Once upon a time there was a girl named Stacee.

Stacee moved into a new neighborhood (#13 Awesome Way to be exact) and wanted to connect with her new neighbors but she wasn’t sure how.

As she was sitting outside of her house trying to decide how to connect with them she saw a truck coming down the road that

said Network. The truck stopped in front of her house.

Network

Out jumped a boy named Willie. Willie handed Stacee a document and told her it was from #28 Awesome Way.

Network

Willie explained to her that if she wanted to send anything to any of her neighbors all she had to do was send it with him, and the Network truck, and he would get it to them. Stacee was so excited. She immediately wrote a response to #28 Awesome Way and sent it with the Network truck.

This happened over and over again. Stacee was having so much fun sending messages back and forth between #28 Awesome Way. She decided to try some of her other neighbors as well.

And it Worked!

On one of his visits, Willie decided to ask Stacee about all of the boxes that were still just sitting in front of her house.

Network

Stacee explained to Willie that she just didn’t have room for them in her new house. But she just couldn’t bear to throw them out because she might need them in the future.

Willie explained to her that in the neighborhood they had a place called The Server, where all the neighbors could store all the stuff they wanted to keep so their houses wouldn’t get too cluttered. If she decided she needed something, all she had to do was let Willie know and he would bring it to her.

Network

This made Stacee excited!

Willie began loading all of Stacee’s extra boxes onto the Network Truck to take to The Server located at #200 Awesome Way.

Stacee Wanted to tell her mom all about her new neighborhood and The Server storage unit. She wrote up a message, and called for Willie.

Willie explained to Stacee that he could not deliver the note to her mother because it was out of his neighborhood. But he could take it to the Router station and they could find the delivery person that worked in her mother’s neighborhood.

Willie pulled out a map to show Stacee what he meant.

RouterNeighborhood

Server

House

Stacee thanked Willie for all of his help in keeping her connected with all of her friends

and family. She also thanked him for taking her extra stuff to The Server for storage.

And she gave him a big hug!

The End!

Please continue for an explanation of the story…

Meet Willie!Willie is a Network Administrator for a local engineering company. He also happens to be a friend, so he let me tag along with him at work the other day to teach me all about how networks work.

Software

As a network Administrator, Willie has software that allows him to see all activity that is happening within his LAN.

IP Addresses

Computers are like the houses used in the previous story. Each computer has an address. These addresses are called Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. They let networks know where to send information that has been sent.

The IANA is responsible for assigning and coordinating these addresses across the globe. Clicking on the link above will take you to their website where you can learn more about how they distribute addresses, and the different types of IP addresses.

NetworksWhen two or more computers are connected, so they can share the same printer or files, they form a network. These networks can be done with hard wires, or even wirelessly.

If the computers are connected without ever having to go through a router they would be considered to be a Local Area Network (LAN). LANs are generally a very small area, like the computers in your home, or a computer lab.

In the story, Awesome Way, where Staceelived, was an example of an LAN. Within a school district, each school might be set up on it’s own LAN, so you can all run down to the same printer to pick up your copies.

That is a LOT of messy wires!

Willie was in charge of organizing these wires! Much neater!

When you want to connect to another school in your district you leave your LAN and connect to another LAN through a device called a router. Because these LANs are connected by a router, you are now participating in what is called a Wide Area Network (WAN)

Router

After a WAN you an enter into a wide array of other networks. Including one of the largest networks we know, the Internet.

Just like a computer, websites also have IP addresses. Type the IP address 74.125.225.177 into a web browser and see where it takes you.

For most of us, it would be pretty difficult to remember numbers like this for each website or computer we wanted to use. We often use as software called Domain Name Service (DNS) which attaches a name to all those numbers. It is much easier to remember Google.com rather than 74.125.225.177

The Florida Center for Instructional Technology put out an excellent document explaining the differences between a LAN, a WAN, and the Internet. It also discusses the advantages and disadvantages of installing school networks.

http://fcit.usf.edu/network/chap1/chap1.htm

ServersAlthough not required, many networks have something called a Server.

Servers can do a lot of things including store files. If a computer were to crash, anything that was saved on the server from that computer would still be safe.

Servers can also be responsible for running printers and other devices.

Connecting NeighborsIn short, Willie sets up networks that keep people like Adam connected with all of the people in his network and networks all over the world. Making it a lot easier to do his job.

Willie’s drawing of Awesome Way