DEFINITION OF COMPUTER

NETWORKS
 computer network we mean an interconnected set of
autonomous computers. The term autonomous implies
that the computers can function independent of others.
However, these computers can exchange information with
each other through the communication network system.
 DATA COMMUNICATION
 The word data refers to information presented in
whatever form is agreed upon by the parties
creating and using the data.
 Data communications are the exchange of data

between two devices via some form of

transmission medium such as a wire cable.
 For data communications to occur, the
communicating devices must be part of a
communication system made up of a
combination of hardware (physical equipment)
and software (programs).
 FUNDAMENTAL
CHARACTERISTICS OF DATA
COMMUNICATION
 The effectiveness of a data communications system depends
on four fundamental characteristics: delivery, accuracy,
timeliness, and jitter.

1. Delivery: The system must deliver data to the correct

destination.

2. Accuracy: The system must deliver the data accurately.

3. Timeliness: The system must deliver data in a timely manner.

Data delivered late are useless.

4. Jitter. Jitter refers to the variation in the packet arrival time.

It is the uneven delay in the delivery of audio or video packets.
 COMPONENTS
 The five components that make up a data
communications system are the message,
sender, receiver, medium, and protocol.
 Message: The message is the information (data)

to be communicated. Popular forms of information

include text, numbers, pictures, audio, and video.
 Sender: The sender is the device that sends the

data message. It can be a computer, workstation,

telephone handset, video camera, and so on.
 Receiver: The receiver is the device that receives

the message. It can be a computer, workstation,

telephone handset, television, and so on.
 Transmission medium: The transmission medium is the
physical path by which a message travels from sender to
receiver.
 Protocol: A protocol is a set of rules that govern data
communications. It represents an agreement between the
communicating devices.
 Without a protocol, two devices may be connected but not
communicating (French and Japanese)
 DATA REPRESENTATION
 Text:
 text is represented as a bit pattern, a sequence of bits (0s or 1s).
 Different sets of bit patterns have been designed to represent
text symbols.
 Each set is called a code, and the process of representing
symbols is called coding.
 Today, the prevalent coding system is called Unicode, which
uses 32 bits to represent a symbol or character used in any
language in the world.
 Numbers
 Numbers are also represented by bit patterns.
 Images
 Images are also represented by bit patterns.
 In its simplest form, an image is composed of a matrix of pixels,
where each pixel is a small dot. The size of the pixel depends on
the resolution.
 There are several methods to represent color images. One
method is called RGB, Another method is called YCM(yellow,
cyan, and magenta)
 Audio
 Audio refers to the recording or broadcasting of sound
or music.
 Audio is by nature different from text, numbers, or
images.
 Video
 Video refers to the recording or broadcasting of a
picture or movie.
 Video can either be produced as a continuous entity
(e.g., by a TV camera), or it can be a combination of
images, each a discrete entity, arranged to convey the
idea of motion.
 DATA FLOW
 Communication between two devices can be
simplex, half-duplex, or full-duplex.
 Simplex
 In simplex mode, the communication is unidirectional, as on a
one-way street.
 Only one of the two devices on a link can transmit; the other can
only receive.
 Keyboards and traditional monitors are examples of simplex
devices.
 The keyboard can only introduce input; the monitor can only
accept output.
 Half-Duplex
 In half-duplex mode, each station can both transmit and
receive, but not at the same time.
 When one device is sending, the other can only receive,
and vice versa.
 The half-duplex mode is like a one-lane road with traffic
allowed in both directions.
 In a half-duplex transmission, the entire capacity of a
channel is taken over by whichever of the two devices is
transmitting at the time.
 Walkie-talkies is half-duplex system.
 The half-duplex mode is used in cases where there is no
need for communication in both directions at the same
time; the entire capacity of the channel can be utilized for
each direction.
 Full-Duplex
 In full-duplex mode (also called duplex), both stations
can transmit and receive simultaneously .
 The full-duplex mode is like a two way street with traffic
flowing in both directions at the same time.
 In full-duplex mode, signals going in one direction share
the capacity of the link: with signals going in the other
direction.
 This sharing can occur in two ways: Either the link must
contain two physically separate transmission paths, one
for sending and the other for receiving; or the capacity of
the channel is divided between signals traveling in both
directions.
 One common example of full-duplex communication is
the telephone network. When two people are
communicating by a telephone line, both can talk and
listen at the same time.
 NETWORKS
 A network is a set of devices or nodes
connected by communication links.
 A node can be a computer, printer, or any

other device capable of sending and/or

receiving data generated by other nodes on
the network.
 A task is divided among multiple computers we

call it as distributed processing.

 NETWORK CRITERIA
Performance:
 Performance can be measured in many ways, including transit
time and response time.
 Transit time is the amount of time required for a message
to travel from one device to another.
 Response time is the elapsed time between an inquiry and
a response.
 The performance of a network depends on a number of
factors, including the number of users, the type of
transmission medium, the capabilities of the connected
hardware, and the efficiency of the software.
 Performance is often evaluated by two networking metrics:
throughput and delay.
Reliability:
 In addition to accuracy of delivery, network reliability is measured
by the frequency of failure, the time it takes a link to recover
from a failure, and the network's robustness in a catastrophe.
Security:
 Network security issues include protecting data from unauthorized
access.
 PHYSICAL STRUCTURES
Type of Connection
 A network is two or more devices connected

through links.
 A link is a communications pathway that transfers

data from one device to another.

 For communication to occur, two devices must be

connected in some way to the same link at the

same time.
 There are two possible types of connections:

point-to-point and multipoint.

Point-to-Point
 A point-to-point connection provides a
dedicated link between two devices.
 The entire capacity of the link is reserved for

transmission between those two devices.

 Most point-to-point connections use an actual

length of wire or cable to connect the two ends.

Ex: remote control of TV.
Multipoint
 A multipoint (also called multidrop) connection is

one in which more than two specific devices

share a single link.
 In a multipoint environment, the capacity of the

channel is shared, either spatially or

temporally.
 If several devices can use the link
simultaneously, it is a spatially shared
connection.
 If users must take turns, it is a timeshared

connection.
 PHYSICAL TOPOLOGY
 The term physical topology refers to the way in
which a network is laid out physically.
 Two or more devices connect to a link; two

or more links form a topology.

 The topology of a network is the geometric

representation of the relationship of all the

links and linking devices to one another.
 There are four basic topologies possible:

mesh, star, bus, and ring

 MESH TOPOLOGY
 In a mesh topology, every device has a dedicated
point-to-point link to every other device.
 The term dedicated means that the link carries

traffic only between the two devices it connects.

 Ex: The connection of telephone regional offices

in which each regional office needs to be

connected to every other regional office.
 To find the number of physical links in a fully connected
mesh network with n nodes,
 we first consider that each node must be connected to
every other node.
 Node 1 must be connected to n - 1 nodes, node 2 must
be connected to n – 1 nodes, and finally node n must be
connected to n - 1 nodes.
 We need n(n - 1) physical links.
 However, if each physical link allows communication in
both directions (duplex mode), we can divide the
number of links by 2. In other words, we can say that in
a mesh topology, we need n(n -1) /2 duplex-mode
links.
 ADVANTAGES OF MESH
TOPOLOGY
 The use of dedicated links guarantees that each
connection can carry its own data load, thus
eliminating the traffic problems that can occur
when links must be shared by multiple devices.
 A mesh topology is robust. If one link becomes

unusable, it does not incapacitate the entire

system.
 There is the advantage of privacy or security.

When every message travels along a dedicated

line, only the intended recipient sees it. Physical
boundaries prevent other users from gaining
access to messages.
 Finally, point-to-point links make fault
identification and fault isolation easy.
 DISADVANTAGES OF MESH
TOPOLOGY
 The amount of cabling and the number of I/O
ports required.
 Every device must be connected to every other

device, installation and reconnection are

difficult.
 The sheer bulk of the wiring can be greater than

the available space (in walls, ceilings, or floors)

can accommodate.
 The hardware required to connect each link (I/O

ports and cable) can be prohibitively expensive.

 STAR TOPOLOGY
 In a star topology, each device has a dedicated
point-to-point link only to a central controller,
usually called a hub.
 The devices are not directly linked to one another.

 Unlike a mesh topology, a star topology does not

allow direct traffic between devices.

 The controller acts as an exchange: If one device

wants to send data to another, it sends the data

to the controller, which then relays the data to the
other connected device.
ADVANTAGES OF STAR TOPOLOGY
 A star topology is less expensive than a mesh
topology.
 In a star, each device needs only one link and one

I/O port to connect it to any number of others. This

factor also makes it easy to install and
reconfigure.
 less cabling needs to be housed.

 Any additions, moves, and deletions involve only

one connection: between that device and the hub.

 A star topology is robust.

 If one link fails, only that link is affected. All other

links remain active. This factor also lends itself to

easy fault identification and fault isolation.
 DISADVANTAGES OF STAR
TOPOLOGY
 Star topology is the dependency of the whole
topology on one single point, the hub. If the hub
goes down, the whole system is dead.
 Although a star requires far less cable than a

mesh, each node must be linked to a central hub.

For this reason, often more cabling is required in a
star than in some other topologies (such as ring or
bus).
 BUS TOPOLOGY
 A bus topology is multipoint. One long cable acts as a
backbone to link all the devices in a network.
 Nodes are connected to the bus cable by drop lines and
taps.
 A drop line is a connection running between the
device and the main cable.
 A tap is a connector that either splices into the main cable
or punctures the sheathing of a cable to create a contact
with the metallic core.
 As a signal travels along the backbone, some of its energy
is transformed into heat. Therefore, it becomes weaker and
weaker as it travels farther and farther.
 For this reason there is a limit on the number of taps a bus
can support and on the distance between those taps.
ADVANTAGES OF BUS TOPOLOGY
 ease of installation
 In a bus, this redundancy is eliminated.

DISADVANTAGES OF BUS TOPOLOGY

o Difficult reconnection and fault isolation
o A bus is usually designed to be optimally efficient
at installation.
o It can therefore be difficult to add new devices.
o A fault or break in the bus cable stops all
transmission.
o The damaged area reflects signals back in the
direction of origin, creating noise in both directions.
 RING TOPOLOGY
 In a ring topology, each device has a dedicated
point-to-point connection with only the two
devices on either side of it.
 A signal is passed along the ring in one direction,

from device to device, until it reaches its

destination.
 Each device in the ring incorporates a
repeater.
 When a device receives a signal intended for

another device, its repeater regenerates the bits

and passes them along.
ADVANTAGES OF RING TOPOLOGY
 easy to install and reconfigure
 Each device is linked to only its immediate

neighbors (either physically or logically). To add or

delete a device requires changing only two
connections
 Fault isolation is simplified.

 Generally in a ring, a signal is circulating at all

times.
 If one device does not receive a signal within a

specified period, it can issue an alarm. The alarm

alerts the network operator to the problem and its
location.
 DISADVANTAGES OF RING
TOPOLOGY

 Unidirectional traffic
 In a simple ring, a break in the ring (such as a

disabled station) can disable the entire network.

 NETWORK MODELS
CATEGORIES OF NETWORKS
Local Area Network:
 A local area network (LAN) is usually privately owned and links the devices

in a single office, building, or campus.

 Depending on the needs of an organization and the type of technology

used, a LAN can be as simple as two PCs and a printer in someone's home
office;
 Currently, LAN size is limited to a few kilometers.

 LANs are designed to allow resources to be shared between personal

computers or workstations.
 The resources to be shared can include hardware (e.g., a printer),
software, or data.
 In addition to size, LANs are distinguished from other types of networks by

their transmission media and topology.

 In general, a given LAN will use only one type of transmission medium.

The most common LAN topologies are bus, ring, and star.
Wide Area Network
 WAN provides long-distance transmission of data, voice, image
and information over large geographical areas that may
comprise a country, continent or even the whole world.
 In contrast to LANs, WANs may utilize public, leased or private
communication devices, usually in combinations.
 A WAN can be as complex as the backbones that connect the
Internet referred as switched WAN or as simple as a dial-up
line that connects a home computer to the Internet referred as
point-to-point WAN.
 The switched WAN connects the end systems, which
usually comprise a router that connects to another LAN or
WAN.
 The point-to-point WAN is normally a line leased from a
telephone or cable TV provider that connects a home computer
or a small LAN to an Internet service provider (ISP). This type of
WAN is often used to provide Internet access.
METROPOLITAN AREA NETWORKS
 A metropolitan area network (MAN) is a network
with a size between a LAN and a WAN.
 It normally covers the area inside a town or a city.

 It is designed for customers who need a high-

speed connectivity, normally to the Internet, and

have endpoints spread over a city or part of city.
 THE INTERNET
 Internet is a collection of networks or network of
networks.
 The Internet is a structured, organized system.

 Various networks such as LAN and WAN connected

through suitable hardware and software to work in

a seamless manner.
 PROTOCOLS AND STANDARDS
Protocols :
 A protocol is a set of rules that govern data

communications.
 A protocol defines what is communicated, how it is

communicated, and when it is communicated.

 The key elements of a protocol are syntax,

semantics, and timing.

 Syntax. The term syntax refers to the structure

or format of the data, meaning the order in

which they are presented.
 Semantics. The word semantics refers to the

meaning of each section of bits.

 Timing: The term timing refers to two
characteristics: when data should be sent and
how fast they can be sent.
 NETWORK MODELS

 A network is a combination of hardware and

software that sends data from one location to
another.
 The hardware consists of the physical
equipment that carries signals from one point of
the network to another.
 The software consists of instruction sets that

make possible the services that we expect from a

network.
 LAYERED TASKS
Sender, Receiver, and Carrier

Services
Hierarchy

Figure: Tasks involved in sending a

letter
 THE OSI MODEL
 It was first introduced in the late 1970s
 The OSI model is based on a proposal developed by the
International Standards Organization (ISO) as a first step
toward international standardization of the protocols used
in the various layers .
 It was revised in 1995.
 The model is called the ISO OSI (Open Systems
Interconnection) Reference Model because it deals with
connecting open systems—that is, systems that are open
for communication with other systems.
 The OSI model is not a protocol; it is a model for
understanding and designing a network architecture that
is flexible, robust, and interoperable.
 It consists of seven separate but related layers, each of
which defines a part of the process of moving information
across a network.
Figure: Seven layers of the OSI model
 LAYERED ARCHITECTURE
 The basic idea of a layered architecture is to divide
the design into small pieces.
 Each layer adds to the services provided by the lower
layers in such a manner that the highest layer is
provided a full set of services to manage
communications and run the applications.
 The OSI model is composed of seven ordered layers:
1. Physical Layer
2. Data Link Layer
3. Network Layer
4. Transport Layer
5. Session Layer
6. Presentation Layer and
7. Application Layer
Figure: The interaction between layers in the OSI model

Peer-to-peer communication

Interface: Interface defines the information and services a layer

must provide for the layer above it
 Organization of the Layers
 The seven layers can be thought of as belonging to three
subgroups.
 Layers 1, 2, and 3-physical, data link, and network-
are the network support layers; they deal with the
physical aspects of moving data from one device to another
 Layers 5, 6, and 7-session, presentation, and
application-can be thought of as the user support
layers; they allow interoperability among unrelated software
systems.
 Layer 4, the transport layer, links the two subgroups
and ensures that what the lower layers have
transmitted is in a form that the upper layers can use.
 The upper OSI layers are almost always implemented in
software
 Lower layers are a combination of hardware and
software, except for the physical layer, which is mostly
hardware.
encapsulation

Figure: An exchange using the OSI model

 LAYERS IN THE OSI MODEL
Physical Layer:
 The physical layer coordinates the functions

required to carry a bit stream over a physical

medium.
 It deals with the mechanical and electrical

specifications of the interface and transmission

medium.
 It also defines the procedures and functions that

physical devices and interfaces have to perform

for transmission to occur.

FIGURE PHYSICAL LAYER

 Physical characteristics of interfaces and
medium.
 Representation of bits(sequence of 0’s and 1’s).

 Data rate: The transmission rate-the number of bits

sent each second is also defined by the physical layer.

 Synchronization of bits: The sender and receiver

not only must use the same bit rate but also must be
synchronized at the bit level.
 Line configuration: The physical layer is concerned

with the connection of devices to the media point-to-

point or multi point configuration,
 Physical topology: The physical topology defines

how devices are connected to make a network. Ex:

mesh , a star, a ring , a bus or a hybrid topology.
 Transmission mode: The physical layer also defines

the direction of transmission between two devices:

simplex, half-duplex, or full-duplex.
 DATA LINK LAYER
 The data link layer transforms the physical layer ,
a raw transmission facility, to a reliable link.
 It makes the physical layer appear error-free to

the upper layer (network layer).

 The data link layer is responsible for moving

frames from one hop to the next.

 Framing: The data link layer divides the stream of bits received
from the network layer into manageable data units called frames.
 Physical addressing. If frames are to be distributed to different
systems on the network, the data link layer adds a header to the
frame to define the sender and/or receiver of the frame. If the
frame is intended for a system outside the sender's network, the
receiver address is the address of the device that connects the
network to the next one.
 Flow control: If the rate at which the data are absorbed by the
receiver is less than the rate at which data are produced in the
sender, the data link layer imposes a flow control mechanism to
avoid overwhelming the receiver.
 Error control: The data link layer adds reliability to the physical
layer by adding mechanisms to detect and retransmit damaged or
lost frames. It also uses a mechanism to recognize duplicate
frames. Error control is normally achieved through a trailer added
to the end of the frame.
 Access control: When two or more devices are connected to the
same link, data link layer protocols are necessary to determine
which device has control over the link at any given time.
Figure: Hop-to-hop delivery
 NETWORK LAYER
 The network layer is responsible for the source-to-
destination delivery of a packet.
 Whereas the data link layer oversees the delivery of the
packet between two systems on the same network (links),
the network layer ensures that each packet gets from its
point of origin to its final destination.
 If two systems are connected to the same link, there is
usually no need for a network layer.
 If the two systems are attached to different networks
(links) with connecting devices between the networks
(links), there is often a need for the network layer to
accomplish source-to-destination delivery
 Logical addressing: The physical addressing
implemented by the data link layer handles the
addressing problem locally. The network layer
adds a header to the packet coming from the
upper layer that, among other things, includes the
logical addresses of the sender and receiver.
 Routing: When independent networks or links are

connected to create intemetworks or a large

network, the connecting devices (called routers or
switches) route or switch the packets to their final
destination.
Figure: Source-to-destination delivery
 TRANSPORT LAYER
 The transport layer is responsible for process-to-process
delivery of the entire message.
 A process is an application program running on a host.
 Whereas the network layer oversees source-to-destination
delivery of individual packets, it does not recognize any
relationship between those packets. It treats each one
independently, as though each piece belonged to a
separate message, whether or not it does.
 The transport layer, on the other hand, ensures that the
whole message arrives intact and in order, overseeing both
error control and flow control at the source-to-destination
level.
 Service-point addressing: Source-to-destination delivery means
delivery not only from one computer to the next but also from a
specific process on one computer to a specific process on the other.
The transport layer header must therefore include a type of address
called a service-point address (or port address). The network layer
gets each packet to the correct computer; the transport layer gets the
entire message to the correct process on that computer.
 Segmentation and reassembly: A message is divided into
transmittable segments, with each segment containing a sequence
number. These numbers enable the transport layer to reassemble the
message correctly upon arriving at the destination and to identify and
replace packets that were lost in transmission.
 Connection control: The transport layer can be either
connectionless or connection oriented.
 A connectionless transport layer treats each segment as an independent
packet and delivers it to the transport layer at the destination machine.
 A connection oriented transport layer makes a connection with the transport
layer at the destination machine first before delivering the packets. After all
the data are transferred, the connection is terminated.
 Flow control: flow control at this layer is performed end to end
rather than across a single link.
 Error control: Error control at this layer is performed process-to
process rather than across a single link.
Figure Reliable process-to-process delivery of a message
 SESSION LAYER
 The session layer is responsible for dialog control and
synchronization.
 Dialog control: The session layer allows two systems
to enter into a dialog. It allows the communication
between two processes to take place in either half-
duplex or full-duplex mode.
 Synchronization: The session layer allows a process
to add checkpoints, or synchronization points, to a
stream of data(checkpointing long transmissions to
allow them to continue from where they were after a
crash).
 PRESENTATION LAYER
 The presentation layer is concerned with the
syntax and semantics of the information
exchanged between two systems.
 The presentation layer is responsible for
translation, compression, and encryption
 Translation: The presentation layer at the sender
changes the information from its sender-
dependent format into a common format. The
presentation layer at the receiving machine
changes the common format into its receiver-
dependent format.
 Encryption: To carry sensitive information, a

system must be able to ensure privacy. Encryption

means that the sender transforms the original
information to another form and sends the
resulting message out over the network.
Decryption reverses the original process to
transform the message back to its original form.
 Compression: Data compression reduces the

number of bits contained in the information.

 APPLICATION LAYER
 The application layer enables the user, whether
human or software, to access the network.
 It provides user interfaces and support for services

such as electronic mail, remote file access and

transfer, shared database management, and other
types of distributed information services.
 The application layer is responsible for providing

services to the user.

 Network virtual terminal. A network virtual
terminal is a software version of a physical
terminal, and it allows a user to log on to a remote
host.
 File transfer, access, and management: This

application allows a user to access files in a

remote host to retrieve files from a remote
computer for use in the local computer, and to
manage or control files in a remote computer
locally.
 Mail services. This application provides the basis

for e-mail forwarding and storage.

 Directory services. This application provides

distributed database sources and access for global

information about various objects and services.
SUMMARY OF LAYERS
TCP/IP PROTOCOL SUITE
 The layers in the TCP/IP protocol suite do not exactly match those in the
OSI model.
 The original TCP/IP protocol suite was defined as having four layers:
host-to-network, internet, transport, and application
 However, when TCP/IP is compared to OSI, we can say that the host-to-
network layer is equivalent to the combination of the physical and
data link layers.
 The internet layer is equivalent to the network layer.
 The application layer is roughly doing the job of the session,
presentation, and application layers with the transport layer in
TCP/IP taking care of part of the duties of the session layer.
 we assume that the TCP/IP protocol suite is made of five layers: physical,
data link, network, transport, and application. The first four layers
provide physical standards, network interfaces, internetworking, and
transport functions that correspond to the first four layers of the OSI
model. The three topmost layers in the OSI model, however, are
represented in TCP/IP by a single layer called the application layer
 TCP/IP is a hierarchical protocol made up of interactive modules, each of
which provides a specific functionality.
 The OSI model specifies which functions belong to each of its layers, the
layers of the TCP/IP protocol suite contain relatively independent
protocols that can be mixed and matched depending on the needs of the
system.
Switch: It’s an high speed device that receives
incoming data packets and redirect them to
their destination on LAN.
 It can recognize only one path.

 It has two layers, physical layer and data link

layer.

Router: routes the data packets from source to

destination on LAN or WAN, by searching the
best path among all the multiple active
paths.
 It has three layers, physical layer, data link

layer and network layer.

LAYERS OF TCP/IP:

PHYSICAL LAYER
 Transmission medium doesn’t carry bits, it carries
optical or electrical signals.
 At the physical and data link layers, TCP/IP does not

define any specific protocol.

 It supports all the standard protocols.
DATA LINK LAYERS
 Internet is made up of several links, for data
transmission from source to destination.
These links are connected by routers.
 Router is responsible for choosing the best

link.
 Types of links:

1. LAN ( wired and wireless)

2. WAN ( wired and wireless)
 Some protocols in this layer provides error

detection and correction and some provides

only error correction.
 NETWORK LAYER
 This layer is responsible for creating a connection between
source and the destination systems.
 The important protocol included in this network layer is the
IP.
Internetworking Protocol (IP)
 The Internetworking Protocol (IP) is the transmission mechanism
used by the TCP/IP protocols.
 It is an unreliable and connectionless protocol-a best-effort delivery
service.
 The term best effort means that IP provides no error checking or
tracking
 IP transports data in packets called datagrams, each of which is
transported separately.
 Datagrams can travel along different routes and can arrive out of
sequence or be duplicated. IP does not keep track of the routes and
has no facility for reordering datagrams once they arrive at their
destination.
 IP is a connectionless protocol that provides no flow control, no
error correction, and no congestion control.
Few protocols that helps IP:
Address Resolution Protocol
 The Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) is used to

associate a logical address with a physical

address.
Internet Control Message Protocol
 The Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) is a

mechanism used by hosts and gateways to send

notification of datagram and routing problems
back to the sender. ICMP sends query and error
reporting messages.
Internet Group Message Protocol
 The Internet Group Message Protocol (IGMP) is

used to facilitate the simultaneous transmission

of a message to a group of recipients. (multi
tasking)
 TRANSPORT LAYER
 Traditionally the transport layer was represented in
TCP/IP by two protocols: Transmission Control
Protocol (TCP) and User Datagram Protocol (UDP).
IP is a host-to-host protocol, meaning that it can deliver
a packet from one physical device to another. UDP and
TCP are transport level protocols responsible for delivery
of a message from a process (running program) to
another process. A new transport layer protocol, Stream
Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP), has been
devised to meet the needs of some newer applications.
User Datagram Protocol
 The User Datagram Protocol (UDP) is the simpler of the

two standard TCP/IP transport protocols. It is a process-

to-process protocol that adds only port addresses,
checksum error control, and length information to the
data from the upper layer.
Transmission Control Protocol
 The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) provides full
transport-layer services to applications. TCP is a reliable
stream transport protocol. The term stream, in this context,
means connection-oriented: A connection must be established
between both ends of a transmission before either can
transmit data.
 At the sending end of each transmission, TCP divides a stream

of data into smaller units called segments. Each segment

includes a sequence number for reordering after receipt,
together with an acknowledgment number for the segments
received. Segments are carried across the internet inside of IP
datagrams. At the receiving end, TCP collects each datagram
as it comes in and reorders the transmission based on
sequence numbers.
Stream Control Transmission Protocol
 The Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) provides

support for newer applications such as voice over the

Internet. It is a transport layer protocol that combines the best
features of UDP and TCP.
 APPLICATION LAYER

 The application layer in TCP/IP is equivalent to

the combined session, presentation, and
application layers in the OSI model Many
protocols are defined at this layer.
 This application layer includes many predefined

protocols, like HTTP, HTTPS, SMTP, FTP etc.,

ENCAPSULATION
DECAPSULATION

The reverse process of encapsulation (or

decapsulation) occurs when data is received
on the destination computer. As the data
moves up from the lower layer to the upper
layer of TCP/IP protocol stack (incoming
transmission), each layer unpacks the
corresponding header and uses the
information contained in the header to
deliver the packet to the exact network
application waiting for the data