Definition and explanation of the Internet Protocol

Internet Protocol

What is Internet Protocol?

A digital language through which we communicate with others over the Internet. In other words, a protocol is a set of mutually accepted and applied rules on both ends of a communications channel (communications networks) for the proper exchange of information and data. By adopting these rules, two devices can communicate with each other and can exchange information and data.

We cannot even think of using the Internet without protocols. Each protocol is defined in different terms, with a different use, and a different name. The message travels from the sender to the recipient through a medium (the medium is the physical path along which a message travels) using a protocol.

Protocols are a set of conditions and rules that determine the form of communication between two or more devices. Each protocol has different forms of use to achieve correct communication between devices.

Through the protocol, data is sent from one computer to another over the Internet. Each computer, known as a host, has at least one IP address that uniquely identifies it from all other computers on the Internet.

So it is the basic set for exchanging digital messages between computers over a single network or a series of interconnected networks, using the Internet protocol suite. Messages are exchanged as data forms, also known as data packets or just packets.

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What are the types of Internet protocols?

This Internet Protocol is considered one of the most important protocols because of the addressing element used to give each computer on the network its own number, called the Internet address. Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPV4) is currently being used, which consists of 32 bits and is a unique address in Gridband, where a 32-bit word is divided into four bytes.

There is no doubt that there are many types of protocols, but we will mention the common and well-known ones

1. IP (Internet Protocol): IP Address is the basic communication protocol in the TCP/IP protocol stack. It is used to connect a group of computer devices on a single network
2. Protocol: TCP (Transmission Control Protocol): It means the Transfer Control Protocol, which is a set of rules and procedures that govern the transfer of data and information between two parties, where data is transferred securely between a sender and a receiver on the Internet, and it works with the IP protocol as a binary known as TCP/IP.
3. UDP User Datagram Protocol): It is responsible for user data and is used by programs running on the Internet to send short messages (datagrams).
4. HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol): Hypertext transfer, used to transfer resources on the Internet, is the most basic and famous method of transferring data on the Internet and is mainly used to publish and receive HTML pages.
5. HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure): Secure hypertext transfer is a secure version of the HTTP protocol, where the letter s stands for Secure, meaning secure. The protocol guarantees a secure connection between the user's browser and the web server.
6. DNS (Domain Name System) protocol: Domain Name System: This protocol follows a technology that links the website’s IP number to the name DOMIN, which facilitates the process of remembering the website name, easy access to it, searching for it, and ease of reading it.
7. Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP).: Automatic Host Configuration Protocol, which automatically assigns IP to devices connected to the network.
8. ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol): Internet Control Message Protocol, used by operating systems on networked computers to send error messages such as problems with service being unavailable.
9. SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer) protocol: Sending simple mail. This protocol is considered one of the TCP/IP protocols and is used to receive and send emails
10. FTP (File Transfer Protocol): File Transfer. This protocol is used when you download software updates and applications on your device from the Internet. This is the function of the File Transfer Protocol.

Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6)

The technical development that has occurred in the last two decades and the tremendous increase in the number of devices that rely on communication via the Internet - especially mobile devices such as cell phones, laptops, and portable wireless devices - has led to the emergence of widespread and unexpected demand for Internet IP addresses. The current version, IPv4 (version 4), is no longer keeping pace with new developments.

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has developed a new version of the Internet Protocol called IPv6, sometimes called IP Next Generation (IPng).

Among the most important basic amendments included in the IPv6 protocol are:

1- Expanding addressing capabilities: This is the main reason for the development of the Internet Protocol. The scope of addressing has been expanded so that it can accommodate the increasing number of devices connected to the Internet, in addition to designing the addressing system in a way that allows multiple levels of addressing with the possibility of sub-addressing. Separating the addresses of main network equipment and routers from the addresses of host devices speeds up the process of transmitting data packets across the network in general.

• The IETF chose the length of 128 bits to avoid repeating the mistake it made previously. This provides several addresses of 3.4 x 1038, and this number is thousands of times greater than the needs of the Earth’s population for several thousand years to come.
• In the IPv6 protocol, the address is written in the form of eight numbers separated by colons, each number consisting of 16 bits, and the numbers are written in hexadecimal form. for example:
• 2001:db8:41:1:30a:95ff:fef5:246e.
• The writing of the address can also be shortened when a group of zeros is repeated continuously, replacing it with a colon twice in a row, for example, 2001:0:0:d5::a5b, in only one place in the same address.
• Public addresses on the Internet start with fe80, while addresses in local networks start with 001.
• The basic difference in the types of addresses between the fourth and sixth versions is the appearance of the broadcast address to any destination in the sixth version and the disappearance of the comprehensive broadcast address from the fourth version. It was replaced by the title Multidestination Broadcast in the sixth edition.

2- Simplifying the structure of the header format: Some fields in the IPv4 header were removed, and some fields were made optional, to reduce the processing costs of data packets and reduce the volume of data circulating in the header.

3- Improved support for extensions and options: Changes in the way IP address header options are encoded in version 6 allowed for increased forwarding effectiveness. With less stringent restrictions on the length of options, it also provided greater flexibility to introduce new options in the future when needed.

4- Additional capabilities in labeling: A new ability has been added to place labels for packets belonging to a specific traffic flow, for example, to request special treatment in terms of quality of service (QoS) or real-time services such as video conferencing and others.

5- Additional capabilities for authentication and privacy: Special attention was paid to extensions to support authentication and data integrity, and optional extensions were allocated for data confidentiality in this new version.

6- Additional features: In addition to the previous amendments, there are important additional features for this version, including:

1. A- Automatic address setting and uniqueness verification: The sixth version is distinguished by its ability to automatically give an Internet address to any device added to the network, provided it is compatible with it. It provides communication without manual intervention, and the new device can change this address if it discovers during verification that this address is used by another device.
2. B- Support for mobile devices: The sixth version provides complete implicit support in its new structure for the MIPv6 protocol, which allows mobile devices to connect and move flexibly between networks without interruption of service and without the need for manual intervention. This feature allows building mobile networks with high efficiency.
3. C- Security and confidentiality improvements: Several reasons make the sixth version more secure, the first of which is the result of increasing the address length from 32 to 128 bits, which made it less vulnerable to malicious activities such as the process of automated scanning of the IP address space, which has become almost impossible due to the number The huge number of possible possibilities.

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