Overlay network

Okay kiddo, imagine you have a big map of your city with different routes and pathways going everywhere. Now, let's say you want to make a new way to go from your house to your friend's house.

But instead of building a whole new road, you decide to draw a new line on top of the map, connecting your house and your friend's house. That new line is like an overlay on the map - it's not a physical road, but it allows you to travel from one place to another.

That's kind of what an overlay network is! It's like a virtual network that's built on top of another network. Instead of creating a brand new network, you build an overlay network that uses the existing infrastructure.

So, let's say you have two different networks - one in your house and one in your friend's house. They might use different technologies, have different rules or restrictions, and even belong to different companies or organizations. But with an overlay network, you can create a connection between those two networks, allowing you to share information, send messages, or access resources as if you were on the same network.

The way this works is by using a software program that creates a virtual network on top of the physical network. This program acts like a translator, allowing the different networks to communicate with each other. It also adds an extra layer of security and privacy, so that others on the physical network can't see what you're doing on the overlay network.

Overall, an overlay network is a way to create a new network that's built on top of an existing network. It allows you to connect to different networks, share information, and communicate securely - just like drawing a line on a map to create a new route between two places!