Chapter 2. Characteristics of the Internet and IP

This chapter is divided into three sections. The first section explains the Internet architecture and the characteristics of the Internet; that is, how it "behaves" (or misbehaves) in the handling of user traffic. This section is a more detailed explanation than the generalized discussion in Chapter 1. The next section provides a brief overview of IP. The last section provides a brief overview of Internet ports and sockets and the major features of Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and User Datagram Protocol (UDP).

The reader who is experienced with the Internet can skip the last two sections, but I recommend all read this first section.