TCP/IPOverview

DocumentID: 13769 Updated: Aug10,2005

Contents
Introduction
TCP/IPTechnology
TCP
IP
RoutinginIPEnvironments

InteriorRoutingProtocols
RIP
IGRP
EIGRP
OSPF
IntegratedISIS

ExteriorRoutingProtocols
EGP
BGP

Cisco'sTCP/IPImplementation
AccessRestrictions
Tunneling
IPMulticast
SuppressingNetworkInformation
AdministrativeDistance
RoutingProtocolRedistribution
ServerlessNetworkSupport
NetworkMonitoringandDebugging

Summary
RelatedInformation

Introduction
Inthetwodecadessincetheirinvention,theheterogeneityofnetworkshasexpandedfurtherwiththedeploymentofEthernet,TokenRing,FiberDistributedData
Interface(FDDI),X.25,FrameRelay,SwitchedMultimegabitDataService(SMDS),IntegratedServicesDigitalNetwork(ISDN),andmostrecently,
AsynchronousTransferMode(ATM).TheInternetprotocolsarethebestprovenapproachtointernetworkingthisdiverserangeofLANandWANtechnologies.
TheInternetProtocolsuiteincludesnotonlylowerlevelspecifications,suchasTransmissionControlProtocol(TCP)andInternetProtocol(IP),but
specificationsforsuchcommonapplicationsaselectronicmail,terminalemulation,andfiletransfer.Figure1showstheTCP/IPprotocolsuiteinrelationtothe
OSIReferencemodel.Figure2showssomeoftheimportantInternetprotocolsandtheirrelationshiptotheOSIReferenceModel.ForinformationontheOSI
Referencemodelandtheroleofeachlayer,pleaserefertothedocumentInternetworkingBasics.
TheInternetprotocolsarethemostwidelyimplementedmultivendorprotocolsuiteinusetoday.SupportforatleastpartoftheInternetProtocolsuiteis
availablefromvirtuallyeverycomputervendor.

TCP/IPTechnology
ThissectiondescribestechnicalaspectsofTCP,IP,relatedprotocols,andtheenvironmentsinwhichtheseprotocolsoperate.Becausetheprimaryfocusof
thisdocumentisrouting(alayer3function),thediscussionofTCP(alayer4protocol)willberelativelybrief.

TCP
TCPisaconnectionorientedtransportprotocolthatsendsdataasanunstructuredstreamofbytes.Byusingsequencenumbersandacknowledgment
messages,TCPcanprovideasendingnodewithdeliveryinformationaboutpacketstransmittedtoadestinationnode.Wheredatahasbeenlostintransitfrom
sourcetodestination,TCPcanretransmitthedatauntileitheratimeoutconditionisreachedoruntilsuccessfuldeliveryhasbeenachieved.TCPcanalso
recognizeduplicatemessagesandwilldiscardthemappropriately.Ifthesendingcomputeristransmittingtoofastforthereceivingcomputer,TCPcanemploy
flowcontrolmechanismstoslowdatatransfer.TCPcanalsocommunicatesdeliveryinformationtotheupperlayerprotocolsandapplicationsitsupports.All
thesecharacteristicsmakesTCPanendtoendreliabletransportprotocol.TCPisspecifiedinRFC793 .

Figure1TCP/IPProtocolSuiteinRelationtotheOSIReferenceModel

Figure2ImportantInternetProtocolsinRelationtotheOSIReferenceModel

RefertotheTCPsectionofInternetProtocolsformoreinformation.

IP
IPistheprimaryLayer3protocolintheInternetsuite.Inadditiontointernetworkrouting,IPprovideserrorreportingandfragmentationandreassemblyof
informationunitscalleddatagramsfortransmissionovernetworkswithdifferentmaximumdataunitsizes.IPrepresentstheheartoftheInternetProtocolsuite.
Note:ThetermIPinthesectionreferstoIPv4unlessotherwisestatedexplicitly.
IPaddressesaregloballyunique,32bitnumbersassignedbytheNetworkInformationCenter.GloballyuniqueaddressespermitIPnetworksanywhereinthe
worldtocommunicatewitheachother.
AnIPaddressisdividedintotwoparts.Thefirstpartdesignatesthenetworkaddresswhilethesecondpartdesignatesthehostaddress.
TheIPaddressspaceisdividedintodifferentnetworkclasses.ClassAnetworksareintendedmainlyforusewithafewverylargenetworks,becausethey
provideonly8bitsforthenetworkaddressfield.ClassBnetworksallocate16bits,andClassCnetworksallocate24bitsforthenetworkaddressfield.ClassC
networksonlyprovide8bitsforthehostfield,however,sothenumberofhostspernetworkmaybealimitingfactor.Inallthreecases,theleftmostbit(s)
indicatethenetworkclass.IPaddressesarewrittenindotteddecimalformatforexample,34.0.0.1.Figure3showstheaddressformatsforClassA,B,andC
IPnetworks.

Figure3AddressFormatsforClassA,B,andCIPNetworks

IPnetworksalsocanbedividedintosmallerunitscalledsubnetworksor"subnets."Subnetsprovideextraflexibilityforthenetworkadministrator.Forexample,
assumethatanetworkhasbeenassignedaClassAaddressandallthenodesonthenetworkuseaClassAaddress.Furtherassumethatthedotteddecimal
representationofthisnetwork'saddressis34.0.0.0.(Allzerosinthehostfieldofanaddressspecifytheentirenetwork.)Theadministratorcansubdividethe
networkusingsubnetting.Thisisdoneby"borrowing"bitsfromthehostportionoftheaddressandusingthemasasubnetfield,asdepictedinFigure4.

Figure4"Borrowing"Bits

Ifthenetworkadministratorhaschosentouse8bitsofsubnetting,thesecondoctetofaClassAIPaddressprovidesthesubnetnumber.Inourexample,
address34.1.0.0referstonetwork34,subnet1address34.2.0.0referstonetwork34,subnet2,andsoon.

Thenumberofbitsthatcanbeborrowedforthesubnetaddressvaries.Tospecifyhowmanybitsareusedtorepresentthenetworkandthesubnetportionof
theaddress,IPprovidessubnetmasks.SubnetmasksusethesameformatandrepresentationtechniqueasIPaddresses.Subnetmaskshaveonesinallbits
exceptthosethatspecifythehostfield.Forexample,thesubnetmaskthatspecifies8bitsofsubnettingforClassAaddress34.0.0.0is255.255.0.0.The
subnetmaskthatspecifies16bitsofsubnettingforClassAaddress34.0.0.0is255.255.255.0.BothofthesesubnetmasksarepicturedinFigure5.Subnet
maskscanbepassedthroughanetworkondemandsothatnewnodescanlearnhowmanybitsofsubnettingarebeingusedontheirnetwork.

Figure5SubnetMasks

Traditionally,allsubnetsofthesamenetworknumberusedthesamesubnetmask.Inotherwords,anetworkmanagerwouldchooseaneightbitmaskforall
subnetsinthenetwork.Thisstrategyiseasytomanageforbothnetworkadministratorsandroutingprotocols.However,thispracticewastesaddressspacein
somenetworks.Somesubnetshavemanyhostsandsomehaveonlyafew,buteachconsumesanentiresubnetnumber.Seriallinesarethemostextreme
example,becauseeachhasonlytwohoststhatcanbeconnectedviaaseriallinesubnet.
AsIPsubnetshavegrown,administratorshavelookedforwaystousetheiraddressspacemoreefficiently.Oneofthetechniquesthathasresultediscalled
VariableLengthSubnetMasks(VLSM).WithVLSM,anetworkadministratorcanusealongmaskonnetworkswithfewhostsandashortmaskonsubnetswith
manyhosts.However,thistechniqueismorecomplexthanmakingthemallonesize,andaddressesmustbeassignedcarefully.
OfcourseinordertouseVLSM,anetworkadministratormustusearoutingprotocolthatsupportsit.CiscorouterssupportVLSMwithOpenShortestPathFirst
(OSPF),IntegratedIntermediateSystemtoIntermediateSystem(IntegratedISIS),EnhancedInteriorGatewayRoutingProtocol(EnhancedIGRP),andstatic
routing.RefertoIPAddressingandSubnettingforNewUsersformoreinformationaboutIPaddressingandsubnetting.
Onsomemedia,suchasIEEE802LANs,IPaddressesaredynamicallydiscoveredthroughtheuseoftwoothermembersoftheInternetprotocolsuite:
AddressResolutionProtocol(ARP)andReverseAddressResolutionProtocol(RARP).ARPusesbroadcastmessagestodeterminethehardware(MAClayer)
addresscorrespondingtoaparticularnetworklayeraddress.ARPissufficientlygenerictoallowuseofIPwithvirtuallyanytypeofunderlyingmediaaccess
mechanism.RARPusesbroadcastmessagestodeterminethenetworklayeraddressassociatedwithaparticularhardwareaddress.RARPisespecially
importanttodisklessnodes,forwhichnetworklayeraddressesusuallyareunknownatboottime.

RoutinginIPEnvironments
An"internet"isagroupofinterconnectednetworks.TheInternet,ontheotherhand,isthecollectionofnetworksthatpermitscommunicationbetweenmost
researchinstitutions,universities,andmanyotherorganizationsaroundtheworld.RouterswithintheInternetareorganizedhierarchically.Someroutersareused
tomoveinformationthroughoneparticulargroupofnetworksunderthesameadministrativeauthorityandcontrol.(Suchanentityiscalledanautonomous
system.)Routersusedforinformationexchangewithinautonomoussystemsarecalledinteriorrouters,andtheyuseavarietyofinteriorgatewayprotocols
(IGPs)toaccomplishthisend.RoutersthatmoveinformationbetweenautonomoussystemsarecalledexteriorrouterstheyusetheExteriorGatewayProtocol
(EGP)orBorderGatewayProtocol(BGP).Figure6showstheInternetarchitecture.

Figure6RepresentationoftheInternetArchitecture

RoutingprotocolsusedwithIParedynamicinnature.Dynamicroutingrequiresthesoftwareintheroutingdevicestocalculateroutes.Dynamicrouting
algorithmsadapttochangesinthenetworkandautomaticallyselectthebestroutes.Incontrastwithdynamicrouting,staticroutingcallsforroutestobe
establishedbythenetworkadministrator.Staticroutesdonotchangeuntilthenetworkadministratorchangesthem.
IProutingtablesconsistofdestinationaddress/nexthoppairs.ThissampleroutingtablefromaCiscoroutershowsthatthefirstentryisinterpretedasmeaning
"togettonetwork34.1.0.0(subnet1onnetwork34),thenextstopisthenodeataddress54.34.23.12":

R62500#showiproute
Codes:Cconnected,Sstatic,IIGRP,RRIP,Mmobile,BBGP
DEIGRP,EXEIGRPexternal,OOSPF,IAOSPFinterarea
N1OSPFNSSAexternaltype1,N2OSPFNSSAexternaltype2
E1OSPFexternaltype1,E2OSPFexternaltype2,EEGP
iISIS,suISISsummary,L1ISISlevel1,L2ISISlevel2
iaISISinterarea,*candidatedefault,Uperuserstaticroute
oODR,Pperiodicdownloadedstaticroute
Gatewayoflastresortisnotset

34.0.0.0/16issubnetted,1subnets
O

34.1.0.0[110/65]via54.34.23.12,00:00:51,Serial0
54.0.0.0/24issubnetted,1subnets
C

54.34.23.0isdirectlyconnected,Serial0
R62500#

Aswehaveseen,IProutingspecifiesthatIPdatagramstravelthroughaninternetworkonerouterhopatatime.Theentirerouteisnotknownattheoutsetof
thejourney.Instead,ateachstop,thenextrouterhopisdeterminedbymatchingthedestinationaddresswithinthedatagramwithanentryinthecurrentnode's
routingtable.Eachnode'sinvolvementintheroutingprocessconsistsonlyofforwardingpacketsbasedoninternalinformation.IPdoesnotprovideforerror
reportingbacktothesourcewhenroutinganomaliesoccur.ThistaskislefttoanotherInternetprotocoltheInternetControlMessageProtocol(ICMP).
ICMPperformsanumberoftaskswithinanIPinternetwork.Inadditiontotheprincipalreasonforwhichitwascreated(reportingroutingfailuresbacktothe
source),ICMPprovidesamethodfortestingnodereachabilityacrossaninternet(theICMPEchoandReplymessages),amethodforincreasingrouting
efficiency(theICMPRedirectmessage),amethodforinformingsourcesthatadatagramhasexceededitsallocatedtimetoexistwithinaninternet(theICMP
TimeExceededmessage),andotherhelpfulmessages.Allinall,ICMPisanintegralpartofanyIPimplementation,particularlythosethatruninrouters.See
theRelatedInformation

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