Few world’s most used protocols

Sharan Karthikeyan
2 min readMar 19, 2023

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There are several widely used protocols that enable communication between devices and networks in the world. Here are explanations of some of the most commonly used protocols:

  1. Transmission Control Protocol (TCP): TCP is the most commonly used protocol for transmitting data over the internet. It provides reliable, ordered, and error-checked delivery of data packets between applications running on different hosts. TCP is responsible for breaking up large data packets into smaller segments, ensuring each segment is delivered, and then reassembling them at the destination.
  2. Internet Protocol (IP): IP is the primary protocol used for sending data packets across networks. It is responsible for addressing and routing packets from the source to the destination device. IP is used in conjunction with other protocols, such as TCP, to ensure reliable data delivery.
  3. Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP): HTTP is the protocol used to transfer data over the web. It defines how messages are formatted and transmitted, and how web servers and browsers should respond to various commands. HTTP is responsible for transferring web pages, images, and other content between servers and client devices.
  4. Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP): SMTP is the protocol used for sending and receiving email messages. It defines how email messages are formatted, transmitted, and delivered to their destination. SMTP is used by email clients to send messages to mail servers, and by mail servers to deliver messages to their intended recipients.
  5. File Transfer Protocol (FTP): FTP is a protocol used for transferring files over the internet. It allows users to upload and download files between remote servers and client devices. FTP is commonly used by web developers to upload website files to a web server, and by businesses to share large files with clients or partners.
  6. Domain Name System (DNS): DNS is the protocol used for resolving domain names into IP addresses. It acts as a kind of phone book for the internet, translating human-readable domain names (such as google.com) into IP addresses that can be understood by computers. DNS is essential for enabling users to access websites and other internet resources by their domain name.

Tips: TCP is OSI layer 4, IP is OSI layer 4, and the rest are from OSI layer 7.

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