I am starting out in IT and am about to complete A+ cert course. I understand that TCP/IP is a foundation element of the internet and is implemented with many other protocols. I would like to know exactly what it’s function is tho. What does it do, how long has it been around, and how it work in tandem with other protocols? I’ve tried researching it but always end up reading a bunch of high level tech jargon.
In: 1
TCP and IP are both separate but tightly coupled protocols used as the basis of the Internet.
IP is used to deliver packets of information between two devices. The IP packet header includes the source and destination addresses, which tell the routers where to route the packet. However, this protocol doesn’t contain any information on where to direct the packet inside the device (which program should get it) or how it relates to other packets, and has no mechanism to detect packet loss.
TCP is used to establish a “conversation” between two programs. A TCP packet’s source and destination ports are used to identify the conversation between two programs, so the devices themselves know where to route them. The packets are numbered sequentially, so that the receivers on both ends know how to order them and how to join them into a single stream of data, as well as detect when a packet was lost along the way, so they could ask for that packet again.
Latest Answers