Basics Of Computer Networking: Communication Protocols | Jones IT

Earlier in this blog post, we already mentioned the Internet Protocol (IP) and the File Transfer Protocols (FTP), which are probably the most common network protocols. In addition to them, here are a few more commonly used protocols:

1. Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)

The World Wide Web functions based on communication between web clients, i.e. browsers, and web servers in the cloud. This communication between client and server happens through the HTTP request/response circle. HTTP is an application layer protocol that is sent over a TCP connection.

The HTTP protocol fetches resources such as HyperText Markup Language (HTML) documents, functioning as the foundation of data exchange on the web. In addition to fetching HTML documents, it can also fetch images and videos or post content to servers.

Hypertext transfer protocol secure (HTTPS) is the secure version of HTTP, which is encrypted in order to increase the security of data transfer.

2. Secure Socket Shell (SSH)

Secure Socket Shell (SSH) is a network protocol that enables users and system administrators to access network devices over an unsecured network. SSH uses a strong password and/or a cryptographic key pair for authentication.

SSH thus allows users to remotely connect to computers or applications and execute commands in a secure way. The SSH protocol is typically used by administrators for executing system management tasks.

3. User Datagram Protocol (UDP)

User Datagram Protocol (UDP) is a communication protocol that facilitates data transfer between network devices. Similar to TCP, UDP also operates in the transport layer and serves as an alternative to TCP where transmissions are time-sensitive and reliability is not as important.

UDP does not formally establish a connection before starting the data transfer, thus speeding up the data transfer. However, this can cause loss of packets. UDP finds use in voice and video communications since they are time-sensitive and designed to handle some amount of packet loss.

For example, UDP is used for real-time communication such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony. In this case, UDP is preferred over TCP because some loss in voice quality is preferable to heavily delayed transmission.