How Does The Internet Work? An Introduction to Web Development

How does the internet really work? We use the internet nowadays, and we take it for granted in the slightest. Before we start designing and creating some amazing websites and online apps. It is imperative that we comprehend the basic principles behind the operation of the internet.

That said, what precisely then is the internet? It may seem extremely complicated and challenging to comprehend, yet that’s not the case at all. The internet is quite easy to understand. It is essentially just a lengthy wire that joins many computers to one another.

So you might have one computer that’s in Lagos, Nigeria and another computer that’s in Yaoundé, Cameroun, and they can talk to each other and transfer data through this giant wire. Now some of these computers attached to the internet have a very special job. They have to be online 24/7 ready to serve you all of the data and files that you are requesting when you try to access the websites. These computers must be on doing this job. We call this type of computer a server and the computer that any user would use to access the internet, is called a client.

You may now visualize the internet as an enormous library that is accessible to you at any time of day, around the clock. Additionally, you may say, “I want to see Smartech homepage.” Alternatively, any other website would do. Additionally, it will provide you with all the files and information you require in order to visit the website you requested. Imagine a library this size, able to accommodate all of these webpages. Then you can probably run into trouble finding exactly what you’re looking for in this enormous library very quickly, right? How does the internet help us solve this problem?

Let’s say that you’re sitting at home on your computer and you type in smartechmolabs.com. This is because you want to see the Smartech homepage. What happens when you do this on your browser? The browser will send a message to your internet service provider (ISP). So if you are in Nigeria, for example, that would be network providers like MTN, Airtel, or Globacom. Now the message that you sending, would be like “I want to see smartechmolabs.com,”. The ISP would send this message to a Domain Name System (DNS) Server, which is essentially just a souped-up phone book.

What really happens when this request is made is that, the DNS looks up the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the website on its database. It is worth noting here that every computer on the internet has a specific IP address. You can think of the IP address as your postal address that is used to send and receive mails.

Now, when the DNS server finds the IP address of the website you are requesting for, it sends that back to the client computer through the ISP. And once this is received, you can start seeing your browser sending the request to this IP address through the internet backbone, an analogy that defines the internet submarine cable that is all around the world..

This means that for someone in Mexico City, Mexico in North America wants to request to see a website that is hosted in Lagos Nigeria, his/or her browser has to make a request via the internet backbone to have access to such data. And this request has to travel through the transatlantic cable to get to Lagos, Nigeria. This request is basically, I want to see the website at this IP address and this is the server the website is hosted and once the server receives this message, it returns with all the information requested through the internet backbone. Hence, the website is served up and displayed to the user’s computer in New Mexico City.

Conclusion

You can try this out yourself and use a different website address. Take Google for example and you can see exactly how the internet work. Additionally, you can check out the internet backbone on this site here. They have pretty interesting details on how the internet has travelled round the globe.

Read Related Posts Like This…

• How to Identify and Solve High CPU Usage on A WordPress Site
• How to Fix an Overloaded WordPress Website
• How to Fix a WordPress Site with Malware
• How to Check Resources Usage

FAQs on How Does The Internet Work

1. What is the internet and how does it work? The internet is a global network of interconnected computers that communicate using a standardized set of rules known as protocols. It works by routing data packets between devices using a system of interconnected networks.
2. What are the basic components of the internet infrastructure? The basic components of the internet infrastructure include routers, switches, servers, and transmission lines (such as fiber optic cables) that connect networks together.
3. How do devices communicate over the internet? Devices communicate over the internet using a protocol called TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol), which breaks data into packets, routes them to their destination, and reassembles them into the original data.
4. What is the role of IP addresses in internet communication? IP addresses are unique identifiers assigned to devices on a network. They allow devices to send and receive data to and from specific destinations on the internet.
5. What is the difference between the internet and the World Wide Web? The internet is the infrastructure that allows for global communication between devices, while the World Wide Web is a collection of websites and web pages that are accessible over the internet.
6. How are data packets transmitted and routed over the internet? Data packets are transmitted over the internet using a series of routers that determine the best path for the packet to reach its destination based on the destination IP address.
7. What is the importance of protocols like TCP/IP in internet communication? Protocols like TCP/IP ensure that data is transmitted reliably and efficiently over the internet by breaking it into packets, routing them to their destination, and reassembling them in the correct order.
8. How do domain names and DNS servers work in relation to the internet? Domain names are human-readable names that correspond to IP addresses. DNS (Domain Name System) servers translate domain names into IP addresses so that devices can locate each other on the internet.
9. What are the different types of internet connections available? There are several types of internet connections, including dial-up, DSL, cable, fiber optic, and satellite, each offering different speeds and levels of reliability.
10. How has the internet evolved since its inception? Since its inception, the internet has evolved from a simple network for academic and military use to a global communication platform that connects billions of people and devices worldwide.