5 Minutes to Understanding Tcp/ip

What exactly is TCP/IP?

TCP/IP stands for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. It is a software language and set of rules computers and/or devices use on a network to talk to each-other. TCP/IP is both a LAN (local area network) and WAN (wide area network) protocol. A WAN spans a great distance. The internet
is the biggest WAN in existence. A protocol is a set of rules as well as a software language used in order to transmit services, identify information, and identify computers. TCP/IP is a very scalable (able to grow and support new or different services and computers), robust (reliable) protocol. This is mainly why it was elected a long time ago to be the default internet protocol. In order for two computers to exist and effectively communicate they must either:


A. Both be using the same protocol

or

B. Use an intermediary program to interface and act as an interpreter between the two different protocols.

In this situation example A. is the most ideal and common when speaking of computers existing and effectively communicating on the internet. If you are speaking "english" and I am speaking "german" you would not be able to understand me, correct? Computers are the same way. The language and set of rules that computers and devices use to speak and identify each-other on the internet is....you guessed is TCP/IP. Right now we use the version known as TCP/IP v4. The v4 stands for "version 4". We are starting to ever so slowly move to TCP/IP version 6. At the time this article is written (January, 2008) TCP/IP v6 is certainly not common place. However in the future we will inevitably all need to be able to use it as it becomes the default TCP/IP protocol.

Where is TCP/IP exactly?

This software is, by default, installed in almost every operating system used today. It is already there within your Windows, Macintosh, or Linux operating system when you start your computer. Programmers have it already pre-installed and integrated with your operating system right out of the box.

Can you uninstall TCP/IP?

Yes, in most operating systems you can. However situations in why you would do such is beyond the scope of this article and you, as the general computer user would almost never (I know, "never say never". OK 99.999 % of the time the common computer user would never need to do such).

In order to use TCP/IP on the internet you need three common parameters. They look like this:

IP Address: 192.168.12.9

Default Gateway Address: 112.33.75.30

Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.4

These parameters or TCP/IP settings can be accessed or viewed in your operating system. Every operating system will have at least one place where you can see and if needed change these IP settings.NOTE: If you are a new user and are not having any connectivity issues I would leave these settings as is for now.

What is an IP Address?

When using the TCP/IP protocol a machine, and or website needs an identifier. This identifier is an "Ip Address". It is actually 32 ones and zero's. However using simple decimal shorthand you can break this down to normal "decimal" numbers which is what we generally see. Hence an IP address is four separate decimal numbers separated by an period. IP Addresses look like this: 192.168.12.9.

This number identifies your machine. This way other computers know where to find you and/or who to respond to on the internet when you request any service or want to browse around online. In order for computers on the internet not to get confused, no two machines, or websites can have the same IP address. They all must be "unique" to the machine or website.

What is a Default Gateway Address?

A "default gateway" IP address is needed as well. this is the IP address of the machine you use to get onto the internet through. It is a doorway so to speak. Every internet based machine goes out to the internet through a "default gateway". This is normally a server or a router.

A default gateway machine also has an IP address. It is known as the "gateway address" or gateway IP.

Your computer as an internet machine also needs this IP configured.

What is the Subnet Mask?

A subnet mask , to put it as simple as possible is a indicator address that does two things.

1. identifies your internet service provider network and this networks size. 2. Helps machines narrow in on your exact location when sending information to you but this is out of the scope of this article. For now just understand it's basis and understand you need one in order to access and exist on the internet.

So now you know what an IP address, a gateway address, and what a subnet mask address is. These are the internet settings (aka IP Parameters) every machine needs to access the internet.

So how and where do you get them? Well you can manually configure your own every time you log in or start your computer. You should contact your internet service provider to ask what your assigned IP, default gateway address, and subnet mask should be. However this would be a pain in the neck wouldn't it?

This is where DHCP (dynamic host configuration protocol) comes in. We will discuss this in the near future. [www.articlesbase.com]

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