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Chapter 2. The Networker's Guide to
TCP/IP
TCP/IP is the predominant network protocol in use today. Although proprietary
networking protocols, like AppleTalk and IPX, still enjoy widespread use on local
area networks (LANs), the increased demand for desktop-level access to the
Internet, which utilizes the TCP/IP protocol suite for host to host communication has
lead many networking environments to implement TCP/IP and abandon their
proprietary protocol implementations altogether or implement TCP/IP alongside
their proprietary LAN protocols. TCP/IP is well suited for both local and wide area
networking applications, and is easily scalable to support networks of any size. It is
not only capable of coexisting with other Layer 3 protocols, IP can be used to
transport proprietary LAN protocol datagrams over IP WANs. TCP/IP was developed
as the second generation network protocol for ARPAnet (Advanced Research
Projects Administration Network), which was an experimental network funded by
the U.S. government to research packet switching networks. The ARPA network and
the technologies developed for it formed the foundation of the modem Internet.
Development on TCP/IP began in 1973; it became available as a production protocol
suite in 1983. Figure 2.1 illustrates TCP/IP's developmental timeline.
NOTE
Figure 2.1. The TCP/IP development timeline.
In the previous chapter, we examined the Internet-RM, OSI, and IEEE reference
models. By becoming familiar with the different reference models, you gain a sense
of the logical flow of the data communication process. Protocol theory, however, is