I. Introduction to TCP/IP:Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) is the oldest networking standard. TCP/IP is a set of protocols developed to allow cooperating computers to share resources across a network. TCP/IP is the most popular of network layer protocols. It was developed for the Department of Defense's Advanced Research Project Agency NETwork (ARPANET is one of the early packet switching networks), and now used on the Internet. Eventually ARPANET became what is now known as the Internet (Fitzgerald & Dennis, 1999).II. In The Beginning There Was The TCP/IP Protocol Suite:In 1969 the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) created ARPANET. DARPA is ...view middle of the document...
ARPANET was now being used to store data and files that were not related to the military. Shortly after the government realized the importance of ARPANET for uses other than military information and they created MILNET (Military Network) along side it. Of course MILNET was restricted for only military use but there were gateways created so the two networks could communicate. Eventually ARPANET evolved into what is now known as the Internet, in today's standards. ARPANET finally ran out of use in 1990 and was finally "turned off" (Thomas, 1996).III. A Brief Synopsis of The TCP/IP Protocol Suite:TCP (Transfer Control Protocol) takes all of the information that you wish to transmit and it breaks it into different pieces called data grams. Then each piece is numbered so reception can be acknowledged and the data can be reassigned to its proper order. If there is missing information, the receiving end sends a message to the sender to resend the information. IP deals with the transmission of data grams that are in between the destination and the source ("Breakdown of the TCP/IP suite", 1997).In the TCP/IP suite, TCP and IP are the most important parts but there are other protocols that we have to take into consideration. Some of these other protocols are: File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), Post Office Protocol Version 3 (POP3) and Telecommunication Network (TELNET). FTP enables the user to send and receive files over the Internet. HTTP is the application layer protocol used to communicate between Web servers and Web browsers. SMTP is the application layer protocol used to move messages from mail server to mail server on the Internet. POP3 is the application layer protocol used to communicate mail servers and mail software on client computers. TELNET enables the users on one computer to log into other computers on the Internet (Fitzgerald & Dennis, 1999).IV. Addressing:Every single computer on the Internet must have a specific address known as an IP address. The address is like the computers "fingerprint" it is unique to only that computer and no two are alike. IP addresses are written in a form that has four decimal numbers separated by dots (i.e. 195.57.88.1). One byte of address is represented by each decimal point and the dot values can range for 0 to 255. The IP address identifies the network and the computer on a specific network. Every IP address has a domain name, which is usually the name that is recognized and more familiar (i.e. att.com) (Goldman, 1995). There are different domain names such as: edu, com, gov, mil, org and net. Edu is for and educational university, com is for a commercial business, gov is for a government department or agency, mil is for a military unit, org is for a nonprofit organization and net is for an organization with ties to Internet administrative bodies (Fitzgerald & Dennis, 1999).V. TCP/IP, One For All:TCP/IP was provided funding by...