Term of the Moment
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Definition: Internet Protocol
The communications technology of the public Internet, local area networks (LANs) and most wide area networks (WANs). The Internet Protocol (IP) is part of the TCP/IP protocol suite, and the terms "IP network" and "TCP/IP network" are synonymous.
Packet Switching
The Internet uses a packet-switched architecture, in which data are broken up into smaller "packets," with each packet containing a source address and destination address. Internet protocol (IP) packets are handed over to a data link layer protocol, for the physical transmission to the next node in the network path.
IP is the Network Layer
While "IP" refers to the entire TCP/IP protocol suite, "IP layer" refers to just the network-to-network part, occupying layer 3 in the "protocol stack" (see below). To learn about IP networking, see TCP/IP and TCP/IP abc's. See OSI model, IP address and IP on Everything.
The TCP/IP "Stack"
The Protocols
Following are the primary standards that keep the Internet running:
Packet Switching
The Internet uses a packet-switched architecture, in which data are broken up into smaller "packets," with each packet containing a source address and destination address. Internet protocol (IP) packets are handed over to a data link layer protocol, for the physical transmission to the next node in the network path.
IP is the Network Layer
While "IP" refers to the entire TCP/IP protocol suite, "IP layer" refers to just the network-to-network part, occupying layer 3 in the "protocol stack" (see below). To learn about IP networking, see TCP/IP and TCP/IP abc's. See OSI model, IP address and IP on Everything.
IP layer 3 resides in the middle of the TCP/IP stack. It accepts packets from the upper layer TCP or UDP protocols and hands them to a lower layer data link protocol. Within a local network, the data link protocol is typically Ethernet. Within the public Internet, the data link protocols are SONET, ATM, frame relay and Carrier Ethernet.
Following are the primary standards that keep the Internet running:
Protocol Purpose TCP/IP Network packet transmission TCP Reliable delivery UDP Unreliable delivery IP Network to network HTTP Web transmission HTTPS Secure Web transmission HTML Web page formatting SMTP Email FTP File transfer DNS Domain name management SNMP Network management Telnet Remote execution OSPF Routing protocol RIP Routing protocol ICMP Control messages DHCP Assign IP addresses ARP Find MAC addresses RTP Real-time transmission RTSP Real-time transmission + QoS