Protocol what is

Term of the Day. Best of Techopedia weekly. News and Special Offers occasional. Techopedia Explains Protocol. What Does Protocol Mean?

Techopedia Explains Protocol Similar to programming languages, protocols are based on specific rules and regulations for computing and are designed for efficiency. Such processes include: Type of task Process nature Data flow rate Data type Device management A single process can be handled by more than one protocol simultaneously. Share this Term.

Tech moves fast! Stay ahead of the curve with Techopedia! Ad hoc networks establish a connection between two devices without an internet connection. Passive optical networks PONs bring high broadband speeds and fiber to end users' doorsteps. IT pros should know what a PON is and how it can provide network solutions. Communication protocols allow different network devices to communicate with each other. They are used in both analog and digital communications and can be used for important processes, ranging from transferring files between devices to accessing the internet.

Network management protocols define and describe the various procedures needed to effectively operate a computer network. These protocols affect various devices on a single network — including computers, routers and servers — to ensure each one, and the network as a whole, perform optimally. Security protocols, also called cryptographic protocols, work to ensure that the network and the data sent over it are protected from unauthorized users. Network protocols do not simply define how devices and processes work; they define how devices and processes work together.

Without these predetermined conventions and rules, the internet would lack the necessary infrastructure it needs to be functional and useable. Fiber cable can also be used at this level in 10BaseFL. The Fast Ethernet protocol supports transmission up to Mbps. In addition, category 5 twisted pair or fiber optic cable is necessary. Fast Ethernet standards include:.

Gigabit Ethernet standard is a protocol that has a transmission speed of 1 Gbps Mbps. It can be used with both fiber optic cabling and copper. The Ethernet standards continue to evolve. Several very popular network protocols, commonly used in the 90's and early 21st century have now largely fallen into disuse.

While you may hear terms from time to time, such as "Localtalk" Apple or "Token Ring" IBM , you will rarely find these systems still in operation. Although they played an important role in the evolution of networking, their performance and capacity limitations have relegated them to the past, in the wake of the standardization of Ethernet driven by the success of the Internet.

The network layer is in charge of routing network messages data from one computer to another. Every network device such as network interface cards and printers have a physical address called a MAC Media Access Control address.

When you purchase a network card, the MAC address is fixed and cannot be changed. Networks using the IP and IPX protocols assign logical addresses which are made up of the MAC address and the network address to the devices on the network, This can all become quite complex -- suffice it to say that the network layer takes care of assigning the correct addresses via IP or IPX and then uses routers to send the data packets to other networks.

The transport layer is concerned with efficient and reliable transportation of the data packets from one network to another. In most cases, a document, e-mail message or other piece of information is not sent as one unit.

Instead, it is broken into small data packets, each with header information that identifies its correct sequence and document. When the data packets are sent over a network, they may or may not take the same route -- it doesn't matter. At the receiving end, the data packets are re-assembled into the proper order.

After all packets are received, a message goes back to the originating network.