TCP/IP Applications

To understand the applications that use TCP/IP networks, a tech needs to know the structures below those applications that make them work. Have you ever opened multiple Web pages on a single computer? Have you ever run multiple Internet programs, such as a Web browser, an e-mail client, and a chat program, all at the same time? Clearly, lots of data is moving back and forth between your computer and many other computers. If you have packets coming in from two, three, or more other computers, there has to be a mechanism, a process, something that knows where to send and receive that data.

In this tutorial, you'll discover the process used by TCP/IP networks to make sure the right data gets to the right applications on your computer. This process works through the use of some very important Transport layer protocols, TCP, UDP, and ICMP, the magic of port numbering. When used together, TCP and UDP along with port numbers enable work to get done on a network.