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The Worldwide Brands Home EBiz Newsletter: "Networking: How the Internet Works" Go Back to Newsletter Home Page
This Week's Radio Show News:
Air Date: Monday,
January 10,
2005:
Will you end up charging Sales Tax on
ALL your online sales, no matter where your Customer lives
in the US? Many
US States and the US Federal Government have been talking for
some time about imposing a blanket
Sales Tax on all products sold online in this Country.
How will that affect YOUR Internet
Business? We'll talk with Brian Krebs, Reporter for The
Washington Post. Brian
is the Author of the recent Washington Post Article
"States Hope to Revive Push for Online Sales Tax", and has some
very important information to share with us!
How effective are Wholesale Trade
Shows when it comes to finding Suppliers for your online business?
Co-Host Rob Cowie is currently traveling the entire United States,
from New York to Los Angeles, visiting all the major
Wholesale Trade Shows for the next few weeks. He's gathering information
on thousands of Wholesale Suppliers for our Worldwide Brands Drop
Ship and Light Bulk Wholesale Directories. He'll be checking in from
the HUGE Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show with info on the
Show, and tips on working with Wholesale Suppliers for your Online
Business.
This Week's Featured Newsletter Article:
"Networking: How the Internet Works"
by
Chris Malta
Today's Article is a Chapter from my
EBook, "Understanding the Internet for Home Business". The Title sounds boring,
but the info is VERY important to understand! I've done my best to make it an
interesting read for you. :o)
Note: When I refer to
"The Dweebish Language" in this material, I'm referring to "Technical Talk". :o)
Networking is how computers talk to each
other. It�s the basis for the very existence of the Internet. To learn about
Networking, we�re going to go back to the early origins of the Internet.
The way the Internet came about, and these basic
concepts behind the way it works, are very important for you
to understand. The Internet is going to be a critical tool that you will use for
your Home Business. The more you understand the tools you use, and how
they work, the better equipped you are to succeed.
I was a Computer Systems Engineer for many years.
The things I learned while working in that field were critical in helping
me to succeed in my Online Businesses. It�s critical for you to
understand these things too, so that you have an important edge over your
competition when starting and running a Home Internet Business.
I�ll do my best to teach you these things in plain
language, converting Dweebish Language (Technical Talk!) terms into English as
we go. The goal here is for you to really understand the material without having
to suffer too much for the knowledge. :o)
In this chapter, we�re going to cover the very
important concepts developed during the first seven years or so of the Internet.
I want you to come away from this with a good understanding of some Dweebish
Language terms that were very important when the Internet started, and
still are today. Those terms are:
Host Computer
Workstation Computer
Networking
Local Area Network (LAN)
Wide Area Network (WAN)
Internetworking
Wait! Come back!
I said I was going to make this easy, and I am; so don�t go shaking your
head and running for the TV remote just yet!
While I still have your attention, let�s get on
with it!
Would you
believe that the roots of the Internet we
use today go back more than forty years?! That�s right. Forty
years. I�ve talked to older people who are in their 60�s and 70�s who complain
that they just aren�t interested in this new-fangled Internet thingy. Why should
they have to learn all this new stuff invented by these hot-headed kids who have
nothing better to do than spend their time confusing older folks?
WAY back in the 1960�s, when I was just a kid,
there were a whole bunch of military people whose job it was to worry about what
would happen to the military�s communications in the event of some kind of
disaster. The solution to their worries was the Internet, though they didn�t
know it yet.
Now, if you look up your own information on the
origins of the Internet, you�ll find some people who will tell you that
scientists, in the interest of pure scientific research, began this whole
process. That�s all warm and fuzzy and politically correct, but it's just not
true that it was purely humanitarian scientific research. Let�s think about it
for a moment. Let�s see�the U.S. Department of Defense basically funded the
development of the Internet�OK, we know the truth, don�t we? :o) That�s
certainly no secret, and there�s nothing wrong with it.
However, it�s a strangely sad thing about us human
beings�more beneficial technology comes out of war, or the threat of war, than
from just about any other human endeavor. The Internet is no different.
With the Cold War in full swing, and paranoia over
nuclear war lurking behind every shadow and around every corner, the US Military
had to be sure that their �supercomputers� in one part of the country could talk
to their �supercomputers� in other parts of the country, without getting
interrupted completely if something bad happened that affected part of the
system.
Now, the �supercomputers� they used back then were
not even as advanced as the technology in a Six Slice BagelMonster Toaster is
today. That�s all that was available at the time, though, and they needed to
keep it available. They needed a way to keep military and other
communications open across the country in the event of a �worst case scenario�.
Way back in 1962, my biggest concern in life was
that my parents got upset with me every time I overturned a bowl of Rice
Krispies on my head, and soaked my jammies and my high-chair. (True story!) That
was the year that I think my Mother realized that raising kids wasn't going to
be as easy as she thought. :o)
The Department of Defense, however, had bigger
concerns in �62. So, the U.S. Department of Defense�s �Advanced Research Project
Agency� (ARPA) got together with a Government Research entity called The Rand
Corporation. They began trying to figure out how to make computers talk to each
other across the country, and to keep them doing so if part of the system was
damaged.
Remember that back then, many computers were still
room-sized monsters that ran on vacuum tubes and used punch cards. Computer �Internetworking�
was a completely new thing.
(Dweebish Language Translation:)
You see, computers didn�t talk to each other
much, way back in the early 60�s. That part still had to be figured out! So,
it�s no surprise that it took a full seven years (1962 to 1969) before
ARPA actually got four computers in different parts of the country to say, �Hey,
there!� to one another.
That had to be a really interesting conversation
for the computers:
Computer 1 to
Computers 2, 3 and 4:
"Hey, there!
Computer 2 to Computers 1, 3 and 4:
"Hey, there!
Computer 3 to Computers 1, 2 and 4:
"Hey, there!
Computer 4 to Computers 1, 2 and 3:
"Hey, there!
Hmmm. Alright, maybe not so exciting for the
computers. However, it was thrilling, I�m sure, to the researchers at Stanford
Research Institute, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, and the University of Utah. Those
places housed the first four computers that made up what we call the Internet
today. Back then they called it �ARPANET�, which stood for �Advanced Research
Projects Agency Network�. (No, you won�t be tested on that!)
Want to see a little piece of history? The image
shown here is a copy of an actual pencil sketch of the very beginning of the
Internet, by one of the people who conceived of it:
It all started with those four computers, though.
Pretty soon, things really got cookin�. The little
four-computer ARPANET was about to grow to 23 �Host Computers� and �Workstations�
at University and Government research centers around the country.
We don�t want to get ahead of ourselves, though. I
said that it took a full seven years to get those computers to talk to each
other. During those seven years from 1962 to 1969, the people at ARPA and
Rand were figuring out exactly how to make them do that.
We�ve just bumped into some more Dweebish Language
terms, and this is where it gets interesting.
Exactly what are �Host Computers� and �Workstations�?
(Dweebish
Language Translation:)
(Dweebish
Language Translation:)
Okay, I know! Those definitions are a little
Dweebish themselves, aren�t they? :o) Let�s talk about them in a way we can all
understand.
Who�s
Throwing the Party Tonight?
When you want to get a bunch of your friends
together so you can all talk and have some fun, you can host
a party at your house, right? Everybody comes over to your house with chips,
drinks, and cookies. You�re all right there, face to face in the same house, and
you can sit around and talk. Exchange ideas, kick around some idle conversation,
and maybe make a few side bets on what the weird guy's going to do next.
Let�s get our Guest List together for this party.
Because we don�t want this to get too complicated, we�ll keep it down to a dull
roar. Just a few people.
Guest List
YOU, of course, are the Host of the party. Ladies,
don�t feel left out�in this case the word �Host� applies to men or
women. :o) The party�s at your place. :o)
JERRY FROM WORK. Jerry�s a pretty cool guy, and he
always brings food, so he�s in.
JANET NEXT DOOR. Janet is a good friend, and lives
next door. She�s always got something funny to say, so she�s good at a party.
Now it�s party time, and as the Host, you are
ready for your guests.
Janet shows up first. She lives right next door, so
she comes over early to help clean up a little, and get things ready.
About a half hour later, Jerry knocks on the door,
and The Weird Guy with the Hat is standing right behind him. You begin to wonder
about Jerry�s need for more of a social life, but Jerry is a good guy,
and he�s got an armful of Cheetos and YooHoo. So, in come Jerry and The Weird
Guy. :o)
The Party has begun!
Pretty soon, YOU are whipping everybody at a
fast-paced game of Monopoly. Janet is cracking everyone up with a story about
her daughter�s hamster. Jerry has an orange ring around his mouth from eating
Cheetos, and The Weird Guy is chewing at a button on the sleeve of his shirt.
Great party!
Now, let�s relate this Gala Event to the world of
Computers and the Internet.
If you and
your guests were all computers, You,
Janet, Jerry and The Weird Guy would be called �Workstations�. Sorry
about that...not a very flattering term for people, is it? Don�t worry about
it�we�re just making a point here.
(Guys�a little advice. Don�t ever call your
Wife or Girlfriend a �Workstation�. I did that once, as a joke, and ended up
doing her household chores and my own for a week!).
Anyway, for our example, let�s pretend that You,
Janet, Jerry, and The Weird Guy are all Home Computers, or �Workstations�.
Now, since YOU have taken on the added role
of Hosting the Party, YOU get a promotion! You are no longer just a
Workstation. YOU become the �Host Computer�.
Why? Because it�s your house. You are the one who
has made it possible for these Workstations named Janet, Jerry, and The
Weird Guy to get together and talk. That promotes you to �Host�. Feeling pretty
good about yourself, aren�t you!
This is exactly how it works with computers. Any
regular old computer that makes it possible for other computers to get
together and talk with each other, gets promoted to the level of Host Computer.
Usually, a Host Computer is a more powerful and
expensive computer than a Workstation. As we all know, the Host of a party
does more work than the guests. However, a Host Computer does not have
to be more powerful than the others. Any ole computer can be a Host. Even
your Home Computer can do it.
Ok, back to the party. As I�ve said, you and your
guests are all together in one place. You�re talking, and laughing, and
wondering privately about the sanity of The Weird Guy. You are sharing
information with each other.
Guess what you�re doing, in Computer terms?
You are �Networking�.
As
people, you are sitting in the same room, communicating through the connection
of your words, and speaking a common language. You can all understand each
other. You are �connected� together through the fact that you can see each other
with your eyes, and hear each other with your ears, and that you all know a
common language. English, for example. You sit in that room and �Network�.
When the term �Network� is applied to
computers, it means the same thing. The computers all understand each other
through a common computer �language�. They don�t have eyes and ears, though, so
they have to be connected by wires in order to see and hear each
other. The Host computer and the Workstation Computers are all
connected together in the same room by wires, and they are all communicating
together through the Host. The Host Computer is the one that makes
it possible for all the computers to connect, or Network, together.
That�s
what a Computer Network, and Computer
Networking, is.
Pretty simple, isn�t it? :o)
Now, believe it or not, we�ve already gotten
through nearly half of the Dweebish Language terms we need to understand in this
chapter! We�ve covered:
Host Computer: Any computer that is used to
�Host the Party�.
Workstation Computer: Any computer that
simply Attends the Party.
Network (Networking): The Host and the
Workstations communicating together.
Let�s get to work on the other half, before anybody
falls asleep!
We now know what a Computer Network is. Just
a bunch of computers, wired together with a Host computer, that are
sitting around talking with each other.
That�s a Network.
Now, a �Local Area� Network is simply a
Network that�s in a �Local Area�! That�s all there is to that one!
Your party,
where You, Janet, Jerry and the Weird Guy are all �Networking�, is a Local
Area Network. That�s because it�s LOCAL; it�s all in your house!
A Local Area Network is simply a Computer Network that is all wired
together in the same room, or office, or building. That�s all it
means. Really, I�m not kidding! It�s that simple.
A Local Area Network is
commonly called a �LAN�, for short. (That�s pronounced as in �The plane
is LANding�.)
See how devious the Dweebish People are? The things
we�ve discussed so far give a lot of people the willies, because they sound so
important and mysterious. They�re not complicated, though, and there will be no
mystery by the time we�re done here. :o)
Let�s review what we have so far.
Host Computer:
Any computer that is used to �Host the Party�.
Workstation Computer: Any computer that
simply Attends the Party.
Network (Networking): A bunch of computers,
wired together with a Host computer, that are sitting around talking with each
other.
Local Area Network (LAN): A bunch of
computers wired together in the same office or building, sitting around
talking with each other.
Ready for more? Here we go!
Let�s say that at the same time you are having the
party at your house, another friend is having a party at their
house as well, with other guests.
You know this has happened to you before! You plan
a party, and then find out that half your friends are already planning on going
to someone else�s house for another party on the same day. <Sigh>!
OK, let�s take a look at the Guest List of the
other party. Again, we�re going to keep it short:
Guest
List:
MONA. She�s your friend across town, and she�s the
Host of the other party.
GUS. A friend of yours and Mona�s, although you�re
not too happy with GUS right now. He went to Mona�s party, not yours!
ELMONT. Mona likes having ELMONT around, but in
your opinion, she can have him. You�ve already got The Weird Guy to deal with.
So, now we have two parties going on. Each of
those parties is a separate Local Area Network. At each party,
the Host and the guests are all talking amongst themselves only.
Party (Local
Area Network) #1:
YOU (The Host)
JERRY (Workstation)
JANET (Workstation)
THE WEIRD GUY (Workstation)
Party (Local Area Network) #2:
MONA (The Host)
GUS (Workstation)
ELMONT (Workstation)
At your house, everybody is still having a great
time. Then The Weird Guy starts to complain that he hasn�t seen Elmont in a
while, and wonders what he�s up to. Jerry, of course, agrees, and suggests that
maybe everybody at your house should pack up the Cheetos and all go over to
Mona�s party.
Anyone who�s had a party before has been in this
situation. Suddenly your party guests have become valued possessions that you
must hold on to at all costs! The Enemy has infiltrated your camp, and is trying
to get your people to defect! It�s time to do something, or soon you�ll be
sitting there surrounded by orange Cheetos crumbs and half-empty bottles of
YooHoo, all by yourself. One thing is for sure: YOU are not going to give Mona
the satisfaction of showing up at HER party after she�s managed to steal your
guests and ruin YOUR party!
It�s time for your counter-move. You�ve got to get
ahold of the people at Mona�s party, and convince them that they would be having
a better time if they were at YOUR party!
So, what do you do? You turn the music up, to make
it sound like the joint is really rockin�. Then you pick up the phone and call
Mona�s house. The idea here is to get The Weird Guy at your party to tell
Elmont, over at Mona�s party, what a good time Elmont could be having at YOUR
party. Then you can get Janet to suggest to Mona that SHE pack up HER party, and
come over to YOUR house. If you�re careful, you can keep your own guests, and
get everyone at Mona�s to come over to your place too!
So, you pick up the phone, and call Mona. After
exchanging a few pleasantries through clenched teeth, you tell her that The
Weird Guy wants to talk to Elmont. A few minutes later, Janet takes the phone
and talks with Mona, suggesting that Mona, Gus and Elmont all come over to your
place. Then Jerry spends a few minutes using your phone to talk to Gus. And so
on.
Because you, the Host of your party, picked
up a phone line and called Mona, the Host of the other party,
all the people at both parties are communicating together.
Can you guess what you�ve done?
You�ve just created a Wide Area Network!
That�s
right! When you picked up the phone, your Local Area Network connected to
Mona�s Local Area Network. Each of your Parties, by themselves, are
still separate Local Area Networks. However, the two
Parties together, connected over a phone line, have now become a
Wide Area Network. (That�s called a WAN for short, and is
pronounced the same way as LAN).
See? This
really is easy, isn�t it!
Well, if you liked that, you will like this even
better. Do you realize what you, your guests, and the people at Mona�s house are
doing right now, by taking turns communicating over that Wide Area Network?
You are all Internetworking.
Your two Local Area Networks (Parties)
have combined to form one Wide Area Network. All the people
that make up both Local Area Networks are communicating with each other over
a Host�s phone line. That means they are Internetworking.
We�re movin� fast now, so take a breath!
Ready? Okay, here�s the next biggie: What is the
first part of the word �Internetworking�?
INTERNET!!!
And there you have it, folks. You have just created
a human Internet. You and Mona, the Hosts of your Parties, made it
possible for all your guests to communicate over a remote connection (the phone
line). You two Hosts have made it possible for two sets of people to
Internetwork with each other from two different locations. That�s
an Internet.
Yes, you read it correctly. That�s where this
mysterious Dweebish Language word comes from. That�s what the Internet is,
and where the name Internet came from, way back in the early days.
:o)
All this �Internetworking� technology is what the
people at ARPA and Rand worked so hard to invent back in the 60's. Inventing a
way for computers to talk to each other, and then to talk to each other over
connections like phone lines. Over those many years, they created those
capabilities, and gave them the following names:
Host Computer:
Any computer that is used to �Host the Party�.
Workstation Computer: Any computer that
simply Attends the Party.
Network (Networking): Two or more
computers, wired together, that are sitting around talking with each other.
Local Area Network (LAN): A bunch of
computers wired together in the same office or building, sitting around
talking with each other.
Wide Area Network (WAN): Two or more Local
Area Networks in different locations, connected to each other in some
way (a phone line, for example).
Internetworking: Two or more Local Area
Networks in different locations, actually talking with each other.
What�s the result of all this work back in the
60's? Yep. The Internet. I should point out that the term �Internet�
wasn�t actually used until 1974, by a man
named Vinton Cerf, who many call the "father of the Internet". But, that's where
it all began. Now you know the basics about what it is, how it works, and even
where the word came from!
Okay, let�s go back to the Party, because it�s not
quite over yet!
Now, pretty soon, a few things are going to happen.
You and Mona and your party guests are going to finish talking, and hang up the
phone. Since you�ve succeeded in convincing Mona�s guests to come over to YOUR
party, your party is going to get bigger. Then, eventually, everyone is going
get tired and go home.
Let�s take a look at what�s going to happen to your
Local Area Network and your Wide Area Network (your Internet),
when those things happen.
When either you or Mona hang up the phone line
connecting your two Parties (Local Area Networks), your Wide Area
Network will no longer exist. The connection (your phone call) that
created that Wide Area Network has been broken.
At the same time, the little human Internet
that you created will no longer exist.
Your two Parties will still be Local
Area Networks; that never changed.
When Mona�s guests leave her Party, and get in
their cars to come to YOUR Party, HER Local Area Network (her Party)
will no longer exist.
When Mona and her guests arrive at YOUR Party,
YOUR Local Area Network (your Party) will grow larger, and YOU
will still be the Host of that Local Area Network. MONA will
become a Workstation. YOU are the boss in YOUR house, not MONA!
Finally, when everybody has had enough Cheetos and
YooHoo, and they all get tired of you beating them at Monopoly, they'll all go
home. They will disconnect from your Network by leaving your house.
When that happens, YOUR Local Area Network (your Party) will no
longer exist.
Next week, Jerry is planning on hosting a Party,
and you�re invited. When you show up, you will then become a part of Jerry�s
Local Area Network. Given all the fun we�ve had at your Party today, you can
imagine what�s likely to happen at Jerry�s place!
Okay, folks, the Party�s over. :o) Believe it or
not, I�ll bet you now understand the basic Networking concepts that allow the
Internet to exist.
The Internet is simply one extremely large
Wide Area Network.
Well, you should now have a good understanding of
what basic Networking is. It�s really not that hard, as you�ve seen.
However, at this point, you may be wondering just
why the heck you need to understand this stuff.
Why the
heck do I need to Understand this stuff?
You�re going to find, as you move forward with your
Internet business, that a good understanding of basic networking is going to
come in handy in a LOT of different ways. Many times you�ll understand what�s
going on with your business or your web site without even realizing that you
understand it, simply because you know some Networking basics. However, I�ll
list just a couple of minor examples of how this stuff can come in handy.
You get your Home Internet Business up and running
all by yourself. After a while, the orders are rolling in, and you need some
extra help. Your spouse has a computer too, and it would be great if you could
both get on the Internet and work on the business from the two computers,
instead of just yours. However, you only have one Internet connection. Now,
you already have a pretty good idea that more than one computer in your house
can use the same Internet connection, but you don�t know how. You figure it�s
a good idea to go over to the local "Computers Is Us" store and ask. You can:
Go there without any knowledge of Networking,
and say to the sales guy; �Um, I want to put two computers on the same
Internet connection. What do I need?� The sales guy is going to think, �Hey,
here�s somebody without a clue!� He�s going to sell you a whole bunch of
over-expensive stuff that you really don�t need. OR, you can:
Go there and say to the sales guy, �I want to
set up and connect a small LAN in my house to a single Internet
connection. What do I need?� NOW, the sales guy is going to think,
�Hmmm�this one knows what she�s talking about.� He�s going to sell you just
what you need, and nothing more.
Does that sound far-fetched to you? Believe me when
I tell you that it�s NOT. I have purchased more computer equipment (for myself,
and for very large companies) than most people ever will. I can
tell you for a fact that this kind of thing happens all the time. A salesperson
will respect someone who has some basic knowledge much more than someone who
doesn�t, and will treat them accordingly!
You have a web site for your Home Internet
Business. One day, you go on the Internet to take a look at your site. It�s
not there! AAAHHHHHH! What do you do now??? Well, the first thing you are
going to do is call the Tech Support person at the Hosting Company you bought
your Internet site from. (Hmmm�HOSTING Company. Does that remind you of
anything from the chapter you just read?)
Most Hosting Companies have decent Technical
Support people. However, you WILL run into a lazy Tech one of these days, who
will talk down to you and will NOT be very interested in helping you.
You have two choices at that point.
If you know nothing about Networking, you can
say, �Oh, okay�.�, and hang up. You�ll sit there wondering what to do, but
there won�t BE anything you can do, until hopefully the problem
clears up on it�s own. OR,
You can say to the lazy Tech guy, �Hey, pal, of
course you can see it from where you are. YOU are on the same
Local Area Network (LAN) as the Host Computer where my web site is!
I, on the other hand, am accessing it from the other side of a
Wide Area Network (WAN). (The Internet). Did you stop to think
that maybe your Hosting Company has a problem with its WAN
connection?�
You see, the computer on the lazy Tech�s desk is
at the same party as the computer that Hosts your web site.
They are all in the same office. His computer is on
the same Local Area Network. However, YOU are accessing the Host Computer at his
Hosting Company over a �phone line� (which today would actually be a "broadband
connection", which is a combination of phone and other technologies). He needs
to check to be sure that the Wide Area Network (�phone line�) connection from
his Hosting Company to the outside world is working properly.
I know that may seem a little confusing right now,
but you�ll get the hang of it. That exact situation has actually happened to me
more than once.
These are just two very simple and basic
examples of many different situations you will find yourself in as you work with
the Internet. Knowledge is Power, my friend. Basic Networking may seem like
something you think you�ll never need to know, but that knowledge will be useful
to you in many unexpected ways as you create and grow your business.
If you'd like to read the rest of this FREE EBook, you
can find it
HERE. :o)
Chris Malta |
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©2003-2026 Worldwide Brands
Guess
what, my friends? If you�re in your 60�s, this new-fangled Internet thingy began
when you were in your twenties. If you�re in your 70�s, you were in your
thirties when it all began. It was YOUR crowd who started this
whole thing, so let�s quit griping and get with the program! :o)
Internetworking
(in the 60�s): "Computers in different locations talking to each other
over a phone line or other wired connection."
What
that sketch shows is those four computers (the circles), connected by phone
lines (the long lines), with little name tags (the squares with the short lines)
for each computer. Doesn�t look like much, does it? It wasn�t, by today�s
standards. If you tried to draw an accurate pencil sketch of the Internet
today, you couldn�t do it. I don�t think there are enough trees on the
planet to make that much paper and that many pencils. :o)
THE
WEIRD GUY WITH THE HAT. I know; I can never remember his name either. But
wherever JERRY goes, THE WEIRD GUY is sure to follow, for some reason. So,
we�d better plan for him too. 
So,
you call Tech Support, and tell them that you can�t see your web site on the
Internet. If you get a lazy Tech, he�s going to say, �Well, I�m trying it
here, and I can see your Internet site! There must be something wrong
at your end!� That�s a lazy Tech�s favorite tactic. Make you think it�s YOUR
problem, and get you off the phone.
