TCP/IP

Objective: Understand the Basic Concepts of Protocols and Get to

know the basics of TCP/IP (the building blocks of the Web)

Communications Architecture:
Introduction

Communications functions can be divided into

subset activities
concept of layered communications

Each activity can be looked as a layer

A layer provides a specific service (function) to other layers
A layer has a specific protocol (control messages) to connect
to other systems

Two standards:
IBMs proprietary SNA
ISOs Reference Model for Open Systems Interconnection (OSI
model)

The OSI Model

7 Application
6 Presentation
5 Session
4 Transport
Lower Layer
connects one
node to
another

Upper Layer
directly assist
the user

3 Network
2 Data Link
1 Physical

Layer

Function

Network

Choosing the next node and

the link to it

Data Link

Controls the flow of messages

on the chosen link

Physical

Connecting to the physical

medium that provides the link

Layer

Function

Applicatio
n

Provides services directly

to an application program

Presentati
on

Presentation of
information to user in a
format that the user will
understand

Session

Controls the user to user

dialogue its direction
and synchronization

Transport

Raises the quality of

service provided by the
network to the level
required by user

The Internet Protocol Suite

Application

HTTP

Transport

TCP

Network

DNS
UDP

IP

Link
Physical

Telnet

Co-ax

Ethern
et
Fiber

Wi-Fi
Radio

TCP/IP
Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol

TCP/IP allows networks of different types to

interconnect

Inter-net Protocol & Internet Addresses

Network layer protocol whose job is to send packets or
datagrams to send packets from one point to another
Each destination is specified by an IP address

IPv4: Each address has 4 8 bit numbers

Represented in dotted decimal places
A 8 bit number can represent 0-255 in decimal place
A typical number therefore looks like 209.176.20.9
IPv6 allows a larger number of addresses (among other advantages)

IP Addresses: Static or Dynamic

Static useful on infrastructure situations
Dynamic addresses changes everytime a machine logs on
Dynamic addresses are most often assigned by Dynamic Host
Configuration Protocol (DHCP)

IP Characteristics
IP is a connectionless protocol
No concept of a job or a session (each packet is treated as an
entity in itself)

IP is an unreliable protocol
It is unconcerned with whether a packet reaches its eventual
destination, or whether they arrive in the original order
IP cannot tell if packets were lost or whether they were
received out of order

IP packets are not identified as a part of a

sequence or belonging to a particular job.

IP Packet Header
Version

Header length
Identification

Time to live

Service type

Total length

Flags

Fragment Offset

Protocol

Header checksum

Source address
Destination address
IP Options

Padding

The protocol field in the header information identifies which

higher level TCP/IP protocol sent the data. When data arrives at
its destination this field tells IP which protocol module to pass it
on to.
The time-to-live (TTL) field, specifies how long the packet is
allowed to reamin in the internet delivery system and is
decremented by by every router that the packet passes
through. When it reaches zero the packet is discarded and the
sender. This prevents packets from traveling the Internet
forever.
The checksum is an error detection checksum covering only

ARP & ICMP: Accompanying Protocols

Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) finds out the
physical address corresponding to an IP address
When an IP Packet is received, an ARP request is brodcasted on
the network. When a host recognizes an ARP request
containing its own IP address, it sends an ARP reply containing
its hardware address. This address is cached.
There is also a Reverse ARP (RARP) protocol. This is used by a
host to find out its own IP address if it has no way of doing this
except via the network.

Internet Control Message Protocol:

Defines the format of control messages that are sent to the
sender indicating that a problem has occurred

TCP Characteristics
TCP is a connection-oriented protocol
The client & the server must establish a connection before any
data can be transferred between them.

TCP provides reliability

TCP knows that data it sends is received at the other end, and
that it is received correctly.
TCP uses checksums on both headers and data.

TCP ensure Data which arrives out of sequence is

put back into order
TCP also implements flow control, so a sender
cannot overwhelm a receiver with data.

TCP Packet Header

Source Port

Destination Port
Sequence Number

Acknowledgement Number
Header Length

Code Bits

Window

Checksum

Urgent pointer

Options

Padding

TCP sends data using IP, in blocks which are called segments.
The Port number identifies a particular user within a machine
(which is identified by the IP address
The sequence number identifies the position in the data
stream
The acknowledgement number is used to convey back to the
sender that data has been received correctly.
The window size gives the number of bytes the receiver can
accept.
The checksum covers both header and data
The urgent pointer identifies the start of data in the stream

What is a Port?
Refers in this context a software port
Multiple applications or upper layer protocols may use
TCP simultaneously
Ports are used to map TP data to a specific process
The combination of an IP address and a port number is called a
socket
Sockets can be full duplex (data transmitted in both directions) or half
duplex

Typical Port numbers:

20/21 FTP
23 Telnet
25 Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
37 Time
53 Domain Name System
80 HTTP
110 POP3
443 HTTPS

TCP Communication: Making a

Connection

A connection must be established before any data is sent

Segments are only sent between client and server if there
is data to flow.
No status polling takes place.
To Start:
The server listens out for connection requests.
The client requests a connection by sending specifying its own port
number and the port that it wants to connect to .
The SYN (synchronize sequence numbers) flag is set and the clients
initial data sequence number is specified.

Next:
The server responds with a segment in which the header contains its
own initial data sequence number.

To complete the connection :

the client acknowledges the servers data sequence number by

sending back a segment with the ACK flag set and the
acknowledgement field containing the servers data sequence number
plus one.

TCP Communication: Data Transmission

TCP is a sliding window protocol, and does not wait for
acknowledgement
To prevent overflow of receiver buffer:
An acknowledgement is sent containing the with the window size set
to zero.
Later a windows update is sent, specifying the new window size.

For efficiency:
TCP can specify an acknowledgement delay in the hope that within that
time some data will need to be sent the other way, and the two can
ride together
The Nagle algorithm allows a TCP segment containing less data than
the receivers advertised window size can only be sent if the previous
segment has been acknowledged. This allows aggregation of small
amounts of data

TCP Communication: Error Correction

In error situations TCP can:
detect whether data has been successfully received at the other end
take steps to rectify the situation.
inform the sending application of the problem and failure, if all else fails,

Data lost or corrupted.

TCP keeps track of the acknowledgements for the data it sends.
If an acknowledgement is not received within an specified time data is
resent
Time interval TCP will wait before depends on the connection speed (The
protocol monitors the time it normally takes to receive an
acknowledgement)
Data is resent repeatedly, at ever-increasing intervals, until either a
response is received or an application timeout value is exceeded

Deadlock of flow
a receiver stops the data flow by setting its window size to zero and the
window update segment that is meant to start data flowing again is lost.
To prevent deadlock from occurring, TCP sends out window probe
messages at regular intervals to query the receiver about its window size.

TCP Communication: Communication

Closure

Each direction of data flow must be closed down

separately.
Steps:
One end of the connection sends a segment in which the FIN
(finished sending data) flag is set.
The receipt of this segment is acknowledged,
The receiving end notifies its application that the other end has
closed that half of the connection.

User Datagram Protocol

UDP is a simple protocol
UDP is unreliable and connectionless
A connection with a host is not necessary before exchanging
data
No mechanism for ensuring that data sent is received

Main function is to specify the upper layer

protocols
Useful for broadcasting since it does not require
a connection

UDP Packet Header

Source Port

Destination Port

Message length

Checksum

Two different application one using UDP and another using TCP
may use the same port number. The two data streams are
distinguished by the protocol field in the IP address header
The checksum is optional.

Unicast, Broadcast, Multicast

Unicast

Multicast

Broadcast

One sender one

receiver

Sends data to
interested
receivers

Sends data to all

possible receivers

Applications of IP Multicast:
Pay TV
File Transfer
Financial Information
But is complex to implement

TCP builds on IP using CRCs, sequence numbers, time-outs and retransmissions to create a reliable,
stream oriented network.

TCP
Connection
Oriented

UDP
Connectionless

Complete
reliabilitycorrects
best effort delivery
lost, corrupted and
out-of-order packets
Full Duplex
communication

Full Duplex
communication

Point to Point
communication

Point to Point
communication or
broadcast

Stream Interface

Packet Interface

Reliable connection
startup

no connection