How The Internet Works

Author: Praise Oyeniyi

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What happens when John types www.facebook.com into his browser❓

Before explaining what happens, we first have to understand some associated internet terms;

URL (uniform resource locator) –

Works just like your home address, it locates resources on the Internet.

IP (Internet Protocol address) – 

Like popular mail addresses, they’re numbers (e.g; Twitter’s IP address = 199.59.149.165) used to identify a specific computer/computer network which allows data/information exchange.

DNS (domain(.com, .net, .org, .edu…) name system) – 

This helps match the list of purchased domain names to their corresponding IP addresses, just like your contact logs.

Web Host – 

They’re companies that lease out storage space on their internet web severs to store websites files & database…just like real estate agents.

What happens then? How are this internet terms connected?

John got so fascinated by Facebook networking he has heard, that he wants his own account, he types in a web URL (www.facebook.com) into his browser.

John’s browser checks its catalog for the websites data, if it is found, it continues to the next step, else, its' gets the websites IP address from the DNS. If that also is not found, john’s browser displays an ERROR 404 page. After the websites IP address has been obtained,…

John’s browser exchanges HTTP req/response with the server.

John’s browser further sends additional requests for HTML embedded objects (images, CSS, JS), and the process starts all-over again from the point of the HTTP server request/response.

Boooooom✨, John’s browser shows him Facebook’s sign up/log in page after 120ms – 3s.

#technology

How The Internet Works

©2021 Praise Oyeniyi. All Rights Reserved.

How The Internet Works? BRIEF

The article "How The Internet Works" by Praise Oyeniyi explains the basics of how the internet works. The article defines key terms such as URL, IP address, DNS, and web host. It then goes on to explain how these terms are connected and how they work together to enable internet browsing. The article uses a hypothetical example of John trying to access Facebook to illustrate the process. John types in the URL, and his browser checks its catalog for the website's data. If it's found, it continues to the next step, else it gets the website's IP address from the DNS. After the website's IP address has been obtained, John's browser exchanges HTTP req/response with the server. John's browser further sends additional requests for HTML embedded objects (images, CSS, JS), and the process starts all-over again from the point of the HTTP server request/response. This is a clear and concise explanation of how the internet works and is a great resource for anyone looking to understand the basics of internet browsing.

Related: HTTP and HTTPS - The article explains the difference between HTTP and HTTPS and how HTTPS is the secure version of HTTP.