proves to be an eventful year in the formation of contemporary internet culture because it
sees the official launch of the online bookstore [Link], the internet search engine Yahoo, online
auction site Ebay, the Internet Explorer web browser by Microsoft, and the creation by Sun
Microsystems of the Java programming language which allows for the programming of animation on
websites giving rise to a new level of internet interactivity.

1998: Google Inc. is founded by Sergey Brin and Larry Page to promote and oversee their new search
engine which will rival yahoo.

1999: The dawn of internet music and video piracy controversies rises with the introduction of the
Napster file-sharing software by Shawn Fanning, a college student. During the same year, the Internet
encounters the first malicious computer virus capable of automatically copying and sending itself to all
email addresses listed in an infected users address book.

2003: The rise of spam; unsolicited junk mail messages begin to account for over half of all e-mail
messages sent and received.

4.2 The internet architecture

The Internet's architecture is described in its name, a short from of the compound word "inter-
networking". This architecture is based in the very specification of the standard TCP/IP protocol,
designed to connect any two networks which may be very different in internal hardware, software, and
technical design. Once two networks are interconnected, communication with TCP/IP is enabled end-to-
end, so that any node on the Internet has the near magical ability to communicate with any other no
matter where they are. This openness of design has enabled the Internet architecture to grow to a
global scale.

In practice, the Internet technical architecture looks a bit like a multi-dimensional river system, with
small tributaries feeding medium-sized streams feeding large rivers. For example, an individual's access
to the Internet is often from home over a modem to a local Internet service provider who connects to a

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regional network connected to a national network. At the office, a desktop computer might be
connected to a local area network with a company connection to a corporate Intranet connected to
several national Internet service providers. In general, small local Internet service providers connect to
medium-sized regional networks which connect to large national networks, which then connect to very
large bandwidth networks on the Internet backbone. Most Internet service providers have several
redundant network cross-connections to other providers in order to ensure continuous availability.

The companies running the Internet backbone operate very high bandwidth networks relied on by
governments, corporations, large organizations, and other Internet service providers. Their technical
infrastructure often includes global connections through underwater cables and satellite links to enable
communication between countries and continents. As always, a larger scale introduces new
phenomena: the number of packets flowing through the switches on the backbone is so large that it
exhibits the kind of complex non-linear patterns usually found in natural, analog systems like the flow of
water or development of the rings of Saturn (RFC 3439, S2.2).

Each communication packet goes up the hierarchy of Internet networks as far as necessary to get to its
destination network where local routing takes over to deliver it to the addressee. In the same way, each
level in the hierarchy pays the next level for the bandwidth they use, and then the large backbone
companies settle up with each other. Bandwidth is priced by large Internet service providers by several
methods, such as at a fixed rate for constant availability of a certain number of megabits per second, or
by a variety of use methods that amount to a cost per gigabyte. Due to economies of scale and
efficiencies in management, bandwidth cost drops dramatically at the higher levels of the architecture.

4.3 Internet connections

Dial-up

This is where it all started. You would take your home or office phone handset, and put it into a cradle
called a modulator/demodulator, or modem as we know them today.

The modem took digital signals from your computer and turned them into audible sounds that would
get transmitted though the mouthpiece of the handset. Off the signal would go over ordinary telephone
wires to the computer that was acting as your Internet service provider. The signal coming back from
the Internet would be played into the ear-piece of the phone and the modem would translate that
audible signal into a digital signal that the computer could work with.

That is the essence of how all Internet communications go between your computer and wherever on the
Internet you’re communicating with. What have changed are the medium which these signals travel
through, and the signal itself.

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With the dial-up modem, the signal was analog and the medium was a phone line made of a pair of
copper wires. This was the “tin can and string” of the Information Superhighway, but it was the best
(and only) method there was for a long, long time.

The signal, being analog, was not the most efficient way to communicate. If you were to picture a graph,
an analog signal would look like a series of peaks and valleys, drawn with seemingly no meaning. Your
voice is an analog signal, live music is an analog signal, and sounds in nature are analog signals. Now you
get the picture. These peaks and valleys are much nuanced, and mostly pleasant to our ears. Dial-up
providers throw the term ’56k’ around a lot. In reality, you can expect 33 kbps on average.

DSL (Telephone Line)

DSL is an initialization of Digital Subscriber Line. The phone companies developed a way to send a
second signal down the phone lines, and they did this by sending it at a higher frequency. It’s a pretty
complex method, but if you’re trying to explain it to someone, here’s a simplified analogy. Imagine a
pipe that you send a green marble down every 60 seconds. When there are green marbles in the pipe
that appears to be all that you can really do with it – send green marbles. Those green marbles are the
voice communications.

Now imagine that you could start sending red marbles down the pipe, between sending the green
marbles. Let’s say you send the red marbles every 5 seconds. The red marbles are data. As you can tell,
the data (red marbles) travel at a higher frequency than the voice (green marbles).

Yet we can still use the same old pipe that we only used for voice before and have data flow through it.

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At the other end of the pipe, there’s a machine that sorts the marbles. All the data marbles go to the
computer, all the voice marbles go to the phone.

In real life, this is done by a signal filter. If you have DSL service, you know what these look like. It filters
out the high frequency so you can hear the voice better. Otherwise there would be a high-pitched hiss
on the phone line.

To make DSL work even better, the smart folks came up with Asynchronous DSL (ADSL). They figured out
that your average person is more concerned with download speeds than upload speeds. When you’re
on Facebook, most of the time you are only typing a few letter and sending a few mouse clicks. That
doesn’t need much bandwidth. But you’re downloading everyone else’s statuses, pictures, and videos.
That takes a LOT of bandwidth.

The most popular analogy is a four-lane highway between two towns. Normally, you’d have two lanes
going east, and two lanes going west. That would be a synchronous highway. We have more traffic going
west than east though. So why not use one lane to go east, and three lanes to go west? That’s an
asynchronous highway. The one lane is your mouse clicks and typed letters, the three lanes is everyone
else’s statuses, pictures, and videos. You can see it in this chart that also shows the voice part in the
lower bandwidth range.

DSL ISPs promise speeds from 1.5 Mbps to 10 Mbps, however new technology could push it to 100
Mbps. A more realistic number is about 80-90% of what your ISP advertises.

Cable (Coaxial Cable)

When Internet access made the jump from dial-up, cable was the first new medium to be used. The
cable used is the same as the cable that you may have for cable TV. One of those round cables, with a
solid copper wire core inside of a thick plastic like insulator. Around the insulator there is usually a foil

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shield with a braided aluminum jacket around that. All of that is inside the outer plastic jacket of the
cable.

The beauty of cable was that many homes already had it. Coaxial cable had been used for decades to
send multiple signals, why not add Internet? So they did. Delivering Internet access over cable uses a
standard called Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS). This method isn’t a whole lot
different than what DSL does by using a high frequency for data and a low frequency for voice. Cable,
however, uses many different frequencies – one for each channel. The oversimplified explanation of
how DOCSIS works is that they added another channel (or frequency) for data. Cable can also use
asynchronous data transmission, like DSL does.

Of course, cable Internet access does require special modems to work. The modem has to separate the
data from the television channels and present the signal to your computer in a fashion that it will
understand.

Residential service can go up to about 250 Mbps, but most ISPs offer somewhere between 10 Mbps and
120 Mbps.

Fiber Optic

The technologies that we’ve talked about so far use electricity and copper wires to transmit the signal.
Then along comes fiber optics. In its simplest terms, the signal is light and the medium is a special type
of flexible glass or clear plastic cable. Glass allows light to travel quite well, right?

Here’s an oversimplified explanation of how a fiber optic communication system works:

There is a transmitter on one end that converts the electrical signal to light. The light travels down the
glass cable to a receiver at the other end. The receiver detects the light and generates an electrical
signal that your computer can use.

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“Light travels through empty space at 186,000 miles per second. The electricity which flows through the
wires in your homes and appliances travels much slower: only about 1/100th the speed of light.”

That’s a big part of the reason why fiber optic networks are so fast.

Unfortunately, fiber networks are not as inexpensive or simple to install and run as wire-based
networks. That’s why it’s most often used for large trunks on the Internet between major cities and
across oceans. More and more, you are able to get fiber to the home, though.

Broadband over Power line

The basic idea is almost identical to using cable or phone lines. The signal goes over the power lines that
come to your house. Why not? The lines are already there!

In theory it was a good idea, but not yet good enough to become a solid option to the Internet access
methods we already have.

Wireless Internet Access

The term ‘wireless’ is a big catch-all term to cover any type of Internet access that doesn’t require a
cable between you and your ISP. This makes it important for you to ask a few questions before signing
up for ‘Wireless Internet’. Each type works a little bit differently and has its own pros and cons.

Wireless Broadband

When ISPs advertise wireless broadband for your home, this is usually the type that they are talking
about. The ISP will connect to the Internet through a cabled connection and then broadcast that
connection using radio waves. You, as the customer, would have some sort of antenna and modem set
up that would let you communicate with the ISP.

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These systems work almost identically to cordless phones, even on the same frequencies that cordless
phones do. The ISP just broadcasts with higher power so the signal will travel further. The one challenge
is that your antenna needs to have a clear line-of-sight to their antenna. If there are trees or buildings in
the way, you will get little to no service.

Wireless broadband is almost always only considered an option when you don’t have cable or DSL
service to your home. It’s a good option for rural homes or cottages.

The service speeds with wireless broadband aren’t nearly as fast as with fiber or cables, for the same
reason that your WiFi isn’t as fast as being connected to a network cable. Signals travel better in cables
than free-air. Speed: maximum of 1.5 Mbps, more likely 800 Kbps.

Mobile Internet

This is how you get the Internet on your phone, USB stick, or PC cards that go in your computer. Service
providers typically refer to it as Mobile Wireless Broadband, even though the term broadband isn’t
technically being used correctly.

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For a large part of the world, if you have cell phone service, you should be able to get mobile Internet
service. Being available practically everywhere, and so many people having smartphones, there is an
argument to be made that wireless Internet is the future.

Mobile Internet works with radio waves, similar to wireless broadband. Most people don’t realize that
their cellphones are actually a type of radio. Over the years, service providers have figured out a way to
transmit voice and data at the same time. There are several different ways that data can be sent over
the cell signal. You’ve heard the terms 3G, 4G, and more recently, LTE. Each of those methods has a
different way of sending data. 3G is an older, slower method and LTE is the newer faster method. The
underlying principle is still the same though. Speed: With LTE service, up to 150 Mbps, but more like 75
Mbps.

Satellite Internet

As the name suggests, this is a way to get Internet access via a satellite dish. The signal gets beamed to a
satellite which turns around and beams the signal to you, and vice versa. Like wireless broadband, it is a
line-of-sight technology. Your dish needs to have a clear shot at wherever the satellite is in the sky.
That’s why it takes a professional installer to set it up.

Each transmission takes about a 45,000 mile trip between you, the satellite, and the ISP. From what we
talked about earlier, you know that a signal traveling that far will get pretty weak (Attenuation). That’s
part of why satellite Internet service isn’t usually your first choice. Another reason is that everyone in
your area using satellite Internet has to share the same bandwidth. If you’re hogging the bandwidth, the
ISP will slow your connection down to a crawl to give everyone else a chance.

4.4 Internetworking Protocols

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Spanning the world with its almighty presence, today's Internet connects computers, telephones,
entertainment, electronics and in a short time also the household devices and the goods we need for
daily life. More and more it penetrates the surface of our lives. To enable these different devices to
communicate smoothly and efficiently with each other their communication must follow defined rules
called communication protocols. These mold the individual layers of Internet communication
determining the tasks, level of abstraction complexity and respective range of functions. By what means
and way these specifications are put into practice is, however, not defined by the model but depends on
the specific implementation. The TCP/IP reference model thus assumed a concrete form through
practical application and builds today, as well as in the foreseeable future, a solid foundation for all of
the communication tasks on the Internet.

Communication Protocol and the Layer Model

Let us first take a closer look at the basis of computer communication. The hardware of a computer
network is made up of components that have the task of transmitting information, encoded in the form
of bits, from one computer to another. If one wanted to organize computer communication solely on
this level it would be like programming a computer in a rudimentary machine language, i.e., only using
zeros and ones. It would be virtually impossible to control the required effort and complexity needed to
carry out this task. As in computer programing, complex software systems – called network operating
systems – were therefore created for the control and use of computer networks. With their help,
computer networks can be controlled and implemented in a comfortable way from a higher level of
abstraction. These network operating systems are based on the idea of handling communication tasks
and functions in different degrees of abstraction and complexity. Tasks and functionalities at the same
level of abstraction are bundled together into layers. Structured one on top of the other, different layers
are defined in such a way that with the increasing level of abstraction, communication tasks with
different complexity are handled. They are available to the user or computer application via a suitable
interface. This type of an approach is also called a layer model of communication.

As shown in figure below Layer 4 on the source computer communicates with Layer 4 on the destination
computer. The rules and conventions used for this layer are known as Layer 4 protocols. It is important
to remember that protocols prepare data in a linear fashion. A protocol in one layer performs a certain

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set of operations on data as it prepares the data to be sent over the network. The data is then passed to
the next layer where another protocol performs a different set of operations.

Once the packet has been sent to the destination, the protocols undo the construction of the packet
that was done on the source side. This is done in reverse order. The protocols for each layer on the
destination return the information to its original form, so the application can properly read the data.

Advantages of layering

 Divide and conquer: According to this strategy a complex problem is broken down into
individual sub problems. Each one can be handled separately and is thus easier to manage and
solve. This might be the only way that a problem can be solved as a whole.
 Independence: The individual layers collaborate with each other, every layer only using the
interface specifications of its direct predecessor. With fixed, predetermined interface
specifications, the internal structure of a layer does not play a role for the other layers.
Therefore, implementations on a layer could be exchanged without additional effort in the case
of improved implementations. They would only have to be oriented on the respective interface
specifications. In this way, implementations at individual layers are from those at the other
layers and a (building-block) construction of the whole system is made possible.
 Shielding: Each individual layer communicates only with its two directly neighboring layers. An
encapsulation of the single layers is achieved. The challenge posed by the level of complexity to
be overcome sinks drastically.
 Standardization: The breakdown of the overall problem into individual layers also makes the
development of standards easier. An individual layer and its interface allows a faster and easier
standardization with the neighboring layers than with the complex system in its entirety.

4.4.1 OSI reference model

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To enable the development of network protocol families, the International Standards Organization (ISO)
made the ISO/OSI reference model available starting in 1977 for communication in open networks
(Open Systems Interconnection). It broke down the entire process of network communication into seven
individual layers and is designed as a conceptual tool for the development of protocol families.

The ISO/OSI reference model was given the name Open System Interconnect, as it was intended for the
connection of open systems, i.e., systems that are open for communication with other systems. The
primary idea behind the design of the ISO/OSI Reference Model was that every single layer was to
implement an exactly defined function. A new, higher layer would always be added if a new degree of
abstraction was necessary to carry out the tasks at hand. The ISO/OSI model does not itself offer
network architecture. Only the tasks of the individual layers are determined in it and no decisions are
made about the implementation of the functionality of the services and protocols.

A) PHYSICAL LAYER

 Provides physical interface for transmission of information.

 Defines rules by which bits are passed from one system to another on a physical communication
medium.
 Covers all - mechanical, electrical, functional and procedural - aspects for physical
communication.
 Such characteristics as voltage levels, timing of voltage changes, physical data rates, maximum
transmission distances, physical connectors, and other similar attributes are defined by physical
layer specifications.
 Concerned with line configuration, physical topology and transmission mode.

B) DATA LINK LAYER

 Data link layer attempts to provide reliable communication over the physical layer interface.
 Breaks the outgoing data into frames and reassemble the received frames.
 Create and detect frame boundaries.
 Handle errors by implementing an acknowledgement and retransmission scheme.
 Implement flow control.
 Responsible for Error Control.
 Supports points-to-point as well as broadcast communication.
 Supports simplex, half-duplex or full-duplex communication.

C) NETWORK LAYER

 Implements routing of frames (packets) through the network.

 Defines the most optimum path the packet should take from the source to the destination.
 Defines logical addressing so that any endpoint can be identified.

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  The network layer also defines how to fragment a packet into smaller packets to accommodate
different media.

D) TRANSPORT LAYER

 Purpose of this layer is to provide a reliable mechanism for the exchange of data between two
processes in different computers.
 Ensures that the data units are delivered error free.
 Ensures that data units are delivered in sequence.
 Ensures that there is no loss or duplication of data units.
 Provides connectionless or connection oriented service.
 Provides for the connection management.
 Multiplex: multiply a connection over a single channel.

E) SESSION LAYER

 Session layer provides mechanism for controlling the dialogue between the two end systems.
 It defines how to start, control and end conversations (called sessions) between applications.
 This layer requests for a logical connection to be established on an end-user’s request.
 Any necessary log-on or password validation is also handled by this layer.
 Session layer is also responsible for terminating the connection.
 This layer provides services like dialogue discipline which can be full duplex or half duplex.
 Session layer can also provide check-pointing mechanism such that if a failure of some sort
occurs between checkpoints, all data can be retransmitted from the last checkpoint.

F) PRESENTATION LAYER

 Presentation layer defines the format in which the data is to be exchanged between the two
communicating entities.
 Also handles data compression and data encryption (cryptography).

G) APPLICATION LAYER

 Application layer interacts with application programs and is the highest level of OSI model.
 Application layer contains management functions to support distributed applications.
 Examples of application layer are applications such as file transfer, electronic mail, remote login
etc.

Figure below shows summary of all layers of OSI Model:

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4.4.2 TCP/IP Model:

The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) created the TCP/IP reference model because it wanted a
network that could survive any conditions.

Application Layer:

The application layer handles high-level protocols, representation, encoding, and dialog control. The
TCP/IP protocol suite combines all application related issues into one layer. It ensures that the data is
properly packaged before it is passed on to the next layer. TCP/IP includes Internet and transport layer
specifications such as IP and TCP as well as specifications for common applications. TCP/IP has protocols
to support file transfer, e-mail, and remote login.

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  File Transfer Protocol (FTP) – FTP is a reliable, connection-oriented service that uses TCP to
transfer files between systems that support FTP. It supports bi-directional binary file and ASCII
file transfers.
 Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) – TFTP is a connectionless service that uses the User
Datagram Protocol (UDP). TFTP is used on the router to transfer configuration files and Cisco IOS
images, and to transfer files between systems that support TFTP. It is useful in some LANs
because it operates faster than FTP in a stable environment.
 Network File System (NFS) – NFS is a distributed file system protocol suite developed by Sun
Microsystems that allows file access to a remote storage device such as a hard disk across a
network.
 Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) – SMTP administers the transmission of e-mail over
computer networks. It does not provide support for transmission of data other than plain text.
 Telnet – Telnet provides the capability to remotely access another computer. It enables a user
to log into an Internet host and execute commands. A Telnet client is referred to as a local host.
A Telnet server is referred to as a remote host.
 Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) – SNMP is a protocol that provides a way to
monitor and control network devices. SNMP is also used to manage configurations, statistics,
performance, and security.
 Domain Name System (DNS) – DNS is a system used on the Internet to translate domain names
and publicly advertised network nodes into IP addresses.

Transport Layer:

The transport layer provides a logical connection between a source host and a destination host.
Transport protocols segment and reassemble data sent by upper-layer applications into the same data
stream, or logical connection, between end points.

 Creates packet from bytes stream received from the application layer.
 Uses port number to create process to process communication.
 Uses a sliding window protocol to achieve flow control.
 Uses acknowledgement packet, timeout and retransmission to achieve error control.

The primary duty of the transport layer is to provide end-to-end control and reliability as data travels
through this cloud. This is accomplished through the use of sliding windows, sequence numbers, and
acknowledgments. The transport layer also defines end-to-end connectivity between host applications.
Transport layer protocols include TCP and UDP.

TCP is a connection-oriented transport layer protocol that provides reliable full-duplex data
transmission. TCP is part of the TCP/IP protocol stack. In a connection-oriented environment, a
connection is established between both ends before the transfer of information can begin. TCP breaks
messages into segments, reassembles them at the destination, and resends anything that is not
received. TCP supplies a virtual circuit between end-user applications.

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UDP is the connectionless transport protocol in the TCP/IP protocol stack. UDP is a simple protocol that
exchanges datagrams without guaranteed delivery. It relies on higher-layer protocols to handle errors
and retransmit data.

UDP does not use windows or ACKs. Reliability is provided by application layer protocols. UDP is
designed for applications that do not need to put sequences of segments together.

Internet Layer:

The purpose of the Internet layer is to select the best path through the network for packets to travel.
The main protocol that functions at this layer is IP. Best path determination and packet switching occur
at this layer. The following protocols operate at the TCP/IP Internet layer:

 IP provides connectionless, best-effort delivery routing of packets. IP is not concerned with the
content of the packets but looks for a path to the destination.
 Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) provides control and messaging capabilities.
 Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) determines the data link layer address, or MAC address, for
known IP addresses.
 Reverse Address Resolution Protocol (RARP) determines the IP address for a known MAC
address.

IP performs the following operations:

 Defines a packet and an addressing scheme

 Transfers data between the Internet layer and network access layer
 Routes packets to remote hosts

Network Access Layer:

The network access layer allows an IP packet to make a physical link to the network media. It includes
the LAN and WAN technology details and all the details contained in the OSI physical and data link
layers.

Drivers for software applications, modem cards, and other devices operate at the network access layer.
The network access layer defines the procedures used to interface with the network hardware and
access the transmission medium. Modem protocol standards such as Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP)
and Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) provide network access through a modem connection. Many protocols
are required to determine the hardware, software, and transmission-medium specifications at this layer.
This can lead to confusion for users. Most of the recognizable protocols operate at the transport and
Internet layers of the TCP/IP model.

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Network access layer protocols also map IP addresses to physical hardware addresses and encapsulate
IP packets into frames. The network access layer defines the physical media connection based on the
hardware type and network interface.

Comparison of OSI Model and TCP/IP Model:

The OSI and TCP/IP models have many similarities:

 Both have layers.

 Both have application layers, though they include different services.
 Both have comparable transport and network layers.
 Both uses packet-switched instead of circuit-switched technology.
 Networking professionals need to know both models.

Here are some differences of the OSI and TCP/IP models:

 TCP/IP combines the OSI application, presentation, and session layers into its application layer.
 TCP/IP combines the OSI data link and physical layers into its network access layer.
 TCP/IP appears simpler because it has fewer layers.
 When the TCP/IP transport layer uses UDP it does not provide reliable delivery of packets. The
transport layer in the OSI model always does.

4.5 IP Address:

Each computer in a TCP/IP network must be given a unique identifier, or IP address. This address, which
operates at Layer 3, allows one computer to locate another computer on a network. All computers also
have a unique physical address, which is known as a MAC address. These are assigned by the
manufacturer of the NIC. MAC addresses operate at Layer 2 of the OSI model.

An IP address (IPv4) is a 32-bit sequence of ones and zeros. To make the IP address easier to work with,
it is usually written as four decimal numbers separated by periods. For example, an IP address of one
computer is [Link]. Another computer might have the address [Link]. This is called the dotted
decimal format. Each part of the address is called an octet because it is made up of eight binary digits.
For example, the IP address [Link] would be 11000000.10101000.00000001.00001000 in binary
notation. The dotted decimal notation is an easier method to understand than the binary ones and zeros
method. This dotted decimal notation also prevents a large number of transposition errors that would
result if only the binary numbers were used.

IP addresses are divided into class:

IP Address Class First Octet Address Range Used for:

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Class A 0-127 Unicast (Very Large Networks)
Class B 128-191 Unicast (Medium to large network)
Class C 192-223 Unicast (Small Network)
Class D 224-239 Multicast
Class E 240-255 Reserved

Class A Blocks:

A class A address block was designed to support extremely large networks with more than 16 million
host addresses. Class A IPv4 addresses used a fixed /8 prefix with the first octet to indicate the network
address. The remaining three octets were used for host addresses.

The first bit of a Class A address is always 0. With that first bit a 0, the lowest number that can be
represented is 00000000, decimal 0. The highest number that can be represented is 01111111, decimal
127. The numbers 0 and 127 are reserved and cannot be used as network addresses. Any address that
starts with a value between 1 and 126 in the first octet is a Class A address.

Class B Blocks

Class B address space was designed to support the needs of moderate to large size networks with more
than 65,000 hosts. A class B IP address used the two high-order octets to indicate the network address.
The other two octets specified host addresses. As with class A, address space for the remaining address
classes needed to be reserved.

The first two bits of the first octet of a Class B address are always 10. The remaining six bits may be
populated with either 1s or 0s. Therefore, the lowest number that can be represented with a Class B
address is 10000000, decimal 128. The highest number that can be represented is 10111111, decimal
191. Any address that starts with a value in the range of 128 to 191 in the first octet is a Class B address.

Class C Blocks:

The class C address space was the most commonly available of the historic address classes. This address
space was intended to provide addresses for small networks with a maximum of 254 hosts.

Class C address blocks used a /24 prefix. This meant that a class C network used only the last octet as
host addresses with the three high-order octets used to indicate the network address.

A Class C address begins with binary 110. Therefore, the lowest number that can be represented is
11000000, decimal 192. The highest number that can be represented is 11011111, decimal 223. If an
address contains a number in the range of 192 to 223 in the first octet, it is a Class C address.

Class D Blocks:

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The Class D address class was created to enable multicasting in an IP address. A multicast address is a
unique network address that directs packets with that destination address to predefined groups of IP
addresses. Therefore, a single station can simultaneously transmit a single stream of data to multiple
recipients.

The Class D address space, much like the other address spaces, is mathematically constrained. The first
four bits of a Class D address must be 1110. Therefore, the first octet range for Class D addresses is
11100000 to 11101111, or 224 to 239. An IP address that starts with a value in the range of 224 to 239
in the first octet is a Class D address.

Class E Block:

A Class E address has been defined. However, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) reserves these
addresses for its own research. Therefore, no Class E addresses have been released for use in the
Internet. The first four bits of a Class E address are always set to 1s. Therefore, the first octet range for
Class E addresses is 11110000 to 11111111, or 240 to 255.

4.6 Common network protocols

HTTP

A standard Internet protocol that specifies the client/server interaction processes between Web
browsers such as Mozilla Firefox and Web servers such as Apache. It’s the network protocol used to
deliver virtually all files and other data (collectively called resources) on the World-Wide-Web, whether
they are HTML files, image files, query results or anything else. Usually HTTP takes place though TCP/IP
Sockets.

A Browser is an HTTP client because it sends requests to an HTTP server (Web Sever), which then sends
response back to the client. The standard and default port for the HTTP servers to listen is 80, though
they can use any port.

What are Resources?

HTTP is used to transmit resources not just files. A resource is some chunk of information that can be
identified by a URL (its R in URL). The most common kind of resource is a file, but a resource may also be
a dynamically generated query, the output of a CGI script, a document that is available in several
languages or anything else.

HTTPS VS HTTP

As opposed to HTTP URLs that begin with "[Link] and use port 80 by default, HTTPS URLs begin with
"[Link] and use port 443 by default. HTTP is unsecured and is subject to man-in-the-middle and

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eavesdropping attacks, which can let attackers gain access to website accounts and sensitive
information. HTTPS is designed to withstand such attacks and is considered secure against such attacks.
HTTP operates at the highest layer of the OSI Model, the Application layer; but the security protocol
operates at a lower sub-layer, encrypting an HTTP message prior to transmission and decrypting a
message upon arrival. Strictly speaking, HTTPS is not a separate protocol, but refers to use of ordinary
HTTP over an encrypted Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or Transport Layer Security (TLS) connection.
Everything in the HTTP message is encrypted, including the headers, and the request/response load.

DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol)

It is a standard Internet protocol that enables the dynamic configuration of hosts on an Internet Protocol
(IP) network. Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is an extension of the bootstrap protocol
(BOOTP).

How It Works

DHCP is a client-server protocol that uses DHCP servers and DHCP clients. A DHCP server is a machine
that runs a service that can lease out IP addresses and other TCP/IP information to any client that
requests them. For example, on Linux System example Ubuntu you can install the DHCP Server service
to perform this function. The DHCP server typically has a pool of IP addresses that it is allowed to
distribute to clients, and these clients lease an IP address from the pool for a specific period of time,
usually several days. Once the lease is ready to expire, the client contacts the server to arrange for
renewal.

DHCP clients are client machines that run special DHCP client software enabling them to communicate
with DHCP servers. All versions of Linux and Windows include DHCP client software, which is installed
when the TCP/IP protocol stack is installed on the machine.

Domain Name System (DNS):

IP address are tough for human to remember and impossible to guess. Domain Name Systems are
usually used to translate a hostname or Domain name (e.g. [Link]) into an IP address (e.g.
[Link]). Domain name comprise a hierarchy so that names are unique, yet easy to remember.

DNS makes it possible to refer to the Internet protocol (IP) based system (hosts) by human friendly
names (domain names). Name resolution is that act of determining the IP address of a given hostname.
The benefits of DNS are two folds. First Domain Name can be logical and easily remembered. Secondly,
should an IP address for a host change, the domain name can still resolve transparently to the users or
application. DNS name resolution is a critical Internet service. Many network services require functional
name service for correct operation.

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Domain names are separated by dots with the topmost element on the right. Each element may be up
to 63 characters long; the entire name may be at most 255 characters long. Letters, numbers or dashes
may be used in an element.

Domain names can be generic, country domain or inverse.

Generic Domains

The generic domains define registered hosts according to their generic behavior. Each node defines a
domain, which is an index to the domain name space database. Table below lists some generic domain
names.

Country Domains

The country domains section uses two-character country abbreviations (e.g., np for Nepal and au for
Australia). Second labels can be organizational, or they can be more specific, national designations.

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SMTP

One of the most popular network services, email is supported by TCP/IP protocol SMTP. It provides
system for sending message to other computers and provides a mail exchange between users. SMTP
supports:

 Sending a message to one or more recipients.

 Sending message that includes texts, voice, video or graphics.
 Sending message to users on the network outside the Internet.

SMTP supports sending of email only. It cannot pull messages from a remote server on demand. Other
protocols, such as the Post Office Protocol (POP) and the Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) are
specifically designed for retrieving messages and managing mail boxes. However, SMTP has a feature to
initiate mail queue processing on a remote server so that the requesting system may receive any
messages destined for it (cf. Remote Message Queue Starting). POP and IMAP are preferred protocols
when a user's personal computer is only intermittently powered up, or Internet connectivity is only
transient and hosts cannot receive message during off-line periods.

VPN:

A virtual private network (VPN) is a concept that describes how to create a private network over a public
network infrastructure while maintaining confidentiality and security. VPNs use cryptographic tunneling
protocols to provide sender authentication, message integrity, and confidentiality by protecting against
packet sniffing. VPNs can be implemented at Layers 2, 3, and 4 of the Open Systems Interconnection
(OSI) model.

IPSEC

IPsec provides a mechanism for secure data transmission over IP networks, ensuring confidentiality,
integrity, and authenticity of data communications over unprotected networks such as the Internet.
IPsec encompasses a suite of protocols and is not bound to any specific encryption or authentication
algorithms, key generation technique, or security association (SA). IPsec provides the rules while existing
algorithms provide the encryption, authentication, key management, and so on. IPsec acts at the
network layer, protecting and authenticating IP packets between IPsec devices (peers), such as Cisco PIX
Firewalls, Adaptive Security Apliances (ASA), Cisco routers, the Cisco Secure VPN Client, and other IPsec-
compliant products.

Proxy server

it is a computer that can act on the behalf of other computers to request content from the Internet or
an intranet. Proxy Server is placed between a user's machine and the Internet. It can act as a firewall to
provide protection and as a cache area to speed up Web page display. It is a firewall mechanism that

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replaces the IP address of a host on the internal (protected) network with its own IP address for all
traffic passing through it. A software agent that acts on behalf of a user, typical proxies accept a
connection from a user, make a decision as to whether or not the user or client IP address is permitted
to use the proxy, perhaps does additional authentication, and then completes a connection on behalf of
the user to a remote destination.

File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

An Internet standard application-level TCP/IP protocol that can be used for transferring files between
hosts on a TCP/IP internetwork.

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is one of the earliest Internet protocols, and is still used for uploading and
downloading files between clients and servers. An FTP client is an application that can issue FTP
commands to an FTP server, while an FTP server is a service or daemon running on a server that
responds to FTP commands from a client. FTP commands can be used to change directories, change
transfer modes between binary and ASCII, upload files, and download files. FTP uses Transmission
Control Protocol (TCP) for reliable network communication by establishing a session before initiating
data transfer. TCP port number 21 on the FTP server listens for connection attempts from an FTP client
and is used as a control port for establishing a connection between the client and server, for allowing
the client to send an FTP command to the server, and for returning the server’s response to the
command. Once a control connection has been established, the server opens port number 20 to form a
new connection with the client for transferring the actual data during uploads and downloads.

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