Unit 28 - P1

The Flow of Information

There are many different stages information has to go through. The first stage is at the computer when a web address is put in which is the domain name. Once the enter button has been pressed, it goes to the next stage which is the router. Routers are used to take packets to the next step which is the ISP (internet service provider). An internet service provider is where you get your broadband from for example, sky, virgin and BT. The data packets go through your ISP and the packets then go to the domain name server. The domain name server is the place where it tells the packets to go. The IP address is then found. An IP address is unique to a computer and this is how website can be found. The IP address is used to then go to the host which is represented by its own IP address. This is the space where the website is. Once the packets have got to the host, the packets go back through the process in the exact same order. It has to go back through the process in order to find the IP address for the computer that you are on. If it doesn't do this then the website cannot go through and it will be lost.


Hardware Components
The web also known as the World Wide Web is a system that is accessed through the internet. Web pages can include text, images, videos and all different types of multimedia and this can be navigated by hyperlinks.
Proxy Servers are a server that is used to ensure security and control between a workstation and the internet. This is also used when a request is moved such as a web page request. The proxy server looks into its local cache of recent history. If it has already been downloaded it can receive it faster. If the web page is not recognised and not in the local cache, the proxy server uses the IP address to request the page from the server and this is then forwarded to the user.
Mail Server is used when people send emails. The email will go through an email server when on its way to the intended recipient. The mail server is also a storage area for where the email is stored for the users.