subject: The Software And Hardware Components Of Internet [print this page] Internet is the important aspect of our livesInternet is the important aspect of our lives. Without Internet we cannot continue with our daily activities. Be it staying connected with friends, or downloading movies, music or shopping online and much other stuff, we need Internet. There many providers in the market who source the best Internet connection to your homes and among them ATT is one such provider that offers the best Uverse Internet technology. You can do all your online activities in minutes with fiber optic based service. Sometimes there arises a question like how this technology works and many of us at one point or another might have pondered over this topic. How does Internet work? It is very easy to understand the Internet. The Internet technology includes two main components. The first being the hardware components and the second being the software-protocols without which the hardware components cannot work. The hardware components are the physical peripherals that include everything from the cables that carry terabits of information every second to the computer sitting in front of you.
The main hardware part of the Internet comprises of servers, routers, and clients. All these devices together create the network of networks. Apart from these, there are elements that may stay fairly static and make up the backbone of the Internet. These elements are connections. Some are end points -- the computer, Smartphone or other devices. And these endpoints are called clients. This means client machines are nothing but the end user. Machines that store the information we seek on the Internet are servers. Servers are powerful computers that run whole day without stopping. They are specially constructed with redundant hard drives. It is designed to provide data or services to one or more client computers via a network. The client machine uses a browser and an email client to perform these functions. The server waits for a request from a client, then grabs the requested data and serves it back. Suppose if you are sitting in front of the computer and requesting a web page or downloading email, your computer becomes the client machine, and the source from where you get the requested data becomes the server. And then there are routers that pass data onwards to its destination IP.
The other elements are the nodes which serve as a connecting point along a route of traffic. And then there are the transmission lines which can be physical, as in the case of cables and fiber optics. The physical connections between servers, routers, and clients are carried by cables - twisted pair copper wire. But only the hardware wouldn't create a network without the second component of the Internet - the protocols. Protocols are sets of rules that machines follow to complete tasks. The fundamental means of moving data around the Internet is controlled by a protocol. A combination of protocols work together to create a network and allows for transfer of data. In simple terms, a protocol allows two or more computers to converse with one another, and a file-sharing protocol allows these computers exchange files during the conversation. With the help of protocols all the machines on a network will be able to understand one another or even send information in a meaningful way. Without these set of protocols communication between two computers or devices cannot happen. And then there are domain names and IP address which play an important role in the world of Internet. A domain name is part of the website name which points at the server and each domain name have an IP address designated. Internet works on these main things and to understand Internet it important to understand these things.
