Introduction to TCP/IP networking

Source: Ganesh Sittampalam

TCP/IP protocol family

IP : Internet Protocol
UDP : User Datagram Protocol
RTP, traceroute

TCP : Transmission Control Protocol

HTTP, FTP, ssh

What is an internet?
A set of interconnected networks The Internet is the most famous example
Networks can be completely different
Ethernet, ATM, modem, (TCP/)IP is what links them

What is an internet? (cont)

Routers (nodes) are devices on multiple networks that pass traffic between them Individual networks pass traffic from one router or endpoint to another TCP/IP hides the details as much as possible

ISO/OSI Network Model (Dont need to know this)

Seven network layers
Layer 1 : Physical cables Layer 2 : Data Link ethernet Layer 3 : Network IP Layer 4 : Transport TCP/UDP Layer 5 : Session Layer 6 : Presentation Layer 7 : Application
You dont need to know the layers just the idea that it is layered

TCP/IP Network Model

Different view 4 layers
Layer 1 : Link (we did not look at details) Layer 2 : Network Layer 3 : Transport Layer 4 : Application

OSI: Open Systems Interconnect

OSI Model

7th Application Layer

OSI and Protocol Stack

TCP/IP Hierarchy Protocols
Application Layer

6th Presentation Layer

5th Session Layer 4th Transport Layer

3rd Network Layer 2nd Link Layer 1st Physical Layer Link Layer Transport Layer Network Layer

Link Layer : includes device driver and network interface card Network Layer : handles the movement of packets, i.e. Routing Transport Layer : provides a reliable flow of data between two hosts Application Layer : handles the details of the particular application

Packet Encapsulation
The data is sent down the protocol stack Each layer adds to the data by prepending headers

22Bytes 20Bytes 20Bytes

4Bytes

64 to 1500 Bytes

IP
Responsible for end to end transmission Sends data in individual packets Maximum size of packet is determined by the networks
Fragmented if too large

Unreliable
Packets might be lost, corrupted, duplicated, delivered out of order

IP addresses
4 bytes
e.g. 163.1.125.98 Each device normally gets one (or more) In theory there are about 4 billion available

But

Routing
How does a device know where to send a packet?
All devices need to know what IP addresses are on directly attached networks If the destination is on a local network, send it directly there

Routing (cont)
If the destination address isnt local
Most non-router devices just send everything to a single local router Routers need to know which network corresponds to each possible IP address

Allocation of addresses
Controlled centrally by ICANN
Fairly strict rules on further delegation to avoid wastage
Have to demonstrate actual need for them

Organizations that got in early have bigger allocations than they really need

IP packets
Source and destination addresses Protocol number
1 = ICMP, 6 = TCP, 17 = UDP

Various options
e.g. to control fragmentation

Time to live (TTL)

Prevent routing loops

IP Datagram
0 Vers TTL 4 Len Identification Protocol 8 TOS Flags 16 19 24 Total Length Fragment Offset Header Checksum 31 Source Internet Address Destination Internet Address Options... Data... Field Vers Len TOS T. Length Ident. Flags Frag Off Purpose IP version number Length of IP header (4 octet units) Type of Service Length of entire datagram (octets) IP datagram ID (for frag/reassembly) Dont/More fragments Fragment Offset Field TTL Protocol Purpose Time To Live - Max # of hops Higher level protocol (1=ICMP, 6=TCP, 17=UDP) Checksum Checksum for the IP header Source IA Originators Internet Address Dest. IA Final Destination Internet Address Options Source route, time stamp, etc. Data... Higher level protocol data Padding

We only looked at the IP addresses, TTL and protocol #

Source
Application

IP Routing
Router
Network Link

Destination
Application Transport Network Link

Transport
Network Link

Routing Table Destination IP address IP address of a next-hop router Flags Network interface specification

UDP
Thin layer on top of IP Adds packet length + checksum
Guard against corrupted packets

Also source and destination ports

Ports are used to associate a packet with a specific application at each end

Still unreliable:
Duplication, loss, out-of-orderness possible

UDP datagram
0 Source Port Length Application data 16 Destination Port Checksum 31

Field Source Port Destination Port Length Checksum

Purpose 16-bit port number identifying originating application 16-bit port number identifying destination application Length of UDP datagram (UDP header + data) Checksum of IP pseudo header, UDP header, and data

Typical applications of UDP

Where packet loss etc is better handled by the application than the network stack Where the overhead of setting up a connection isnt wanted

VOIP NFS Network File System Most games

TCP
Reliable, full-duplex, connectionoriented, stream delivery
Interface presented to the application doesnt require data in individual packets Data is guaranteed to arrive, and in the correct order without duplications
Or the connection will be dropped

Imposes significant overheads

Applications of TCP
Most things!
HTTP, FTP,

Saves the application a lot of work, so used unless theres a good reason not to

TCP implementation
Connections are established using a three-way handshake Data is divided up into packets by the operating system Packets are numbered, and received packets are acknowledged Connections are explicitly closed
(or may abnormally terminate)

TCP Packets
Source + destination ports Sequence number (used to order packets) Acknowledgement number (used to verify packets are received)

TCP Segment
10 16 19 24 Source Port Destination Port Sequence Number Acknowledgment Number Flags Options... Data... Window Urgent Pointer Padding

31

Len

Reserved Checksum

Field Source Port Destination Port Sequence Number Acknowledgment # Len Flags Window Checksum Urgent Pointer Options

Purpose Identifies originating application Identifies destination application Sequence number of first octet in the segment Sequence number of the next expected octet (if ACK flag set) Length of TCP header in 4 octet units TCP flags: SYN, FIN, RST, PSH, ACK, URG Number of octets from ACK that sender will accept Checksum of IP pseudo-header + TCP header + data Pointer to end of urgent data Special TCP options such as MSS and Window Scale

You just need to know port numbers, seq and ack are added

TCP : Data transfer

Client

Host

Timer

Send Packet 1 Start Timer ACK would normally Arrive at this time Time Expires

Packet Lost

Packet should arrive ACK should be sent

Timer

Retransmit Packet1 Start Timer Receive ACK 1 Cancel Timer

Receive Packet 1 Send AXK 1

IPv6
128 bit addresses
Make it feasible to be very wasteful with address allocations

Lots of other new features

Built-in autoconfiguration, security options,

Not really in production use yet