Computer Protocols- TCP/IP, POP, SMTP, HTTP, FTP and More

Computer Protocols- TCP/IP, POP, SMTP, HTTP, FTP and More

In order for computers to communicate with one another, standard methods of information transfer and processing have been devised. These are referred to as "protocols" and some of the more common ones such as TCP, IP, UDP, POP, SMTP, HTTP, and FTP are discussed here.

TCP/IP

TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and IP (Internet Protocol) are two different procedures that are often linked together. The linking of several protocols is common since the functions of different protocols can be complementary so that together they carry out some complete task. The combination of several protocols to carry out a particular task is often called a "stack" because it has layers of operations. In fact, the term "TCP/IP" is normally used to refer to a whole suite of protocols, each with different functions. This suite of protocols is what carries out the basic operations of the Web. TCP/IP is also used on many local area networks. The details of how the Web works are beyond the scope of this article but I will briefly describe some of the basics of this very important group of protocols. More details can be found in the references in the sidebar. (Incidentally, one characteristic of AOL is that they do not use the standard TCP/IP. Thus their network is a sort of separate "gated" community.)

When information is sent over the Internet, it is generally broken up into smaller pieces or "packets". The use of packets facilitates speedy transmission since different parts of a message can be sent by different routes and then reassembled at the destination. It is also a safety measure to minimize the chances of losing information in the transmission process. TCP is the means for creating the packets, putting them back together in the correct order at the end, and checking to make sure that no packets got lost in transmission. If necessary, TCP will request that a packet be resent.

Internet Protocol (IP) is the method used to route information to the proper address. Every computer on the Internet has to have it own unique address known as the IP address. Every packet sent will contain an IP address showing where it is supposed to go. A packet may go through a number of computer routers before arriving at its final destination and IP controls the process of getting everything to the designated computer. Note that IP does not make physical connections between computers but relies on TCP for this function. IP is also used in conjunction with other protocols that create connections.

Another member of the TCP/IP suite is User Datagram Protocol (UDP). (A datagram is almost the same as a packet except that sometimes a packet will contain more than one datagram.)

This protocol is used together with IP when small amounts of information are involved. It is simpler than TCP and lacks the flow-control and error-recovery functions of TCP. Thus, it uses fewer system resources.

A different type of protocol is Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP). It defines a small number of messages used for diagnostic and management purposes. It is also used by Ping and Trace route.

Mail protocols

Email requires its own set of protocols and there is a variety, both for sending and for receiving mail.

The most common protocol for sending mail is Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP).

When configuring email clients such as Outlook Express, an Internet address for an SMTP server must be entered.

The most common protocol for receiving mail is Post Office Protocol (POP).

It is now in version 3 so it is called POP3. Email clients such as Outlook Express require an address for a POP3 server before they can read mail. The SMTP and POP3 servers may or may not be the same address. Both SMTP and POP3 use TCP for managing the transmission and delivery of mail across the Internet.

A more powerful but less common protocol for reading mail is Interactive Mail Access Protocol (IMAP). This protocol allows for the reading of individual mailboxes at a single account and is more common in business environments. IMAP also uses TCP to manage the actual transmission of mail.

It is increasingly popular to use Web based email such as Yahoo. Web mail, of course, involves the same protocol as a Web page and this is discussed next.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol

Web pages are constructed according to a standard method called Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). An HTML page is transmitted over the Web in a standard way and format known as Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). This protocol uses TCP/IP to manage the Web transmission.

A related protocol is Hypertext Transfer Protocol over Secure Socket Layer (HTTPS), first introduced by Netscape. It provides for the transmission in encrypted form to provide security for sensitive data. A Web page using this protocol will have https: at the front of its URL.

File Transfer Protocol

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) lives up to its name and provides a method for copying files over a network from one computer to another.

More generally, it provides for some simple file management on the contents of a remote computer. It is an old protocol and is used less than it was before the Word Wide Web came along.

Today, Its primary use is uploading files to a Web site. It can also be used for downloading from the Web but, more often than not, downloading is done via HTTP. Sites that have a lot of downloading (software sites, for example) will often have an FTP server to handle the traffic. If FTP is involved, the URL will have ftp: at the front.