TCP/IP

Jennifer Lewis
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Introduction to TCP/IP
By definition, TCP/IP is a suite of protocols that allow any system to connect to any other
system using any network topology. TCP/IP allows computers of different systems and
architectures to communicate with one another without limitations. For example, your
Dell PC at home running Windows XP can communicate with an IBM Unix Class Server
in Bangalore running AIX UNIX using TCP/IP.

Before the advent of the Internet, companies used a hierarchical system for their network
communications (see Figure 1). This hierarchical system was a single large system,
sometimes called a mainframe, which acted as a “host” in the network. Nodes, either
dumb terminals or line printers, would connect to a device called a communications
controller, which would act as the intermediary between the host and the nodes. The host
would communicate through the communications controller, and the communications
controller would relay the messages to the nodes.
Figure 1: The Hierarchical
Network Architecture, a.k.a. the
“mainframe architecture” (Hall,
3)

In this illustration, the “dumb

terminals” communicate through
the communications controller.
The communications controller
actually communicates with the
mainframe, or host, and relays the
messages back to the “dumb
terminals”.

The problem with this method is many of these systems used proprietary network
architectures and protocols. For example, IBM and DEC, two leading mainframe
computer manufacturers, use different architectures and protocols. All the equipment
used in this architecture had to be from the same manufacturer. Plus, it was difficult to
interact with other networks of different architectures.

National defense required a need for sharing computer resources without boundaries. In
1969, ARPANET was created by the United States Defense Advanced Research Project
Agency. In order for computer resources to be able to share information without
boundaries, TCP/IP was launched in 1973 as a standard form of communication. As
illustrated in Figure 2, TCP/IP allowed all devices to be treated as fully functional, self-
aware network end-points, capable of communicating with any other device directly,
without having to talk to a central host first (Hall, 4).
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Figure 2: The Open Network

Architecture with TCP/IP, a.k.a.
the “anarchical architecture”
(Hall, 4)

Use of TCP/IP
How is TCP/IP used today? It is used in two types of communication: Internet
communication and Internetwork communication. Internet communication is
communication throughout the global network of TCP/IP-based systems. Internetwork
communication is communication within the Local Area Network (LAN) or Wide Area
Network (WAN).

Examples of Internet communication

• E-mail – TCP/IP contains protocols to allow a node to send and receive e-mail.
• Web browsing – TCP/IP protocols are used to allow a node to use a web browser to
go to a particular web site.
• Sending and Receiving files – TCP/IP protocols are used to allow a node to connect
to a machine and either upload (send) files to the machine or download (receive) files
from the machine.

Examples of Internetwork communication

• Architecture-independent communication – The LAN or WAN does not have to
have the same manufacturers for all the devices, the same architecture, or the same
operating systems on each device. By using TCP/IP, machines of different
architectures, such as mainframes and personal computers, or machines running
different operating systems, such as Windows and Linux, can communicate with one
another.

How It Works
TCP/IP is actually a software-based suite of protocols that perform different types of
communication, such as sending e-mail. Each protocol communicates on a “port”, which
is an open line on which the particular traffic communicates. If a machine wants to act as
a host, also known as a server, for a particular kind of communication, the server will
have a port open that will allow any requests to connect to it. Figure 3 illustrates how
client and server communication works in TCP/IP communication.
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Figure 3: Simple Illustration of how

TCP/IP communication works, using
web browsing as an example.

TCP/IP Architecture
There are three layers in the TCP/IP Architecture model, which is displayed in Figure 4:
Figure 4: The TCP/IP Architecture Model.

Internet
The Internet layer is responsible for tracking the addresses of devices on the network,
determining how IP datagrams are to be delivered, and sending IP packets from one host
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to another across a specific segment (Hall, 10). Example protocols in the TCP/IP suite
that operate in the Internet layer is ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol), which is a
protocol for error-reporting, and ARP (Address Resolution Protocol), which is a protocol
that builds address mappings whenever address conversion is required (Hall, 18).

Transport
The Transport layer is where the communication occurs. There are two protocols that are
used for communication: TCP and UDP. TCP provides a highly monitored and reliable
transport service, while UDP provides a simple transport with no error-correcting or
flow-control services (Hall, 10). The terms used when describing TCP and UDP are
connection and connectionless protocols. Connection, which is TCP, means that the
destination computer has to acknowledge the sending computer before the sending
computer can send the message. Connectionless, which is UDP, means that the sending
computer can send the message regardless of whether the sending computer received an
acknowledgement from the receiving computer or not.

Application
The application layer provides the end-user applications with access to the data being
passed across the transport protocols (Hall, 11). These applications include: Simple
Message Transfer Protocol (SMTP), a protocol that sends e-mail; Post Office Protocol 3
(POP3), a protocol that receives e-mail; Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), a protocol
that allows computers to access data stored on a web server; and File Transfer Protocol
(FTP), a protocol that allows computers to upload and download files to and from a
server.

Is TCP/IP For You?

If you are setting up a network configuration that requires communication with other
networks, such as the Internet, and if your network will encounter growth, then the
answer is a resounding YES. TCP/IP is the standard used for network communication
because it allows communication with devices, regardless of manufacturer, device type,
or operating system.
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References
Hall, Eric (2000). Internet Core Protocols. Sebastopol, CA, USA: O’Reilly and
Associates.

Webopedia (2005). ARPANET. Retrieved 9 October 2005 from

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/A/ARPANET.html.