Network protocols

Internet Protocols are a set of rules that governs the

communication and exchange of data over the internet.

Both the sender and receiver should follow the same

protocols in order to communicate the data.

Working of internet protocol: The internet and many

other data networks work by organizing data into small

pieces called packets. Each large data sent between two

network devices is divided into smaller packets by the

underlying hardware and software. Each network

protocol defines the rules for how its data packets must

be organized in specific ways according to the protocols

the network supports.  

Types of Network
Protocols
There are three main types of network protocols. These
include network management protocols, network
communication protocols and network security protocols:

 Communication protocols include basic data

communication tools like TCP/IP and HTTP.
 Management protocols maintain and govern the
network through protocols such
as ICMP and SNMP. 
 Security protocols include HTTPS, SFTP, and SSL.

Let's take a closer look at each, so you can better

understand their role in your network.

Network Communication Protocols

Communication protocols are vital to the functioning of a

network. In fact, computer networks can't exist without
these protocols. These protocols formally describe the
formats and rules by which data is transferred over the
network. This is a must-have for exchanging messages
between your computing systems and in
telecommunications, applying to both hardware and
software. Communication protocols also handle
authentication and error detection as well as the syntax,
synchronization and semantics that both analog and
digital communications must abide by to function.
  HTTP – One of the most familiar protocols, hyper
text transfer protocol (HTTP) is often referred to as
the protocol of the internet. HTTP is an application
layer protocol that allows the browser and server to
communicate.
 TCP – Transmission Control Protocol
(TCP) separates data into packets that can be
shared over a network. These packets can then be
sent by devices like switches and routers to the
designated targets.
 UDP – User Datagram Protocol (UDP) works in a
similar way to TCP, sending packets of data over
the network. The key difference between the two is
that TCP ensures a connection is made between the
application and server, but UDP does not.
 IRC – Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a text-based
communication protocol. Software clients are used
to communicate with servers and send messages to
other clients. This protocol works well on networks
with a large number of distributed machines.

Network Management Protocols

Network management protocols help define the policies

and procedures used to monitor, manage and maintain
your computer network, and help communicate these
needs across the network to ensure stable
communication and optimal performance across the
board.

Generally, network managers can use a management

protocol to troubleshoot connections between host and
client devices. Management protocols provide network
managers with the host connection's status, availability,
packet or data loss, and other related information about
the health of the network connection.

The policies managed by management protocols can be

applied to all devices on the network, including
computers, switches, routers and even servers.

Two of the most common types of network management

protocols include Simple Network Management Protocol
(SNMP) and Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP).

 SNMP – Simple Network Management Protocol

(SNMP) is used to monitor and manage network
devices. This TCP-based protocol allows
administrators to view and modify endpoint
information to alter behavior of devices across the
network. SNMP relies on the use of agents to collect
and send data to an overarching SMNP manager,
which in turn queries agents and gets their
responses.
 ICMP – Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) is
primarily used for diagnostic purposes. Managed
devices on the network can use this protocol to send
error messages, providing information regarding
network connectivity issues between devices.

Network Security Protocols

Network security protocols work to ensure that data in

transit over the network's connections stays safe and
secure. These protocols also define how the network
secures data from any attempts to review or extract said
data by illegitimate means. This helps ensure that no
unauthorized users, services, or devices access your
network data, and this works across all data types and
network mediums being used.

Usually, network security protocols rely on encryption

and cryptography to secure data so that only special
algorithms, formulas and logical keys can make this data
accessible. Some of the most popular protocols for
network security include Secure Socket Layer (SSL),
Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) and Secure
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTPS).

 SSL – A Secure Socket Layer (SSL) is a network

security protocol primarily used for ensuring secure
internet connections and protecting sensitive data.
This protocol can allow for server/client
communication as well as server/server
communication. Data transferred with SSL is
encrypted to prevent it from being readable.
 SFTP – Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP), as its
name might suggest, is used to securely transfer
files across a network. Data is encrypted and the
client and server are authenticated.
 HTTPS – Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol is the
secure version of HTTP. Data sent between the
browser and server are encrypted to ensure
protection.Which Network Protocol Types are Right
for You?

Computer Network Architecture

Computer Network Architecture is defined as the physical and
logical design of the software, hardware, protocols, and
media of the transmission of data. Simply we can say that
how computers are organized and how tasks are allocated to
the computer.

The two types of network architectures are used:

o Peer-To-Peer network
o Client/Server network

Peer-To-Peer network
o Peer-To-Peer network is a network in which all the
computers are linked together with equal privilege and
responsibilities for processing the data.
o Peer-To-Peer network is useful for small environments,
usually up to 10 computers.
o Peer-To-Peer network has no dedicated server.
o Special permissions are assigned to each computer for
sharing the resources, but this can lead to a problem if
the computer with the resource is down.
Advantages Of Peer-To-Peer Network:
o It is less costly as it does not contain any dedicated
server.
o If one computer stops working but, other computers will
not stop working.
o It is easy to set up and maintain as each computer
manages itself.

Disadvantages Of Peer-To-Peer Network:

o In the case of Peer-To-Peer network, it does not contain
the centralized system . Therefore, it cannot back up the
data as the data is different in different locations.
o It has a security issue as the device is managed itself.

Client/Server Network
o Client/Server network is a network model designed for
the end users called clients, to access the resources such
as songs, video, etc. from a central computer known as
Server.
o The central controller is known as a server while all other
computers in the network are called clients.
o A server performs all the major operations such as
security and network management.
o A server is responsible for managing all the resources
such as files, directories, printer, etc.
o All the clients communicate with each other through a
server. For example, if client1 wants to send some data
to client 2, then it first sends the request to the server for
the permission. The server sends the response to the
client 1 to initiate its communication with the client 2.
Advantages Of Client/Server network:
o A Client/Server network contains the centralized system.
Therefore we can back up the data easily.
o A Client/Server network has a dedicated server that
improves the overall performance of the whole system.
o Security is better in Client/Server network as a single
server administers the shared resources.
o It also increases the speed of the sharing resources.

Disadvantages Of Client/Server network:

o Client/Server network is expensive as it requires the
server with large memory.
o A server has a Network Operating System(NOS) to
provide the resources to the clients, but the cost of NOS
is very high.
o It requires a dedicated network administrator to manage
all the resources.