Transport Layer
Transport Layer : Objectives
Describe the purpose of the transport layer in managing the
transportation of data in end-to-end communication.
Describe characteristics of the TCP and UDP protocols, including
port numbers and their uses.
Explain how TCP session establishment and termination processes
facilitate reliable communication.
Explain how TCP protocol data units are transmitted and
acknowledged to guarantee delivery.
Explain the UDP client processes to establish communication with a
server.
Determine whether high-reliability TCP transmissions, or non-
guaranteed UDP transmissions, are best suited for common
applications.
Transportation of Data
Role of the Transport Layer
The transport layer is responsible for establishing a temporary
communication session between two applications and delivering data
between them.
TCP/IP uses two protocols to achieve this:
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)
User Datagram Protocol (UDP)
Primary Responsibilities of Transport Layer Protocols
Tracking the individual communication between applications on the
source and destination hosts
Segmenting data for manageability and reassembling segmented
data into streams of application data at the destination
Identifying the proper application for each communication stream
Transportation of Data
Role of the Transport Layer (Cont.)
Transportation of Data
Conversation Multiplexing
Segmenting the Data
Enables many different communications, from many different
users, to be interleaved (multiplexed) on the same network, at the
same time.
Provides the means to both send and receive data when running
multiple applications.
Header added to each segment to identify it.
Transportation of Data
Conversation Multiplexing (Cont.)
Introducing TCP and UDP
Introducing TCP (Cont.)
Defined in RFC 793
Connection-oriented – Creates a session between the source and
destination
Reliable delivery – Retransmits lost or corrupt data
Ordered data reconstruction – Reconstructs numbering and
sequencing of segments
Flow control – Regulates the amount of data transmitted
Stateful protocol – Tracks the session
TCP Segment
The Sequence Number field gives the TCP segment’s
order in the session.
The Acknowledgement Number field indicates which
segment that this segment is acknowledging.
These fields are 32 bits long.
TCP Segment
Flag fields are one-bit fields.
If the value is 1, the flag field is Set.
If the value is 0, the flag field is Not Set.
Flag bits are SYN, ACK, FIN, and RST.
TCP has six flag fields.
TCP Segment
The TCP Checksum field is for error correction.
The sender computes the value in the field.
If the receiver computes the same value,
it sends an ACK.
If not, the receiver discards the segment and
sends nothing. The sender will resend the
segment. TCP is reliable.
TCP Segment
TCP segments always have headers.
SOME TCP segments do not have data fields.
Supervisory segments, such as SYN, do not carry data because
the information to be conveyed, such as opening a connection,
delivers no data.
TCP segments NEVER have trailers.
Introducing TCP and UDP
Introducing UDP
Defined in RFC 768
Connectionless
Unreliable delivery
No ordered data
reconstruction
No flow control
Stateless protocol
Applications that use
UDP:
Domain Name
System (DNS)
Video Streaming
VoIP
13
Pearson
2.11: UDP Datagram
In UDP, the application message must fit into a single UDP
datagram.
So, few header fields are needed.
The UDP Checksum field is for error detection.
If there is an error, UDP discards the datagram.
If it does not detect an error, it accepts the datagram but
does not send an acknowledgement.
Transport Layer Standards
TCP UDP
Connection-oriented Connectionless
Reliable Unreliable
Places a heavy load on Places a light load on the
the network network
Which is better?
Transportation of Data
The Right Transport Layer Protocol
TCP or UDP
There is a trade-off between the value of reliability and the burden it
places on the network.
Application developers choose the transport protocol based on the
requirements of their applications.
Transportation of Data
The Right Transport Layer Protocol (Cont.)
Port Number Fields
Both TCP and UDP headers begin with
a Source Port Number field and
a Destination Port Number field.
Port Numbers on Servers
Multitasking servers run multiple applications.
Each application is assigned a port number.
Port Numbers on Servers
Major applications usually are given
well-known port numbers from 0 to 1023.
HTTP’s well-known port number is 80.
The File Transfer Protocol has two: 20 and 21.
Separating Multiple Communications
TCP and UDP use port numbers to differentiate between
applications.
TCP and UDP Port Addressing (Cont.)
The combination of the source and destination IP addresses and the
source and destination port numbers is known as a Socket.
TCP and UDP Port Addressing (Cont.)
TCP Port Numbers
TCP and UDP Port Addressing (Cont.)
UDP Port Numbers
TCP and UDP Port Addressing (Cont.)
netstat is used to examine TCP connections that are
open and running on a networked host.
TCP and UDP Segmentation
The Transport Layer divides the data into pieces called segments
and adds a header for delivery over the network.
TCP Reliable Delivery
The reliability of TCP communication is obtained through the use of
connection-oriented sessions.
TCP Server Processes
TCP Server Processes (Cont.)
TCP Connection, Establishment, and
Termination
Three-Way Handshake
Establishes that the destination device is present on the network
Verifies that the destination device has an active service and
accepts requests on the destination port number that the initiating
client intends to use for the session
Informs the destination device that the source client intends to
establish a communication session on that port number
A TCP Connection
A connection opening requires three segments.
SYN segments have only headers with the SYN bit set.
Protocol Data Units
TCP Reliability – Ordered Delivery
Sequence numbers are used to reassemble segments into the
original order.
TCP Reliability – Acknowledgement and
Window Size
The sequence number and acknowledgement number are used
together to confirm receipt.
The window size is the amount of data that a source can transmit
before an acknowledgement must be received.
Protocol Data Units
TCP Reliability – Data Loss and Retransmission
Data Loss and Retransmission
When TCP at the source host has not received an acknowledgement
after a predetermined amount of time, it goes back to the last
acknowledgement number that it received and retransmits data from
that point forward.
Flow Control
Uses the Window Size field in the TCP header to specify the
amount of data that can be transmitted before an
acknowledgement must be received.
Adjusts the effective rate of data transmission to the maximum flow
that the network and destination device can support without loss.
Manages the rate of transmission so that all data is received and
retransmissions are minimized.
Protocol Data Units
TCP Flow Control – Congestion Avoidance
UDP Communication
UDP Low Overhead vs. Reliability
UDP:
Simple protocol that provides the basic transport layer function
Used by applications that can tolerate small loss of data
Used by applications that cannot tolerate delay
UDP used by:
DNS
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)
Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP)
IP telephony or VoIP
Online games
UDP Communication
Datagram Reassembly
UDP Communication
UDP Server Processes and Requests
UDP-based
server
applications are
assigned well-
known or
registered port
numbers.
UDP Communication
UDP Server and Client Processes
UDP client process
randomly selects a
port number from
range of dynamic
port numbers as
the source port.
TCP or UDP, that is the Question
Applications Using TCP
TCP or UDP, that is the Question
Applications Using UDP
Summary
In this chapter, you learned:
The role of the transport layer is to provide three main services:
multiplexing, segmentation and reassembly, and error checking.
It does this by:
• Dividing data received from an application into segments.
• Adding a header to identify and manage each segment.
• Using the header information to reassemble the segments
back into application data.
• Passing the assembled data to the correct application.
How TCP and UDP operate and which popular applications use
each protocol.
Transport Layer functions are necessary to address issues in
QoS and security in networks.
Ports provide a “tunnel” for data to get from the transport layer to
the appropriate application at the destination.
