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Freequently
Asked Questions
Internet
History
What
is Internet ?
The Internet is a worldwide network of networks.It is
a conglomeration of smaller Networks and other connected machines
spanning the entire globe.
How
Internet has been evolved ?
The Internet was born about 20 yers ago,trying to connect
together a U.S defense department network called the ARPANET.The
ARPANET was an experimental network designed to support military
research.In 1984 the National Science Foundation established
the NSFNET.By 1987 there were so many people using NSFNET,and
so many sites connected to it,that a massive overhaul of the
infrastructure was requiredto just sustain the load.By 1990
the Internet as we know it today has begun.And since then,the
growth of the net has been simply phenominal.
Who
governs the Internet ?
Nobody really.The Internet is such a huge and diverse creature,everybody
barrows pieces of it.It is very much a global resource,which
grows and develops almost organically.
How
many users are there on the network approxmately ?
The number of users has grown from 5,000 people to 30 million
in just ten years;that's staggering increase of 6000 percent!
Internauts are growing at the rate of one million per month.
What
the users actually doing on Internet ?
Just about everything.There is electronic mail,file transfer,information
browsing and retrieval,social communication,news gathering
... People even conduct their business on Internet.It's an
incredibly useful tool -and lots of fun as well.
How
the small networks are interconnected ?
The small networks that comprise the INTERNET are connected
each other by something called routers.Routers are needed
to help decide how to transmit data most efficiently across
different parts of the network.
I
just got on the Internet. What can I do now?
You now have access to all the resources you are authorized
to use on your own Internet host, on any other Internet host
on which you have an account, and on any other Internet host
that offers publicly accessible information. The Internet
gives you the ability to move information between these hosts
via file transfers. Once you are logged into one host, you
can use the Internet to open a connection to another, login,
and use its services interactively (this is known as remote
login or "TELNETing"). In addition, you can send
electronic mail to users at any Internet site and to users
on many non-Internet sites that are accessible via electronic
mail. There are various other services you can use. For example,
some hosts provide access to specialized databases or to archives
of information. The Internet Resource Guide provides information
regarding some of these sites. The Internet Resource Guide
lists facilities on the Internet that are available to users.
Such facilities include supercomputer centers, library catalogs
and specialized data collections. The guide is maintained
by the Directory Services portion of the InterNIC and is available
online in a number of ways. It is available for anonymous
FTP from the host ds.internic.net in the resource-guide directory.
It is also readable via the InterNIC gopher (gopher internic.net).
For more information, contact admin@ds.internic.net or call
the InterNIC at (800) 444-4345 or (908) 668-6587. Today the
trend for Internet information services is to strive to present
the users with a friendly interface to a variety of services.
The goal is to reduce the traditional needs for a user to
know the source host of a service and the different command
interfaces for different types of services. The Internet Gopher
(discussed more in the "Questions about Internet Services"
section) is one such service to which you have access when
you join the Internet.
How
do I get a list of all the hosts on the Internet?
You really don't want that. The list includes more than 1.5
million hosts. Almost all of them require that you have access
permission to actually use them. You may really want to know
which of these hosts provide services to the Internet community.
Investigate using some of the network resource discovery tools,
such as gopher, to gain easier access to Internet information.
What
is TCP/IP?
TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) [4,5,6]
is the common name for a family of over 100 data-communications
protocols used to organize computers and data-communications
equipment into computer networks. TCP/IP was developed to
interconnect hosts on ARPANET, PRNET (packet radio), and SATNET
(packet satellite). All three of these networks have since
been retired; but TCP/IP lives on. It is currently used on
a large international network of networks called the Internet,
whose members include universities, other research institutions,
government facilities, and many corporations. TCP/IP is also
sometimes used for other networks, particularly local area
networks that tie together numerous different kinds of computers
or tie together engineering workstations.
What
are the other well-known standard protocols in the TCP/IP
family?
Other than TCP and IP, the three main protocols in the TCP/IP
suite are the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) [8], the
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) [3], and the TELNET Protocol
[9]. There are many other protocols in use on the Internet.
The Internet Architecture Board (IAB) regularly publishes
an RFC [2] that describes the state of standardization of
the various Internet protocols. This document is the best
guide to the current status of Internet protocols and their
recommended usage.
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Internet History
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Network
Basics
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General
Problems
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General
Questions
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Glossary
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What
is the Domain Name System?
The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical, distributed
method of organizing the name space of the Internet. The DNS
administratively groups hosts into a hierarchy of authority
that allows addressing and other information to be widely
distributed and maintained. A big advantage to the DNS is
that using it eliminates dependence on a centrally-maintained
file that maps host names to addresses.
What
is an RFC?
The Request for Comments documents (RFCs) are working notes
of the Internet research and development community. A document
in this series may be on essentially any topic related to
computer communication, and may be anything from a meeting
report to the specification of a standard. Submissions for
Requests for Comments may be sent to the RFC Editor (RFC-EDITOR@ISI.EDU).
The RFC Editor is Jon Postel. Most RFCs are the descriptions
of network protocols or services, often giving detailed procedures
and formats for their implementation. Other RFCs report on
the results of policy studies or summarize the work of technical
committees or workshops. All RFCs are considered public domain
unless explicitly marked otherwise. While RFCs are not refereed
publications, they do receive technical review from either
the task forces, individual technical experts, or the RFC
Editor, as appropriate. Currently, most standards are published
as RFCs, but not all RFCs specify standards. Anyone can submit
a document for publication as an RFC. Submissions must be
made via electronic mail to the RFC Editor. Please consult
RFC 1543, "Instructions to RFC Authors" [10], for
further information. RFCs are accessible online in public
access files, and a short message is sent to a notification
distribution list indicating the availability of the memo.
Requests to be added to this distribution list should be sent
to RFC- REQUEST@NIC.DDN.MIL. The online files are copied by
interested people and printed or displayed at their sites
on their equipment. (An RFC may also be returned via electronic
mail in response to an electronic mail query.) This means
that the format of the online files must meet the constraints
of a wide variety of printing and display equipment. Once
a document is assigned an RFC number and published, that RFC
is never revised or re-issued with the same number. There
is never a question of having the most recent version of a
particular RFC. However, a protocol (such as File Transfer
Protocol (FTP)) may be improved and re-documented many times
in several different RFCs. It is important to verify that
you have the most recent RFC on a particular protocol. The
"Internet Official Protocol Standards" [2] memo
is the reference for determining the correct RFC to refer
to for the current specification of each protocol.
How
do I obtain RFCs?
RFCs are available online at several repositories around the
world. For a list of repositories and instructions about how
to obtain RFCs from each of the major U.S. ones, send a message
to rfc-info@isi.edu. As the text of the message, type "help:
ways_to_get_rfcs" (without the quotes). An example of
obtaining RFCs online follows. RFCs can be obtained via FTP
from ds.internic.net with the pathname rfc/rfcNNNN.txt (where
"NNNN" refers to the number of the RFC). Login using
FTP, username "anonymous" and your email address
as password. The Directory Services portion of the InterNIC
also makes RFCs available via electronic mail, WAIS, and gopher.
To obtain RFCs via electronic mail, send a mail message to
mailserv@ds.internic.net and include any of the following
commands in the message body: document-by-name rfcnnnn where
'nnnn' is the RFC number The text version is sent. file /ftp/rfc/rfcnnnn.yyy
where 'nnnn' is the RFC number. and 'yyy' is 'txt' or 'ps'.
help to get information on how to use the mailserver.
What
is a NIC? What is a NOC?
"NIC" stands for Network Information Center. It
is an organization which provides network users with information
about services provided by the network. "NOC" stands
for Network Operations Center. It is an organization that
is responsible for maintaining a network. For many networks,
especially smaller, local networks, the functions of the NIC
and NOC are combined. For larger networks, such as mid-level
and backbone networks, the NIC and NOC organizations are separate,
yet they do need to interact to fully perform their functions.
What
is the InterNIC?
The InterNIC is a five year project partially supported by
the National Science Foundation to provide network information
services to the networking community. The InterNIC began operations
in April of 1993 and is a collaborative project of three organizations:
General Atomics provides Information Services from their location
in San Diego, CA; AT&T provides Directory and Database
Services from South Plainsfield, NJ; and Network Solutions,
Inc. provides Registration Services from their headquarters
in Herndon, VA. Services are provided via the network electronically,
and by telephone, FAX, and hardcopy documentation. General
Atomics offers Information Services acting as the "NIC
of first and last resort" by providing a Reference Desk
for new and experienced users, and midlevel and campus NICs.
The InterNIC Reference Desk offers introductory materials
and pointers to network resources and tools. AT&T services
include the Directory of Directories, Directory Services,
and Database Services to store data available to all Internet
users. Network Solutions, Inc. (NSI) provides Internet registration
services including IP address allocation, domain registration,
and Autonomous System Number assignment. NSI also tracks points
of contact for networks and domain servers and provides online
and telephone support for questions related to IP address
or domain name registration.
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