What is an intranet?

- [Narrator] Right off the top, it's probably a good idea to address the obvious question, what is an Intranet? If you ask Google. An Intranet is a local or restricted communications network, especially a private network created using World Wide Web software. In the most basic layman's terms, this means an Intranet is a sort of closed web running on a local network that only selected people can access. Contrast this to the World Wide Web running on the Internet which is a global network anyone can access. The purpose of an Intranet is to provide an experience like the Internet contained in a virtual, walled-off garden accessible only to staff and members.

Out in the real world you'll find several different types of Intranets. The most extreme variety is what I call Closed Intranets. Closed networks that are physically severed from the Internet and only accessible when you are physically present at a location and have the right access credentials. These solutions are most common in situations where privacy is paramount. I've seen them in companies that deal with sensitive information, hospitals, schools, and other such places. A more modern variety of the Closed Intranet is one that can be accessed through a virtual private network or VPN.

They effectively work the same way as the Closed Intranets but can be accessed through the Intranet with the correct credentials to that virtual private network. This approach is common in companies and organizations with more than one office or remote workers or both. There's also a hybrid model where an Intranet and a public section are combined. The Intranet is only accessible on premises or behind a VPN or similar restrictions while the public section is available to anyone through the regular Internet. This is obviously the most accessible and least secure of the varieties I've described here.

Intranets often feature content restrictions based on the role of staff and other interested parties. Typically some content is available to everyone. Some content is limited and the ability to add and edit content is delegated to specific people within the company or organization. In this course, I'll showcase the most true two-definition type of Intranet. A local network, either partially or completely severed from the Internet. That said, what you'll learn in this course applies to all types of Intranets and, in many cases, regular websites as well.