Description

This article is from the Amiga Networking FAQ, by Richard Norman with numerous contributions by others.

01 What is a network?

short answer: Interconnected computers.
A network is two or more computers that can interconnect in a peer to peer or
client to server fashion most often over a shared and often virtual connection.
This is in direct contrast to the old terminal to host hard wired connection. A
network can still support terminal to host connections via terminal emulators or
terminal servers, but provides much greater flexibility in switching connections.
A network  is accomplished using three basic components. Hardware, protocols
(software), and Applications (useful software ;-)  Each of these is actually
comprised of several layers, but we won't worry with the details. There are many
books on the subject as well as  technical specs for the standards. But you will
need some knowledge of the lingo  in order to configure your networking software
correctly. Consulting  with your LAN administrator or WAN service provider is also
highly advisable for checking your network software configuration.
Among the many books on the subject is "Connect your Amiga!" by  Dale Larson of
  IAM  . I mention Dale's book because it explicitly deals  with the Amiga whereas
most of the rest are generic.
The concept of layers is very important to networking and computer designs as
well. Each layer "protects" the layer above from the layer below so that one layer
can change with minimum impact on the upper layers. In some cases this protection
is so good that an application  may not know that it is running on different
hardware. The OSI  network model defines seven layers, but we are going to reduce
it to three broad categories.

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