Network Protocols
(Note: You need only 3, and the descriptions can be brief.)
- File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
- FTP is a set of rules that allow files to be exchanged between computers on the Internet. (FTP is used to move files from one computer to another [rather than from web browsers to servers]).
- Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
- HTTP is a set of rules for exchanging files such as text, images, audio, video, and other multimedia on the Web. Web browsers and web servers usually use this protocol. When the user of a web browser requests a file by typing a website address or clicking on a hyperlink, the browser builds an HTTP request and sends it to the server. The web server in the destination machine receives the request, does any necessary processing, and responds with the requested file and any associated files (such as image files, media files, and other related files).
- Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
- TCP/IP has been adopted as the official communication protocol of the Internet. TCP and IP have different functions that work together to ensure reliable communication over the Internet.
See Michaela Goss's article 12 common network protocols and their functions explained on Tech Target for more about network protocols.
Full list of options from Felke-Morris
- File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
- FTP is a set of rules that allow files to be exchanged between computers on the Internet. (FTP is used to move files from one computer to another [rather than from web browsers to servers]).
- E-mail Protocols
- Two servers work together: an incoming mail server and an outgoing mail server. Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is used when you send e-mail to
others. Two protocols can be used to receive e-mail: Post Office Protocol (POP, currently POP3)and Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP).
- Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
- HTTP is a set of rules for exchanging files such as text, images, audio, video, and other multimedia on the Web. Web browsers and web servers usually use this protocol. When the user of a web browser requests a file by typing a website address or clicking on a hyperlink, the browser builds an HTTP request and sends it to the server. The web server in the destination machine receives the request, does any necessary processing, and responds with the requested file and any associated files (such as image files, media files, and other related files).
- Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
- TCP/IP has been adopted as the official communication protocol of the Internet. TCP and IP have different functions that work together to ensure reliable communication over the Internet.
- Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)
- The purpose of TCP is to ensure the integrity of network communication. TCP starts by breaking files and messages into individual units called packets. These packets contain information such as the destination, source, sequence number, and
checksum values used to verify the integrity of the data. IP takes over after
TCP creates the packets, using IP addressing to send each packet over the Internet via the
best path at the particular time. When the destination address is reached, TCP verifies the integrity of each packet by using the checksum, requests a resend if a packet is damaged, and reassembles the file or message from the multiple packets.
- Internet Protocol (IP)
- Working in harmony with TCP, IP is a set of rules that controls how data is sent between computers on the Internet. IP routes a packet to the correct destination address. Once sent, the packet gets successively forwarded to the next closest router (a hardware device designed to move network traffic) until it reaches its destination.
Each device connected to the Internet has a unique numeric IP address. These addresses consist of a set of four groups of numbers, called octets. The current version of IP, Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4), uses 32-bit (binary digit) addressing. This results in a decimal number in the format of xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx, where each xxx is a value from 0 to 255. Theoretically, this system allows for at most 4 billion possible IP addresses (although many potential addresses are reserved for special uses). However, even this many addresses will not be enough to meet the needs of all of the devices expected to be connected to the Internet in upcoming years. IP Version 6 (IPv6) will be the next standard IP protocol and will provide a huge increase in the number of possible addresses and many technological advances. IPv6 was designed as an evolutionary set of improvements to the current IPv4 and is backwardly compatible with it. Service providers and Internet users can update to IPv6 independently without having to coordinate with each other. IPv6 provides for more Internet addresses because the IP address is lengthened from 32 bits to 128 bits. This means that there are potentially 2128 unique IP addresses possible, or 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,347,607,431,768,211,456 addresses. (Now there will be enough IP addresses for everyone’s PC, notebook, cell phone, tablet, toaster, and so on!) The IP address of a device may correspond to a domain name. The Domain Name System (DNS) associates these IP addresses with the text-based URLs and domain names you type into a web browser address box. For example, at the time this book was written, one of Google’s IP addresses was 173.194.116.72. You can enter this number in the address text box in a web browser (as shown in Figure 1.7), press Enter, and the Google home page will display. Of course, it’s much easier to type “google.com,” which is why domain names such as google.com were created in the first place! Since long strings of numbers are difficult
for humans to remember, the Domain Name System was introduced as a way to associate text-based names with numeric IP addresses