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In networking, a communications protocol or network protocol is the specification of a set of rules for a particular type of communication.

Different protocols often describe different aspects of a single communication; taken together, these form a protocol stack. The terms "protocol" and "protocol stack" also refer to the software that implements a protocol.

Most recent protocols are assigned by the IETF for internet communications, and the IEEE, or the ISO organizations for other types. The ITU-T handles telecommunications protocols and formats.

Index page for network protocols and protocol layers, categorised by the nearest matching layers of the OSI seven layer model.

Systems engineering principles have been applied to design network protocols.

Common Internet protocols

Common Internet protocols include TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol), UDP/IP (User Datagram Protocol/Internet Protocol), HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) and FTP (File Transfer Protocol).

TCP/IP 

- TCP/IP is a stream protocol. This means that a connection is negiotated between a client and a server. Any data transmitted between these two endpoints is guaranteed to arrive, thus it is a so-called lossless protocol. Since the TCP protocol (as it is also refered to in short form) can only connect two endpoints, it is also called a peer-to-peer protocol.

HTTP 

- HTTP is the protocol used to transmit all data present on the World Wide Web. This includes text, multimedia and graphics. It is the protocol used to transmit HTML, the language that makes all the fancy decorations in your browser. It works upon TCP/IP.

FTP 

- FTP is the protocol used to transmit files between computers connected to each other by a TCP/IP network, such as the Internet.

See also

• Finding Your IP Address
• TCP/IP
• More info on Kermit Protocol