TCP-IP - Explored and Explained

TCP/IP is not a single protocol, nor is it, as its
name might suggest, a pair of protocols. TCP/IP is actually a suite of
protocols. In other words, it's a large group of protocols that work
together. The TCP/IP designers' original intent was to create a
protocol that could traverse various heterogeneous network environments
while having the ability to take multiple routes to a final
destination. This flexibility was crucial. TCP/IP, originally called
NCP (Network Control Protocol), was a product of an experimental
project commissioned by the Department of Defense of ARPANet (Advanced
Research Project Agency Network) as an experimental protocol that
traveled over packet-switched networks. The goal was to ensure that if
a single part of the network became damaged or unreachable,
transmission of critical data would continue to reach its destination
on the network through alternate routes.

Despite its roots in the
defense community, the development and evolution of TCP/IP cannot be
attributed to any one group of individuals. TCP/IP is nonproprietary,
and it's the accepted communications protocol on the Internet. Like
other matters related to the Internet, TCP/IP standards are publicly
available and published as RFCs (Requests For Comments) that are
maintained by the Internet Architecture Board (IAB).

The IAB
allows any individual or company to submit or evaluate an RFC. RFCs can
contain a variety of information; one use of RFCs is to publish
proposals or new ideas for standards that might add to or change the
functionality of the TCP/IP protocol suite in some way. RFCs are posted
to the Internet for public review and are reviewed by IETF (Internet
Engineering Task Force), a division of the IAB. After an appropriate
amount of discussion and scrutiny, a newly proposed draft can be made
into a standard that will then be adopted by the entire Internet
development community. Because TCP/IP is based on open, nonproprietary
standards, it has been scrutinized and revised by numerous people from
all over the world, and has thus been continuously developed and
improved since its inception.

TCP/IP is based on the idea of an
open system (nonproprietary) model. With regard to system architecture,
TCP/IP's functionality maps loosely to the OSI (Open Systems
Interconnection) Reference Model, a basic system architectural
reference designed for programmers to provide a common framework and
design for network protocols. By using the OSI Model, protocol
designers can ensure that the protocols they design meet at least the
basic levels of functionality and that there is some degree of
standardization between their implementation of a protocol and someone
else's. Microsoft's TCP/IP is compliant with RFC-published TCP/IP
standards. However, the Microsoft implementation includes support for a
number of features not found in other versions of TCP/IP.

Requests For Comments (RFCs)

As
mentioned earlier, one way that RFCs are used is to document Internet
standards. Keep in mind that the RFCs that actually document standards
are merely a subset of all the RFCs that exist. In other words, all
Internet standards are documented by at least on RFC, but not all RFCs
become Internet standards.

A number of different types of RFCs
exist, including FYIs, Drafts, and STDs (Standards). Anyone can submit
an RFC or make comments in support of, or against, a current RFC. The
IETF then makes this documentation available to the public. If the RFC
is a proposal for a new Internet protocol or service, it is reviewed by
the IETF and recommendations for revisions are made. To allow ample
time for review and revision of an RFC, there is a minimum six-month
waiting period before a Proposed Standard can become a Draft Standard;
there's then an additional four-month time period before a Draft
Standard can become a Standard.

RFC's are referenced by a
specific number, such as RFC 1880 "Internet Official Protocol
Standards." These numbers are issued sequentially and are never reused.
If a current Standard is revised, a new number is issued to the revised
Standard, and the older version becomes obsolete. Always make sure you
have the most recent RFC on any topic you are researching. RFC 1880,
for example, contains an index of the most current RFCs for Internet
Standards.

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