There have been quite a few questions lately about networking, multiplayer racing, and firewalls...so, our job at the best news and information site for simracing required us to get you the info! Not to mention the fact that most of us at The Pits are computer geeks in some capacity at our real jobs...so why not pass on the info?

The first thing you should know about networking, routing and firewalls is a few common network terms. This is going to be very rudimentary, so advanced users, skip to the next page. First off, networking is merely the action of connecting computers with wiring so that they can talk to each other...otherwise you wouldn't be reading this right now!

Basic Networks Networked computers communicate with each other by sending 'packets' of information through the wires. Since high-speed communication is at a premium, large tranfers of information (such as downloading software) do not get sent as a single 'stream'...this would take up all the bandwidth while the software was in transmission. So to allow multiple computers to continue to talk to each other while they are ALL sending and recieving information, all traffic is divided into the packets. A computer that recieves packets sends acknowledgements back to the sending computer until it gets ALL the packets and is able to put the message back together again. Computers know WHO they need to talk with by an 'address' they are given. Much like a post code or zipcode, this addressing system allows any computer attached to the internet to have a unique address. This system of sending packets between unique Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, and then acknowledging that they were recieved is called TCP/IP protocol.

In the case of online gaming or racing, there is a continuous stream of packets between the computers that are playing. Yet they do not interfere with other traffic that your computer may be sending (provided that they have the bandwidth). How is this possible? Because different types of transmissions (mail, your browser, file uploads and downloads, games) all use different 'ports' to send and recieve information. Think of the ports as channels on a TV...you can have 20 TVs in your house, but do they all need to be on the same channel? Only if you work at Circuit City or Radio Shack... ;]

What's an IP address? A quick description of Internet Protocol addressing is in order. First, an IP address is a 12 digit number, separated by dots between each set of 3 numbers (204.154.7.103) Why is there only 10 numbers in that one? Because the two zeros in front of the "7" are assumed...but they are still there. The IP address consists of the NETWORK part and the CLIENT part. The network part is what tells your computer what overall network you belong to. The client part gives your computer it's unique number so that it won't be confused with another. No two computers on the internet should ever have the same number..and the same holds true for your local network of computers. Think of the network address as the 'city' part of your local street address, and the client part as your exact street address (15 High Street). You don't find two houses named the same, the mail service would never put up with it. So which numbers are the network and which are the client? Well, it varies! We won't go into a deep discussion of networking here, but we'll explain this much. Your network address starts from the left, your client address falls after it. Here's an example of what NOT to do on your local network. You could never give your local computers the addresses of 24.114.36.224 and 204.63.144.7. Why? Those two addresses belong to two separate networks (see the first number on the left). You COULD give them that address, but then you would have to set up routes between the two for them to be able to talk...so for most cases of local computer network addresses in the home environment, you want to give them both numbers in the same network range (192.168.1.101 and 192.168.1.100)...and that is where we'll stop this part...

What firewalls do is protect your computer from external (and internal) detection and attack from probes, scans, trojans, PoD (Ping of Death), and the other myriad forms of war that get conducted in the computer world every day. How does a firewall do this? By blocking your ports! If you unplug all the phones in your house, no calls can go in or out...so this is not a good solution. But if you put a 'block incoming calls' on all your phones, you can call and transfer info whenever you want, but no one can call in unless you 'unblock' that phone. This is exactly how a firewall works. All traffic coming in will be blocked unless you specify that it can be recieved...