What Are Network Protocols? – IT Glossary | SolarWinds

Types of network protocols

Different protocols serve different functions to ensure efficient, quick, and secure network communication. Various types of network protocols can be categorized into the following three broad categories to help organizations operate seamlessly across different business scenarios:

1. Network Communication Protocols: These protocols determine the rules and formats to transfer data across networks. Communication protocols govern various aspects of analog and digital communications, such as syntax, authentication, semantics, and error detection, among others. Some key network communication protocols include:

• Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP): Commonly referred to as the protocol of the internet that allows communication between a server and browser.
• Transmission Control Protocol (TCP): A reliable, connection-oriented protocol that helps in the sequential transmission of data packets to ensure data reaches the destination on time without duplication.
• Internet Protocol (IP): Facilitates routing the data packets across networks. IP contains addressing and control information to deliver packets across a network. It works along with TCP. While it ensures delivering the packets to the right address, TCP aligns them in the right order.
• User Datagram Protocol (UDP): Unlike TCP, UDP is a connectionless protocol that doesn’t ensure a connection between the application and server before transmitting a message. It’s effective for use cases such as broadcasts or multicast connections.
• File Transfer Protocol (FTP): Allows file sharing between servers by establishing two TCP connections, one for data transfer and the other for control. The data transfer connection transfers the actual files while the control connection transfers control information such as passwords to ensure data retrieval in case of data loss.

Helps diagnose network connectivity issues. Network devices employ ICMP for sending error messages, highlighting congestion and timeouts, and transmitting other operational information to assist in network troubleshooting.

2. Network Security Protocols: These protocols ensure safe data transmission over the network connections. Network security protocols define the procedures to secure data from any unauthorized access. These protocols leverage encryption and cryptography to safeguard. Here are the most widely used network security protocols:

• Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP): Helps securely transfer files across a network by using public-key encryption and authenticating the client and server.
• Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS): Overcomes the limitation of HTTP by ensuring the security of data transmitted between the browser and server through data encryption. HTTPS is a secure version of HTTP.
• Secure Socket Layer (SSL): Primarily helps secure internet connections and safeguard sensitive data using encryption. SSL protocol enables both server-client communication and server-server communication.

3. Network Management Protocols: Network managers require standard policies and procedures to manage and monitor the network for maintaining smooth communication. Network management protocols ensure quick troubleshooting and optimal performance across the network. The following are essential network protocols management:

• Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP): Helps administrators manage network devices by monitoring endpoint information to proactively track network performance and pinpoint network glitches for quick troubleshooting.
• Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP): Helps diagnose network connectivity issues. Network devices employ ICMP for sending error messages, highlighting congestion and timeouts, and transmitting other operational information to assist in network troubleshooting.