-=X-MistiKmaN's Guide to TCP/IP-X=-
What is TCP/IP?TCP/IP Is the communication protocol for anything that accesses the internet.
TCP/IP Stands for;
Transmission
Control
Protocol/
Internet
Protocol.
TCP/IP Defines how these devices should access the internet and how data should be communicated.
TCP/IP ProtocolsTCP. Transmission Control Protocol. Communication between applications.
UDP. User Datagram Protocol. Simple communication between applications.
IP. Internet Protocol. Communication between computers.
ICMP. Internet Control Message Protocol. For errors and statistics.
DHCP. Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. For dynamic addressing.
HTTP. Hyper Text Transfer Protocol. Takes care of the communication between a web server and a web browser.
HTTPS. Secure HTTP. For secure communication between web browsers and servers, for things like passwords and credit card details.
SSL. Secure Sockets Layer. SSL is used for encryption of data to make it that little bit more secure.
SMTP. Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. Transmission of E-mails.
MIME. Multi-Purpose Internet Mail Extensions. Allows for communication of voice clips, videos pics and other media via SMTP.
IMAP. Internet Message Access Protocol. Used for storing and retrieving E-mails.
POP. Post Office Protocol. Used for downloading E-mails from a server to a personal computer.
FTP. File Transfer Protocol. Takes the hassle out of transmitting files.

NTP. Network Time Protocol. Used to synchronise the time between computers.
DHCP. Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. DHCP is used for allocation of dynamic IP addresses to computers in a network.
SNMP. Simple Network Management Protocol. Used for administrations of networks.
LDAP. Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. Used for collecting info about users and E-mails.
ARP. Address Resolution Protocol. ARP is used by IP to find the hardware address of a computer network card based on the IP address.
RARP. Reverse ARP. Used to find the IP address based on info from the hardware.
BOOTP. Boot Protocol. Used for starting computers from the network.
PPTP. Point to Point Tunneling Protocol. Used to setup a private coneciton between networks.
Fixed ConnectionsTCP Uses a fixed connection and is used for communication between applications. If one application wants to communicate with another via TCP a request is sent. Once both applications allow access, TCP will setup a "full-duplex" communicaiton between the two applications. The "full-duplex" communication will occupy the communicaiton line between the two computers until it is closed by one of the two applications. UDP is very similiar to TCP, but simpler and less reliable.
Connection-Less IP Is a connection-less communication protocol and is used for communication between computers. With IP, data is broken into little "packets" and sent between computers via the internet. IP is responsible for making sure data is delivered to the correct location.
IP RoutersWhen an IP packet is sent from a computer, it arrives at an IP router. The IP router is responsible for "routing" the packet to the correct destination, directly or via another router. The path the packet will follow might be different from other packets of the same communication. The router is responsible for the right addressing, depending on traffic volume, errors in the network, or other reasons.
TCP/IPTCP/IP Is TCP and IP working together. TCP takes care of your software(I.E. you browser) and your networking software. Whilst IP takes care of the comunication between computers. TCP breaks data down into IP packets, before they are sent, and assembles them when they arrive. IP is responsible for making sure the packets reach the correct destination.
IP AddressesEach computer must have an IP address before it can connect to the internet. Each IP packet must also have an address before it is sent to another computer. An IP address contains 4 numbers. Each of these numbers is a value between 0 and 255. I am not going to explain why, I'm too lazy. Each number is also seperated with a period.