TCP/IP

Details - Frequently Asked Questions - Anecdotes - Links to other sites


Definition: Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol - A set of protocols that are used by computers on the Internet to communicate with each other. It is used by all computers on the Internet or any Intranet. It is invariable abbreviated to TCP/IP.
Discussion: Amongst other things it defines the addresses of all the computers on the Internet. This is know as the IP address. The IP address for www.nmib.com is 195.12.2.199. Every computer on the Internet has a unique IP address. Because of the shortage of IP addresses it is common to re-assign a computer an IP address each time it joins the Internet or Intranet. That way, while it is off line someone else can be using the address. The result of this is that you will not necessarily have the same IP address each time you join the Internet.; Whenever you type in a web address, the equivalent IP address is looked up in a directory and it is the IP address that is used to locate the relevant computer.
More Details (sometimes Technical): Coming soon.
Frequently Asked Questions: How many IP addresses are there? With the current version of IP (version 4) there are four billion IP addresses. IP v6 provides over 300 billion billion billion or enough for almost one billion billion per square metre of the earth's surface.; What other communication protocols are there? Some other examples are NetBEUI is used on Networks of PC's running Windows, IPX is used by Novell networks, etc.
Anecdotes: None yet
Links to other sites: The specification of IP version 6 is contained in RFC 1752 at http://www.rfc-editor.org/

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