As per Relevance of the word telephone, we have this rfc below:
Network Working Group E.
Request for Comments: 1462 University of
FYI: 20 E.
Merit Network, Inc
May 1993
FYI on "What is the Internet?"
Status of this
This memo provides information for the Internet community. It
not specify an Internet standard. Distribution of this memo
unlimited
This FYI RFC answers the question, "What is the Internet?" and
produced by the User Services Working Group of the
Engineering Task Force (IETF). Containing a modified chapter from
Krol's 1992 book, "The Whole Internet User's Guide and Catalog,"
paper covers the Internet's definition, history, administration
protocols, financing, and current issues such as growth
commercialization, and privatization
A commonly asked question is "What is the Internet?" The reason
a question gets asked so often is because there's no agreed
answer that neatly sums up the Internet. The Internet can be
about in relation to its common protocols, as a physical
of routers and circuits, as a set of shared resources, or even as
attitude about interconnecting and intercommunication. Some
definitions given in the past include
* a network of networks based on the TCP/IP protocols
* a community of people who use and develop those networks
* a collection of resources that can be reached from
networks
Today's Internet is a global resource connecting millions of
that began as an experiment over 20 years ago by the U.S.
of Defense. While the networks that make up the Internet are based
a standard set of protocols (a mutually agreed upon method
communication between parties), the Internet also has gateways
networks and services that are based on other protocols
Krol & Hoffman [Page 1]
RFC 1462 What is the Internet? May 1993
To help answer the question more completely, the rest of this
contains an updated second chapter from "The Whole Internet User'
Guide and Catalog" by Ed Krol (1992) that gives a more
explanation. (The excerpt is published through the
permission of the publisher, O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.)
The Internet (excerpt from "The Whole Internet User's Guide
Catalog")
The Internet was born about 20 years ago, trying to connect
a U.S. Defense Department network called the ARPAnet and
other radio and satellite networks. The ARPAnet was an
network designed to support military research--in particular
research about how to build networks that could withstand
outages (like bomb attacks) and still function. (Think about
when I describe how the network works; it may give you some
into the design of the Internet.) In the ARPAnet model,
always occurs between a source and a destination computer.
network itself is assumed to be unreliable; any portion of
network could disappear at any moment (pick your
catastrophe--these days backhoes cutting cables are more of a
than bombs). It was designed to require the minimum of
from the computer clients. To send a message on the network,
computer only had to put its data in an envelope, called an
Protocol (IP) packet, and "address" the packets correctly.
communicating computers--not the network itself--were also given
responsibility to ensure that the communication was accomplished.
philosophy was that every computer on the network could talk, as
peer, with any other computer
These decisions may sound odd, like the assumption of an "unreliable
network, but history has proven that most of them were
correct. Although the Organization for International
(ISO) was spending years designing the ultimate standard for
networking, people could not wait. Internet developers in the US,
and Scandinavia, responding to market pressures, began to put
IP software on every conceivable type of computer. It became the
practical method for computers from different manufacturers
communicate. This was attractive to the government and universities
which didn't have policies saying that all computers must be
from the same vendor. Everyone bought whichever computer they liked
and expected the computers to work together over the network
At about the same time as the Internet was coming into being
Ethernet local area networks ("LANs") were developed. This
matured quietly, until desktop workstations became available
1983. Most of these workstations came with Berkeley UNIX,
included IP networking software. This created a new demand:
Krol & Hoffman [Page 2]
RFC 1462 What is the Internet? May 1993
than connecting to a single large timesharing computer per site
organizations wanted to connect the ARPAnet to their entire
network. This would allow all the computers on that LAN to
ARPAnet facilities. About the same time, other organizations
building their own networks using the same communications
as the ARPAnet: namely, IP and its relatives. It became obvious
if these networks could talk together, users on one network
communicate with those on another; everyone would benefit
One of the most important of these newer networks was the NSFNET
commissioned by the National Science Foundation (NSF), an agency
the U.S. government. In the late 80's the NSF created
supercomputer centers. Up to this point, the world's
computers had only been available to weapons developers and a
researchers from very large corporations. By creating
centers, the NSF was making these resources available for
scholarly research. Only five centers were created because they
so expensive--so they had to be shared. This created a
problem: they needed a way to connect their centers together and
allow the clients of these centers to access them. At first, the
tried to use the ARPAnet for communications, but this strategy
because of bureaucracy and staffing problems
In response, NSF decided to build its own network, based on
ARPAnet's IP technology. It connected the centers with 56,000 bit
second (56k bps) telephone lines. (This is roughly the ability
transfer two full typewritten pages per second. That's slow
modern standards, but was reasonably fast in the mid 80's.) It
obvious, however, that if they tried to connect every
directly to a supercomputing center, they would go broke. You pay
these telephone lines by the mile. One line per campus with
supercomputing center at the hub, like spokes on a bike wheel,
up to lots of miles of phone lines. Therefore, they decided to
regional networks. In each area of the country, schools would
connected to their nearest neighbor. Each chain was connected to
supercomputer center at one point and the centers were
together. With this configuration, any computer could
communicate with any other by forwarding the conversation through
neighbors
This solution was successful--and, like any successful solution,
time came when it no longer worked. Sharing supercomputers
allowed the connected sites to share a lot of other things
related to the centers. Suddenly these schools had a world of
and collaborators at their fingertips. The network's
increased until, eventually, the computers controlling the
and the telephone lines connecting them were overloaded. In 1987,
contract to manage and upgrade the network was awarded to
Krol & Hoffman [Page 3]
RFC 1462 What is the Internet? May 1993
Network Inc., which ran Michigan's educational network,
partnership with IBM and MCI. The old network was replaced
faster telephone lines (by a factor of 20), with faster computers
control it
The process of running out of horsepower and getting bigger
and better roads continues to this day. Unlike changes to the
system, however, most of these changes aren't noticed by the
trying to use the Internet to do real work. You won't go to
office, log in to your computer, and find a message saying that
Internet will be inaccessible for the next six months because
improvements. Perhaps even more important: the process of running
of capacity and improving the network has created a technology that'
extremely mature and practical. The ideas have been tested;
have appeared, and problems have been solved
For our purposes, the most important aspect of the NSF's
effort is that it allowed everyone to access the network. Up to
point, Internet access had been available only to researchers
computer science, government employees, and government contractors
The NSF promoted universal educational access by funding
connections only if the campus had a plan to spread the
around. So everyone attending a four year college could become
Internet user
The demand keeps growing. Now that most four-year colleges
connected, people are trying to get secondary and primary
connected. People who have graduated from college know what
Internet is good for, and talk their employers into
corporations. All this activity points to continued growth
networking problems to solve, evolving technologies, and job
for networkers
What Makes Up the Internet
What comprises the Internet is a difficult question; the
changes over time. Five years ago the answer would have been easy
"All the networks, using the IP protocol, which cooperate to form
seamless network for their collective users." This would
various federal networks, a set of regional networks,
networks, and some foreign networks
More recently, some non-IP-based networks saw that the Internet
good. They wanted to provide its services to their clientele. So
developed methods of connecting these "strange" networks (e.g.,
Bitnet, DECnets, etc.) to the Internet. At first these connections
called "gateways", merely served to transfer electronic mail
the two networks. Some, however, have grown to translate
Krol & Hoffman [Page 4]
RFC 1462 What is the Internet? May 1993
services between the networks as well. Are they part of the Internet
Maybe yes and maybe no. It depends on whether, in their hearts,
want to be. If this sounds strange, read on--it gets stranger
Who Governs the Internet
In many ways the Internet is like a church: it has its council
elders, every member has an opinion about how things should work,
you can either take part or not. It's your choice. The Internet
no president, chief operating officer, or Pope. The
networks may have presidents and CEO's, but that's a different issue
there's no single authority figure for the Internet as a whole
The ultimate authority for where the Internet is going rests with
Internet Society, or ISOC. ISOC is a voluntary
organization whose purpose is to promote global information
through Internet technology. (If you'd like more information, or
you would like to join, contact information is provided in the "
More Information" section, near the end of this document.)
appoints a council of elders, which has responsibility for
technical management and direction of the Internet
The council of elders is a group of invited volunteers called
Internet Architecture Board, or the IAB. The IAB meets regularly
"bless" standards and allocate resources, like addresses.
Internet works because there are standard ways for computers
software applications to talk to each other. This allows
from different vendors to communicate without problems. It's not
IBM-only or Sun-only or Macintosh-only network. The IAB
responsible for these standards; it decides when a standard
necessary, and what the standard should be. When a standard
required, it considers the problem, adopts a standard, and
it via the network. (You were expecting stone tablets?) The IAB
keeps track of various numbers (and other things) that must
unique. For example, each computer on the Internet has a unique 32-
bit address; no other computer has the same address. How does
address get assigned? The IAB worries about these kinds of problems
It doesn't actually assign the addresses, but it makes the
about how to assign addresses
As in a church, everyone has opinions about how things ought to run
Internet users express their opinions through meetings of
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The IETF is another
organization; it meets regularly to discuss operational and near-
technical problems of the Internet. When it considers a
important enough to merit concern, the IETF sets up a "working group
for further investigation. (In practice, "important enough"
means that there are enough people to volunteer for the
Krol & Hoffman [Page 5]
RFC 1462 What is the Internet? May 1993
group.) Anyone can attend IETF meetings and be on working groups;
important thing is that they work. Working groups have many
functions, ranging from producing documentation, to deciding
networks should cooperate when problems occur, to changing
meaning of the bits in some kind of packet. A working group
produces a report. Depending on the kind of recommendation, it
just be documentation and made available to anyone wanting it,
could be accepted voluntarily as a good idea which people follow,
it could be sent to the IAB to be declared a standard
If you go to a church and accept its teachings and philosophy,
are accepted by it, and receive the benefits. If you don't like it
you can leave. The church is still there, and you get none of
benefits. Such is the Internet. If a network accepts the teachings
the Internet, is connected to it, and considers itself part of it
then it is part of the Internet. It will find things it doesn't
and can address those concerns through the IETF. Some concerns may
considered valid and the Internet may change accordingly. Some
the changes may run counter to the religion, and be rejected. If
network does something that causes damage to the Internet, it
be excommunicated until it mends its evil ways
Who Pays for It
The old rule for when things are confusing is "follow the money."
Well, this won't help you to understand the Internet. No one pays
"it"; there is no Internet, Inc. that collects fees from all
networks or users. Instead, everyone pays for their part. The
pays for NSFNET. NASA pays for the NASA Science Internet.
get together and decide how to connect themselves together and
these interconnections. A college or corporation pays for
connection to some regional network, which in turn pays a
provider for its access
What Does This Mean for Me
The concept that the Internet is not a network, but a collection
networks, means little to the end user. You want to do
useful: run a program, or access some unique data. You shouldn't
to worry about how it's all stuck together. Consider the
system--it's an internet, too. Pacific Bell, AT&T, MCI,
Telephony, Telefonos de Mexico, and so on, are all
corporations that run pieces of the telephone system. They
about how to make it all work together; all you have to do is dial
If you ignore cost and commercials, you shouldn't care if you
dealing with MCI, AT&T, or Sprint. Dial the number and it works
Krol & Hoffman [Page 6]
RFC 1462 What is the Internet? May 1993
You only care who carries your calls when a problem occurs.
something goes out of service, only one of those companies can
it. They talk to each other about problems, but each phone carrier
responsible for fixing problems on its own part of the system.
same is true on the Internet. Each network has its own
operations center (NOC). The operation centers talk to each other
know how to resolve problems. Your site has a contract with one
the Internet's constituent networks, and its job is to keep your
happy. So if something goes wrong, they are the ones to gripe at.
it's not their problem, they'll pass it along
What Does the Future Hold
Finally, a question I can answer. It's not that I have a crystal
(if I did I'd spend my time on Wall Street instead of writing
book). Rather, these are the things that the IAB and the IETF
at their meetings. Most people don't care about the long discussions
they only want to know how they'll be affected. So, here
highlights of the networking future
New Standard
When I was talking about how the Internet started, I mentioned
International Standards Organization (ISO) and their set of
standards. Well, they finally finished designing it. Now it is
international standard, typically referred to as the ISO/OSI (
Systems Interconnect) protocol suite. Many of the Internet'
component networks allow use of OSI today. There isn't much demand
yet. The U.S. government has taken a position that
computers should be able to speak these protocols. Many have
software, but few are using it now
It's really unclear how much demand there will be for OSI
notwithstanding the government backing. Many people feel that
current approach isn't broke, so why fix it? They are just
comfortable with what they have, why should they have to learn a
set of commands and terminology just because it is the standard
Currently there are no real advantages to moving to OSI. It is
complex and less mature than IP, and hence doesn't work
efficiently. OSI does offer hope of some additional features, but
also suffers from some of the same problems which will plague IP
the network gets much bigger and faster. It's clear that some
will convert to the OSI protocols over the next few years.
question is: how many
Krol & Hoffman [Page 7]
RFC 1462 What is the Internet? May 1993
International
The Internet has been an international network for a long time,
it only extended to the United States' allies and overseas
bases. Now, with the less paranoid world environment, the Internet
spreading everywhere. It's currently in over 50 countries, and
number is rapidly increasing. Eastern European countries longing
western scientific ties have wanted to participate for a long time
but were excluded by government regulation. This ban has
relaxed. Third world countries that formerly didn't have the means
participate now view the Internet as a way to raise their
and technology levels
In Europe, the development of the Internet used to be hampered
national policies mandating OSI protocols, regarding IP as a
threat akin to EuroDisney. These policies prevented development
large scale Internet infrastructures except for the
countries which embraced the Internet protocols long ago and
already well-connected. In 1989, RIPE (Reseaux IP Europeens)
coordinating the operation of the Internet in Europe and
about 25% of all hosts connected to the Internet are located
Europe
At present, the Internet's international expansion is hampered by
lack of a good supporting infrastructure, namely a decent
system. In both Eastern Europe and the third world, a state-of-the
art phone system is nonexistent. Even in major cities,
are limited to the speeds available to the average home anywhere
the U.S., 9600 bits/second. Typically, even if one of these
is "on the Internet," only a few sites are accessible. Usually,
is the major technical university for that country. However, as
systems improve, you can expect this to change too; more and more
you'll see smaller sites (even individual home systems) connecting
the Internet
Many big corporations have been on the Internet for years. For
most part, their participation has been limited to their research
engineering departments. The same corporations used some
network (usually a private network) for their
communications. After all, this IP stuff was only an academic toy
The IBM mainframes that handled their commercial data processing
the "real" networking using a protocol suite called System
Architecture (SNA).
Businesses are now discovering that running multiple networks
expensive. Some are beginning to look to the Internet for "one-stop
Krol & Hoffman [Page 8]
RFC 1462 What is the Internet? May 1993
network shopping. They were scared away in the past by policies
excluded or restricted commercial use. Many of these policies
under review and will change. As these restrictions drop,
use of the Internet will become progressively more common
This should be especially good for small businesses. Motorola
Standard Oil can afford to run nationwide networks connecting
sites, but Ace Custom Software couldn't. If Ace has a San Jose
and a Washington office, all it needs is an Internet connection
each end. For all practical purposes, they have a
corporate network, just like the big boys
Right behind commercialization comes privatization. For years,
networking community has wanted the telephone companies and
for-profit ventures to provide "off the shelf" IP connections.
is, just like you can place an order for a telephone jack in
house for your telephone, you could do this for an
connection. You order, the telephone installer leaves, and you
your computer into the Internet. Except for Bolt, Beranek and Newman
the company that ran the ARPAnet, there weren't any takers.
telephone companies have historically said, "We'll sell you
lines, and you can do whatever you like with them." By default,
Federal government stayed in the networking business
Now that large corporations have become interested in the Internet
the phone companies have started to change their attitude. Now
and other profit-oriented network purveyors complain that
government ought to get out of the network business. After all,
best can provide network services but the "phone companies"? They'
got the ear of a lot of political people, to whom it appears to be
reasonable thing. If you talk to phone company personnel, many
them still don't really understand what the Internet is about.
ain't got religion, but they are studying the Bible furiously
(Apologies to those telephone company employees who saw the
years ago and have been trying to drag their employers into church.)
Although most people in the networking community think
privatization is a good idea, there are some obstacles in the way
Most revolve around the funding for the connections that are
in place. Many schools are connected because the government pays
of the bill. If they had to pay their own way, some schools
probably decide to spend their money elsewhere. Major
institutions would certainly stay on the net; but some
colleges might not, and the costs would probably be prohibitive
most secondary schools (let alone grade schools). What if the
could afford either an Internet connection or a science lab? It'
Krol & Hoffman [Page 9]
RFC 1462 What is the Internet? May 1993
unclear which one would get funded. The Internet has not yet become
"necessity" in many people's minds. When it does,
privatization to come quickly
Well, enough questions about the history of the information
system. It's time to walk to the edge of the road, try and hitch
ride, and be on your way
We would like to thank O'Reilly & Associates for permission
reprint the chapter from their book by Ed Krol (1992), "The
Internet User's Guide and Catalog."
For More
Hoffman, E. and L. Jackson. (1993) "FYI on Introducing the
--A Short Bibliography of Introductory Internetworking Readings
the Network Novice," 4 p. (FYI 19, RFC 1463).
To find out how to obtain this document and other on-
introductory readings, send an e-mail message to
nis-info@nis.merit.edu, with the following text
send access.guide
Krol, Ed. (1992) The Whole Internet User's Guide and Catalog
O'Reilly & Associates, Sebastopol, CA. ISBN 1-56592-025-2.
Quarterman, J. (1993) "Recent Internet Books," 15 p. (RFC 1432).
The Internet
Phone: (703) 620-8990
Fax: (703) 620-0913
E-mail: isoc@cnri.reston.va.
Krol & Hoffman [Page 10]
RFC 1462 What is the Internet? May 1993
Security
Security issues are not discussed in this memo
Authors'
Ed
Computing and Communications Service
Univ. of Illinois Urbana Champaign (UIUC
1304 W
Urbana, IL 61801
Phone: (217)333-7886
EMail: e-krol@uiuc.
Ellen
Merit Network, Inc
2901 Hubbard, Pod-
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
Phone: (313) 936-3000
EMail: ellen@merit.
Krol & Hoffman [Page 11]
if you see any problems within the linking, don't worry be happy,
this is version 0.1 of the Relevance System and you gotta expect some crappy subroutines sometimes,
just be content we did not write this in Java, which would have made this "bigger and better" HAHAHHA.
RFC documents can be found at I.E.T.F.
Relevance System Copyright © 2002 Spectrum WorldResearch
other technical nosh by ServerMasters Corporation
collaboration of BobX
