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The Internet Protocol suite (IP suite) is the standard network model and communication protocol stack used on the internet and on most other computer networks.

While other networking models exist, the IP suite is overwhelmingly the global standard for computer-to-computer communication.

The United States Department of Defense (DoD) developed the Internet Protocol suite from research at DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). For this reason, the model is also sometimes referred to as the DoD model.

The IP suite follows a client/server model, in which multiple client programs share the services of a common server program. Protocols in the suite define end-to-end data handling methods for everything from packetizing, addressing and routing to receiving.

It’s helpful to think of networking in terms of layers. Broken down into layers the IPS includes the link layer, the internet layer, the transport layer, application layer and the physical layer. Each layer contains a number of protocols for communications. The suite is sometimes just called TCP/IP, because those are the predominant protocols in the model and were the first ones used.

However, the IP suite also involves many other protocols.

For example, the Application layer consists of protocols such as DHCP, HTTP, FTP, SSH, RTSP, Telnet and TLS/SSL. The Transport layer has the TCP, UDP, DCCP, SCTP and RSVP protocols. The Internet layer consists of IP, IPv4, IPv6, ICMP, ICMPv6, ECN, IGMP and IPsec protocols.

There’s also a Data link layer with its family of protocols: ARP, NDP, OSPF, L2TP, PPP, MAC, Ethernet, DSL, ISDN and FDDI.

Want to learn more? Tonex offers Introduction to Networking | Hands-On Workshop, a 3-day course where participants learn the concepts and principles of the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) protocol suite and their basic configuration as well as how the most important protocols function.

This workshop features extensive hands-on exercises that provide the practical experience you need to configure a host, employ TCP/IP tools, use application services and access TCP/IP-based internetworking.

For more information, questions, comments, contact us.

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