The All-New Switch Book: The Complete Guide to LAN Switching Technology, Second Edition

1.1. Network Architecture

The art of networking comprises a wide range of operations and technologies. Casual end users may think that "the network" is the browser or e-mail screen interface; this is all that they know (and from their perspective, probably all that they need to know) about networking. Programmers writing application code that must communicate among multiple machines may need to know about the programming interfaces and network facilities provided by the local operating system, but are generally unconcerned about the actual mechanisms used to deliver messages. Designers of high-speed optical fiber links used to interconnect network routers and servers should not have to worry about the data structures in the e-mail messages that may traverse a link.

In addition, the applications, functions, and technologies of networking are constantly changing. Every year, new ways of increasing the data rate of the communications channels in which our networks operate are introduced. New applications are constantly being written that use existing network facilities to provide improved or even revolutionary new services for users. You need to make sure that advances in one area of network technology are not constrained by limitations in other areas. For example, you want to be able to install a higher-speed communications link without having to wait for a new application or protocol to be designed that can take advantage of that link. Similarly, you want to ensure that the new ...