Demystifying the Internet

Demystifying the Internet

Basic Flow of The Internet

Basic Flow of The Internet

AOL

AOL

Robert

Robert

www.IRS.com

www.IRS.com

34.1.3.51

34.1.3.51

204.33.1.202

204.33.1.202

Networksolutions

Networksolutions

Where is IRS.com?

Where is IRS.com?

204.33.1.202

204.33.1.202

That's not what happens. Each computer has an IP address when it's connected to the Internet.

  An IP is a series of numbers that differentiates your computer  from others.  Some ISPs (like AOL)  give

you a different IP address every time you dial in. This is called  dynamic IP allocation.  In this way, AOL

can  re use  your  IP  once  you  log  off,  giving  it  to  someone  else  temporarily.  Other  ISPs  offer   static  IP

addresses,   which  gives  your  computer  an  address  that  never  changes.  This  is  common  in  DSL  service

providers. One of the major benefits of a static IP is that your computer can always be reached at the same

IP  address,  and  can  be  associated  with  a  domain  name,  like  www.IRS.Com.  Static  IP  addresses  are  like

complete mailing addresses for the post office   once known, the location can be reached.

  The companies that keeps track of which IP addresses are associated with which domain names are called

REGISTRARS. The most popular is Networksolutions.Com (also known as Versign or NetSol).

  After Robert connects to AOL, and types in  www.IRS.com  into his browser, AOL's server then makes a

call to Networksolutions.Com to find out what the real IP address is for the domain name  www.IRS.com. 

If several AOL members have gone to www.IRS.com recently, the server will cache this information into

memory (retain the information locally from the last time it checked) to save time.

In either case, once the IP address is known, your request then moves its way towards www.IRS.com. This

route can vary with each request, and often hops through one to two dozen other servers on the way. Hops

can  be  anywhere  in  the  world,  and  frequently  take  you  through  several  states  before  reaching  your

destination. If any one of these servers has a problem, you could experience slow load times. In fact, your

requests often get rerouted to other servers that have less traffic. Some of these detours can take longer than

the original route. This is where the term  world wide web  came from.

  1993 2004 by Schumacher Publishing, Inc.

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