Networking Simplified - Part 2

This tutorial is simply a continuation of my first tutorial, Networking
Simplified. Basically what I will go over are small bits of information
for various networking related programs/items.

The ping. I'm sure you all have used this program many times, but dont
really know what it does for sure. Well, what ping is, is a program that
lets you make sure that the ip address in question is actually there.
Meaning connected to the internet or rather connected to the/a network.
Ping stands for "Packet Internet or Inter Network Groper." What ping does
it sends a packet (for more information on packet see below) or packets to
a address and waits for it to respond back with packets. Ping flooding can
cause severe server problems if many many packets are sent at once.
Another way ping is used is for name resolution.

Packet. A packet is a piece of data that goes between your connection and
the desired destination. Anything sent across the internet is divided into
chunks that are routable size. The packets dont necessarily go along the
same route; however, they will eventually reach the same destination.
Packet-Switched networks are considered "connectionless" rather than
dedicated. Nearly all of the internet is a connectionless packet-switched
network.

DNS. When you hear the term "DNS", all it means is the way domains are
handled across the internet. The Domain Name System just translates ip
addresses into easily rememberable names that can be accessed quicker
rather than having to remember octets of numbers.

Whois. Whois is a program that will give you information about whom owns
the domain you are requesting. For example: bash-2.05a$ whois stuff.com
will return information such as this:

Domain Name: STUFF.COM
Registrar: BULKREGISTER.COM, INC.
Whois Server: whois.bulkregister.com
Referral URL: http://www.bulkregister.com
Name Server: NS.IMALL.COM
Name Server: NS2.IMALL.COM
Name Server: NS3.IMALL.COM
Name Server: NS4.IMALL.COM
Updated Date: 05-nov-2001
<i have no affiliation with stuff.com>


SSL. SSL = Secure Sockets Layer. What ssl is, is a protocol that helps
with the transmission of a message on the internet. SSL is part of many
browsers and other programs to help ensure security. SSL is a bit beyond
the scope of this tutorial but for short reference this will do.


This concludes Networking Simplified Part 2. I will add more but would
rather keep them short and in sections so the persons reading this will
only have to use them quickly and for reference.