High Tech, High Touch
Internet 101
Athene offers several options for connecting clients to the Internet, setting up email, and hosting client websites.
Before reviewing the options, make sure you fully understand all the terminology involved!
Click on any of these terms for an explanation:
- ISP
- Email (POP3, SMTP)
- Web Hosting, IP address, DNS
- PKI encryption, SSL
- Linux, UNIX, Windows Server, HTML
- VPN, router, firewall
- VoIP (Voice over IP)
Internet connection
Our network is connected to the Internet using ADSL at speeds up to 4.0 Mbps. This is about to be upgraded to synchronous connection at 10 megabit burst speeds. If you elect to make your computer part of our network, you will have the same access. This is your most economical choice.
If you prefer to arrange your own Internet service, your office can be wired direct to an external Telus line or Shaw cable. This allows you to pick the ISP of your choice. This option is more expensive.
You may have an email address using our web name (yourname@athenecorporate.com) or yours (yourname@yourbiz.ca). If you want the latter, you have to subscribe to web hosting.
Web Hosting
If you want your own domain name and website, we are an authorized reseller for Radiant Communications, our ISP, so can offer Radiant’s hosting services to you at the same price you would pay Radiant if you dealt directly with them. This offers you the security and functionality of hosting your site with one of Canada’s major small business ISP and web hosts, but with the convenience of having to deal only with Athene.
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ISP
An Internet Service Provider (ISP) is somebody who offers you a connection to the Internet. This can be Telus, Shaw Cable, or any of dozens of other companies.
Connection to the Internet uses either coax cable or a regular phone line.
Coax
Coax is typically offered by cable TV companies for the obvious reason that they already have coax cable strung into most houses and many businesses.
Twisted pair
Phone line connection can be by dial-up modem, operating at slow speeds (up to 56 Kbps) in the voice spectrum of the line. Few people use this any more unless cost is a critical issue or high-speed service is not available, as in some rural areas.
High-speed phone line service is referred to as digital subscriber line (DSL). It uses a very high frequency signal that shares the same twisted pair telephone line with low-frequency voice signals. Because of the extreme difference in frequency between the two signals, they do not interfere with each other and can operate simultaneously on the same line.
DSL
DSL service is commonly available in either symmetrical format (SDSL) or asymmetrical mode (ADSL). SDSL divides the available bandwidth evenly, with half available for uploads – data from your computer to the website – and half for downloads – data from the website to you. ADSL divides the bandwidth unevenly, using more for downloads than for uploads. This is on the grounds that in most typical Internet use, far more data travels from the website to you (HTML, pictures, music, etc.) than travels from you to the website (commands, mouse clicks, and the like). ADSL therefore offers faster processing under normal use.
Always on
Both cable service and DSL service are ‘always on’ in the sense that no connecting or dialing is needed. The connection is actually that of a local area network; what is referred to as a “cable modem” or “DSL modem” is in fact not a modem at all but a specialized network adaptor. A true modem converts signals between analog and digital; in a high-speed Internet connection, the signals are digital all through the system.
DSL has a limitation. Because of the very high frequency used, the signal is subjet to degradation over distance. To receive DSL service, therefore, you must be physically located close to a telephone company switch.
Speed
Typical cable and DSL connections operate at 1.5 Mbps, thirty times as fast as a dial-up connection. If you are located very close to the phone company switch and if new equipment is used throughout the connection, DSL speeds up to 4 MBPS are possible – at a price, of course. Newer Internet connections through companies such as Shaw, EnMax, and TeraGo offer high-bandwidth synchronous connections.
Athene’s ISP is Radiant Communications (www.radiant.net). Connection is ADSLat 4 Mbps. We are in process of upgrading to 10 megabit connection.
Email service is provided by an email program in your computer (Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Mail, etc.) which communicates through your Internet connection with a host, usually – but not necessarily – your ISP.
Most ISPs bundle email into their offering, usually in the form yourname@their-name.something (john.smith@shaw.ca, sbrown@telus.net, etc.). Because many of their connections are with families and small businesses, they generally permit five or six email names to be associated with one account.
Email servers
The email host generally operates three servers: an authentication server, a POP3 server, and an SMTP server. Physically these may all run on the same computer or may be split among more than three computers, depending on the host’s size and the volume of email traffic handled.
The authentication server checks your user name and password before allowing you access to the host’s email facilities. If your email system appears to have suddenly ‘forgotten’ your user name or password, but ‘remembers’ them later in the day, chances are the authentication server is having problems.
POP3
Incoming emails, addressed to you, are stored on the POP3 server until your email program accesses the server and instructs it to download messages to you. This server acts as a post office, receiving and holding your mail until it is ready for delivery. 
In order that numerous different email programs can communicate with the server, a protocol was developed that specifies all the standards each program must adhere to. This is called the Post Office Protocol. The third iteration of the protocol is the one currently used by the great majority of vendors: POP3.
SMTP
Outgoing messages do not need to be stored in this way, but can be sent on by the SMTP server as soon as it receives them from your email program. Another protocol had to be developed for this task. Every message, no matter which email program created it, must have a common address format that all programs can understand. It must have a common way of ‘wrapping’ the message in an ‘envelope’, and a common way of determining if the message has been received free of error. These standards are all defined in the Simple Message Transfer Protocol, SMTP.
You will note when you configure your email program (Tools > Options > Accounts, or something similar) that it generally asks for the domain name of the POP3 and SMTP servers.
Alias email
Alias email is the ability to have extra email names that link to an existing account rather than having their own account. Example: If you have a website that offers browsers the ability to contact you using the address info@yoursite.ca, that address might be an alias for johnb@yoursite.ca. Any email sent to ‘info’ will actually go to ‘johnb’.
Host
Athene’s email host is Radiant Communications.
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Web Hosting
If you have your own website, your website name is called a “domain name”: eg – athenecorporate.com. The name is purchased from a domain name registrar such as Network Solutions Inc. Each of these registrars is usually responsible for one suffix (.ca, .biz. .tc, etc.) and maintains a database of all the names that use that suffix. This avoids two websites having the same name.
Domain names and IP addresses
The domain name is always tied to two Domain Name Servers, a primary and a secondary. A DNS has an IP address. The Internet Protocol address uses a four-zone number system with each zone separated by a period. This gives every network-addressable device in the world its own unique identifier. 101.200.5.661 is the unique IP address of one and only one device– a web server, a router, a network printer, or whatever.
When someone types your website name (www.yourbiz.com) into their Internet browser, the browser sends the name to the nearest DNS ‘translator’, a device that accesses the central database of names and that translates your easy-to-remember English-like name into the corresponding numeric IP address. Your Internet browser then uses the IP address to access the DNS server that holds your website.
Web host
Your website is generally operated by a Web Host, a company that provides facilities for many different websites to operate on its servers. The web host actually owns the primary and secondary DNS’s that are associated with your website’s domain name. If you move the site from one web host to another, you have to inform the registrar of the change of primary and secondary DNS’s in order that people trying to access your site can do so. If you don’t, Internet browsers will continue to be directed to the old host.
Many ISPs provide web hosting services. Many specialized web hosts offer added-value services such as programs and templates that make it simple to set up and manage your own site, or ready-to-use eCommerce facilities complete with credit card processing and shopping cart facilities.
Do-it-yourself
If the cost and complexity justify it, there is no reason why you cannot operate your website from your own server. For most small businesses this doesn’t make sense, partly because of the technical skills required, and partly because it means that you open your server up to outside browsers, an invitation for hackers to come in and wreak havoc with your files.
Only if you have registered your own domain name (www.bestpizza.ca) can you have an email address that uses it (john.smith@bestpizza.ca). Even then, either you must use an email host that allows the use of domain names other than its own, or you must have your own website. If the latter, it must have email capabilities or be hosted by a website host that is also an email host.
Radiant Communications also acts as Athene’s website host.
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PKI encryption
PKI is an acronym for Public Key Infrastructure.
Modern encryption uses a “key” to scramble the content of a file so that it is meaningless to unauthorized viewers. The key is a long series of zeros and ones that are used in a formula that is applied to the file. Only if you have a copy of the key can you apply the reverse formula that decrypts the content.
Two types of key
PKI encryption uses two related keys. The public key can be used to encrypt a file but cannot then decrypt the same file. 
Think of it as a physical key that can lock a door but cannot unlock it. The corresponding private key is the only key that can be used to decrypt the file. Again, think of it as a physical key that can both lock and unlock the door.
Public keys are made freely available. If you have a public key, you may even post it on a number of key-store websites so that anybody who wishes to can access your public key, use it to encrypt something, and then send you the encrypted file.
Private keys are kept secure. Only you have a copy of your private key. When you receive a file or message that has been encrypted using your public key, you use your private key to decrypt it.
The public key is a subset of the private key. The two keys are maintained in a digital certificate that you can either generate yourself with an appropriate software package or that you can buy from a certificate vendor.
Email encryption
Popular email products such as Outlook and Outlook Express can encrypt messages and attachments with one mouse click provided both you and the addressed party have digital certificates. The certificates are easily maintained as part of the address book entry. All you have to remember to do is make sure you set the program to encrypt any outgoing messages using both the addressee’s public key and your private key. (Why with your own key as well? Because otherwise you will later be unable to read the message you yourself sent! Remember: the other party’s public key can be used to encrypt the message, but not to decrypt it.)
Key size
PKI encryption is very sophisticated, even removing patterns of text that used to be used to break ciphers. If a file were PKI encrypted using a 1,024-bit key, a hacker would take literally months or even years to decrypt the message.
At Athene, we can use encryption to ensure that any sensitive files transmitted between you and us are encrypted for your peace of mind.
SSL means secure socket layer. Every browser such as Internet Explorer comes with its own unique digital certificate. The certificate contains a public encryption key and a private encryption key. When you log on to a “secure” site, that site also has its own public and private keys. When your browser and the secure site communicate with each other, they first swap public keys, then encrypt data with the other party’s public key. If the data is intercepted during transmission, it appears as gibberish. Only the recipient with the correct private key can decrypt the communication. Communication protocols have several “layers” – the “socket” layer is the one that handles this encryption. You can tell when you are on a secure site by the appearance of a small padlock in the task bar portion of your browser.
SSL encryption uses 128-bit keys. These are adequate for most Internet browsing tasks as the communications are transient. True PKI encryption uses the same technology but with 512- or 1,024-bit keys.
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Linux, UNIX, Windows Server, HTML
Linux is a server operating system. It is ‘open source’ in that the source code is available for any programmer to modify. Linux was originally developed by Linus Torvalds, a programmer, modeled on UNIX. Microsoft’s equivalent is Windows Server 2003, which is available in several variants. Not surprisingly, Microsoft claims that if one considers all the costs inherent in operating a web server, their solution’s total cost of ownership is lower than using Linux even though Linux is free.
FrontPage is one of a number of programs that enable construction of websites. It is, essentially, a fancy HTML generator with some other bells and whistles. Front Page generates websites that operate on Microsoft servers. Other programs help with the development of websites that operate on Linux and UNIX platforms.
HTML is HyperText Mark-up Language, a way of tagging text so that it appears formatted on screen. Most information on a web server is in the form of HTML.
When you “look at” a web page, what actually happens is that the website server sends the entire page as HTML to your computer. Your browser then translates the HTML into formatted text and possibly icons, pictures, and hyperlinks for display on your screen.
| What you see... | What the website actually contains... |
HTML is Easy To LearnWelcome to the world of HTML. This is the first paragraph. While short, it is still a paragraph! |
<html> |
One key feature of HTML is the ability to embed hyperlinks. A hyperlink can be text, an icon, or part of a picture which, when clicked, ‘jumps’ you to another part of either the website or another site.
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VPN, router, firewall
VPN
A Virtual Private Network is a connection between your computer at home and your office network.
The two operating systems involved establish a connection via the Internet in which you are able to log on to your office network, exchange files, and otherwise act as if you were in the office connected directly to the network there. The connection is “virtual” on the grounds that no direct connection is established. The connection is by way of data packets sent across the Internet.
A VPN can be established easily between Windows XP or Vista on the remote computer and Windows Server 2003 on the host server. With other operating systems, the establishment is possible but not quite as simple.
Router
A router is a device usually used to allow a network of computers to share one connection to the Internet. Any device connected to the router is able to communicate with any other connected device, so if the router is wireless it enables the establishment of a wireless network.
Firewall
A firewall is a device or software program that prevents unauthorized access to a computer or network. A router makes a good physical firewall; because it has its own IP address, outside devices can only “see” the router, not the other computers ‘hiding’ behind it. Any data packets sent by any computer behind the router have their sending computer’s IP address replaced by the router’s IP address when they leave on their journey across the Internet. If the message is intercepted, the hacker can only see the router’s IP address. The router filters incoming packets and removes any that are obviously harmful.
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VoIP
IP is Internet Protocol, the set of standards that govern how information is moved around the Internet. VoIP is Voice over IP, a new standard that allows voice to be moved around the Internet in the same way as messages and data are.
Internet Protocol
The Internet is actually a network of networks. Each individual network operates according to its own rules and standards. Internet Protocol allows otherwise incompatible networks to move information seamlessly from one network to another. IP is a packet-switched protocol. All information, whether text, picture, or data is encapsulated as packets. A packet can be thought of as analogous to an envelope. There could be standards that govern the size of envelopes, how they must be addressed, what denomination of stamp must be used, and so on, but that leave the content of the envelope irrelevant. Each packet in a packet-switched network consists of an address, the content of the packet, and a formula that defines how error checking will take place.
Packet transmission
When information is to be sent from point A to point B, it is first sliced up into manageable chunks. Each chunk is then ‘packetized’ with the addition of addressing information, packet identifier, and error-checking data. The packets are then sent off one by one and passed from computer to computer (according to TCP/IP, the Transfer Control Protocol subset of IP) until they reach their destination. 
It is possible that some packets may take a different route from others, and that they may therefore arrive in a different sequence from the order in which they were sent. The receiving computer reorders them into the correct sequence before ‘de-packetizing’ them into their original format.
Error checking
Along the way, each computer checks for errors. When a chunk of the original data is encapsulated into a packet, an arbitrary formula is applied to the bits that make up the data. This results in the calculation of a hash total, a meaningless number that is transmitted as part of the packet. When the next computer down the line receives the packet, it applies the same formula to the data and compares its hash total with the hash total included with the packet. If there is any difference between the two values, at least some part of the data has been corrupted during its journey. The receiving computer therefore, instead of passing on the packet to the next computer in line, sends a request back to the transmitting computer asking that the packet be re-sent.
In practice, TCP/IP error checking is more sophisticated than a simple hash total calculation. In many cases, an error can be detected and corrected by the receiving computer without the need for a re-transmission. But the principle is the same and some re-transmission does take place.
Internet telephony
Because a packet contains just a string of ones and zeros, its contents can represent anything: data, text, images, or even sounds. In theory, it is a simple matter to allow Internet telephony. All that is needed is that the originating phone be equipped with a codec (coder/decoder), a tiny, cheap device that digitizes voice by sampling it thousands of times a second and converting it into discrete values. Represented as binary numbers, these values can easily be packetized and transmitted. At the receiving end, they are converted back to analog and amplified so that they drive speakers and reproduce the original sound. This is, in fact, the basic principle behind any form of digitized sound, whether simple voice or complex music.
The problem with telephony is that timing is critical. Not only must all received packets be re-sequenced into their original order, depacketized, and converted back to analog, but this must all happen in real time, with no opportunity for extensive retransmission of error packets or rerouting of parts of the message. Should the latter happen there would be breaks in the conversation, as anybody knows who has tried to speak to others across the Internet.
Voice over IP is a new set of TCP/IP protocols designed to permit packetization of voice and its transmission over the Internet without the problems just described. VoIP’s “H.323” standard includes methods for ‘pinging’ a potential pathway to make sure it is available, ways to connect packetized transmission with the public switched telephone network, and a number of other rules to govern voice transmission. Newer and more sophisticated than H323 is SIP, Session Initiation Protocol.
Benefits of VoIP
The primary benefits of VoIP are its use of standard Internet transmission facilities and its avoidance of telephone company circuits with their associated toll charges. A VoIP-ready phone system is one that digitizes voice and already incorporates the H.323 and/or SIP standards for packetizing and de-packetizing the voice, checking for errors, and so on. Whether VoIP will ever become truly popular depends in large part on whether and how the long-distance carriers respond to the threat posed.