Transmission Control Protocol

(TCP)

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Topics Discussed in the Section
 Process-to-Process Communication
 Stream Delivery Service
 Full-Duplex Communication
 Multiplexing and Demultiplexing
 Connection-Oriented Service
 Reliable Service

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TCP/IP protocol suite

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Well-Known Ports used by TCP

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Stream delivery

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Sending and receiving buffers

Stream of bytes

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 Figure 15.4 TCP segments

Segment N Segment 1
H H

TCP/IP Protocol Suite 7

Topics Discussed in the Section (TCP Features)
 Numbering System
 Flow Control
 Error Control
 Congestion Control

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Note

The bytes of data being transferred in

each connection are numbered by TCP.

The numbering starts with an arbitrarily

generated number.

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Example
Suppose a TCP connection is transferring a file of 5,000 bytes.
The first byte is numbered 10,001. What are the sequence
numbers for each segment if data are sent in five segments,
each carrying 1,000 bytes?

Solution
The following shows the sequence number for each segment:

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Note

The value in the sequence number

field of a segment defines the number
assigned to the first data byte
contained in that segment.

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 Note

The value of the acknowledgment field

in a segment defines the number of the
next byte a party expects to receive.

The acknowledgment number is

cumulative.

TCP/IP Protocol Suite 12

SEGMENT

Before discussing TCP in more detail, let us discuss

the TCP packets themselves. A packet in TCP is
called a segment.

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Topics Discussed in the Section
 Format
 Encapsulation

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TCP segment format

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Control field

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Pseudoheader added to the TCP segment

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Note

The use of the checksum in TCP is

mandatory.

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Encapsulation

TCP Application-layer data

header

IP
header

Frame
header

TCP payload
IP payload
Data-link layer payload

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A TCP CONNECTION
TCP is connection-oriented. It establishes a virtual
path between the source and destination. All of the
segments belonging to a message are then sent over
this virtual path. You may wonder how TCP, which
uses the services of IP, a connectionless protocol,
can be connection-oriented. The point is that a TCP
connection is virtual, not physical. TCP operates at a
higher level. TCP uses the services of IP to deliver
individual segments to the receiver, but it controls the
connection itself. If a segment is lost or corrupted, it is
retransmitted.
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Topics Discussed in the Section
 Connection Establishment
 Data Transfer
 Connection Termination
 Connection Reset

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Connection establishment using three-way handshake

seq: 8000

UAPRS F
SYN
seq: 15000
ack: 8001
nd: 5000
U A P R S F rw
SYN + ACK
seq: 8000
ack: 15001
UAPRS F
rwnd: 10000
ACK
Means “no data” !
seq: 8001 if piggybacking
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Note

A SYN segment cannot carry data, but it

consumes one sequence number.

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Note

A SYN + ACK segment cannot carry

data, but does consume one
sequence number.

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Note

An ACK segment, if carrying no data,

consumes no sequence number.

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Data Transfer

Connection Termination

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Connection termination using three-way handshake

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Note

The FIN segment consumes one

sequence number if it does
not carry data.

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 Note

The FIN + ACK segment consumes one

sequence number if it does
not carry data.

TCP/IP Protocol Suite 29

Half-Close

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STATE TRANSITION DIAGRAM

To keep track of all the different events happening

during connection establishment, connection
termination, and data transfer, TCP is specified as
the finite state machine.

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State transition diagram

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Note

The state marked as ESTBLISHED

in the FSM is in fact two different
sets of states that the client
and server undergo to transfer data.

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States for TCP

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WINDOWS IN TCP
Before discussing data transfer in TCP and the issues
such as flow, error, and congestion control, we
describe the windows used in TCP. TCP uses two
windows (send window and receive window) for each
direction of data transfer, which means four windows
for a bidirectional communication. To make the
discussion simple, we make an assumption that
communication is only unidirectional; the bidirectional
communication can be inferred using two
unidirectional communications with piggybacking.

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Topics Discussed in the Section
 Send Window
 Receive Window

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Send window in TCP

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Receive window in TCP

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FLOW CONTROL

As discussed in Chapter 13, flow control balances

the rate a producer creates data with the rate a
consumer can use the data. TCP separates flow
control from error control. In this section we discuss
flow control, ignoring error control. We temporarily
assume that the logical channel between the sending
and receiving TCP is error-free. Figure 15.24 shows
unidirectional data transfer between a sender and a
receiver; bidirectional data transfer can be deduced
from unidirectional one as.

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Flow control

Messages Flow control

are pushed
1 5 3 Messages
feedback are pulled

2
Segements are pushed
4
Flow control feedback

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ERROR CONTROL

TCP is a reliable transport layer protocol. This

means that an application program that delivers a
stream of data to TCP relies on TCP to deliver the
entire stream to the application program on the
other end in order, without error, and without any
part lost or duplicated.
Error control in TCP is achieved through the
use of three tools: checksum, acknowledgment,
and time-out.

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