Communicating across the internet
GCSE computing - IP addressing and DNS servers
What is the internet?
The internet is the largest Wide Are Network in the world. It is a global computer network that provides a variety of information services and communication services. It uses standard communication protocols and consists of millions of interconnected networks.
The need of an IP.
Our IP address is like a telephone for our computer/device. We need an IP address so packets know which device/computer to arrive at. For example, if you and someone else both clicked on a link on your Home network, then you wouldn't want to get the other person's page much like they wouldn't want your's. Having an individual IP means that you will always get the data that you want instead of someone else's.
The role of DNS servers.
When you want to visit a website, you may put in a URL as such as www.youtube.com, that URL then has to be converted into an IP address. This is because the internet doesn't work on names, it works on numbers. You may think of your DNS server as a Phone book. Your PC sends a packet to the DNS server that will say "What's the IP of www.youtube.com and the DNS server replies with the correct IP address of that URL. Your computer/device then uses that IP address to get the page from www.youtube.com.