- The practice in which one computer network is
connected with the other networks is called inter-networking.
- The networks are
connected with the help of gateways.
- These gateways are used since they offer a
common method for routing the data packets across the networks.
- The resulting
system in which a number of networks are connected is called the inter-network
or more commonly as the internet.
- The terms “inter” and “networking” combine
together to form the term “internet working”.
- Internet is the best and the most popular
example of the inter networking.
- Internet has formed as a result of many
networks connected with the help of numerous technologies.
- Many types of
hardware technologies underlie the internet.
- The internet protocol suite (IP
suite) is the inter networking protocol standard responsible for unifying the
diverse networks.
- This protocol is more commonly known as the TCP/ IP.
- Two computer local area networks (LANs) connected to one another by means of a
router form the smallest internet but not the inter network.
- Inter networking is
not formed by simply connecting two LANs together via a hub or a switch.
- This
is called expansion of the original local area network.
- Inter networking was
started as a means for connecting the disparate networking technologies.
- Eventually, it gained widespread popularity because of the development needs of
connecting many local area networks together through some kind of WAN (wide
area network).
- “Catenet” was the original term that was used for the
inter network.
- Inter network includes many types of other networks such as the
PAN or personal area network.
- Gateways were the network elements that were
originally used for connecting various networks in predecessor of the internet
called the ARPANET.
- Today, these connecting devices are more commonly known as
the internet routers.
- There is a type of interconnection between the various
networks at the link layer of the networking model.
- This layer is particularly
known as the hardware centric layer and it lies below the TCP/ IP logical
interfaces level.
Two devices are mainly used in establishing this
interconnection:
Ø Network
switches and
Ø Network
bridges
- Even now this cannot be called as inter networking
rather, the system is just a single and large sub-network.
- Further, for
traversing these devices no inter networking protocol is required.
- However, it
is possible to convert a single network in to an inter network.
- This can be done
by making various segments out of the network and also making logical divisions
of the segment traffic using the routers.
- The internet protocol suite has been
particularly designed for providing a packet service.
- This packet service
offered by the IPS is quite unreliable.
- The elements that maintain a network
state and are intermediate in the network are avoided by the architecture.
- The
focus of the architecture is more on the end points of the active
communication session.
- For a reliable transfer of the data, a proper transport
layer protocol must be used by the applications.
- One such protocol is the TCP
(transmission control protocol) and it is capable of providing a reliable
stream for communication.
- Sometimes a simpler protocol such as the UDP (user
datagram protocol) might be used by the applications.
- The applications using
this protocol carry out only those tasks for which reliable data delivery is
not required or for which realtime is required.
Examples of such tasks
include voice chat or watching a video online etc. Inter networking uses two
architectural models namely:
- OSI or the open system
interconnection model: This model comes with 7 layer architecture that
covers the hardware and the software interface.
- TCP/ IP model: The
architecture of this model is somewhat loosely defined when compared with
the OSI model.
