1.1.2. Protocol Hierarchy

The communication between the computers in the Internet is defined by different protocols. The protocols TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and IP (Internet Protocol) build the basis of the communication in the Internet. The combination of the TCP and the IP protocol is known as TCP/IP protocol that represents the standard system used in most large networks.

Before describing these and some other protocols, it will be helpful to illustrate the position of each protocol relative to the others in the protocol hierarchy.

By moving the mouse cursor over the abbreviations in the boxes you can see the whole name of the protocol.

In the next paragraphs we will go into details of some protocols. To understand better the function of the different protocols and their differences we explain you the theory using an example: We will show you how a computer sends the textfile "textfile.txt" to another computer like it is illustrated in the following graphic.

Transferring a file from one computer to another