TCP/IP, or the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, is a suite of communication protocols used to interconnect network devices on the internet. TCP/IP can also be used as a communications protocol in a private network (an intranet or an extranet).
The entire internet protocol suite -- a set of rules and procedures -- is commonly referred to as TCP/IP, though others are included in the suite.
TCP/IP specifies how data is exchanged over the internet by providing end-to-end communications that identify how it should be broken into packets, addressed, transmitted, routed and received at the destination. TCP/IP requires little central management, and it is designed to make networks reliable, with the ability to recover automatically from the failure of any device on the network.
The two main protocols in the internet protocol suite serve specific functions. TCP defines how applications can create channels of communication across a network. It also manages how a message is assembled into smaller packets before they are then transmitted over the internet and reassembled in the right order at the destination address.
IP defines how to address and route each packet to make sure it reaches the right destination. Each gateway computer on the network checks this IP address to determine where to forward the message.
The history of TCP/IP
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the research branch of the U.S. Department of Defense, created the TCP/IP model in the 1970s for use in ARPANET, a wide area network that preceded the internet. TCP/IP was originally designed for the Unix operating system, and it has been built into all of the operating systems that came after it.
The TCP/IP model and its related protocols are now maintained by the Internet Engineering Task Force.
How TCP/IP works
TCP/IP uses the client/server model of communication in which a user or machine (a client) is provided a service (like sending a webpage) by another computer (a server) in the network.
Three of the most common TCP/IP protocols
- HTTP - Used between a web client and a web server, for non-secure data transmissions. A web client (i.e. Internet browser on a computer) sends a request to a web server to view a web page. The web server receives that request and sends the web page information back to the web client.
- HTTPS - Used between a web client and a web server, for secure data transmissions. Often used for sending credit card transaction data or other private data from a web client (i.e. Internet browser on a computer) to a web server.
- FTP - Used between two or more computers. One computer sends data to or receives data from another computer directly.
Domain names and TCP/IP addresses
The TCP/IP address for a website or web server is typically not easy to remember. To remedy this issue, a domain name is used instead. For example, 216.58.216.164 is one of the IP address for Google and google.com is the domain name. Using this method, instead of a set of numbers, makes it much easier for users to remember Computer Hope's web address.
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