How Internet works

Define the Internet: Before describing what the Internet is, we must first define "network". An interconnected group of computers is referred to as a network, and these computers can exchange data with one another. A group of individuals who are acquainted, regularly exchange information, and work together on projects is known as a social circle. An online community resembles a social group quite a bit.

The Internet is a massive, expansive system of interconnected networks. In fact, one could argue that the idea of interconnected networks is where the phrase "Internet" originated.

One computer can communicate with another computer in a distant network owing to the Internet because computers connect to one another within networks and these networks all connect with one another.This allows computers all around the world to exchange information quickly.

Through the use of wires, cables, radio waves, and other networking infrastructure, computers may communicate with one another and the Internet. All information received via the Internet is converted into "bits," which are electrical or optical pulses that the receiving computer decodes. These bits are transmitted at the speed of light through the wires, cables, and radio waves. The Internet operates more quickly the more bits that can be sent across these wires and cables at once.

Why is the idea of dispersed networking crucial for the Internet? What is it?

The Internet lacks a command centre. As a distributed networking system, it is not reliant on any one particular machine. The Internet can be accessed by any device that is capable of sending and receiving data in the proper manner (for example, by utilising the appropriate networking protocols).

Due to its distributed architecture, the Internet is robust. Contrary to a computer, which may not function at all if a component is missing, servers, computers, and other pieces of networking hardware frequently connect to and disconnect from the Internet without having any negative effects on how the Internet runs.Even on a massive scale, the Internet can still function (although more slowly) if a server, a whole data centre, or a region of data centres goes down.

What is the process of the Internet?

The two primary ideas that are the cornerstones of how the Internet works are packets and protocols.

Packets

A packet is a brief section of a message in networking. Each packet includes data as well as details about the data. The "header," or information about the packet's contents, is placed at the top of the packet so that the receiving device will know what to do with it. Consider how certain consumer devices come with assembly instructions to gain an understanding of the function of a packet header.

Data is initially divided into smaller packets before being converted into bits for transmission over the Internet. The packets are directed to their destinations using a variety of networking equipment, including switches and routers. The receiving device puts the packets back together in the correct order when they reach their destination so that the data can be used or displayed.

Liken this procedure to the building of the Statue of Liberty in the United States. France is where the Statue of Liberty was first conceived and constructed. It couldn't fit on a ship because it was too big, so it was sent to the US in pieces with instructions on where each piece belonged. Workers who got the fragments put the statue back together.

year the Statue of Liberty took a year to complete, transferring digital data in smaller chunks via the Internet moves quite quickly. For instance, a picture of the Statue of Liberty kept on a web server can be downloaded to a user's computer in milliseconds after travelling across the globe one packet at a time.

The packet switching method is used to send packets via the Internet. Independent of one another and without taking into account the packets' source or destination, intermediary routers and switches can process packets. This was done on purpose to prevent any one link from controlling the network.If there was no packet switching and all data was delivered between computers at once, a link between two computers may take up several cables, routers, and switches for several minutes at a time. In essence, only two users could access the Internet at once, as opposed to a nearly infinite number as it is in practise.

Protocols

One of the biggest problems the inventors of the Internet had to deal with was connecting two computers together even if they might both run different software and have different hardware. It necessitates the use of communication methods that all connected computers can comprehend, much to how two individuals from different cultural backgrounds could require the use of a common tongue to communicate.

With the aid of standardised protocols, this issue is resolved. A protocol in networking is a standardised method of carrying out specific tasks and formatting data so that two or more devices may talk to and understand one another.

Ethernet, IP, TCP, and HTTP protocols are used to format data for websites and other online applications, send packets between devices connected to the same network, send packets between networks, and ensure that packets correctly arrive in order. There are protocols for routing, testing, and encryption in addition to these fundamental ones. Additionally, there are alternatives to the aforementioned protocols for various types of material; for instance, streaming video frequently uses UDP rather than TCP.

The Internet functions regardless of who or what connects to it because all computers and other devices linked to the Internet can decipher and comprehend these protocols.

What kind of technical foundation supports the Internet?

Making the Internet functional for all users requires a wide variety of devices and infrastructure. These are some of the most significant types:

Depending on where they are going, routers send packets to different computer networks. Routers act as the Internet's equivalent of traffic cops, directing traffic to the appropriate networks.

Devices that are part of the same network are linked by switches. To forward packets to the appropriate devices, they use packet switching. Additionally, they take in outgoing packets from those devices and forward them to their intended recipient.

Web servers are specialised, powerful computers that host programmes and databases in addition to storing and serving content (webpages, pictures, and videos) to users. In order to maintain the functionality of the Internet, servers also react to DNS requests and carry out other crucial duties. The majority of servers are kept in sizable data centres, which are dispersed all over the world.

How do these ideas apply to the websites and programmes that Internet users access?

loading a website

Think on this article. It was transferred over the Internet in the form of thousands of individual data packets so that you could see it. These packets were transmitted from our web server to your computer or device via cables, radio waves, routers, and switches. These packets were received by your computer or smartphone, which then sent them to the device's browser, which then processed the data in the packets to display the text you are currently viewing.

The steps that make up this procedure specifically are:

Your browser probably performed a DNS query to get the IP address of the Cloudflare website before beginning to load this page.
Your browser established a connection with that IP address through the TCP handshake.
TLS handshake: To prevent hackers from reading the data packets that move between those two destinations, your browser additionally enabled encryption between a Cloudflare web server and your device.
HTTP request: The information on this page was requested by your browser.
HTTP response: The material was sent by Cloudflare's server as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code that was divided up into a number of data packets.The HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code contained in the packets were processed by your browser to produce this article about how the Internet functions after your device had received the packets and confirmed it had obtained all of them. The entire process simply took a few seconds.

As you can see, loading a webpage involves a number of distinct procedures and protocols. More information on these technologies can be found in the following sections of the Cloudflare Learning Centre:

DNS, TCP, TLS, HTTP

What does it mean to "help build a better Internet"?

The development of the Internet was an amazing feat that required the combined efforts of thousands of people and organisations. The fact that the Internet operates on a much larger scale than its creators envisaged is proof of their hard work.

The Internet, however, does not always function as it should. Malicious activities and networking problems can impede or completely prevent access to the Internet. User activity can be spied on by outside parties, which can result in abuse and, in some situations, government repression. Since the people who initially developed and built the Internet were more focused on getting it to operate than keeping it secure and private, Internet protocols and processes were not created with security and privacy in mind.

assisting in the creation of better, faster, and more secure Internet protocols
putting user privacy first by including privacy-enhancing features in all products and providing free services (like DNS over HTTPS and 1.1.1.1) to do so
growing the international network of data centres used to provide Cloudflare services to a worldwide clientele
Offering tools that improve the security, functionality, and dependability of network infrastructure and web assets (many of these products are free to use for anybody with a website or API)
enabling developers to create serverless applications more quickly and effectively to better serve users
educating individuals on the operation of Internet technology through the WebZoneRashid Blog and Learning Centre