3.

2 Communication and
Internet technologies

3.2.1 Protocols

Protocol – a set of rules governing the way that devices communicate with each other

With networks and the internet, we need to allow computers to talk to each other. The computers
must talk to each other in a way that the receiving end can understand the message. In order for that
to happen, there are sets of rules governing modes of communication. These rules are
called protocols. There are many different protocols out there, each defining rules for specific
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communication types.

Examples include: FTP, HTTP, POP3, and SMTP

We will look into all of these protocols.

Port number – an application endpoint or process specific communication endpoint attached to an

IP address

When you send and receive data from a client or server, you will be sending lots of different types of
data. To make sure that the data is dealt with by the correct program, for example a website request
is dealt with by the web server; sending data over Skype will be received at the other end on Skype
and not anywhere else.

In order to ensure this proper activity, you need to add a port number. Each application will have a
port number associated with it. For example, a web server is “port 80” and a Counter-Strike game
port is “666”

Combining an IP address with a port gives us a “socket”. This is a direct connection to a process or
application on a machine. The following example is connection to a webserver on address
203.43.12.234

There are many well-known port numbers; here are a few you might want to keep in mind:

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FTP
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File transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard network protocol used to copy a file from one host to
another over a TCP/IP-based network, such as The Internet. By copying from one host to another,
you could say for example uploading a website with pictures from your PC to your website will
require use of FTP. Or the transfer of files over Skype will require FTP. FTP works on port 21

HTTP
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The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is a networking protocol behind the World Wide Web. It
allows for users on the web to exchange information found on web pages. HTTP works on ports 80
& 8080

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POP3 & SMTP

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Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is an internet standard for sending e-mail across networks.
SMTP is specified for “outgoing” mail transport and uses port 25. The protocol for receiving mail is
called Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3) and uses port 110.

The main task that each of these protocols do is simple. However, the protocol itself is made up of
several modules each of which is responsible for a certain subtask. All the layers together complete
the main task and form the protocol. This idea of dividing a protocol into subtasks can be viewed as a
stack structure where each subtask is an individual block. We will further elaborate this concept on a
protocol called “TCP/IP”

It stands for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. It defines how electronic devices (like
computers) should be connected over the Internet, and how data should be transmitted between
computers.

TCP – Transmission Control Protocol

TCP is responsible for breaking data down into small packets before they can be sent over a network,
and for assembling the packets again when they arrive.

IP – Internet Protocol

IP takes care of the communication between computers. It is responsible for addressing, sending and
receiving the data packets over the Internet.

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Communication between computers on a network is done through protocol suits. The most widely
used and available suite is TCP/IP. A protocol suit consists of a layered architecture where each
layer depicts some functionality which can be carried out by a protocol.

Each layer usually has more than one protocol option to carry out the responsibility that the layer
adheres to. TCP/IP is normally considered to be a 4 layer system. The 4 layers are as follows:

1. Application layer
2. Transport layer
3. Network layer
4. Data link layer

Application Layer:
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This is the top layer of TCP/IP. It includes applications or processes that use transport layer protocols
to deliver the data to destination computers.

As mentioned above, at each layer there are certain protocol options to carry out the task designated
to that particular layer. So, application layer also has various protocols that applications use to
communicate with the transport layer. Some of the popular application layer protocols are:

HTTP (Hypertext transfer protocol)

FTP (File transfer protocol)
SMTP (Simple mail transfer protocol)
SNMP (Simple network management protocol)

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Transport Layer:

This layer provides backbone to data flow between two hosts. This layer receives data from the
application layer above it. There are many protocols that work at this layer but the 2 most commonly
used protocols here are TCP and UDP

TCP is used where a reliable connection is required while UDP is used in case of unreliable
connections.

TCP divides the data (coming from the application layer) into proper sized chunks and then passes
these chunks onto the network. It acknowledges received packets, waits for the acknowledgment of
sent packets and sets timeout to resend the packets if acknowledgements are not received in time.
The term ‘reliable connection’ is used where it is not desired to lose any information that is being
transferred over the network through this connection. So, the protocol used for this type of
connection must provide the mechanism to achieve this desired characteristic. For example, while
downloading a file, it is not desired to lose any information (bytes) as it may lead to corruption of the
downloaded file.

UDP provides a comparatively simpler but unreliable service by sending packets from one host to
another. UDP does not take any extra measurements to ensure that the data sent is received by the
target host or not. The term ‘unreliable connection’ is used where minor data loss does not hamper
the task being fulfilled through this connection. For example while streaming a video; loss of few
bytes of information is acceptable as this does not harm the user experience much.

Network Layer:

This layer is also known as the Internet Layer. The main purpose of this layer is to organize or
handle the movement of data on the network. By movement of data, we generally mean routing of
data over the network. The main protocol used at this layer is IP. While ICMP and IGMP are also
used at this layer.

Data Link Layer:

This layer is also known as the Network Interface Layer. This layer normally consists of device
drivers in the OS and the network interface card attached to the system. Both the device drivers and
the network interface card take cake of the communication details with the media being used to
transfer the data over the network. In most of the cases, this media is in the form of cables. Some of
the famous protocols that are used at this layer include ARP (Address resolution protocol) and PPP
(Point to point protocol) etc.

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TCP/IP CONCEPT EXAMPLE

Now, since we have discussed the underlying layers which help the data flow from host to target
over a network. Let’s take a simple example to make the concept clearer.

Consider the data flow when you open a website.

Client requests for a service while the server processes the request for the client.

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As shown in the figure above, the data flows downward through each layer on the host
machine.

At the first layer, since ‘http’ protocol is being used, so an HTTP request is formed and sent
to the transport layer.

Here the protocol TCP assigns some more information (sequence number, source port
number, destination port number, etc.) to the data coming from the upper layer so that the
communication remains reliable
(I.e. a track of sent and received data could be maintained)

At the next lower layer, IP adds its own information over the data coming from the transport
layer. This information would help data travelling over the network.

Lastly, the Data Link Layer makes sure that the data transfer to/from the physical media is
done properly. Here again the communication done at the data link layer can be reliable or
unreliable.

This information travels on the physical media (like Ethernet) and reaches the target machine.

Now at the target machine (web server) the same series of interactions happen, but in
reverse order.

The packet is first received at the data link layer. At this layer, the information (which was
stuffed by the data link layer of the host machine) is read and the rest of the data is passed to
the upper layer.

Similarly at the Network layer, the data sent by the Network layer of the host machine is read
and the rest of the data is passed on the next upper layer. Same happens at the transport layer
and finally the HTTP request sent by the host application (your browser) is received by the
target application (web server).

At the target machine, when data reaches this layer, the TCP makes note of the sequence
number of the packet and sends an acknowledgement.

If the host TCP does not receive the acknowledgement within some specified time, it re sends
the same packet. So this way TCP makes sure that no packet gets lost. So we see that protocol
at every layer reads the information sent by its counterparts to achieve the functionality of the
layer it represents.

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What are Peer-to-Peer Networks?

In a nutshell, a peer-to-peer (P2P) network is created when 2 or more PCs are connected and share
resources without going through a separate server computer. A P2P network can be an ad hoc
connection or a P2P network can be a network on a much greater scale in which applications set up
direct relationships among users over the internet. Most P2P programs are focused on media sharing
and hence P2P is often associated with software privacy and copyright violation. A famous example
of P2P application is BitTorrent and so we are going to discuss how BitTorrent actually carries out
its job.

Over the past decade, the demand for movies and TV shows has greatly increased and the public
wishes to attain this content for free. So when a video is uploaded to a website for the public to
download, there is a high probability that you will experience slower than normal download speeds
because many users are trying to download that video from the same source as you (i.e. too much
website traffic).

Thankfully, we have options that make sharing big files over the internet fast and easy. Unlike
typical downloads files downloaded using BitTorrent actually download faster when more people
are involved.

The BitTorrent application is somewhat similar to a web browser, just as a web browser needs
websites to be useful, BitTorrent needs special files called “torrents” to work. When you locate a
specific torrent file and set it to download, it will immediately start downloading.

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Aside from BitTorrent when someone downloads a file, it comes to their computer in a stream from a
single source. When multiple people want that file, that stream gets divided and the source can get
overworked and even shut down.

BitTorrent solves this problem by making each downloader a source! This way they get pieces of the
file, but also share pieces with each other. Together, the downloaders become a network of multiple
sources all working to provide pieces to one another which makes downloads fast and reliable.

When a torrent file is downloaded, it contains all the information about the video file. Like what
pieces are needed to complete it. So how do you connect with the other users which have the pieces
you need to complete your video?

BitTorrent uses a computer called a Tracker that helps your computer find other computers called
Peers. The Tracker keeps a track of the computers which are downloading or already have the whole
file and introduces your computer to them. With the connections in place, he receives what he needs
and also distributes pieces to other users who are also downloading.

The reason why BitTorrent is so popular is because it turns downloaders into sources and more
downloaders mean more sources and faster downloads

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