INTERNET BASICS

Define the following terms

1. Internet
The term internet is derived from two words. Interconnection and Network. It is a
network of networks where each network consists of multiple number of computers
connected through cables or wireless media enabling them to communicate and share
file and other resources

2. Intranet
Some organizations have their own network that are extensively maintained by the
organizations. This type of network is called intranet. It is used for the communication
and sharing of resources within the organization

3. InterNIC (Internet Network Information Centre)

It is an organization that controls the registration of domain and addresses of new
computers being added to the computer.

4. IAB (Internet Architecture Board)

It is an organization within the US Department of Defence that makes decision about
the internet standards. It controls the evolution of set of rules called protocols.
It comprises of two major groups :
a) Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) -
It mainly focuses on research of protocols, its application and further promotion

b) Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) –

It is a large open community of network designers, operators, vendors and
researchers that focuses on solving technical issues on the internet.

5. Gateway – It is a device that connects two or more networks which are dissimilar in
terms of architecture and protocols they use.

6. World Wide Web (WWW)

It is a collection of linked documents or pages stored on millions of computers spread
over entire internet. The concept of the web was proposed between 1989 -1991 by Tm
Berners Lee

(Note – Difference between Internet & WWW - Internet is a collection of computers

and network devices connected together where as WWW is a collection of linked
documents stored on millions of computers on the internet)

7. Webpage
The document available on WWW are known as webpage. The information on the
webpage can be in the form of text, graphics, audio and video
8. Website
A collection of related webpages interlinked with each other and stored on a web
server is known as website. Website is own and updated by an individual, company or
organization. Eg. www.cbse.nic.in, www.kiitis.org etc

9. Homepage
The first page you see when you open any website is known as home page. It is also
known as index page. It provides the basic information about the website. It contains
link to other pages in the website.

10. Hypertext
A hypertext is an element on a webpage that has a link to another webpage or video or
image etc. It can be in the form of a word , several words or an image.

11. Hyperlink
When we click on a hypertext, a webpage or audio or video gets open. This process of
linking one page with another with the help of hypertext is called hyperlinking.

12. Web Browser

It is a software program on a client computer that retrieves information from the web. It
enables us to read the webpages and move from one webpage to another. It may be
text based or graphics based.
Eg.
Text based browser - Lynx, W3M
Graphics based browser – Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Opera, Mozilla Firefox

13. Web Server

It is a computer that stores the website and delivers them to the clients upon request. A
server software is installed on it and it is connected to the internet.
Eg. Apache, IIS

14. Client Server Architecture

It is a network architecture in which each computer on the network is either a client or a
server. Server is the computer that provides services where as clients are the computer/
programs that request for different types of services.

15. Web Portal

It is a website that provides an interface to many other web services such as email,
search engine, shopping, gaming, news etc. Eg.Google, Yahoo, Rediff,, MSN etc

(Note – Difference between website and web portal - Website provides some specific
type of information where as webportal provides an interface to many other services
 such as email, search engine, gaming, news etc. Secondly a website generally links to its
own webpages where as a webportal generally links to many other websites)

16. Blog or Weblog

Blog is a kind of website. It is an online diary or journal of a person or company.
The person who writes and maintains a blog is known as blogger.
The activity of uploading and maintaining a blog is known as blogging
The entries posted in the blog is known as blog-post
People can read the entries posted in the blog and can leave comments.

Different types of blogs are :

 Personal blog
 News and views
 Company blog
 Micro blog

17. Micro blog

It is a special type of blog where one can post very short comments that others can
follow. The no. of characters of any entry in a microblog is limited unlike blog.
Eg. twitter, where one can post a maximum of 140 characters and each entry is called
tweet
(Note – Difference between blog and micro blog is blog poses no restriction on number
of characters for a post where as micro blog limits a post to certain number of
characters.)

18. Newsgroup/Bulletin Board

It is an online community board where groups of users with common interest discuss on
a common topic. The user can post messages, respond to the posted messages or just
read them. Groups of related messages are known as threads.

19. Email (Electronic Mail)

It is an electronic message that is sent or received over internet. To send or receive
email we need an e-mail address
20. Email Address
It is an unique address of electronic mail box to which email messages are delivered.
Eg. [email protected]
Here, ayush2019 - is the username
gmail.com – is the server name where the mail box is located
@ - separates username from server name

21. URL (Uniform Resource Locator) / Web Address

Each webpage has a unique address called URL. It gives the web browser the location
of the webpage. URL sometimes referred to as Web Address
Eg. http://www.kidsclass.com/social/resources/watercycle.php
 Here, http – protocol/server type
www.kidsclass.com – Domain name/server name
social/resources – path
watercycle.php – file name

22. Domain Name

It is a unique name that identifies a particular website.It represents the name of the
server where the website resides.

Eg. www.kidsclass .com

www.kiit-is.org
www.cbse.nic.in
(In Domain name 3 letter abbreviations represents organistion such as .com, .org,.gov,
.edu etc. Two letter abbreviation represents countries such as .in, .au,.uk, .jp etc)

23. IP Address
To identify each computer on the internet a unique address called IP address is assigned
to it. It is a 32 bit numeric address that is used to represent every computer on the
internet. It is a string of four numbers separated by a . (dot). Each number can be
from 0 – 255
Eg. 10.0.2.212
55.25.110.255

24. Domain Name System (DNS)

The relationship between the the IP Address and the Domain Name System is
maintained by an internet service called Domain Name System (DNS). This sytem
map/converts the domain name to an IP address.

25. Protocol
It is a formal set of rules that governs data communication over a network (i.e how
computers exchange information over a network). It offers a standard format and
method for communication

26. Types of Protocol

a) TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol)
It is the most common protocol. It is used as a standard for transmitting data over
network. TCP is responsible for dividing the the message or file into small packets at
the sender’s end. IP labels the address of source and destination on each packet and
manages the routing of packets to the destination.

b) SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)

It is responsible for sending Email messages over internet
c) POP3 (Post Office Protocol3)
It is responsible for retrieving Email messages over internet

d) HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol)

It is responsible for transferring and displaying webpages (Hypertext documents)

e) HTTPS (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure)

It is an enhanced version of HTTP protocol that ensures secured transmission of
webpages over internet by converting the text to some code words.
(Note – The encryption /coding is done by a special technology called SSL -Secure
Socket Layer, certificate

f) FTP (File Transfer Protocol)

It is used for transferring files between computers on the internet (downloading/
uploading)

g) SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol)

It as an enhanced version of File Transfer Protocol (FTP) that facilitates accessing and
transferring files over a secure shell. It is a part of SSH protocol (SSH handles the
encryption part).

h) SSH (Secure Shell)

It allows you to log on or connect to the remote computers via a shell where all data
between the client and server is encrypted/coded.
(It creates a secured encrypted channel between a pair of remote devices)

i) SCP (Secure Copy Protocol)

It is a file Transfer Protocol, which helps in transferring files securely from a local
host to a remote host. It works on SSH

(Difference between SFTP & SCP is they both are used for transferring files. But SCP
can’t do other things that SFTP does like removing files. SCP is more faster )

j) TELNET Protocol
It is a protocol that allows you to log on to or connect to the remote computers on
the internet

(Diff b/w FTPS and SFTP is FTPS is FTP over SSL(Secure Socket Layer) whereas SFTP is
FTP over SSH
Diff b/w SSL & SSH is they both form encrypted communication tunnels. But
whereas SSL is designed for transmission of information, SSH is designed to execute
commands, for eg. for login to some part of network remotely)
27. HTML (HyperText Markup Language)
It is a markup language used to create webpages. It comprises of set of markup
symbols, tags and attributes

28. MODEM (Modulator Demodulator)

A modem is an electronic device that enables a computer to transmit data over
telephone line. It converts digital information into analog form at source computer
which is called modulation and at the destination computer it converts analog
information back to digital form which is called demodulation.

29. ISP (Internet Service Provider)

It is a company that provides access to the internet. It charges a monthly fee and
registers you as a user to connect to the internet