The purpose of the network layer is to help route messages between different local networks. Central to this layer is the concept of exclusive network addresses, where every terminal connected to the ...

Ethernet is a layer 2 data link protocol that is widely used with the TCP/IP protocol, which resides at layers 3 and 4. To understand network communications, it is essential to learn about the ...

The Web pages you visit, the e-mail you read, the music you download and the radio stations you listen to on the Internet are all delivered to you by applications using TCP/IP. TCP/IP makes it ...

The current IP address scheme of 32-bit words is fast becoming inadequate. It would appear that 2 32 = 4 294 967 296 combinations of addresses should be enough for everybody, but in practice this is ...

What is a network protocol? Most textbook writers state something like this: A network protocol is a set of guidelines or standards for the operation of network devices, the methods of operation, and ...

Do you remember when we used multi-protocol routing for IPX, AppleTalk, and TCP/IP running on the same network? In the 1980s and early 1990s many enterprises had multiple protocols running on the ...

Networks function and flourish because they deliver reliable and fast communication over large distances. And while people often marvel at the speed, it's the reliability -- made possible through the ...

In the past few newsletters, we described in considerable detail the mechanisms that are in place in TCP to ensure efficient transport of information. In particular, we concentrated on the ability of ...

Layers 7 through 4 are geared more to the application than the lower layers, which are designed to move packets from one place to another no matter what they contain. This top layer defines the ...