Internet Protocol

Internet protocol

[¦in·tər‚net ′prōd·ə‚kȯl]

(communications)

The set of standards responsible for ensuring that data packets transmitted over the Internet are routed to their intended destinations. Abbreviated IP.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Internet Protocol

(networking)

(IP) The network layer for the TCP/IP protocol suite widely used on Ethernet networks, defined in STD 5, RFC 791. IP is a connectionless, best-effort packet switching protocol. It provides packet routing, fragmentation and re-assembly through the data link layer.

IPv4 is the version in widespread use and IPv6 is just beginning to come into use in 2000.

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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"

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.

The Protocols

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

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