Networking Concepts and Protocols

In this article we will introduce some basic networking concepts and protocols. The article serves as a foundation to networking that will allow us to tackle programming in the upcoming articles. 

It doesn't matter if you plan to develop server applications running as Windows Services that offer some data for clients using a custom protocol, if you write client applications that request data from web servers, or if you create multicasting applications, or applications using mailing functionality-you should start by reading this article. 

If you don't already know what a router or a network switch is, if you are not sure about the functionality of the seven layers in the OSI protocol, or if you just want a refresher or an overview of the different network protocols and their uses, this chapter is for you.

We will start with an introduction to the hardware used in local area networks, such as routers, hubs, and bridges. Then we will have a look at the seven layers of the OSI model and their functionality, and how the TCP/IP protocol suite fits into the OSI layers. After that, we will learn about the functionality of various network protocols.

In particular, we will look at:

• The Physical Network
• The OSI Seven-Layer Model
• Basic Network Protocols
• Internet Protocols
• E-mail Protocols
• Sockets
• Name Lookups
• The Internet
• Remoting
• Messaging
  
  
  (Details will be posted on next articles.....)