Networking Beginner

What is TCP vs UDP?

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

TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) establishes connections, guarantees delivery, maintains order, and handles congestion. It is used for web browsing, email, file transfer, and SSH where reliability matters.

UDP (User Datagram Protocol) is connectionless, lightweight, and fast but does not guarantee delivery or order. It is used for video streaming, gaming, DNS queries, and VoIP where speed matters more than perfect reliability.

Learn More About This Topic

Network Fundamentals

Related reading

Linux Networking Fundamentals

Related reading

Linux IPv6: The Complete Guide

Related reading

Related Terms

BGP (Border Gateway Protocol)

The routing protocol that makes the internet work by exchanging routing information between autonomous systems.

ARP (Address Resolution Protocol)

A protocol that maps IP addresses to physical MAC addresses on a local network segment.

Network Segmentation

The practice of dividing a network into isolated segments to improve security, performance, and management.

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

A device or software that distributes network traffic across multiple servers to ensure reliability and performance.

The latest version of the Internet Protocol with 128-bit addresses, designed to replace IPv4 and solve address exhaustion.

View All Networking Terms →