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The Complete Handbook of Network Software
A practical reference for professionals, businesses, and serious hobbyists who need to select, deploy, and maintain network software that actually works
by Alumigogo Books
Chapter 1: Understanding Network Software
Network software is the set of programs that control, manage, and direct data traffic across a network. It is the difference between a physical box with blinking ports and a functioning network that lets a user in one city open a file stored on a server in another. When an office worker opens a web browser to access a CRM system, network software is what guides those packets through the building's switch, out the firewall, and across the internet to the data center. This book is about that software: what it does, how it works, and how to make it work for you.
To ground the definition, consider a common scenario. You are at a small company of forty people. You have a single router from your internet provider, an unmanaged switch in the wiring closet, and a server running a file-sharing application. The router is running network software (usually a closed-source operating system) that performs routing and network address translation. The switch, if it is managed, has its own firmware—another type of network software—that lets you create virtual LANs. If you have a dedicated firewall, it runs its own inspection engine. Even the file server's operating system has a network stack. Without this software, each device is just hardware.
The core functions of network software can be grouped into a few categories, and understanding these categories will help you evaluate anything later in the book.
Routing and Switching
Routers connect different networks and decide