TCP/IP Transport Layer Protocols Section
Understanding Protocols, Ports
and Sockets
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Understanding Protocols, Ports, and Sockets
Protocols
• Computers communicate with each other with network protocols.
• Protocols are rules governing how machines exchange data and
enable effective communication.
• In an operating system (OS), a protocol runs as a process or service.
Ports
• Ports are logical constructs that bind a unique port number to a
protocol process or service.
Sockets
• Sockets are a combination of an IP address and a port number, for
example, 192.168.1.1:80.
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Why We Need Ports and Sockets
• Computers require ports because of network
application multitasking.
• Because a computer may have only one IP address,
it needs ports to differentiate network protocols
and services running on it.
• TCP/IP has 65,536 ports available
Port Type Port Numbers Description
Well Known Ports 0 – 1023 Assigned to well-known protocols.
Registered Ports 1024 – 49,151 Registered to specific protocols.
Dynamic Ports 49,152 – 65,535 Not registered and used for any purpose.
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Protocols & Port Numbers
Service, Protocol, or Application Port Number(s) TCP or UDP
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) 20, 21 TCP
Secure FTP (SFTP) 22 TCP
SSH (Secure Shell Protocol) 22 TCP
Telnet 23 TCP
SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) 25 TCP
DNS (Domain Name System) 53 UDP
DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) 67, 68 UDP
TFTP (Trivial File Transfer Protocol) 69 UDP
HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) 80 TCP
POP3 (Post Office Protocol version 3) 110 TCP
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Protocols & Port Numbers
Service, Protocol, or Application Port Number(s) TCP or UDP
NTP (Network Time Protocol) 123 UDP
IMAP4 (Internet Message Access Protocol version 4) 143 TCP
SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) 161 UDP
LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) 389 TCP
HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) 443 TCP
Server Message Block (SMB) 445 TCP
LDAPS (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol Secure) 636 TCP
RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) 3389 TCP
ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector A/V Recommendation (H.323) 1720 TCP
Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) 5060, 5061 TCP
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TCP/IP Transport Layer Protocols Section
TCP vs UDP
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TCP vs. UDP
Transport Layer Protocols
• TCP (Transmission Control Protocol): Connection-Oriented
• UDP (User Datagram Protocol): Connectionless
TCP is the most widely used Transport Layer protocol because
it is connection-oriented, which provides packet delivery
reliability, i.e., guaranteed delivery.
UDP, being connectionless, is considered to be unreliable;
however, it is more lightweight than TCP and often used for
streaming or real-time data.
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TCP Reliability
• TCP utilizes the following features to ensure reliable delivery of data.
o 3-Way Handshake creates a virtual connection between the source and
destination before data is sent.
o Acknowledgment is required before the next segment is sent.
o Checksum that detects corrupted data.
o Sequence Numbers that detect missing data and reassemble them in
the correct order.
o Retransmission that will retransmit lost or corrupt data.
• Note: TCP header is 20 bytes in size, whereas the UDP header is only
8 bytes.
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TCP Three-Way Handshake
• A connection must be established before data is transmitted, called
the three-way handshake.
o SYN → SYN / ACK → ACK
• Creates a Virtual Connection Between 2 Devices
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“Best Effort” UDP
• A scaled-down, economic version of TCP
o Connectionless & Unreliable
o No Data Retransmissions
o “Best Effort”
• Faster than TCP
o Smaller Header & Connectionless
• Primarily used for protocols that favor:
• Low-Latency, i.e., Faster Speeds
• Can Tolerate Data Loss
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“Best Effort” UDP
• Example UDP Use-Cases
o VoIP Phone Calls
o Live Video Streams
o Live Audio Streams
o Online Gaming
o Certain Network Management Protocols
o DNS
o DHCP
o NTP
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