The Requirements of Internetworking

Networks come in differing topologies and speeds and (of course) no single network configuration suits everyone.

The technology known as internetworking draws the multitudes of networking technologies into a common framework that combines networks into internets. In general an internetwork must :

• Provide a link between networks (at minimum a physical and link control connection).
• Provide routing and delivery of data between processes on different networks (implies operating systems' support).
• Provide an accounting service, keeping track of the status of networks and gateways.
• Accommodate the differences between different sub-networks, including -
  • different physical addressing schemes,
  • different maximum packet sizes,
  • different network access mechanisms,
  • different timeout and retry schemes,
  • quality of error recovery,
  • quality of status reporting,
  • different routing, fault detection and congestion control techniques,
  • different data representations,
  • different user authentication practices, and
  • whether or not a connectionless or connection-based service is required.

Easy really!