Protocol

ITA Terms · ‎06-10-2009

Description:
Complete Definition:

Description:

Protocol (network): a communication standard for network/host devices that facilitates messaging between entities.

Complete Definition:

It is difficult to generalize about protocols because they vary so greatly in purpose and sophistication. Most protocols specify one or more of the following properties:

Detection of the underlying physical connection (wired or wireless), or the existence of the other endpoint or node
Handshaking
Negotiation of various connection characteristics
How to start and end a message
How to format a message
What to do with corrupted or improperly formatted messages (error correction)
How to detect unexpected loss of the connection, and what to do next
Termination of the session or connection.

Wikipedia Definition of Network Protocol

Some Common Protocols examples (***Not an exhaustive list):

Network Layer 3 Protocols:

IP (Internet Protocol)
UDP (User Datagram Protocol)
TCP (Transmission Control Protocol)
ICMP
IPX
Appletalk

Layer 2 LAN Protocols:

Layer 2 protocols are responsible for converting data packets passed to it by the Network/Internet Layer (above) into binary data in frames. This data is passed to the Physical Layer.

STP (Spanning Tree Protocol)

Routing Protocols:

A routing protocol is a set of rules or standard that determines how routers on a network communicate and exchange information with each other, enabling them to select best routes to a remote network.

WAN protocols:

Frame relay
HDLC
ATM
DSL
SONET
X.25
ISDN
LAPB
SDLC
PPP

Application protocols:

DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol)
HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol)
FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
Telnet (Telnet Remote Protocol)
SSH (Secure Shell Remote Protocol)
POP3 (Post Office Protocol 3)
SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)
IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol)

And MANY MANY more not listed.