The concept of a service boundary is fundamental in communication protocols. It represents the dividing line between different protocol layers, specifically between a protocol machine (PM) and the PM or application it serves, the (N+1)-PM. This boundary is where data is exchanged.
There are four types of interactions a protocol can have. One of these interactions is with a peer protocol. To exchange its state information with the peer, the protocol uses Protocol Data Units (PDUs). A PDU is essentially a block of information, which may be referred to by various names (e.g., frame, packet, segment) by various protocols.
A protocol’s purpose is to provide a service to another protocol in the same system. Generally, the serviced protocol is in the layer above the servicing protocol’s.
There are two types of information exchange between protocols: Interface Communication and Protocol Communication.
Protocols play a crucial role in ensuring seamless and efficient data exchange between two entities in a communication system. For two parties to communicate, they must have a common language, some common understanding about what symbols in the language stand for, and what rules are used for communication. Consequently, a communication protocol is a set of rules and conventions that allows two or more entities within a communication system to exchange information. The protocol defines the shared schema that includes the rules, syntax, semantics, and synchronization of communication.
Professionals in any discipline need a common language to convey messages and exchange ideas. This language may be in verbal, written, and/or visual form. Engineers, for example, use technical drawings to describe a product or a component. The purpose of these drawings is to convey all information necessary to fully… Read more »
Experimenting with Software Defined Networks (SDN) on real hardware has become a lot easier since I discovered the Zodiac FX switch from Northbound Networks. This 4-port switch supports Openflow v1.0 and v1.3, and it supports many Openflow controllers. This post describes the process of connecting the Zodiac FX switch with… Read more »
This is my latest Android App and the first to be published in Google Play. The App provides you with basic information about any unicast IPv4 address you enter, including: the network id portion of the IP address given the mask length, the number of usable host IP addresses within the… Read more »
Firewalls are the primary defense mechanisms against network security threats. A firewall is a system that can be positioned between any two networks to control the passage of data traffic in and out of these networks. Typically, the two networks are the internal, trusted, network and the Internet [1]. Firewalls… Read more »
Have you been stuck in traffic driving a car at the speed of a few meters per hour only to emerge from the traffic jam a while later not certain what caused it in the first place? Traffic experts are likely to attribute the cause to a road construction, a… Read more »