Everyday billions of people worldwide access the Internet.
They access the internet on various devices ranging from desktop, laptop, tablet and mobile phone.
Now how the Internet works?
It's a very large and complex system. I would not go to the mind boggling details.
I will focus on the basic architecture of the internet.
The two most important entity of the Internet are Server and Client.
A> Server:
From the name it is evident that the server serves resources to the clients. Now what are these resources? They are of various types: simple webpages, documents, images, audio and video. The server hosts all these contents within itself. The server is nothing but a very powerful computer.
B> Client:
Client is any device on which a person can access the Internet. It can be a desktop, a laptop, a tablet or a smart phone. The person accessing the Internet (or the web) on a client device uses a software program called Web Browser. Some of the popular Web Browsers are: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and Opera. The person wishing to visit a webpage enters the address of the website into the browser. The browser then displays the requested website.
Now how the clients and servers are connected?
The Internet is a vast network. It consists of millions and billions of Servers and Clients.
The internet also consists of numerous communication channels which act as a backbone to the entire system. These communication channels could be physical cables or wireless signals.
The entire Internet is made up of millions of smaller networks. Your home network, school network or office networks are just examples of these small networks.
All small networks connect to a bigger network and ultimately all big networks connect to the Internet.
Remember that it is called 'the' Internet with a capital 'I'.
This is because the Internet is unique and there is only one Internet on planet Earth.
The Internet is also a decentralized network. That means it does not have a central authority.
The Internet is very democratic in nature.
The Internet is run by number of Internet Service Providers (ISP). These are companies who maintains the Internet and provides access to consumers.
More details on ISPs will follow in my next post.
