Chapter 3

: Transport Layer
Sections & Objectives
 Transport Layer Protocols

• Explain how transport layer protocols and services support communications across data
networks.
• Explain the purpose of the transport layer in managing the transportation of data in end-to-end
communication.
• Explain characteristics of the TCP and UDP protocols, including port numbers and their uses.
 TCP and UDP

• Compare the operations of transport layer protocols in supporting end-to-end

communication.
• Explain how TCP session establishment and termination processes facilitate reliable communication.
• Explain how TCP protocol data units are transmitted and acknowledged to guarantee delivery.
• Describe the UDP client processes to establish communication with a server.
• Determine whether high-reliability TCP transmissions, or non-guaranteed UDP transmissions, are
best suited for common applications.
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Transport Layer Protocols

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Transportation of Data
Role of the Transport Layer
 Responsible for establishing a
temporary communication session
between two applications and
delivering data between them.
 Link between the application layer
and the lower layers that are
responsible for network transmission.

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Transportation of Data
Transport Layer Responsibilities
 Tracking the Conversation -
Tracks each individual
conversation flowing between a
source and a destination
application.
 Segmentation - Divides the data
into segments that are easier to
manage and transport. Header
used for reassembly is used for
tracking.
 Identifying the Application -
Ensures that even with multiple
applications running on a device,
all applications receive the
correct data via port numbers.
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Transportation of Data
Conversation Multiplexing

 Segmenting the data into smaller chunks enables many different communications to be
multiplexed on the same network.

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Transportation of Data
Transport Layer Reliability
 TCP/IP provides two transport
layer protocols:
• Transmission Control Protocol
(TCP)
• Considered reliable which ensures
that all of the data arrives at the
destination.
• Additional fields needed in header
which increases size and delay.
• User Datagram Protocol (UDP)
• Does not provide for reliability.
• Fewer fields and is faster than TCP.

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 7
Transportation of Data
TCP  TCP transport is similar to
sending tracked packages. If
a shipping order is broken up
into several packages, a
customer can check online to
see the order of the delivery.

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Transportation of Data
TCP (Cont.)

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Transportation of Data
TCP (Cont.) TCP Three Responsibilities:
 Numbering and tracking data segments

 Acknowledging received data

 Retransmitting any unacknowledged

data after a certain period of time

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Transportation of Data
UDP Use UDP for less overhead and
to reduce possible delays.
 Best-effort delivery (unreliable)

 No acknowledgment

 Similar to a non-registered
letter

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 11
Transportation of Data
The Right Transport Layer Protocol for the Right Application

 TCP - databases, web

browsers, and email
clients require that all
data that is sent arrives
at the destination in its
original condition.
 UDP - if one or two
segments of a live
video stream fail to
arrive, if disruption in
the stream, may not be
noticeable to the user.
© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 12
TCP and UDP Overview
TCP Features
 Establishing a Session
• Connection-oriented protocol
• Ensures the application is ready to receive the data
• Negotiate the amount of traffic that can be forwarded at a given time
 Reliable Delivery
• Ensuring that each segment that the source sends arrives at the destination
 Same-Order Delivery
• Numbering & Sequencing the segments guarantees reassembly into the proper order
 Flow Control
• Regulate the amount of data the source transmits
© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 13
TCP and UDP Overview
TCP Header 20 Bytes Total
 Source and Destination Port used to identify
application
 Sequence number used for data
reassembly
 Acknowledgement number indicates data
has been received and ready for next byte
from source
 Header length – length of TCP segment
header
 Control bits – purpose and function of TCP
segment
 Window size – number of bytes that can be
accepted at one time
 Checksum – Used for error checking of
segment header and data © 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 14
TCP and UDP Overview
UDP Features

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TCP and UDP Overview
UDP Header

 UDP is a stateless protocol – no tracking

 Reliability handled by application

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TCP and UDP Overview
Multiple Separate Communications
 Users expect to simultaneously receive and send email, view websites and make a
VoIP phone call
 TCP and UDP manage multiple conversations by using unique identifiers called
port numbers

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TCP and UDP Overview
Port Numbers
 Source Port

• Originating application port that is

dynamically generated by sending
device
• Example: Each separate HTTP
conversation is tracked based on
the source ports.
 Destination Port

• Tell the destination what service is

being requested
• Example: Port 80 web services are
being requested

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TCP and UDP Overview
Socket Pairs
 Source and destination port
placed in segment
 Segments encapsulated in IP
packet
 IP and port number = socket

 Example: 192.168.1.7:80

 Sockets enable multiple

processes to be
distinguished
 Source port acts as a return
address

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TCP and UDP Overview
Port Number Groups

 Well-known Ports (Numbers 0 to 1023) - These numbers are reserved for

services and applications.
 Registered Ports (Numbers 1024 to 49151) - These port numbers are
assigned by IANA to a requesting entity to use with specific processes or
applications.
 Dynamic or Private Ports (Numbers 49152 to 65535) - Usually assigned
dynamically by the client’s OS and used to identify the client application
during communication.
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TCP and UDP Overview
Port Number Groups (Cont.)

Well
Known
Port
Numbers

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TCP and UDP

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TCP Communication Process
TCP Server Process

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TCP Communication Process
TCP Server Process (Cont.)

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TCP Communication Process
TCP Connection Establishment

 Step 3 – Client acknowledges

communication session with
server.
 Step 1 – Initiating
client requests a
session with server.

 Step 2 – Server
acknowledges and
requests a session with
client. © 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 25
TCP Communication Process
TCP Session Termination

 To close a connection, the Finish (FIN) control flag must

be set in the segment header.
 To end each one-way TCP session, a two-way
handshake, consisting of a FIN segment and an
Acknowledgment (ACK) segment, is used.
 To terminate a single conversation supported by TCP,
four exchanges are needed ©to
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TCP Communication Process
TCP Three-way Handshake Analysis
 The three-way handshake:

• Establishes that the destination device is present on

the network.
• Verifies that the destination device has an active
service and is accepting requests on the destination
port number that the initiating client intends to use.
• Informs the destination device that the source client
intends to establish a communication session on
that port number.
 The six bits in the Control Bits field of the TCP
segment header are also known as flags.
• RST flag is used to reset a connection when an
error or timeout occurs

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 27
Reliability and Flow Control
TCP Reliability – Ordered Delivery
 Sequence numbers are assigned
in the header of each packet.
 Represents the first data byte of
the TCP segment.
 During session setup, an initial
sequence number (ISN) is set -
represents the starting value of
the bytes.
 As data is transmitted during the
session, the sequence number is
incremented by the number of
bytes that have been transmitted.
 Missing segments can then be
identified.
© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 28
Reliability and Flow Control
TCP Flow Control – Window Size and Acknowledgments
 In the figure, the source is
transmitting 1,460 bytes of
data within each segment.
 Window size agreed on
during 3-way handshake.
 Typically, PC B will not
wait for 10,000 bytes
before sending an
acknowledgment.
 PC A can adjust its send
window as it receives
acknowledgments from
PC B.

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 29
Reliability and Flow Control
TCP Flow Control – Congestion Avoidance
 Congestion causes
retransmission of lost TCP
segments
 Retransmission of segments
can make the congestion
worse
 To avoid and control
congestion, TCP employs
several congestion handling
mechanisms, timers, and
algorithms
 Example: Reduce the number
of bytes it sends before
receiving an acknowledgment
© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 30
UDP Communication
UDP Low Overhead versus Reliability

 UDP not connection-

oriented
 No retransmission,
sequencing, and flow
control
 Functions not
provided by the
transport layer
implemented
elsewhere

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 31
UDP Communication
UDP Datagram Reassembly

 UDP reassembles
data in order received
and forwards to
application
 Application must
identify the proper
sequence

UDP: Connectionless and Unreliable

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 32
UDP Communication
UDP Server Processes and Requests
Note: The Remote
Authentication Dial-in
User Service
(RADIUS) server
shown in the figure
provides
authentication,
authorization, and
accounting services
to manage user
access.

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 33
UDP Communication
UDP Client Processes

Clients Sending UDP Requests

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UDP Communication
UDP Client Processes (Cont.)

Clients Sending UDP Requests

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TCP or UDP
Applications that use TCP

TCP frees
applications
from having to
manage
reliability

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 36
TCP or UDP
Applications that use UDP

Three types of
applications best
suited for UDP:
 Live video and
multimedia
 Simple request
and reply
 Handle reliability
themselves

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 37