TCP/IP for Not Yet Techies

"Computer Careers: Using Internet Network Protocols"

by Richard Stooker, President Info Ring Press and author of Secrets of Changing to a Computer Career

TCP/IP stands for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol and was created for, and is the foundation of, the Internet. Other networks in the 1970s were proprietary - the hardware and software worked only with that of that particular network. Developed for ARPANET, its creators knew they had to develop a system for many different kinds of computers to use and communicate with each other despite their different manufacturers and operating systems. TCP/IP is a suite of protocols that enable that vast cross-communication.

TCP/IP is therefore an end to end protocol - that is, driven by users, not carriers. The client/server model is its foundation and it the "rules" of the Internet.

You could look at it as a form of a universal language. So no matter whether a computer's native language is Unix, Windows or Macintosh, if it can translate its message to TCP/IP, it can communicate with any other computer also speaking that.

Since it is a set of different protocols for different network layers, it is known as the TCP/IP stack. You can also use the same protocols for intranets or other private networks.

The TCP part of TCP/IP manages the assembling of data into small packets that are sent across the network

The same layer at the other end receives the packets and assembles them into the original message.

The IP part handles the addressing of each packet so that it arrives at the right place. Each gateway computer on the network can read this address. The weird part is that your email message may be broken up into many such packets and each packet may travel a separate and different path to its destination - but at the other end all the packets get put back together so your email message looks just as you sent it.

It is developed by anyone and everyone through public Request For Comments or RFCs.

Although OSI network model defines 7 layers of a network, TCP/IP defines five:

Physical
Data Link
Internet
Transport
Session

DNS / Domain Name Server translates domain names into numeric IP addresses.

Protocols included with or related to TCP/IP include: Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP), Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP), the Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP), the Exterior Gateway Protocol (EGP) and the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP).

TCP/IP is being updated with a newer version called IPv6. This will provide for many more domain names, faster and better multimedia support and end to end encryption at the network layer, for better security.

Next: VoIP Voice Over IP

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