Protocol
A protocol is a standard set of rules that allow electronic devices to communicate with each other. These rules include what type of data may be transmitted, what commands are used to send and receive data, and how data transfers are confirmed.
You can think of a protocol as a spoken language. Each language has its own rules and vocabulary. If two people share the same language, they can communicate effectively. Similarly, if two hardware devices support the same protocol, they can communicate with each other, regardless of the manufacturer or type of device. For example, an Apple iPhone can send an email to an Android device using a standard mail protocol. A Windows-based PC can load a webpage from a Unix-based web server using a standard web protocol.
Protocols exist for several different applications. Examples include wired networking (e.g., Ethernet), wireless networking (e.g., 802.11ac), and Internet communication (e.g., IP). The Internet protocol suite, which is used for transmitting data over the Internet, contains dozens of protocols. These protocols may be broken up into four catagories:
- Link layer – PPP, DSL, Wi-Fi, etc.
- Internet layer – IPv4, IPv6, etc.
- Transport layer – TCP, UDP, etc.
- Application layer – HTTP, IMAP, FTP, etc.
Link layer protocols establish communication between devices at a hardware level. In order to transmit data from one device to another, each device’s hardware must support the same link layer protocol. Internet layer protocols are used to initiate data transfers and route them over the Internet. Transport layer protocols define how packets are sent, received, and confirmed. Application layer protocols contain commands for specific applications. For example, a web browser uses HTTPS to securely download the contents of a webpage from a web server. An email client uses SMTP to send email messages through a mail server.
Protocols are a fundamental aspect of digital communication. In most cases, protocols operate in the background, so it is not necessary for typical users to know how each protocol works. Still, it may be helpful to familiarize yourself with some common protocols so you can better understand settings in software programs, such as web browsers and email clients.
TYPES OF PROTOCOLS
There are various types of protocols that support a major and compassionate role in communicating with different devices across the network. These are:
- Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)
- Internet Protocol (IP)
- User Datagram Protocol (UDP)
- Post office Protocol (POP)
- Simple mail transport Protocol (SMTP)
- File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
- Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
- Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS)
- Telnet
- Gopher
Let’s discuss each of them briefly:
- Transmission Control Protocol (TCP): TCP is a popular communication protocol which is used for communicating over a network. It divides any message into series of packets that are sent from source to destination and there it gets reassembled at the destination.
- Internet Protocol (IP): IP is designed explicitly as addressing protocol. It is mostly used with TCP. The IP addresses in packets help in routing them through different nodes in a network until it reaches the destination system. TCP/IP is the most popular protocol connecting the networks.
- User Datagram Protocol (UDP): UDP is a substitute communication protocol to Transmission Control Protocol implemented primarily for creating loss-tolerating and low-latency linking between different applications.
- Post office Protocol (POP): POP3 is designed for receiving incoming E-mails.
- Simple mail transport Protocol (SMTP): SMTP is designed to send and distribute outgoing E-Mail.
- File Transfer Protocol (FTP): FTP allows users to transfer files from one machine to another. Types of files may include program files, multimedia files, text files, and documents, etc.
- Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP): HTTP is designed for transferring a hypertext among two or more systems. HTML tags are used for creating links. These links may be in any form like text or images. HTTP is designed on Client-server principles which allow a client system for establishing a connection with the server machine for making a request. The server acknowledges the request initiated by the client and responds accordingly.
- Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS): HTTPS is abbreviated as Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure is a standard protocol to secure the communication among two computers one using the browser and other fetching data from web server. HTTP is used for transferring data between the client browser (request) and the web server (response) in the hypertext format, same in case of HTTPS except that the transferring of data is done in an encrypted format. So it can be said that https thwart hackers from interpretation or modification of data throughout the transfer of packets.
- Telnet: Telnet is a set of rules designed for connecting one system with another. The connecting process here is termed as remote login. The system which requests for connection is the local computer, and the system which accepts the connection is the remote computer.
- Gopher: Gopher is a collection of rules implemented for searching, retrieving as well as displaying documents from isolated sites. Gopher also works on the client/server principle.
Network protocols
Network Protocols are a set of rules governing exchange of information in an easy, reliable and secure way. Before we discuss the most common protocols used to transmit and receive data over a network, we need to understand how a network is logically organized or designed. The most popular model used to establish open communication between two systems is the Open Systems Interface (OSI) model proposed by ISO.
OSI Model
OSI model is not a network architecture because it does not specify the exact services and protocols for each layer. It simply tells what each layer should do by defining its input and output data. It is up to network architects to implement the layers according to their needs and resources available.
These are the seven layers of the OSI model −
- Physical layer −It is the first layer that physically connects the two systems that need to communicate. It transmits data in bits and manages simplex or duplex transmission by modem. It also manages Network Interface Card’s hardware interface to the network, like cabling, cable terminators, topography, voltage levels, etc.
- Data link layer − It is the firmware layer of Network Interface Card. It assembles datagrams into frames and adds start and stop flags to each frame. It also resolves problems caused by damaged, lost or duplicate frames.
- Network layer − It is concerned with routing, switching and controlling flow of information between the workstations. It also breaks down transport layer datagrams into smaller datagrams.
- Transport layer − Till the session layer, file is in its own form. Transport layer breaks it down into data frames, provides error checking at network segment level and prevents a fast host from overrunning a slower one. Transport layer isolates the upper layers from network hardware.
- Session layer − This layer is responsible for establishing a session between two workstations that want to exchange data.
- Presentation layer − This layer is concerned with correct representation of data, i.e. syntax and semantics of information. It controls file level security and is also responsible for converting data to network standards.
- Application layer − It is the topmost layer of the network that is responsible for sending application requests by the user to the lower levels. Typical applications include file transfer, E-mail, remote logon, data entry, etc.
It is not necessary for every network to have all the layers. For example, network layer is not there in broadcast networks.
When a system wants to share data with another workstation or send a request over the network, it is received by the application layer. Data then proceeds to lower layers after processing till it reaches the physical layer.
At the physical layer, the data is actually transferred and received by the physical layer of the destination workstation. There, the data proceeds to upper layers after processing till it reaches application layer.
At the application layer, data or request is shared with the workstation. So each layer has opposite functions for source and destination workstations. For example, data link layer of the source workstation adds start and stop flags to the frames but the same layer of the destination workstation will remove the start and stop flags from the frames.
Let us now see some of the protocols used by different layers to accomplish user requests.
TCP/IP
TCP/IP stands for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. TCP/IP is a set of layered protocols used for communication over the Internet. The communication model of this suite is client-server model. A computer that sends a request is the client and a computer to which the request is sent is the server.
TCP/IP has four layers −
- Application layer − Application layer protocols like HTTP and FTP are used.
- Transport layer − Data is transmitted in form of datagrams using the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). TCP is responsible for breaking up data at the client side and then reassembling it on the server side.
- Network layer − Network layer connection is established using Internet Protocol (IP) at the network layer. Every machine connected to the Internet is assigned an address called IP address by the protocol to easily identify source and destination machines.
- Data link layer − Actual data transmission in bits occurs at the data link layer using the destination address provided by network layer.
TCP/IP is widely used in many communication networks other than the Internet.
FTP
As we have seen, the need for network came up primarily to facilitate sharing of files between researchers. And to this day, file transfer remains one of the most used facilities.The protocol that handles these requests is File Transfer Protocol or FTP.
Using FTP to transfer files is helpful in these ways −
- Easily transfers files between two different networks
- Can resume file transfer sessions even if connection is dropped, if protocol is configure appropriately
- Enables collaboration between geographically separated teams
PPP
Point to Point Protocol or PPP is a data link layer protocol that enables transmission of TCP/IP traffic over serial connection, like telephone line.
To do this, PPP defines these three things −
- A framing method to clearly define end of one frame and start of another, incorporating errors detection as well.
- Link control protocol (LCP) for bringing communication lines up, authenticating and bringing them down when no longer needed.
- Network control protocol (NCP) for each network layer protocol supported by other networks
