| |||
| To
explore the World Wide Web or to send and receive Email it is necessary
to have access to the Internet. Access: The most basic function of an Internet Service Provider is to provide a Point Of Presence (POP) to enable their customers to connect to the Internet. In it's simplest form connection to the Internet is achieved by the user fitting a modem and a software product to his Personal Computer and dialling the ISP's (POP) using an ordinary telephone line. The ISP provides a gateway to the Internet and will route the call onto the Internet via a high speed direct connection. ISP's can offer a variety other methods of connection including ISDN access or access over direct fixed links and cable depending very much on the band width your organisation requires. As the majority of Internet Users connect via dial up connection it is essential that an ISP provides a number of other services. Email: As typically the customer's own computer will not be connected to the Internet 24 hours a day, the ISP collects customers Email on an Email server and stores it until the customer next dials onto the Internet and collects it. Server Hosting: For exactly the same reasons, dial up users will typically keep their World Wide Web Sites on a server at the ISP in order that they are available to visitors at all times. Domain Registration: All World Wide Web Sites have a unique address, for example: www.vital.co.uk This is a Domain. All domains names are unique and registered with the appropriate authority in the USA or country of origin depending very much on the suffix of the domain. Typically an ISP will provide a Domain Name Registration Service to enable customers to register their own domain names. Email Addresses: The domain name is also used as a component of an email address, for example: sales@vital.co.uk Sub Domains: It is not essential to register a domain name to have Email or a World Wide Web site as sub domains can be allocated at on the ISP's own domain name, for example: www.vital.co.uk/britishsteel Other Services: An ISP provides many other services including, User Group Access (Usenet), File Transfer Facilities (ftp), Access to utilities on the server customers can utilise within web pages (CGI scripts) and many others. | |||