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Question: What is a gateway?

Answer: A gateway is an entrance to another network.

If you are connected to the internet, you have to enter through a gateway. Your machine is connected to a small network and there is a gateway that connects your smaller network to the internet. A gateway passes information from one network to another network as your information travels across the internet.

Most of the internet communications is done over TCP/IP, but if a network is communicating over some other protocol the gateway translates this information and passes it along.

As your information travels along the internet, it may pass through several gateways.

Question: What is TCP/IP?

Answer: TCP/IP is a set of protocols that handles data transmitted across the internet.

TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) works much like a piece of registered mail. You pack your valuable information - take it to the Post Office - they find the most efficient way to deliver it - send the package - get a signature stating that the item was received - return a message so that you are assured that the package arrived intact.

TCP/IP protocols break up the data into small segments called packets (this help with the transportation over the internet) , sends the address of where the information is to be sent, send the information, verify the receipt of the information and reconstruct the data on the other end.

The Internet is managed by the rules of sending and receiving information over TCP/IP.

Question: Do I have to have a gateway?

Answer: Yes, to access the internet, you must have a gateway (not to be confused with a Gateway computer). The gateway's IP address is entered into your networking set-up.

Question: Is the gateway always a dedicated server?

Answer: No, there are some software programs that allow you to set up a gateway to another network. If there is not a lot of traffic, this will probably work ok.

Question: I've heard people talk about routers and bridges. How do these work?

Answer:

Repeater boosts the signals so it can travel further distances.

Bridge connects two pieces of land together offering a path from one to another. Networks also can have bridges - they connect two networks making each accessable to the other. Bridges can be used to connect two different types of networks but are usually used to separate one large network into two smaller networks for performance purposes. A bridge knows all of the addresses on each side of the bridge and can send information accordingly.

Router is an intelligent bridge for large networks. A router can listen to the traffic on the entire network and determine the least congested route to its destination. Gateway gateway is used to connect different types or the same types of networks together. They can translate the different formats.

Many times these terms (bridge, gateway, router) are used interchangeably - although they do have slightly different meanings.

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