Transmission Control Protocol

  • Guarantees that all data is received and in order
  • Also guarantees delivery of the data
    • If a data packet doesn’t arrive, then TCP will resend it
  • Connection-oriented protocol (must first acknowledge a session between the 2 computers that are communicating)
    • 2 computers verify a connection before any connection takes place through a three way handshake

Three way handshake

  1. Computer sends a message called a SYN
  2. Other computer sends back an acknowledgement message telling the sender that it has received the message (SYN ACK)
  3. Sender computer then sends another acknowledgement message back to the receiver (ACK RECEIVED)
  4. Data can then be delivered

User Datagram Protocol

  • Connectionless-oriented protocol
    • Does not establish a session and does not guarantee data delivery
    • Sender does not care if data is received by the receiver
    • “Fire and forget” protocol
  • Faster than TCP because it does not ensure if the data is being received