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The historical and technical standard of the Internet is the TCP/IP model. The U.S.
Department of Defense (DoD) created the TCP/IP reference model, because it wanted to
design a network that could survive any conditions, including a nuclear war.
In a world connected by different types of communication media such as copper wires,
microwaves, optical fibers and satellite links, the DoD wanted transmission of packets
every time and under any conditions. This very difficult design problem brought about
the creation of the TCP/IP model.
Unlike the proprietary networking technologies mentioned earlier, TCP/IP was developed
as an open standard. This meant that anyone was free to use TCP/IP. This helped speed up
the development of TCP/IP as a standard.
The TCP/IP model has the following four layers (see Figure 2.3):
• Application layer
• Transport layer
• Internet layer
• Network access layer
The network access layer refers to any particular technology used on a specific network.
Regardless of which network application services are provided and which transport
protocol is used, there is only one Internet protocol, IP. This is a deliberate design
decision. IP serves as a universal protocol that allows any computer anywhere to
communicate at any time.
OSI Versus TCP/IP Reference Model
A comparison of the OSI model and the TCP/IP models will point out some similarities
and differences.
Similarities
OSI and TCP/IP reference model have the following major similarities:
Differences
OSI and TCP/IP reference model have the following main differences:
• TCP/IP combines the presentation and session layer issues into its application
layer.
• TCP/IP combines the OSI data link and physical layers into the network access
layer.
• TCP/IP appears simpler because it has fewer layers.
• TCP/IP protocols are the standards around which the Internet developed, so the
TCP/IP model gains credibility just because of its protocols. In contrast, networks
are not usually built on the OSI protocol, even though the OSI model is used as a
guide.
Gopher
Gopher protocol is used by the gopher system that was designed at the university of
Minnesota and named after the schools Athletic teams, the golden Gophers (meaning Go for
i.e. go fetch). It is an information retrieval scheme, conceptually similar to the web itself, but
supporting text and no images. When the user logs into a gopher server, he is presented with
a menu of files and directories, any of which can be linked to another gopher menu anywhere
in the world.
Gopher’s big advantage over the web is that it works very well with 25x80 ASCII terminals,
of which there are still quite a few around, and because it is a text based, it is very fast. Using
the gopher protocol, web users can access gopher and have each gopher menu presented as a
click able web page
Gopher is a menu based document delivery system. Individuals use Gopher to access various
types of information such as files, documents, address books, and images. Gopher also allows
access to FTP, Telnet, and searchable databases. Selecting items do all of this from menus.
Gopher is a menu based document delivery system.