Networking Protocols, Technology, College Term Papers.com


		Data Bases
		• Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism?

		Links
		• Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com

		Free Essays
		• Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers

Search Lots of Essays

Back to Subjects - Technology

Networking Protocols

Networking Protocols How does one get two computers to interact with each other? By using a network. A network allows two or more computers to exchange data over a medium. Rules are needed so that the computers know how to communicate. These rules for the language computers use to transmit information are called protocols. As with the many different languages people around the world use to communicate, there are many different protocols. Some of these protocols include IPX, SPX, NetBEUI, TCP, and IP. Without protocols, communication between computers on a network would not be possible. Each protocol has it’s own set of responsibilities and characteristics. Some protocols are faster, and others are more reliable. Protocol compatibility is an important issue. Since a protocol is like a language for computers on a network, it is important that the devices on a network speak the same language, or use the same protocol, so that data can be successfully delivered. For example, if a computer on a network needs to print a document, it is necessary for the computer and the network printer to have the same protocol. Once a standard is established, all the devices on a network will be able to work together in a network environment. If two devices on a network are not using the same protocol, the two devices will be unable to communicate (Whitehead 125). Some protocols are used in conjunction with each other to exchange data between computers. These protocols are called protocol stacks, or a protocol suite. The two most common examples of protocol stacks are TCP/IP and IPX/SPX. In the example of TCP/IP, the TCP protocol is responsible for the transfer of information between to computers or devices and the IP protocol is responsible for addressing and directing data so that it is delivered to the proper recipient. There are also other protocols associated with TCP/IP that have different responsibilities (Whitehead 124). IPX stands for Internetwork Packet Exchange and SPX stands for Sequenced Packet Exchange and was designed by the Xerox Corporation. IPX/SPX was later chosen by Novell as the protocol to be used for the NetWare network operating system (Whitehead 126). IPX/SPX is also widely used by other operating systems including both the Windows 9x and Windows NT families. The IPX/SPX protocol is found at the Network Layer of the OSI Reference Model (Dean 76). As mentioned above, IPX and SPX is part of a protocol suite, or protocol stack. Each protocol is responsible for different duties. All the IPX protocol is responsible for is transferring information between two devices. The SPX protocol makes the connection between the two devices, monitors the exchange, and ensures the integrity of the data (Whitehead 126). Using a protocol to transfer data through an unlike network is referred to as tunneling. IPX/SPX uses tunneling to exchange data between two NetWare networks. The “tunnel” is the TCP/IP protocols. Data and the IPX/SPX protocols are bound together inside the TCP/IP protocols so that information can be transferred between networks or over the Internet (Whitehead 127). Sytec inc. first developed NetBIOS for IBM to furnish Transport and Session Layer services for programs on small networks. NetBIOS provided a peer-to-peer network for a small number of computers, up to about 200. The NetBIOS protocol was sufficient for a couple of years. NetBEUI was released in 1985 to add more functionality to NetBIOS. NetBEUI stands for NetBIOS Extended User Interface (Ogletree 264). NetBEUI is a very popular protocol for small networks because it is very easy to configure, efficient, and is not a heavy user of system resources. NetBEUI is also faster than most of the other popular protocols. Configuration of NetBEUI is easy because all a computer on a NetBEUI network needs is a unique name and the protocol loaded. No addressing is required to make a network function when using the NetBEUI protocol (Whitehead 128,129). The disadvantage of NetBEUI is that it can only support 254 individual computers on a network. NetBEUI is also non-routable, therefor, a device on a NetBEUI network can not access a device on another network. However, segmenting a NetBEUI network can be accomplished by using a bridge because bridges use hardware addresses to determine the destination of data. Another disadvantage of not being a routable protocol and not using an IP address for addressing is that computers can not use NetBEUI to access the Internet. Also, NetBEUI offers absolutely no security. Any computer on the same segment of a NetBEUI network can access that network if the NetBEUI protocol is loaded on that computer. Because of these problems, NetBEUI is becoming less popular is recent years and is being replaced by TCP/IP (Dean 82,83). Over thirty years ago, the United States Department of Defense needed a protocol to run its networking needs. So TCP/IP was developed to handle those needs. Since the development of TCP/IP, it has consistently been upgraded, but the majority of the TCP/IP protocols in use today are the same as the protocols developed in the late 1960’s. TCP/IP became a popular protocol stack due to the fact that the devices manufactured for the Department of Defense had to run on the TCP/IP protocols. The companies that built these devices for the government also sell the devices to the general public. The Internet has also had a profound effect on the acceptance of TCP/IP because the Internet runs on TCP/IP (Whitehead). TCP/IP is broken down into two unique underlying protocols, TCP and IP. TCP stands for Transmission Control Protocol and IP stands for Internet Protocol. Subprotocols of TCP/IP include User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Address Resolution Protocol (ARP), Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP), Domain Name System (DNS), File Transfer Protocol (FTP), HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), and several others. Each of these protocols has unique responsibilities (Ogletree 232,233). Like the OSI Model, TCP/IP has layers. TCP/IP contains four layers that loosely correspond to OSI Model’s seven layers. The four layers of the TCP/IP protocol suite are the Application Layer, the Transport Layer, the Internet Layer, and the Network Interface Layer. The Application layer of TCP/IP corresponds with the Application and Presentation layers of the OSI Model. The Session and Transport layers of OSI Model compare to the Transport Layer of TCP/IP. The Internet Layer of TCP/IP corresponds to the Network Layer, and the Data Link and Physical layers of the OSI Model compare to TCP/IP’s Network Interface Layer (Microsoft). IP is part of the Internet layer of TCP/IP. IP is responsible for addressing information and for making sure that data is transferred to where it is supposed to go. IP enables TCP/IP to travel to more than one network segment and more than one type of network. Connecting individual networks can be achieved by the use of a secondary set of addresses called subnet mask addresses (Ogletree 232, 235). The Transport layer of the TCP/IP protocol suite contains the TCP protocol. TCP is responsible for delivering information reliably across a network. TCP requires an established connection between two devices before information can be transmitted. Without TCP, IP would send information without checking to see if the destination devise could receive the data. Also, IP does not ensure delivery. Without TCP, for example, if a computer sends a print job to a network printer, and the printer was not on-line, the computer would assume that the print job succeeded (Dean 68). The subprotocol UDP uses virtual ports to exchange data between two applications on a network. UDP is faster, but less reliable than TCP. The UTP protocol resides at the Transport layer of the TCP/IP layer and provides a connectionless service. This means that with UDP, packets are not guaranteed to arrive in the correct sequence to the recipient. Also, UDP does not offer any error checking or sequence numbering. However, the simplicity of UTP makes it more efficient than then TCP. UTP is very useful when a fast transfer rate is required. Examples include streaming video, live audio, and multi-player games. In these instances, TCP would be too slow because of all of the error checking and sequence numbering (Microsoft). FTP allows for the transfer of files between two or more different types of computers on a network, such as an Apple Macintosh system and a Windows system. FTP is a client/server protocol. The server or host computer running FTP accepts commands from the client. Both computers must be running the FTP protocol in order for files to be transferred using FTP (Whitehead 132). ARP is a protocol that is part of the Internet layer of the TCP/IP model. It is responsible for obtaining the MAC addresses of devices on a network. ARP creates a database that maps the host’s IP address to its MAC address. A message is broadcast over the network requesting the computer with a specific IP address to transmit its MAC address. The computer with that IP address then broadcasts a reply containing the physical address (Dux Digest). DHCP is a protocol that allows for the communication between computers and the administration of IP addresses. With DHCP, static IP addresses are not assigned to each individually computer manually. Each computer is assigned a dynamic IP address by the DHCP server. A DHCP server is capable of assigning IP addresses to all of the computers on a network (Dux Digest). When accessing a web-site, one would use a computer name such as www.thispaperisalmostover.com, this name must be translated into an IP address using a DNS server. DNS allows users to access computers using a web address instead of an IP address HTTP is one of the most widely used protocols of TCP/IP for transferring information over the Internet. With HTTP, web servers transfer information to web browsers. SMTP is a protocol that moves messages from one e-mail server to another over TCP/IP based networks. SNMP is a protocol that manages hardware devices on a TCP/IP network (Microsoft). In conclusion, protocols are a necessity in computer networks. Without protocols, networks would not exist, the Internet would not be a reality, and playing multiplayer games would be simply way too crowded on a single keyboard. Bibliography: Dean, Tamara. Network+ Guide to Networks. Cambridge, MA: Course Technology, 2000. “Dux Computer Digest of Computer Networking, Hardware, and Software” (12 March 2001). “Microsoft TechNet” (21 February 2001). Ogletree, Terry William. Upgrading and Repairing Networks, Second Edition. Indianapolis: Que Corporation, 1999. Whitehead, Paul. Teach Yourself Visually, Networking, 2nd Edition. New York: IDG Books Worldwide Inc., 2000.

Word Count: 1701

DMCA Notifications and Requests