TCP/IP Protocol

TCP/IP protocol is vital when two terminals want to exchange data, a lot of steps should be followed:

Example: if a file should be transferred from one system to another along with a data path, a number of other things have to be performed.

1. The source should identify the destination with which it has to communicate.

2. The source should then check whether the destination is prepared for communication.

3. The file transfer application present on the source should check whether the file management application present on the destination is prepared for communication.

4. If the file formats are different on these machines, one of these machines must perform a format translation.

Thus, there must be a higher degree of co-operation between the source and the destination. Instead of implementing the logic as a single module, it is divided into a number of sub tasks and is implemented separately.

In TCP/IP protocol architecture, these sub modules are arranged on a vertical stack s different layer. A top layer always depends on next immediate lower layer for a particular operation. In order for two systems to communicate with each other, a simple kind of protocol architecture should be present on the other machine.

Each layer performs the specified function according to a set of sales or conversions known as protocol.

Tcp/Ip Protocol Architecture

The TCP/IP protocol architecture has been developed by the ARPANET that is funded by DARPA (Defense advanced research projects agency).

The TCP/IP protocol architecture is simply referred to as the TCP/IP protocol suite. This suite consists of a number of protocols that are issued by the IAB (Internet architecture board).

The TCP/IP protocol suite is made up of 5 independent layers viz.

1. Physical Layer.

2. Network Access Layer.

3. Internet Layer.

4. Transport Layer (Host to Host) and

5. Application Layer

The physical layer acts as an interface between a transmission device and a transmission medium. This layer specifies the characteristics of the transmission medium, the nature of the signals and the data rate and related matters.

The network access layer is responsible for the exchange of data between an end system and a network to which it is attached. The sender must provide the address of the destination to the Network Access Layer so that it can route data so the specified destination. The network access layer is concerned with routing data between two end systems that are present on the same network.

The internet layer is concerned with routing data between two end systems that are present on different networks. This layer contains a special protocol called the Internet Protocol (IP) for this purpose. In order to route data from one network to another, we require a special processor called a Router.

In order to make the data exchange a reliable task (i.e., same data is received as it is sent without any delay or alteration or out-of-order). We can implement a special protocol called TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) in Transport Layer.

Finally, the Application Layer consists of a number of applications (programs) for a number of tasks.