Network Connection Details
Ever wondered what the network connection details actually mean?
Physical Address: Also called the Media Access Control address, is a serial number that can uniquely identify your ethernet card or wireless adapter.
IP Address: An Internet Protocol address is assigned by your LAN provider(say, a modem at homes) to each of the systems connected to a network through the provider.
Subnet Mask: When there are multiple systems connected to a network, the network is divided into subnetworks to avoid interference (traffic), and routers manage the overall traffic. In a manner of speaking, the subnets can be differentiated by the subnet masks.
Default Gateway: As the name suggests, this is the (IP) address of the node that allows access to a different network. Say your modem connects to the Internet, and your PC connects to the modem. The modem acts as the gateway for your PC to the Internet.
DHCP Server: Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol can be used by systems to obtain configuration information to connect to a network without any manual intervention. e.g. You usually don’t configure any network information on your home PC. You say “Obtain an IP address automatically” and leave it at that, and this allows multiple systems to connect to the same network without each system being designated a set of hard-written network configuration details. The DHCP Server handles this.
DNS Server: A Domain Name System server stores all the domain names and corresponding IP addresses. When you type a URL in your browser address bar, the DNS Server translates the domain name into an understandable format (IP) before the requested details can be fetched from the website you wish.
WINS Server: You may look at Windows Internet Name Service as Microsoft’s version of DNS. There are differences, but the final result to the end user is more or less the same. And either of DNS and WINS servers suffice.
Newbies, you mostly know the tiny network icons in your system tray. Click on the icon that represents the network through which you are connected to the Internet. Go to the “Support” tab, click on “Details” and you will see the “Network Connection Details” I have mentioned above.
