Introduction of Internetworking

Internetworking is combined of 2 words, inter and networking which implies an association between
totally different nodes or segments. This connection area unit is established through intercessor
devices akin to routers or gateway. The first term for associate degree internetwork was catenet.
This interconnection is often among or between public, private, commercial, industrial, or
governmental networks. Thus, associate degree internetwork could be an assortment of individual
networks, connected by intermediate networking devices, that function as one giant network.
Internetworking refers to the trade, products, and procedures that meet the challenge of making
and administering internet works.

To enable communication, every individual network node or phase is designed with a similar
protocol or communication logic, that is Transfer Control Protocol (TCP) or Internet Protocol (IP).
Once a network communicates with another network having constant communication procedures,
it’s called Internetworking. Internetworking was designed to resolve the matter of delivering a
packet of information through many links.

There is a minute difference between extending the network and Internetworking. Merely
exploitation of either a switch or a hub to attach 2 local area networks is an extension of LAN
whereas connecting them via the router is an associate degree example of Internetworking.
Internetworking is enforced in Layer three (Network Layer) of the OSI-ISO model. The foremost
notable example of internetworking is the Internet.

There is chiefly 3 units of Internetworking:

 Extranet
 Intranet
 Internet

Extranet – It’s a network of the internetwork that’s restricted in scope to one organization or entity
however that additionally has restricted connections to the networks of one or a lot of different
sometimes, however not essential. It’s the very lowest level of Internetworking, usually enforced in
an exceedingly personal area. Associate degree extranet may additionally be classified as a Man,
WAN, or different form of network however it cannot encompass one local area network i.e. it
should have a minimum of one reference to associate degree external network.

Intranet – This associate degree computer network could be a set of interconnected networks,
which exploits the Internet Protocol and uses IP-based tools akin to web browsers and FTP tools,
that are underneath the management of one body entity. That body entity closes the computer
network to the remainder of the planet and permits solely specific users. Most typically, this
network is the internal network of a corporation or different enterprise. An outsized computer
network can usually have its own internet server to supply users with browsable data.

Internet – A selected Internetworking, consisting of a worldwide interconnection of governmental,

academic, public, and personal networks based mostly upon the Advanced analysis comes Agency
Network (ARPANET) developed by ARPA of the U.S. Department of Defense additionally home to the
World Wide Web (WWW) and cited as the ‘Internet’ to differentiate from all different generic
Internetworks. Participants within the web, or their service suppliers, use IP Addresses obtained
from address registries that manage assignments.

Network devices, also known as networking hardware, are physical devices that allow hardware on a
computer network to communicate and interact with one another. For example Repeater, Hub,
Bridge, Switch, Routers, Gateway, Brouter, and NIC, etc.
1. Repeater – A repeater operates at the physical layer. Its job is to regenerate the signal over the
same network before the signal becomes too weak or corrupted to extend the length to which the
signal can be transmitted over the same network. An important point to be noted about repeaters is
that they not only amplify the signal but also regenerate it. When the signal becomes weak, they
copy it bit by bit and regenerate it at its star topology connectors connecting following the original
strength. It is a 2-port device.

2. Hub – A hub is a basically multi-port repeater. A hub connects multiple wires coming from
different branches, for example, the connector in star topology which connects different stations.
Hubs cannot filter data, so data packets are sent to all connected devices. In other words,
the collision domain of all hosts connected through Hub remains one. Also, they do not have the
intelligence to find out the best path for data packets which leads to inefficiencies and wastage.

Types of Hub

 Active Hub:- These are the hubs that have their power supply and can clean, boost, and
relay the signal along with the network. It serves both as a repeater as well as a wiring
center. These are used to extend the maximum distance between nodes.

 Passive Hub:- These are the hubs that collect wiring from nodes and power supply from the
active hub. These hubs relay signals onto the network without cleaning and boosting them
and can’t be used to extend the distance between nodes.

 Intelligent Hub:- It works like an active hub and includes remote management capabilities.
They also provide flexible data rates to network devices. It also enables an administrator to
monitor the traffic passing through the hub and to configure each port in the hub.

3. Bridge – A bridge operates at the data link layer. A bridge is a repeater, with add on the
functionality of filtering content by reading the MAC addresses of the source and destination. It is
also used for interconnecting two LANs working on the same protocol. It has a single input and single
output port, thus making it a 2 port device.

Types of Bridges

 Transparent Bridges:- These are the bridge in which the stations are completely unaware of
the bridge’s existence i.e. whether or not a bridge is added or deleted from the network,
reconfiguration of the stations is unnecessary. These bridges make use of two processes i.e.
bridge forwarding and bridge learning.

 Source Routing Bridges:- In these bridges, routing operation is performed by the source
station and the frame specifies which route to follow. The host can discover the frame by
sending a special frame called the discovery frame, which spreads through the entire
network using all possible paths to the destination.

4. Switch – A switch is a multiport bridge with a buffer and a design that can boost its efficiency(a
large number of ports imply less traffic) and performance. A switch is a data link layer device. The
switch can perform error checking before forwarding data, which makes it very efficient as it does
not forward packets that have errors and forward good packets selectively to the correct port only.
In other words, the switch divides the collision domain of hosts, but the broadcast domain remains
the same.

Types of Switch

1. Unmanaged switches: These switches have a simple plug-and-play design and do not offer
advanced configuration options. They are suitable for small networks or for use as an
expansion to a larger network.
 2. Managed switches: These switches offer advanced configuration options such as VLANs,
QoS, and link aggregation. They are suitable for larger, more complex networks and allow for
centralized management.

3. Smart switches: These switches have features similar to managed switches but are typically
easier to set up and manage. They are suitable for small- to medium-sized networks.

4. Layer 2 switches: These switches operate at the Data Link layer of the OSI model and are
responsible for forwarding data between devices on the same network segment.

5. Layer 3 switches: These switches operate at the Network layer of the OSI model and can
route data between different network segments. They are more advanced than Layer 2
switches and are often used in larger, more complex networks.

6. PoE switches: These switches have Power over Ethernet capabilities, which allows them to
supply power to network devices over the same cable that carries data.

7. Gigabit switches: These switches support Gigabit Ethernet speeds, which are faster than
traditional Ethernet speeds.

8. Rack-mounted switches: These switches are designed to be mounted in a server rack and are
suitable for use in data centers or other large networks.

9. Desktop switches: These switches are designed for use on a desktop or in a small office
environment and are typically smaller in size than rack-mounted switches.

10. Modular switches: These switches have modular design, which allows for easy expansion or
customization. They are suitable for large networks and data centers.

5. Routers – A router is a device like a switch that routes data packets based on their IP addresses.
The router is mainly a Network Layer device. Routers normally connect LANs and WANs and have a
dynamically updating routing table based on which they make decisions on routing the data packets.
The router divides the broadcast domains of hosts connected through it.

6. Gateway – A gateway, as the name suggests, is a passage to connect two networks that may work
upon different networking models. They work as messenger agents that take data from one system,
interpret it, and transfer it to another system. Gateways are also called protocol converters and can
operate at any network layer. Gateways are generally more complex than switches or routers. A
gateway is also called a protocol converter.

7. Brouter – It is also known as the bridging router is a device that combines features of both bridge
and router. It can work either at the data link layer or a network layer. Working as a router, it is
capable of routing packets across networks and working as the bridge, it is capable of filtering local
area network traffic.

8. NIC – NIC or network interface card is a network adapter that is used to connect the computer to
the network. It is installed in the computer to establish a LAN. It has a unique id that is written on
the chip, and it has a connector to connect the cable to it. The cable acts as an interface between the
computer and the router or modem. NIC card is a layer 2 device which means that it works on both
the physical and data link layers of the network model.

Types of Internet Protocol

Internet Protocols are of different types having different uses. These are mentioned below:

1. TCP/IP(Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol)

2. SMTP(Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)

3. PPP(Point-to-Point Protocol)

4. FTP (File Transfer Protocol)

5. SFTP(Secure File Transfer Protocol)

6. HTTP(Hyper Text Transfer Protocol)

7. HTTPS(HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure)

8. TELNET(Terminal Network)

9. POP3(Post Office Protocol 3)

10. IPv4

11. IPv6

12. ICMP

13. UDP

14. IMAP

15. SSH

16. Gopher

1. TCP/IP(Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol)

These are a set of standard rules that allows different types of computers to communicate with each
other. The IP protocol ensures that each computer that is connected to the Internet is having a
specific serial number called the IP address. TCP specifies how data is exchanged over the internet
and how it should be broken into IP packets. It also makes sure that the packets have information
about the source of the message data, the destination of the message data, the sequence in which
the message data should be re-assembled, and checks if the message has been sent correctly to the
specific destination. The TCP is also known as a connection-oriented protocol.

2. SMTP(Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)

These protocols are important for sending and distributing outgoing emails. This protocol uses the
header of the mail to get the email id of the receiver and enters the mail into the queue of outgoing
mail. And as soon as it delivers the mail to the receiving email id, it removes the email from the
outgoing list. The message or the electronic mail may consider the text, video, image, etc. It helps in
setting up some communication server rules.

3. PPP(Point-to-Point Protocol)

It is a communication protocol that is used to create a direct connection between two

communicating devices. This protocol defines the rules using which two devices will authenticate
with each other and exchange information with each other. For example, A user connects his PC to
the server of an Internet Service Provider and also uses PPP. Similarly, for connecting two routers for
direct communication it uses PPP.

4. FTP (File Transfer Protocol)

This protocol is used for transferring files from one system to the other. This works on a client-server
model. When a machine requests for file transfer from another machine, the FTO sets up a
connection between the two and authenticates each other using their ID and Password. And, the
desired file transfer takes place between the machines.

5. SFTP(Secure File Transfer Protocol)

SFTP which is also known as SSH FTP refers to File Transfer Protocol (FTP) over Secure Shell (SSH) as
it encrypts both commands and data while in transmission. SFTP acts as an extension to SSH and
encrypts files and data then sends them over a secure shell data stream. This protocol is used to
remotely connect to other systems while executing commands from the command line.

6. HTTP(Hyper Text Transfer Protocol)

This protocol is used to transfer hypertexts over the internet and it is defined by the www(world
wide web) for information transfer. This protocol defines how the information needs to be
formatted and transmitted. And, it also defines the various actions the web browsers should take in
response to the calls made to access a particular web page. Whenever a user opens their web
browser, the user will indirectly use HTTP as this is the protocol that is being used to share text,
images, and other multimedia files on the World Wide Web.

7. HTTPS(HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure)

HTTPS is an extension of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). It is used for secure communication
over a computer network with the SSL/TLS protocol for encryption and authentication. So, generally,
a website has an HTTP protocol but if the website is such that it receives some sensitive information
such as credit card details, debit card details, OTP, etc then it requires an SSL certificate installed to
make the website more secure. So, before entering any sensitive information on a website, we
should check if the link is HTTPS or not. If it is not HTTPS then it may not be secure enough to enter
sensitive information.

8. TELNET(Terminal Network)

TELNET is a standard TCP/IP protocol used for virtual terminal service given by ISO. This enables one
local machine to connect with another. The computer which is being connected is called a remote
computer and which is connecting is called the local computer. TELNET operation lets us display
anything being performed on the remote computer in the local computer. This operates on the
client/server principle. The local computer uses the telnet client program whereas the remote
computer uses the telnet server program.
9. POP3(Post Office Protocol 3)

POP3 stands for Post Office Protocol version 3. It has two Message Access Agents (MAAs) where one
is client MAA (Message Access Agent) and another is server MAA(Message Access Agent) for
accessing the messages from the mailbox. This protocol helps us to retrieve and manage emails from
the mailbox on the receiver mail server to the receiver’s computer. This is implied between the
receiver and the receiver mail server. It can also be called a one-way client-server protocol. The
POP3 WORKS ON THE 2 PORTS I.E. PORT 110 AND PORT 995.

10. IPv4

The fourth and initially widely used version of the Internet Protocol is called IPv4 (Internet Protocol
version 4). It is the most popular version of the Internet Protocol and is in charge of distributing data
packets throughout the network. Maximum unique addresses for IPv4 are 4,294,967,296 (232),
which are possible due to the use of 32-bit addresses. The network address and the host address are
the two components of each address. The host address identifies a particular device within the
network, whereas the network address identifies the network to which the host belongs. In the
“dotted decimal” notation, which is the standard for IPv4 addresses, each octet (8 bits) of the
address is represented by its decimal value and separated by a dot (e.g. 192.168.1.1).

11. IPv6

The most recent version of the Internet Protocol, IPv6, was created to address the IPv4 protocol’s
drawbacks. A maximum of 4.3 billion unique addresses are possible with IPv4’s 32-bit addresses.
Contrarily, IPv6 uses 128-bit addresses, which enable a significantly greater number of unique
addresses. This is significant because IPv4 addresses were running out and there are an increasing
number of devices that require internet access. Additionally, IPv6 offers enhanced security features
like integrated authentication and encryption as well as better support for mobile devices. IPv6
support has spread among websites and internet service providers, and it is anticipated to gradually
displace IPv4 as the main internet protocol.

12. ICMP

ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) is a network protocol that is used to send error messages
and operational information about network conditions. It is an integral part of the Internet Protocol
(IP) suite and is used to help diagnose and troubleshoot issues with network connectivity. ICMP
messages are typically generated by network devices, such as routers, in response to errors or
exceptional conditions encountered in forwarding a datagram.

13. UDP

UDP (User Datagram Protocol) is a connectionless, unreliable transport layer protocol. Unlike TCP, it
does not establish a reliable connection between devices before transmitting data, and it does not
guarantee that data packets will be received in the order they were sent or that they will be received
at all. Instead, UDP simply sends packets of data to a destination without any error checking or flow
control. UDP is typically used for real-time applications such as streaming video and audio, online
gaming, and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) where a small amount of lost data is acceptable and
low latency is important. UDP is faster than TCP because it has less overhead. It doesn’t need to
establish a connection, so it can send data packets immediately. It also doesn’t need to wait for
confirmation that the data was received before sending more, so it can transmit data at a higher
rate.

14. IMAP

IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) is a protocol used for retrieving emails from a mail server.
It allows users to access and manage their emails on the server, rather than downloading them to a
local device. This means that the user can access their emails from multiple devices and the emails
will be synced across all devices. IMAP is more flexible than POP3 (Post Office Protocol version 3) as
it allows users to access and organize their emails on the server, and also allows multiple users to
access the same mailbox.

15. SSH

SSH (Secure Shell) is a protocol used for secure remote login and other secure network services. It
provides a secure and encrypted way to remotely access and manage servers, network devices, and
other computer systems. SSH uses public-key cryptography to authenticate the user and encrypt the
data being transmitted, making it much more secure than traditional remote login protocols such as
Telnet. SSH also allows for secure file transfers using the SCP (Secure Copy) and SFTP (Secure File
Transfer Protocol) protocols. It is widely used in Unix-based operating systems and is also available
for Windows. It is commonly used by system administrators, developers, and other technical users
to remotely access and manage servers and other network devices.

16. Gopher

Gopher is a type of file retrieval protocol that provides downloadable files with some description for
easy management, retrieving, and searching of files. All the files are arranged on a remote computer
in a stratified manner. It is an old protocol and it is not much used nowadays.