Spring 2013 CS 103

Computer Science –
Business Problems

The Basics of Networking

Instructor: Zhe He
Department of Computer Science
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Learning Objectives

 Tell whether a communication technology (Internet, radio, LAN,

etc.) is synchronous or asynchronous; broadcast or point-to-point
 Explain the roles of Internet addresses, domain names, and DNS
servers in networking
 Distinguish between types of protocols (TCP/IP and Ethernet)
 Describe how computers are interconnected by an ISP and by a
LAN
 Distinguish between the Internet and the World Wide Web
Comparing Communication Types

 To understand the Internet we need to cover

some basic communication vocabulary:
 Synchronous Communication
 Asynchronous communication
 Broadcast
 Communication
 Multicast
 Point-to-point communication
General Communication

 Synchronous communication:
 Both the sender and the receiver are active at the
same time (think of talking on a telephone)

 Asynchronous communication:
 The sending and receiving occur at different times
(think of email and answering machines)
General Communication

 Another property of communication concerns

the number of receivers.
 Broadcast communication: single sender
and many receivers (radio and TV)
 Multicast: is many receivers, but usually a
specific group (specialized topics)
 Point-to-point communication: one specific
sender and one specific
receiver (telephone call)
Internet’s Communication Properties

 The Internet supports point-to-point

asynchronous communication
 The Internet provides a general
communication “fabric” linking all computers
connected to it
 Computers and the network become a single
medium
Internet’s Communication Properties

 The Internet is fast enough to mimic

synchronous communication (like using a
phone)
 Multicasting is also possible, allowing groups
to communicate in chat rooms
 You can post video that can be accessed by
anyone, as a form of broadcasting (compares
with radio or television)
Internet’s Communication Properties

 The Internet is a universal communication

medium
 The Internet also becomes more effective
with each additional computer added
 If x computers are already attached to the
Internet, adding one more results in x potential
new connections!
Internet Schematic Diagram
Client/Server Structure

 Most interactions over the Internet use the

client/server interaction protocol:
 When you click a Web link, your computer gets the page
for you...beginning the client/server interaction
 Your computer is the client computer and the computer with
the Web page is the server (Web server)
 The client, gets services from the server

 When the page is return, the operation is completed and

the client/server relationship ends
Basic Client/Server Interaction
Client/Server Structure

 The client/server structure is fundamental to Internet

interactions
 A key aspect is that only a single service request
and response are involved
 The relationship is very brief relationship, lasting
from the moment the request is sent to the moment
the service is received
Many Brief Relationships

 This approach means that the server can

handle many clients at a time
 For example, between two consecutive client
requests from your browser (getting a page
and asking for another) that server could
have serviced hundreds of other clients
 The server is busy only for as long as it takes
to perform your request
Client/Server Relationships
Getting More Connected

 The Internet is primarily a point-to-point

asynchronous communication system
 Software has been built to implement the
many forms of communication
 Client software “slices up” the signals coming
from the computer’s microphone and video
camera into packet-size blocks
Getting More Connected

 Content is transferred to the other party,

whose client reassembles the sound and
image for display
 Process relies on a fast and reliable
transmission to make it seem like a direct
connection
 This Internet Protocol is generally fast and
reliable enough to work
Computer Addresses

 IP Addresses
 Each computer connected to the Internet is given
a unique address called its IP address
 An IP address is a series of four numbers (one
byte each) separated by dots
 The range of each of these numbers (0–255)
allows for billions of IP addresses
 New IP addresses are in short supply
 How to check IP address for a website?
 http://mxtoolbox.com/DNSLookup.aspx
IP Addresses
Computer Addresses

 Domain Names
 It is hard to remember the numeric IP address of
all the computers we communicate with
 The Internet uses human-readable symbolic
names for computers that are based on a
hierarchy of domains
 A domain is a related group of networked
computers
Computer Addresses

 Domain Names
 Example: spiff.cs.washington.edu
 The name of the computer is spiff
 Which is part of the Computer Science and
Engineering Department domain (cs)
 Which is part of the University of Washington
domain (washington)
 Which is part of the educational domain
(edu)
Computer Addresses

 The example shows a hierarchy of domains

 Each is a member of the next larger domain
 edu is a peer of other top-level domains such
as com
 These names are symbolic and meaningful,
making them easier to read than numbers
(and easier to remember)
The .edu Domain
The .edu Domain
DNS Servers

 This video explain better than me:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72snZctFFtA
 The Domain Name System (DNS) translates the
hierarchical, human-readable names into the four-
number IP address
 Every Internet host knows the IP address of its
nearest DNS name server
 Whenever the hierarchical symbolic name is used to
send information to a destination, your computer
asks the DNS server looks up the corresponding IP
address
DNS Servers

 When your computer asks a DNS name server to

translate a name to the IP address, it is in another
client/server relationship
 If the address is new (and not stored on the DNS
server), the server asks an authoritative name
server
 This server keeps the complete list of the IP
addresses and corresponding domain names for all
authoritative name servers and computers in its
domain
DNS Servers

 The root name servers’ addresses are

preprogrammed into your computer’s net software.
 They are listed at www.rootservers.org together with
their mirror sites (helper name servers with identical
information).
 Notice that computers change their client and server
roles all the time. Sometimes they are servers,
sometimes they are clients.
Top-Level Domains

 Top-level domain names (TLDs):

 .edu for educational groups
 .com for commercial enterprises
 .org for organizations
 .net for networks
 .mil for the military
 .gov for government agencies
Top-Level Domains

 The top-level domains were expanded to

include biz, info, name, travel, and others
 The full list can be found at www.icann.org
(ICAAN is Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers)
 The original top-level domains listed all apply
to organizations in the United States.
Top-Level Domains

 There is also a set of two-letter country

designators (ca (Canada), uk (United
Kingdom), fr (France), de (Germany, as in
Deutschland), etc.)
 These allow domain names to be grouped by
their country of origin.
TCP/IP

 TCP/IP Postcard Analogy

 The Internet is like sending a novel to your
publisher using postcards
 The novel is broken into small units that fit on a
postcard
 The “postcards” are numbered to indicate where
each belongs in the novel
 As each postcard is completed, it is mailed
TCP/IP

 TCP/IP Postcard Analogy

 Sooner or later, your publisher received the
postcards, but not necessarily in sequential order
 Nor do they take the same route
 The cards are finally arranged in order
 These “postcards” are really IP packets
 They hold: one unit of information, the destination IP,
and their sequence number
(which packet they are)
Packets Are Independent

 Because each packet can take a different

route, congestion and service interruptions do
not delay transmissions
 Each TCP/IP packet is independent
 The TCP/IP protocol works under adverse
conditions
 If traffic is heavy and the packet progress is slow,
the protocol allows the packet to be thrown away
Packets Are Independent

 If a packet is killed for whatever reason, the

recipient will request a resend
 Packets can arrive out of order because they
take different routes
Moving Packets: Wires & More

 Internet uses telephone carriers for long-

distance connections, fiber optics, and
separate dedicated lines for connections
 The computers do not know or care how the
packet is sent, as long as it can be sent and
received
 Transmissions may rely on multiple
technologies as the packets move across the
Internet
Far and Near: WAN and LAN

 The Internet is a collection of wide area

networks (WAN)
 These are networks that are not geographically
close
 The Internet is a collection of point-to-point
channels
 Meaning packets must visit a sequence of
computers (or hops) before they reach their
destination
A ping is a “please reply” message
Far and Near: WAN and LAN

 A local area network (LAN) is when

computers are geographically close
 Usually they can be linked by a single cable or
pair of wires
 Ethernet is the main technology for local
area networks
 Used for connecting all the computers in a lab or
building
Ethernet

 The physical setup for an Ethernet network is

a wire, wire pair, or optical fiber, called the
channel
 Engineers “tap” into the channel to connect a
computer:
 This allows it to send a signal or an electronic
pulse or light flash onto the channel
 All computers, including the sender,
can detect the signal
Ethernet Party Analogy

 To understand how an Ethernet network

works, consider this:
 A group of friends is standing around at a party
telling stories.
 While someone is telling a story, everyone is
listening.
 When the story is over, here may be a pause
before the next one speaks
 Then, someone typically just begins talking and
the cycle starts again
Ethernet Party Analogy

 Now, insert computer instead of friend:

 A group of computers
friends is standing around at a
party telling stories.
 While someone
A computeris telling a story,
everyone
computersisarelistening.
 When the story is over, here may be a pause
before the next one speaks
computer
 Then, someone typically just begins talking
a computer
and the cycle starts again
Ethernet Party Analogy

 We assumed that all “friends” were equal

 No had a more import status
 Everyone spoke with the same voice
 There are differences, however:
 Only one computer typically keeps the transmitted
information
 This broadcast medium is being used for point-to-
point communication
Ethernet Party Analogy

 A computer wanting to transmit a message:

 It starts sending signals and also starts listening
to see if the message it gets is the one it sent
 If it is, the computer knows it’s the only computer
sending, and it completes the transmission
 If it isn’t, the computer stops transmitting
immediately
Connecting to the Internet

 Today there are two basic methods:

1. Connection via an Internet service provider
(ISP)

2. Connection provided by a campus or enterprise

network

 Most of us use both kinds of connections

1. Connections by ISP

 Most home users connect to the Internet by

ISPs
 These are companies that sell connections to the
Internet
 The company places a modem at your house
 Modems convert the bits a computer outputs into
a form that is compatible with the carrier
1. Connections by ISP

1. The signals are sent to the carrier’s business

2. They are converted (via modem) into a form for
the server that connects to the Internet via the
Internet Gateway
 Digital subscriber line (DSL or ADSL) and
cable (TV) are two common providers
 Your smart phone also has a modem for
connecting to network
2. Enterprise Network
Connections
 The other way to connect is as a user of a
larger networked organization (school,
business, or governmental unit)
 The organization connects to the Internet by
a gateway
Wireless Networks

 Variation of a LAN connection

 Referred to by its protocol name 802.11
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11
 The router is:
 Physically connected to an ISP’s modem
 Connected to the Internet
 Capable of broadcasting and receiving signals,
usually radio frequency (rf ) signals
The World Wide Web

 Some computers connected to the Internet

are Web servers
 Computers programmed to send files to browsers
running on other computers connected to the
Internet.
 These Web servers and their files comprise
the World Wide Web (WWW)
The World Wide Web

 Those files are Web pages

 Web servers store and send other kinds of
files, too
 The files are often used to:
 Create the Web page (images or animations)
 Help with other Web services (play audio or
video)
Requesting a Web Page

 Web requests use client/server interaction

 Requesting a Web page means your browser
is a client asking for a file from a Web server
 The file can be found in looking at the URL
(Universal Resource Locator)
 Web browsers and Web servers both “speak”
HTTP
Requesting a Web Page
http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/snyder/index.html
 The URL has three main parts:
 Protocol.
tells the computers how to handle the file
 Server computer’s name
or the name given by the domain hierarchy
 Page’s pathname.
tells the server which file (page) is requested and
where to find it
Describing a Web Page

 Servers do not store Web pages in the form

seen on our screens
 The pages are stored as a description of how
they should appear on the screen.
 The browser receives the description/source
file and creates the Web page image that is
described
Describing a Web Page

 There are two advantages to storing and

sending the source rather than the image
itself:
1. A description file usually requires less
information
2. The browser can adapt the source image to
your computer more easily
The Internet and the Web

 Some Web servers have www as part of their

domain name, some don’t
 Some Web servers seem to add the www if
you leave it out
 Some Web servers work either way (both
www.moma.org and moma.org display the
same Web site)
 When is the www required and when is it
optional?
The Internet and the Web

 Remember that web addresses are simply

names
 All computers connected to the Internet
(including Web servers) have IP addresses
 The DNS server requires you to give the
name (URL) exactly because the DNS
responds to that exact name
The Internet and the Web

 An incorrect name/URL and you either

access the wrong IP address or the DNS
lookup fails (“404 Not Found”)
 Computers can be programmed to notice
http:// and to redirect you automatically
to the correct page
 Web administrators may also register all
forms of a URL (with and without the “www”)
File Structure

 Directory Hierarchy
 Remember that folders can contain folders as well
as files
 This scheme is called the file structure of the
computer and forms the directory hierarchy
 Think of any hierarchy as a tree
 folders are the branch points
 files are the leaves
File Structure

 Directory Hierarchy
 All hierarchies have branch points and leaves
 Hierarchy trees are often drawn sideways or
upside down
 Two terms are standard, however:
1. Down in the hierarchy means into subfolders
(towards the leaves)
2. Up in the hierarchy means into folders (toward the
root)
File Structure

 Part of the directory hierarchy is shown in the

pathnames of URLs:
www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/gal100/pioneer.html
 The page is specified by a pathname that
tells the computer how to navigate through
the directory hierarchy to the file
 Each time there is a slash (/), we move into a
subfolder or to the file
 We go down in the hierarchy
Organizing the Folder

 Normally the last item in the sequence is a

file name
 This is not always necessary or true
 When a URL ends in a slash, the browser
automatically looks in that folder for a file
called index.htm
 The index.html file exists only if it was built
Organizing the Folder

 Why have a hierarchy?

 Most people build hierarchies to organize their
own thinking and work
 Directories cost nothing
 There is no reason not to use them
 It is highly recommended
Summary

 In this chapter we discussed the basics of

networking, including the following:
 Basic types of communication: point-to-point,
multicast, broadcast, synchronous, and
asynchronous.
 Networking, including IP addresses, domains, IP
packets, IP protocol, WANS and LANS, Ethernet
protocol, ISPs, enterprise networks, and wireless
networks.
Summary

 In this chapter we discussed the basics of

networking, including the following:
 The difference between the Internet and the
World Wide Web.
 File hierarchies in preparation for our further study
of HTML.