TCP IP Role in the Expansion of the Internet
Computer Sciences and Information Technology
TCP IP Role in the Expansion of the Internet
Introduction
The internet is yet to reach its full potential since its beginning as a DARPA Net for the United States Defense Department and research. DARPA Net evolved to Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP IP) framework that has become the main catalyst for the expansion of the internet into a worldwide network. TCP IP is a communication mechanism data set embodied in software that allows users to access the internet and other private networks. Each set of data communication mechanism is intended to perform specific functions. The mechanisms are divided into two protocol categories basing on their functions. The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) suite is the first category that conducts data processing and handling from applications. Another protocol is the Internet Protocol (IP) suite which is more networks oriented and performs the function of data transmission and receipt of application across a network. Both sets of protocols suites form the TCP/IP suite of protocols, which allows networks to be connected to different computer types and other devices over a great distance and communicate through a wide variety of ways such as e-mail. The capabilities of the TCP/IP is one of the things that made it important to the Defence department, the business sector and the enter world as of today. The value and significance of TCP/IP today are so high that without it the access to the internet or devices connected to it would be impossible. With the expansion TCP/IP beyond the commercial world, this paper discusses how the structure of the TCP/IP framework has enabled the expansion of the internet into a worldwide network. The paper also provides some of the issues of TCP/IP networks and factors concerning the network evolution process.
History of the TCP/IP framework
Initially, TCP/IP was intended to be used in a small environment that emerged as a communication protocol for defense projects. The roots of TCP/IP are traced back in January 1983 when an approximate of 400 computers were able to communicate to each other through the ARPAnet network connection by the use of informally TCP/IP collection. ARPAnet then was a DoD-sponsored network used for supporting the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) for the facilitation of development and research for advanced military and defense technologies. The ARPAnet interconnected was connected to computers that were essential in contributing to the ARPA’s project including those owned by different companies, research institutions and bodies, and government agencies (Kessler, 2019). TCP/IP benefits of acting as a unifying element by enabling incompatible systems to collaborate and interoperate revolutionized computer networking and transformed the DoD’s small internetwork into the internet. ARPAnet with the support of TCP/IP continued to grow and eventually was known as the internet with increased widespread acceptance. The U.S. government expanded the internet to include commercial activities, which saw commercial enterprises establish connectivity and create a website on the internet. It did not take long for organizations to realizing that TCP/IP could be used throughout the internal networks, which would eliminate the need for supporting two different protocols. The functions of TCP/IP made it more popular enabling the expansion of the internet into a worldwide network.
TCP/IP’s Critical Functions
Some of the critical functions of TCP/IP that have played a significant role in the development and increase in internet usage worldwide include Globally Unique Addresses capability, which is an addressing system that allows users to uniquely identify internet-connected machine by creating billions of unique addresses. Another critical function of the TCP/IP is the Packet mechanism which allows data to be sent and received from machine addresses connected to a network. Packets hold all information about addresses that TCP/IP network requires to enable devices to communicate across a network (Sportack, 2019). TCP/IP also performs segmentation and reassembly functions, which involves enhancing communication across a network by chopping up application data into manageable pieces known as segments. Segments are transmitted across a network through stream streams of packets to machines where data is extracted and restored to its original form from the segments.
TCP/IP plays a resequencing function, which involves enabling computers receiving serious packets that are related and put them back in the correct order. The resequencing ability of TCP/IP is significant as there is no guarantee of packets being sent and received in the same order they were sent since the decision of sending packets by routers can vary based on the network congestions or failures discovered within the network. Hence, packets are likely to be received out of sequence (Sportack, 2019). The last critical function of TCP/IP in network communication is data integrity.it is not destined for data traveling across a network to reach its destination as lots of things can go wrong during the data traveling process resulting in loss of packets or garbled data. However, TCP/IP data integrity ability enables the detection of data that is damaged or lost during its travel through the internet. TCP/IP mechanisms discard the data damaged or lost and when appropriate the data is retransmitted until it is received successfully.
The TCP/IP Protocol Architecture
TCP/IP protocols were mostly associated with the Unix operating system in the early stages. However, TCP/IP protocols today are available for all operating systems that are widely used across the globe including in OS/2, OS/400, all Linux, Unix, and all Windows versions since Windows 9x. The TCP/IP suite protocol architecture provides major application components that are commonly used in most commercial TCP/IP software packages and their relation in the expansion of the internet into a worldwide network.
The TCP/IP protocol architecture includes the Network Interface Layer (NIL) which is the lowest layer in the hierarchy of TCP/IP protocol. The NIL protocols enable the systems to transmit data with each when connected on a directly attached network. TCP/IP’s Network Interface Layer protocol performs functions such as encapsulation of IP datagrams into frames transmitted by the network and ensuring that the IP addresses are mapped to the physical addresses used by the network. The Internet Layer comes above the NIL in the TCP/IP protocol hierarchy. The most important protocol in the Internet Layer that has played a significant role in the expansion of the internet is the Internet Protocol (IP). The IP used in the current Internet includes IP version 4 (IPv4) and IP version 6 (IPv6) which provides greatly expanded addressing capacity (Hunt, 2019). The functions of the Internet Protocol include defining the datagram and the internet addressing scheme, moving data between the Transport Layer and the Network Access Layer, routing datagrams to remote hosts, and conducting datagrams fragmentation and re-assembling. The growth of TCP/IP which is expected will result to increase in IP hosts numbers creating a rapid explosion demand for IP addresses. To address the IP addresses issues, IPv6 uses a 128-bit address compared to the 32-bit address used by IPv4. IPv6 capabilities increase flexibility and scalability of internet usage by improving multicast scalability and efficiency, allowing multilevel subnetting and allocation to individual subnet from a global backbone, and it reduces the size of the backbone routing tables due to its hierarchical structure organized space (Parziale, et al., 2006). Other features of IPv6 include built-in authentication and encryption, compatibility ability to communicate and coexist with IPv4, and network interface auto-configuration mechanisms.
The Transport Layer Protocol of the TCP/IP protocol suite contains two important protocols that include the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), which uses the end-to-end error detection and correction to offer reliable data delivery service. Another important protocol in the Transport Layer is the User Datagram Protocol (UCD), which conducts low-overhead, connectionless datagram service delivery. The Transport Layer protocols provide data delivery services between Internet Layer and Application Layer (Hunt, 2019). The last layer of TCP/IP protocol architecture is the Application Layer which includes all processes that deliver data using the Transport Layer protocols. The application protocols keep on evolving and others continue to be added on the layer. Some of the most implemented applications protocols in the expansion of the Internet include the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) for delivering web pages over the network, Domain Name System (DNS) for mapping IP addresses to names assigned to network devices, Network File System (NFS), which allows sharing of files by hosts within a network, and Open Shortest Path First (OSPF), which allows exchange of routing information among network devices.
TCP/IP Security Issues
Despite TCP/IP offering tremendous capabilities, it is faced with major security issues. Some of the common security attacks against TCP/IP include packet sniffing, which is conducted in order to create access to network passwords and cleartext network data. The denial of service (DoS) attacks is conducted to prevent service delivery to legitimate clients by rendering the network resources non-functional (Mateti, 2007). Another security risk to TCP/IP is the use of storms to destruct the network functioning. Storm attack involves generating an abnormally enormous number of packets rendering a network or part of it ineffective. The high possibility of impersonation of an authorized entity to gain access to data or create an unauthorized packet has proved to be a security concern regarding TCP/IP. The replay of messages attacks involves gaining access to information and changing it in transit. Other common attacks used against TCP/IP include using of data destruction viruses, port scanning to identify system vulnerabilities and password cracking techniques to gain access to data and services.
TCP/IP is an open protocol which makes it even more vulnerable to attacks. However, network owners need to ensure that they protect their networks from attacks by applying various anti-attack mechanisms. Some of the solutions that can help in protecting the network from attacks include user data and password encryption, putting in place digital signature and certification authorization for verification of data being sent over the network and to prevent unauthorized access (Parziale, et al., 2006). To prevent improper alteration of messages attacks, the use of integrity checking and message authentication codes would offer the solution. Non-repudiation can be applied as a solution to action denial or service denial to a person who performed it. Denial-of-service attacks can be prevented by address concealment, use of strong keys and frequent key refresh.
In conclusion, the paper discusses several aspects of the TCP/IP framework’s role in the expansion of the internet into a worldwide network. The paper provides TCP/IP history and critical functions that it performs towards internet functionality. The structure of the TCP/IP protocol suite upon which the Internet is built is discussed. The layers and their functions that are discussed in the paper include Applications Layer, Transport Layer, Internet Layer, and Network Access Layer. Issues regarding TCP/IP network security and their solutions are also discussed in the paper.
References
Hunt, C. (2019). TCP/IP Network Administration, 3rd Edition. Safari Books Online. Retrieved from https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/tcpip-network-administration/0596002971/ch01.html
Kessler, G. (2019, July 21). An Overview of TCP/IP Protocols and the Internet. Retrieved from https://www.garykessler.net/library/tcpip.html#evol
Mateti, P. (2007). Security Issues in the TCP/IP Suite. doi: 10.1142/9789812770103_0001
Sportack, M. (2019). The ABCs of TCP/IP. Pearson Education, Cisco Press. Retrieved from http://www.ciscopress.com/articles/article.asp?p=377101&seqNum=2
Parziale, L., Britt, D., Davis, C., Forrester, J., Liu, W., Matthews, C., Rosselot, N. (2006). TCP/IP Tutorial and Technical Overview. International Technical Support Organization. Retrieved from https://www.redbooks.ibm.com/pubs/pdfs/redbooks/gg243376.pdf
