Networking Beginner

What is TCP/IP?

The fundamental communication protocol suite of the internet that defines how data is packaged, addressed, transmitted, and received.

TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) is a layered protocol stack. TCP provides reliable, ordered, error-checked data delivery. IP handles addressing and routing packets across networks.

The model has four layers: Application (HTTP, SMTP), Transport (TCP, UDP), Internet (IP), and Network Access (Ethernet, Wi-Fi). Together they enable all internet communication.

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Related Terms

HTTP Keep-Alive

An HTTP mechanism that reuses a single TCP connection for multiple requests, reducing the overhead of establishing new connections.

A server that sits between clients and backend servers, forwarding client requests and returning server responses on their behalf.

QoS (Quality of Service)

A set of techniques for managing network traffic to prioritize certain types of data and ensure performance for critical applications.

A compact method for specifying IP addresses and their associated routing prefix using a slash followed by the prefix length.

Two transport layer protocols: TCP provides reliable, ordered delivery while UDP provides fast, connectionless delivery without guarantees.

NAT (Network Address Translation)

A method of mapping private IP addresses to public IP addresses, allowing multiple devices to share a single public IP.

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