TCP/IP Flashcards
What is TCP/IP?
The Transmission Control Protocol or TCP. Together, the two protocols are referred
to as the TCP/IP Suite, and it also has a layered architecture like the OSI model. TCP/IP is the primary protocol used all over the world by millions of devices to send information online on different kinds of networks.
First, data is divided into smaller parts called packets before being sent over the network. These packets then travel over the network, which may be physical wires or wireless signals to reach their destination. The next step is the reception of the packets. The destination device collects all the packets and puts them back together to recreate the original data. But sometimes data can get lost along its journey. The fourth step is to make sure all the packets are correct and have arrived in the right order. For this reason, the TCP protocol adds extra information to each segment of data, known as a sequence number and an acknowledgment number.
What are the 4 layers of TCP/IP?
The four layers are the application layer, the transport layer, the Internet layer, and the network interface or data link layer.
Remember the OSI model. The bottom layer is the network interface or data link layer, and is the physical link between the computer and the network. It is responsible for sending and receiving data over the network using hardware such as network adapters. The next layer, the Internet layer, forwards packets from the source to the destination. The transport layer works in the background and ensures that the data is sent reliably, meaning all data packets are verified by the TCP protocol. But this takes time. So for data that needs to be transmitted quickly, like video data, this layer uses another protocol, the user datagram protocol or UDP. UDP does not include verification and thus speeds up the transmission. The top layer, the application layer, deals with the applications running on the devices and the data that they generate. In other words, it provides an interface for the user to access network resources.
What is multiplexing?
TCP/IP allows multiple processes to happen simultaneously. It’s called multiplexing and means that different devices can send and receive data at the same time over the same connection. It can also handle different data types, such as emails, websites, and videos. TCP/IP can work with small networks.
