- Transport layer
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The OSI model 7 Application layer 6 Presentation layer 5 Session layer 4 Transport layer 3 Network layer 2 Data link layer 1 Physical layer Internet protocol suite Application layer Transport layer Internet layer Link layer In computer networking, the transport layer or layer 4 provides end-to-end communication services for applications[1] within a layered architecture of network components and protocols. The transport layer provides convenient services such as connection-oriented data stream support, reliability, flow control, and multiplexing.
Transport layers are contained in both the TCP/IP model (RFC 1122),[2] which is the foundation of the Internet, and the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model of general networking. The definitions of the transport layer are slightly different in these two models. This article primarily refers to the TCP/IP model, in which TCP is largely for a convenient application programming interface to internet hosts, as opposed to the OSI-model definition of the transport layer.
The most well-known transport protocol is the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). It lent its name to the title of the entire Internet Protocol Suite, TCP/IP. It is used for connection-oriented transmissions, whereas the connectionless User Datagram Protocol (UDP) is used for simpler messaging transmissions. TCP is the more complex protocol, due to its stateful design incorporating reliable transmission and data stream services. Other prominent protocols in this group are the Datagram Congestion Control Protocol (DCCP) and the Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP).
Contents
Services
There are many services that can be optionally provided by a transport-layer protocol, and different protocols may or may not implement them.
- Connection-oriented communication: Interpreting the connection as a data stream can provide many benefits to applications. It is normally easier to deal with than the underlying connection-less models, such as the Transmission Control Protocol's underlying Internet Protocol model of datagrams.
- Byte orientation: Rather than processing the messages in the underlying communication system format, it is often easier for an application to process the data stream as a sequence of bytes. This simplification helps applications work with various underlying message formats.
- Same order delivery: The network layer doesn't generally guarantee that packets of data will arrive in the same order that they were sent, but often this is a desirable feature. This is usually done through the use of segment numbering, with the receiver passing them to the application in order. This can cause head-of-line blocking.
- Reliability: Packets may be lost during transport due to network congestion and errors. By means of an error detection code, such as a checksum, the transport protocol may check that the data is not corrupted, and verify correct receipt by sending an ACK or NACK message to the sender. Automatic repeat request schemes may be used to retransmit lost or corrupted data.
- Flow control: The rate of data transmission between two nodes must sometimes be managed to prevent a fast sender from transmitting more data than can be supported by the receiving data buffer, causing a buffer overrun. This can also be used to improve efficiency by reducing buffer underrun.
- Congestion avoidance: Congestion control can control traffic entry into a telecommunications network, so as to avoid congestive collapse by attempting to avoid oversubscription of any of the processing or link capabilities of the intermediate nodes and networks and taking resource reducing steps, such as reducing the rate of sending packets. For example, automatic repeat requests may keep the network in a congested state; this situation can be avoided by adding congestion avoidance to the flow control, including slow-start. This keeps the bandwidth consumption at a low level in the beginning of the transmission, or after packet retransmission.
- Multiplexing: Ports can provide multiple endpoints on a single node. For example, the name on a postal address is a kind of multiplexing, and distinguishes between different recipients of the same location. Computer applications will each listen for information on their own ports, which enables the use of more than one network service at the same time. It is part of the transport layer in the TCP/IP model, but of the session layer in the OSI model.
Analysis
The transport layer is responsible for delivering data to the appropriate application process on the host computers. This involves statistical multiplexing of data from different application processes, i.e. forming data packets, and adding source and destination port numbers in the header of each transport-layer data packet. Together with the source and destination IP address, the port numbers constitutes a network socket, i.e. an identification address of the process-to-process communication. In the OSI model, this function is supported by the session layer.
Some transport-layer protocols, for example TCP, but not UDP, support virtual circuits, i.e. provide connection oriented communication over an underlying packet oriented datagram network. A byte-stream is delivered while hiding the packet mode communication for the application processes. This involves connection establishment, dividing of the data stream into packets called segments, segment numbering and reordering of out-of order data.
Finally, some transport-layer protocols, for example TCP, but not UDP, provide end-to-end reliable communication, i.e. error recovery by means of error detecting code and automatic repeat request (ARQ) protocol. The ARQ protocol also provides flow control, which may be combined with congestion avoidance.
UDP is a very simple protocol, and does not provide virtual circuits, nor reliable communication, delegating these functions to the application program. UDP packets are called datagrams, rather than segments.
TCP is used for many protocols, including HTTP web browsing and email transfer. UDP may be used for multicasting and broadcasting, since retransmissions are not possible to a large amount of hosts. UDP typically gives higher throughput and shorter latency, and is therefore often used for real-time multimedia communication where packet loss occasionally can be accepted, for example IP-TV and IP-telephony, and for online computer games.
The OSI model 7 Application layer 6 Presentation layer 5 Session layer 4 Transport layer 3 Network layer 2 Data link layer 1 Physical layer In many non-IP-based networks, for example X.25, Frame Relay and ATM, the connection oriented communication is implemented at network layer or data link layer rather than the transport layer. In X.25, in telephone network modems and in wireless communication systems, reliable node-to-node communication is implemented at lower protocol layers.
The OSI model defines five classes of transport protocols: TP0, providing the least error recovery, to TP4, which is designed for less reliable networks.
Protocols
The exact definition of what qualifies as a transport-layer protocol is not firm. The following is a short list:
- ATP, AppleTalk Transaction Protocol
- CUDP, Cyclic UDP
- DCCP, Datagram Congestion Control Protocol
- FCP, Fiber Channel Protocol
- IL, IL Protocol
- NBF, NetBIOS Frames protocol
- RDP, Reliable Datagram Protocol
- SCTP, Stream Control Transmission Protocol
- SPX, Sequenced Packet Exchange
- SST, Structured Stream Transport
- TCP, Transmission Control Protocol
- UDP, User Datagram Protocol
- UDP Lite
- µTP, Micro Transport Protocol
Comparison of transport-layer protocols
Feature Name UDP UDP Lite TCP SCTP DCCP RUDP Packet header size 8 Bytes 8 Bytes 20-60 Bytes 12 Bytes 12 or 16 bytes Transport-layer packet entity Datagram Datagram Segment Datagram Datagram Datagram Connection oriented No No Yes Yes Yes No Reliable transport No No Yes Yes No Yes Unreliable transport Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Preserve message boundary Yes Yes No Yes Yes Unsure Ordered delivery No No Yes Yes No No Unordered delivery Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Data checksum Optional Yes Yes Yes Yes Unsure Checksum size (bits) 16 16 16 32 16 Unsure Partial checksum No Yes No No Yes No Path MTU No No Yes Yes Yes Unsure Flow control No No Yes Yes No Congestion control No No Yes Yes Yes Unsure ECN support No No Yes Yes Yes Multiple streams No No No Yes No No Multi-homing support No No No Yes No No Bundling / Nagle No No Yes Yes No Unsure NAT friendly[3] Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Comparison of OSI transport protocols
The OSI model defines five classes of connection-mode transport protocols designated class 0 (TP0) to class 4 (TP4). Class 0 contains no error recovery, and was designed for use on network layers that provide error-free connections. Class 4 is closest to TCP, although TCP contains functions, such as the graceful close, which OSI assigns to the session layer. All OSI connection-mode protocol classes provide expedited data and preservation of record boundaries. Detailed characteristics of the classes are shown in the following table:[4]
Service TP0 TP1 TP2 TP3 TP4 Connection oriented network Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Connectionless network No No No No Yes Concatenation and separation No Yes Yes Yes Yes Segmentation and reassembly Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Error Recovery No Yes No Yes Yes Reinitiate connection (if an excessive number of PDUs are unacknowledged) No Yes No Yes No multiplexing and demultiplexing over a single virtual circuit No No Yes Yes Yes Explicit flow control No No Yes Yes Yes Retransmission on timeout No No No No Yes Reliable Transport Service No Yes No Yes Yes References
- ^ RFC 1122, §1.1.3. "The transport layer provides end-to-end communication services for applications."
- ^ RFC 1122, Requirements for Internet Hosts -- Communication Layers, IETF, R. Braden (Editor), October 1989
- ^ RFC 3235, Network Address Translator (NAT)-Friendly Application Design Guidelines. D. Senie. January 2002.
- ^ "ITU-T Recommendation X.224 (11/1995) ISO/IEC 8073". http://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-X.224-199511-I/en/.
Categories:- Internet protocols
- Transport layer protocols
- OSI protocols
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