1.2.What is a Protocol?

Now that we've got a bit of a feel for what the "Internet" is, let's consider another important word is the title of this book: "protocol." What is a protocol? What does a protocol do? How would you recognize a protocol if you met one?

A Human Analogy

It is probably easiest to understand the notion of a computer network protocol by first considering some human analogies, since we humans execute protocols all of the time. Consider what you do when you want to ask someone for the time of day. A typical exchange is shown in Figure 1.2-1. Human protocol (or good manners, at least) dictates that one first offers a greeting (the first "Hi" in Figure 1.2-1) to initiate communication with someone else. The typical response to a "Hi" message (at least outside of New York City) is a returned "Hi" message. Implicitly, one then takes a cordial "Hi" response as an indication that one can proceed ahead and ask for the time of day. A different response to the initial "Hi" (such as "Don't bother me!", or "I don't speak English," or an unprintable reply that one might receive in New York City) might indicate an unwillingness or inability to communicate. In this case, the human protocol would be to not ask for the time of day. Sometimes one gets no reponse at all to a question, in which case one typically gives up asking that person for the time. Note that in our human protocol, there are specific messages we send, and specific actions we take in response to the received reply messages or other events (such as no reply within some given amount of time). Clearly, transmitted and received messages, and actions taken when these message are sent or received or other events occur, play a central role in a human protocol. If people run different protocols (e.g., if one person has manners but the other does not, or if one understands the concept of time and the other does not) the protocols do not interoperate and no useful work can be accomplished. The same is true in networking -- it takes two (or more) communicating entities running the same protocol in order to accomplish a task.

Let's consider a second human analogy. Suppose you're in a college class (a computer networking class, for example!). The teacher is droning on about protocols and you're confused. The teacher stops to ask, "Are there any questions?" (a message that is transmitted to, and received by, all students who are not sleeping). You raise your hand (transmitting an implicit message to the teacher). Your teacher acknowledges you with a smile, saying "Yes ......." (a transmitted message encouraging you to ask your question - teachers love to be asked questions) and you then ask your question (i.e., transmit your message to your teacher). Your teacher hears your question (receives your question message) and answers (transmits a reply to you). Once again, we see that the transmission and receipt of messages, and a set of conventional actions taken when these mesages are sent and received, are at the heart of this question-and-answer protocol.

Network Protocols

A network protocol is similar to a human protocol, except that the entities exchanging messages and taking actions are hardware or software components of a computer network, components that we will study shortly in the following sections. All activity in the Internet that involves two or more communicating remote entities is governed by a protocol. Protocols in routers determine a packet's path from source to destination; hardware-implemented protocols in the network interface cards of two physically connected computers control the flow of bits on the "wire" between the two computers; a congestion control protocol controls the rate at which packets are transmitted between sender and receiver. Protocols are running everywhere in the Internet, and consequently much of this book is about computer network protocols. What is a protocol?

Figure 1.2-1: A human protocol and a computer network protocol

As an example of a computer network protocol with which you are probably familiar, consider what happens when you make a request to a WWW server, i.e., when you type in the URL of a WWW page into your web browser. The scenario is illustrated in the right half of Figure 1.2-1. First, your computer will send a so-called "connection request" message to the WWW server and wait for a reply. The WWW server will eventually receive your connection request message and return a "connection reply" message. Knowing that it is now OK to request the WWW document, your computer then sends the name of the WWW page it wants to fetch from that WWW server in a "get" message. Finally, the WWW server returns the contents of the WWW document to your computer.

Given the human and networking examples above, the exchange of messages and the actions taken when these messages are sent and received are the key defining elements of a protocol:

A protocol defines the format and the order of messages exchanged between two or more communicating entities, as well as the actions taken on the transmission and/or receipt of a message.

The Internet, and computer networks in general, make extensive use of protocols. Different protocols are used to accomplish different communication tasks. As you read through this book, you will learn that some protocols are simple and straightforward, while others are complex and intellectually deep. Mastering the field of computer networking is equivalent to understanding the what, why and how of networking protocols.

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