What defines the Internet

[john-lucero]

When is a network considered to be on the Internet? What defines that fact?

This is an ongoing argumenet that I have delt with, and I wanted to here others oppinions.

[fabios]

I personally consider a network to be on the Internet if one or more hosts are reachable or the network allows 3rd party's traffic to transit.

On the contrary a network able to access Internet resources has Internet connectivity without being on the Internet.

My 2 cents.

[john-lucero]

So a Web Server in a DMZ or outside a Firewall would be on the Internet, not just accessable via the Internet.

[robhorniachek]

I believe it depends on the context - if someone were to ask you if you were 'on the internet', and you have an internet e-mail account, that's different than having a server 'on the internet'.

With regards to a network being on the internet, I think that I agree - you would have to have inbound services enabled, not just outbound browse. Although, if you ask someone who's not a techie if they are on the internet, they will say yes as long as they can browse...

Just my $0.02

[wolfrikk]

I would say yes. The Internet is just a logical group of networks. There is no governing body that allows access to "The Internet". Anyone who obtains a connection to the internet and exposes resources for access from the internet, has an Internet Presence. This will require you to have a domain name registered with one of the root servers to allow people to find your servers. I think that is the key part to "being on the Internet". I agree that just being able to browse the internet does not mean you are on the internet in Tech terms.