How the Internet works, in terms of backbones, packet-switching, networks, routers, TCP/IP?
Ouch, this is a tough one to explain in few words, but I’ll try. TCP/IP is a combination of the TCP and IP protocol. The IP protocol uses IP addresses to identify the destination and source devices of data packets, and the TCP protocol ensures that the data is delivered correctly and with no errors. The internet is, as I explained in another one of your questions, a series of interconnected WANs. These WANs, often called “autonomous systems” are under the control of a single government or private entity. An autonomous system, or AS for short, on the internet, is typically made up of a series of routers that are interconnected with eachother by core switches central to the AS. The internet itself is made up of many, many adjacent and interconnected AS.s. A simplified version of explaining an AS could be describing it as a box. Imagine that this box has four gates; North, South, East, West. These gates represent border routers within the AS. A packet is received on the Eastern gate. The
