What is TCP/IP?

A network communications protocol is a set of formal rules that describe how software and hardware should interact within a network. For the network to function properly, information must be delivered to the intended destination in an intelligible form. Because different types of networking software and hardware need to interact to perform the networking function, designers developed the concept of the communications protocol.

The Solaris operating environment includes the software needed for network operations for your organization. This networking software implements the communications protocol suite, collectively referred to as TCP/IP. TCP/IP is recognized as a standard by major international standards organizations and is used throughout the world. Because it is a set of standards, TCP/IP runs on many different types of computers, making it easy for you to set up a heterogeneous network running the Solaris operating environment.

TCP/IP provides services to many different types of computers, operating systems, and networks. Types of networks range from local area networks, such as Ethernet, FDDI, and Token Ring, to wide-area networks, such as T1 (telephone lines), X.25, and ATM.

You can use TCP/IP to construct a network out of a number of local-area networks. You can also use TCP/IP to construct a wide-area network by way of virtually any point-to-point digital circuit.

TCP/IP and its protocol family are fully described in Chapter 4, Overview of TCP/IP.