We use them every day, and yet behind the scenes things happen pretty quick to disguise what's really going on. What is it?
DNS - Domain Name Server. This is a computer that sits on a network (in this instance the internet) and converts a fancy domain into a slightly harder to remember IP Address. Confused yet?
Basically, every computer that sits on a network is assigned an IP Address. IPv6 is the newest standard, but for today's purposes we'll look at the IPv4 version, which is a set of 4 numbers separated by a dot. Each number can go from 0 to 255 so an IP Address might take a format like this - 192.168.0.1
As you can imagine, with each set of numbers ranging from 0 - 254, you can have a lot of numbers. 4,294,967,296 in fact. You can't have duplicates, so each computer has a unique address on that network.
Now, lets say you want to look at a web page on one of those computers. I'd like to search for a new watering can, so I might typically go to Ebay to have a look.
So I go into my internet browser and in the top I type http://23.67.255.200
Ah, browsing Ebay is so much fun. I must Google and find some news to read. Google is http://173.794.41.83
Oh, look out the window, there is my window cleaner. And on the side of his van he has his web site http://94.136.40.103
Wait a minute. That's a bit hard to remember, isn't it? And to make matters worse, tomorrow I might find that Googles IP address has changed as one of their servers might be down for maintenance....
Surely it's easier to remember ebay.co.uk or google.com ? This is where a DNS Server comes in. It's job is to keep record of domain names (i.e. google.com) and remember which IP address they point to. When you type google.com in your browser, a Domain Name Server will quickly translate that into the correct and current IP address and your browser will find the web site there.
The importance of a Domain Name Server is apparent, without them running in the background, the internet would be a totally different experience.
Showing posts with label internet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label internet. Show all posts
Wednesday, 2 July 2014
Tuesday, 24 September 2013
Default Password? No Thank You!
Have you ever been in a location where you need Internet access and you use your mobile phone as a Personal or Portable Hotspot. Essentially you use your mobile phone's Internet connection as a WIFI for your laptop or other devices.
Upon setting this up initially, you might find that your device will provide you with a password to use. How convenient! However, you might give consideration before making use of that connection.
In a recent test, researchers found that the list of words selected for these default passwords was little under 2000, and with equipment that could try 390,000 guesses per second, were able to crack the password in under a minute.
Have you evaluated your password recently ? How secure is your password ? Social networking is an open book when it comes to your life, is your password made up of names of places or children or maiden names - things that could easily be guessed from the locations of your photos, or list of children you mention in your posts?
Why not see how secure your password methodology is? Follow the link below and try out a few passwords to see just how secure they are:-
http://password.social-kaspersky.com/en
Certainly consider changing any default password that your device thinks up. Why not put THAT password in the web site above and see just how secure it is?
Upon setting this up initially, you might find that your device will provide you with a password to use. How convenient! However, you might give consideration before making use of that connection.
In a recent test, researchers found that the list of words selected for these default passwords was little under 2000, and with equipment that could try 390,000 guesses per second, were able to crack the password in under a minute.
Have you evaluated your password recently ? How secure is your password ? Social networking is an open book when it comes to your life, is your password made up of names of places or children or maiden names - things that could easily be guessed from the locations of your photos, or list of children you mention in your posts?
Why not see how secure your password methodology is? Follow the link below and try out a few passwords to see just how secure they are:-
http://password.social-kaspersky.com/en
Certainly consider changing any default password that your device thinks up. Why not put THAT password in the web site above and see just how secure it is?
Thursday, 15 August 2013
Digital or Analogue Calls?
Oh how things have changed since the first telephone in 1876 !
What started as a way to get multiple telegraph messages across the same lines soon developed into speech and nowadays we have millions of conversations travelling the world at great speed.
Years ago, everything relied on a diaphragm to change sounds into a current and at the other end of the line, the current was used at the other end to convert it back into sound.
Nowadays, although the mouthpiece and earpiece are of similar technology, the signal is digitised and chases at light speed down optical circuits. Also is the more recent development of VOIP - Voice Over IP.
What is VOIP ? This is the technology of sending the audio signal down a digital line through the Internet, racing around the world and converting it back to an audio signal at the other end by a computer or similar device. The benefits?
One of the main benefits is cost. Conversation Audio isn't bandwidth hungry, so it can travel down your Internet connection even if you don't have a very fast connection. If you are already paying for a broadband connection, you can have endless calls to other VOIP connections for "free" - there is no charge for the length of time you spend on a call, nor is the charge of the call determined by distance, so long as they have Internet.
Other services are available too, SKYPE is a popular VOIP service which offers the facility to allow callers to call Landline numbers which are NOT on the Internet by taking the signal into a local phone exchange over the Internet, and then converting the signal to regular audio for the final distance to the receiving telephone. The benefit? Long Distance Calls for the price of a local charge.
There are many benefits to VOIP, and as the service continues to improve and expand, we can see that most or all telephones we be this way.
So the choice remains yours, for now. But VOIP will continue to bite away at the old Analogue phone service.
What started as a way to get multiple telegraph messages across the same lines soon developed into speech and nowadays we have millions of conversations travelling the world at great speed.
Years ago, everything relied on a diaphragm to change sounds into a current and at the other end of the line, the current was used at the other end to convert it back into sound.
Nowadays, although the mouthpiece and earpiece are of similar technology, the signal is digitised and chases at light speed down optical circuits. Also is the more recent development of VOIP - Voice Over IP.
What is VOIP ? This is the technology of sending the audio signal down a digital line through the Internet, racing around the world and converting it back to an audio signal at the other end by a computer or similar device. The benefits?
One of the main benefits is cost. Conversation Audio isn't bandwidth hungry, so it can travel down your Internet connection even if you don't have a very fast connection. If you are already paying for a broadband connection, you can have endless calls to other VOIP connections for "free" - there is no charge for the length of time you spend on a call, nor is the charge of the call determined by distance, so long as they have Internet.
Other services are available too, SKYPE is a popular VOIP service which offers the facility to allow callers to call Landline numbers which are NOT on the Internet by taking the signal into a local phone exchange over the Internet, and then converting the signal to regular audio for the final distance to the receiving telephone. The benefit? Long Distance Calls for the price of a local charge.
There are many benefits to VOIP, and as the service continues to improve and expand, we can see that most or all telephones we be this way.
So the choice remains yours, for now. But VOIP will continue to bite away at the old Analogue phone service.
Tuesday, 23 October 2012
End of an Era
Today is a landmark day in the field of technology advancement. For by the end of today, the last of the analogue television transmitters will be shut off, meaning that the 5 year changeover to Digital will be complete.
But interestingly, it also marks another landmark, for analogue carried something else alongside the television pictures and sounds that we all enjoyed. It also carried a teletext service.
The system was fast, but limited because of it's "one way" delivery. This was challenged when the Internet became more popular, and people would only use it to check the football scores while visiting the grandparents!
Now replaced by "the red button", the digital service is able to offer a lot more, including additional video content and information to make the viewer experience more enjoyable.
So we thank you Teletext, we thank you Ceefax, for bringing on tap information to the masses. We will miss waiting for the scrolling pages to bring us the news we want to read. Silently you will disappear as the analogue transmitters are finally shut down.
And as you take a bow as the final curtain closes, please make sure you don't get run over by the super fast broadband as it whizzes past.
But interestingly, it also marks another landmark, for analogue carried something else alongside the television pictures and sounds that we all enjoyed. It also carried a teletext service.
Ceefax was launched in 1974 and was the worlds first teletext service. Containing graphics and text it rotated on a sequence of pre-delivered pages and you could get News, Sport, Recipes and Holidays to name just a few.The system was fast, but limited because of it's "one way" delivery. This was challenged when the Internet became more popular, and people would only use it to check the football scores while visiting the grandparents!
Now replaced by "the red button", the digital service is able to offer a lot more, including additional video content and information to make the viewer experience more enjoyable.
So we thank you Teletext, we thank you Ceefax, for bringing on tap information to the masses. We will miss waiting for the scrolling pages to bring us the news we want to read. Silently you will disappear as the analogue transmitters are finally shut down.
And as you take a bow as the final curtain closes, please make sure you don't get run over by the super fast broadband as it whizzes past.
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