Transport Layer—Data Encapsulation Begins

When the data arrives at the transport layer, the protocols at the layer start the process of data encapsulation. The end result depends on whether TCP or UDP handles the information.

TCP Segmentation

TCP is often called a “connection-oriented” protocol because TCP ensures the successful delivery of data to the receiving host. Figure 2–1 shows how the TCP protocol receives the stream from the rlogin command. TCP divides the data that is received from the application layer into segments and attaches a header to each segment.

Segment headers contain sender and recipient ports, segment ordering information, and a data field that is known as a checksum. The TCP protocols on both hosts use the checksum data to determine if the data transfers without error.

Establishing a TCP Connection

TCP uses segments to determine whether the receiving host is ready to receive the data. When the sending TCP wants to establish connections, TCP sends a segment that is called a SYN to the TCP protocol on the receiving host. The receiving TCP returns a segment that is called an ACK to acknowledge the successful receipt of the segment. The sending TCP sends another ACK segment, then proceeds to send the data. This exchange of control information is referred to as a three-way handshake.

UDP Packets

UDP is a “connectionless” protocol. Unlike TCP, UDP does not check that data arrived at the receiving host. Instead, UDP formats the message that is received from the application layer into UDP packets. UDP attaches a header to each packet. The header contains the sending and receiving host ports, a field with the length of the packet, and a checksum.

The sending UDP process attempts to send the packet to its peer UDP process on the receiving host. The application layer determines whether the receiving UDP process acknowledges the reception of the packet. UDP requires no notification of receipt. UDP does not use the three-way handshake.