Internet Architecture- Lecture 2

Internet Architecture
Lecture 2:
How Computer Networks Send Data Across the Internet

Introduction:
When you send information across the Internet, the Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) (the language computers use when communicating over the Internet) first breaks the information up into packets, smaller blocks of information that also contain a variety of data that helps the packets travel across the Internet.

The packets travel through many of networks, computers, and communication lines before they reach their final destinations.

A variety of hardware processes those packets and routes them to their proper destinations.
Five of the most important pieces of hardware are (hubs/ switch), gateways, bridges, repeaters, and routers.

**Hubs/ Switches are important because they link groups of computers to one another and let computers communicate with each other.

**Bridges link local area networks (LANs) with one another. They enable data destined for another LAN to be sent there, while keeping local data inside its own network.

**When data travels across the Internet, it often crosses great distances, which can be a problem because the signal sending the data can weaken over the distance. To solve the problem, repeaters amplify the data at intervals so the signal doesn t weaken.