Week 8 - TCP/IP

 Week 8 - Understanding TCP/IP 

Through networking, there are many forms of communication that are necessary for computers to reach each other. It is important for computer systems to be able to communicate effectively over distances. To accomplish this, TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) was developed in order to make communication better. So how exactly does TCP/IP do this?

Well, TCP/IP was developed and introduced in the 1970s by the U.S. Department of Defense to give computers a specific set of instructions on how to transfer data from each other. Think of TCP/IP as a set of "procedures" that need to be followed. The process is data being broken down, addressed, transmitted, routed, and received. Then TCP and IP are 2 separate protocols. TCP is how applications create communication channels and manages the way how a message is broken down and transmitted to its destination. IP is the process that makes sure each packet is routed and addressed to the right location. TCP/IP as a whole is meant to increase network reliability and allow for auto-recovery from the failure of a device on a given network. 

TCP/IP also has 4 abstraction layers. It has the link, internet, transport, and application layer. The link is related to the equipment required for the servers, the internet is the connection established between one host to another across networks. The transport layer is responsible for handling host-to-host communication processes. The application layer makes sure communication between applications is occurring. 

So at this point, you may be asking, why is TCP/IP important? Well, TCP/IP is a largely used communication protocol that is not specific to any particular vendor, which means that it can be implemented by a large number of companies and such.

TCP/IP offers some advantages such as:

  • Supporting many routing protocols and processes
  • Helps create connections between 2 different computer systems
  • Doesn't cause any huge performance strain on a computer or network
  • Being able to function and operate independently
So, TCP/IP offers benefits for networking that can make computing and communication much easier. It allows for the most efficient path in networking.

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