Connections Are Everywhere

When you stop and look at all the software packages that work over a network, you realize that your computer makes a lot of network connections. You make a connection to read mail and a connection to send mail. Your browser makes connections to Web servers. If you use a database server, such as Informix, Oracle, DB2, or SQL Server, you make a network connection to those databases.

The fact that these packages all use a standard protocol such as TCP or UDP gives you tremendous flexibility. Think of a TCP connection as an electrical cord. One end goes into a lamp or a stereo, the other end plugs into a socket (how appropriate!). Suppose you want to move the lamp to the other side of the room. You just plug it into an ...

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