High Performance Communication Networks, Second Edition
An advanced textbook surveying high-performance communication networks.
TABLE OF CONTENTS High Performance Communication Networks, Second Edition
Chapter 4: The Internet and TCP/IP Networks
OVERVIEW
This chapter explains the Internet and networks that use the same protocols. We call these networks TCP/IP Networks because TCP and IP are their most important protocols. For instance, companies build isolated TCP/IP networks called intranets to connect their computers and servers. In this chapter we first discuss the Internet and its topology. We then describe the IP and TCP protocols, and some of the major applications, including the http protocol used in the World Wide Web. We also discuss performance characteristics of the TCP/IP networks and proposed upgrades of the IP and TCP protocols.
Section 4.1 explains the Internet. Section 4.2 clarifies the addressing and routing and reviews the layered structure of the protocols. Section 4.3 discusses the Internet Protocol. Section 4.4 describes the TCP and UDP protocols and considers important applications. Section 4.5 looks at both the success and the limitations of the Internet. Section 4.6 discusses performance issues of the Internet.
4.1 THE INTERNET
The Internet today interconnects a large number of computers and networks throughout the world. There were 1 million such computers in early 1993, 5 million in 1995, 16 million in 1997, and over 50 million in 1999 organized in 2 million domains.
The Internet has its origin in the ARPANET network sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense starting in the 1960s. The ARPANET was a datagram store-and-forward network that the Department of Defense liked for its ability to reroute packets around failures. This feature makes datagram networks survivable. Another...
Copyright Morgan Kaufmann Publishers 2000 under license agreement with Books24x7
