How Does Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)/IP Work?
The TCP/IP model is the default method of data communication on the Internet. It was developed by the United States Department of Defense to enable the accurate and correct transmission of data between devices. It breaks messages into packets to avoid having to resend the entire message in case it encounters a problem during transmission. Packets are automatically reassembled once they reach their destination. Every packet can take a different route between the source and the destination computer, depending on whether the original route used becomes congested or unavailable.
TCP/IP divides communication tasks into layers that keep the process standardized, without hardware and software providers doing the management themselves. The data packets must pass through four layers before they are received by the destination device, then TCP/IP goes through the layers in reverse order to put the message back into its original format.
As a connection based protocol, the TCP establishes and maintains a connection between applications or devices until they finish exchanging data. It determines how the original message should be broken into packets, numbers and reassembles the packets, and sends them on to other devices on the network, such as routers, security gateways, and switches, then on to their destination. TCP also sends and receives packets from the network layer, handles the transmission of any dropped packets, manages flow control, and ensures all packets reach their destination.
A good example of how this works in practice is when an email is sent using SMTP from an email server. To start the process, the TCP layer in the server divides the message into packets, numbers them, and forwards them to the IP layer, which then transports each packet to the destination email server. When packets arrive, they are handed back to the TCP layer to be reassembled into the original message format and handed back to the email server, which delivers the message to a user’s email inbox.
TCP/IP uses a three-way handshake to establish a connection between a device and a server, which ensures multiple TCP socket connections can be transferred in both directions concurrently. Both the device and server must synchronize and acknowledge packets before communication begins, then they can negotiate, separate, and transfer TCP socket connections.
FAQs
The TCP/IP model defines how devices should transmit data between them and enables communication over networks and large distances. The model represents how data is exchanged and organized over networks.
What is TCP/IP and how does it work? ›
TCP/IP is a data link protocol used on the internet to let computers and other devices send and receive data. TCP/IP stands for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol and makes it possible for devices connected to the internet to communicate with one another across networks.
What is TCP and IP mainly used for? ›
TCP/IP stands for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol and is a suite of communication protocols used to interconnect network devices on the internet. TCP/IP is also used as a communications protocol in a private computer network -- an intranet or extranet.
What are the 4 layers of the TCP IP model? ›
4 The TCP/IP Protocol Stack is made up of four primary layers: the Application, Transport, Network, and Link layers (Diagram 1).
What is the difference between TCP IP and OSI? ›
Independent Layers: The OSI model defines more layers than the TCP/IP model. This ensures that each layer performs a single function, while some TCP/IP layers combine multiple functions. Easier Troubleshooting: The independent layers of the OSI models simplify the process of troubleshooting networking issues.
What is TCP IP for beginners? ›
TCP/IP allows computers on the same network to identify and communicate with each other. TCP/IP is a two-layer protocol, with the transport layer (TCP) responsible for reliable end-to-end communication and the Internet layer (IP) accountable for routing packets from the host to the host.
What are the benefits of TCP IP? ›
TCP/IP has a number of benefits. It can be used regardless of the network technology and the architecture of the host computer. It creates universal, flexible connection options throughout the network and requires no central administration to do so. This decentralization ensures high reliability.
What is a TCP/IP example? ›
TCP is used in conjunction with IP in order to maintain a connection between the sender and the target and to ensure packet order. For example, when an email is sent over TCP, a connection is established and a 3-way handshake is made.
What is the most common use of TCP? ›
TCP is used extensively by many internet applications, including the World Wide Web (WWW), email, File Transfer Protocol, Secure Shell, peer-to-peer file sharing, and streaming media.
What is TCP mostly used for? ›
TCP is used for organizing data in a way that ensures secure transmission between the server and the client. It guarantees the integrity of data sent over the network, regardless of the amount. For this reason, it is used to transmit data from other higher-level protocols that require all transmitted data to arrive.
TCP vs UDP: Differences between the protocols. The main difference between TCP (transmission control protocol) and UDP (user datagram protocol) is that TCP is a connection-based protocol and UDP is connectionless. While TCP is more reliable, it transfers data more slowly. UDP is less reliable but works more quickly.
What layer is HTTP? ›
The application layer includes protocols designed for end-users. For example, HTTP is a Layer 7 protocol designed to transmit data between a web server and a client.
What are the 5 TCP IP models? ›
The TCP/IP model is based on a five-layer model for networking. From bottom (the link) to top (the user application), these are the physical, data link, net- work, transport, and application layers.
Why did the OSI model fail? ›
Bad Timing :
Time of standards is very critical as sometimes standards are written too early even before research is completed. Due to this, OSI model was not properly understood. The timing was considered bad because this model was finished and completed after huge and significant amount of research time.
Why OSI is better than TCP IP? ›
Thus, the TCP/IP model is able to solve only a specific set of problems. So, if someone needs a universal model that can be applied to different networks, they should choose the OSI model. But if they have to perform some network functionalities on the Internet, they should choose the TCP/IP reference model.
What are the 7 OSI layers? ›
The OSI Model Defined
In the OSI reference model, the communications between a computing system are split into seven different abstraction layers: Physical, Data Link, Network, Transport, Session, Presentation, and Application.
What are the 5 layers of the TCP/IP model? ›
Each host that is involved in a communication transaction runs a unique implementation of the protocol stack.
- Physical Network Layer. The physical network layer specifies the characteristics of the hardware to be used for the network. ...
- Data-Link Layer. ...
- Internet Layer. ...
- Transport Layer. ...
- Application Layer.
