This thread describes the basics of what happens when your computer connects to the Internet. Not every term is defined here so if this is really your very first time, you may need to do some additional research. Also, this isn’t a technical whitepaper on TCP/IP. This discussion should answer not your first, but perhaps your second or third question about how an office computer accesses the Internet.

Connecting to the Internet is nearly taken for granted these days. A computer might use a dial-up modem and a phone line. Computers with a broadband connection (DSL, cable, fiber optic, etc.) connect to the Internet through a broadband modem. If there is more than one computer in the office, a Local Area Network (LAN) can be set up where a router allows each computer to access the Internet.

I like to use the metaphor of a post office box. Connecting to the Internet is like having a post office box that opens into your office. What happens on the lobby side of the box (your office) is your personal business. The staff at the post office might look through the hole but they can be limited in terms of what they see. These limitations are controlled by the security your office sets up (like firewalls, etc.). On the mailroom side of the box, where the staff works, there are lots and lots of boxes for all the customers. These relate to the public address (known as the IP Address) of your broadband modem. The staff moves around delivering packages to each mailbox. However, all you need to do to get your mail is open your mailbox – the rest is (thankfully!) hidden.

Now, here is where the metaphor has to be adjusted slightly. In the most common cases, like sending/receiving email or surfing websites, you are actually requesting things from the Internet. This would be like opening your mailbox and asking the staff for the things you need. If you talk to a reliable staff member, hopefully you’ll get a prompt and accurate response. If you happen to talk with someone who is only pretending to be a staff member, you might get something nasty (like a virus or spam). There are tools available to assist you with these requests and you should use them.

What’s also interesting is that your public IP Address may change from time to time. This would be like changing post office boxes. This is typically something that your Internet Service Provider (ISP) controls. Some businesses purchase a Static IP Address (meaning their mailbox never changes). But this isn’t required for simple stuff like email and surfing because your office is requesting information – the staff in the make-believe Internet/Post Office sees your mailbox each time you ask and therefore can return packages to it. Your address could change regularly and the packages will still be delivered correctly. This is how dial-up modems (who get a different IP Address each time they connect to the Internet) work. There are also people who describe broadband modems as ‘always connected’. To be completely accurate, it is the modem that is always connected. A specific computer in your office may or may not be connected to Internet even if the modem is (for instance, when you turn your computer off at night the modem is still connected but the computer is not).

When your business decides to take the next step and you participate in web-based or web-enabled applications, the rules are altered again. Now, you’re changing the dynamic of the mailbox example – specifically, you (or your web-based vendor) allow people on the Internet to request information from your business. This means you’re opening up a part of your office to the world at large – how much is dependent on what information you allow access to and how stringent your security measures are. Some information could be freely available to everyone while more sensitive information requires a username and password. Remember that hackers could be there trying to request information as well!

In order for this type of request to work, allowing your public IP Address (mailbox) to change isn’t a good idea. They (the people who invent stuff like the Internet) are trying to make this easier for us. Purchasing a Static IP Address (see above) is the simplest way to guarantee your address doesn’t change. We’ll talk more about making the decision to receive and process requests for information from the Internet in a moment.

Under the covers, an IP Address is simply a series of numbers. While you can type in these numbers, most of us prefer to use domain names – text for the name of the website we want to visit like ‘selfstoragetalk.com’. Techie Trivia Alert: the following is probably completely meaningless to 99.44% of the users of this forum: the public IP for www.syrasoft.com is currently 72.90.79.68. The Internet makes use of the Domain Name System (DNS) to translate the words in a domain name into the numbers of the IP Address.

Many businesses only need a single public IP Address. As an IT company, Syrasoft has several but we also do things like manage our own email server, host multiple websites, etc. etc. – all things the typical self-storage won’t be doing. What happens on the private side of that IP Address is the main focus of an internet security strategy.

Something to keep in mind is that Internet Safety is sort of like Disaster Recovery. The weakest part of both is usually people. (In the latter case, we get lazy and don’t test our automated backups to be sure they are viable. But that’s another entire thread.) For this reason, it makes sense to consider how each machine on your network interacts with the Internet. If two machines access the Internet regularly and one isn’t as protected as the other, bad things can happen. Hackers write software that will run on the private side of your network – this means that even if one machine never accesses the Internet but is still networked to a machine that does, both can be infected by a virus.

In a simple scenario, a single machine may connect to a cable modem. This machine is connected directly to the Internet. However, the Public IP Address on the Internet is that of the cable modem not the connected computer.

In a larger office with multiple computers, an additional piece of hardware called a router is used. The router connects directly to the cable modem and, pardon the redundancy, routes information from the Internet directly to each computer on the LAN. This allows all computers to share the connection to the Internet. Each computer has a private IP Address on the LAN that identifies it within the office. The router has two IP Addresses - the Public Address that is visible to the Internet and a private Address it shares with the LAN. Suffice to say that even with multiple computers in an office, there is only one Public IP Address and it belongs to the router, not any specific computer.

For the sake of completeness, I will mention that computers can be networked in other ways. Another piece of hardware called a switch allows multiple computers to communicate on a LAN without any involvement of the Internet. Many consumer devices are actually combinations - they act as both a switch and a router. This simplifies installations and reduces your cost.

Earlier we talked about allowing outside people to request information from you. This isn’t magic – it’s simply following the model used by the folks running this very website. Like them, you can run a web server in your office that allows people to use the Internet to gather information from your business. Since this is a bit more advanced, I would encourage others to start threads about ways that web servers can set up and used.

Hopefully, this lays out some basic groundwork for how computers interact with the Internet. Feel free to post comments or questions. All of the pieces I may have skipped over or left unclear can be filled in or expanded on by the participants of this site.

Great post I am sure alot of people will find that useful.
Another thing I don't see mentioned much is ways remotely access information w/o web based applications.

In my current setup I have 3 computers that can use site link at our office. 2 always there one my laptop.

I can remotely connect to either of the two computers in the office any time to enter or change information and print off reports. We just recently started using a answering service, for which I get all the e-mails right on my smart phone. No matter where I am I can get that message, either remote control a office computer with my phone to get information. Or connect the phone to the laptop for internet connection as well. Or if you are home do it at a computer there.

Another nice thing is I can control my gate remotely from my phone the same way.

I am currently using www.logmein.com to do this, They have a free version if you don't want to transfer files or print. But I like the added pro features.

So now you have the functionality of a web based program, sure tenants can't look up info themselves, which I admit would be a nice feature to have. Or making internet payments or rentals, again nice stuff to have.

But with the 24/7 answering service I can get information out pretty much any time and get back to customers to take a phone cc payment or something.