(i) Subnet masking: Subnet mask is a 32 bits long address divided into 4 octets used to distinguish between network address and host address in IP address. It is always used with IP address. It is used to identify which part of an IP address is network address and which part is host address. Wherever there is ‘0’ in the subnet mask, the corresponding bit in the IP address represents host bit and wherever there is ‘1’, the corresponding bit in the IP address represents network bit. The default subnet mask for class A is 255.0.0.0, class B is 255.255.0.0 and class C is 255.255.255.0. Thus for a class A IP address, by default, the first octet represents the network ID and the remaining numbers represent host ID.
(ii) ARP:
Address Resolution Protocol used to convert IP address into corresponding physical or MAC address.
Functions: ARP takes the IP address of a host as input & gives its corresponding physical address as the output. It sends the broadcast message to all the computers on the network for the given IP address. The computer whose IP address matches the broadcast IP address sends a reply and along with its physical address to the broadcasting computer. All other computers ignore the broadcast message as IP address is different. As it knows sender hardware as well as IP address, it unicasts the reply so that only sender receives it.
(iii) FTP:
File Transfer Protocol used to transfer files over internet.
Functions: FTP is a stranded mechanism provided by the Internet for copying a file from one host to the other. FTP establishes two connections between the client and server. One is for data transfer and the other is for the control information. The fact that FTP separates control and data makes it very efficient. The control connection uses simple rules of communication. Only one line of command or a line of response is transferred at a time. But the data connection uses more complex rules due to the variety of data types being transferred. FTP uses port 21 for the control connection and port 20 for the data connection.
(iv) TCP :
Transmission Control Protocol used to establish the connection between two computers in a network. TCP is a full duplex, connection oriented, reliable and accurate protocol. When two TCPs in two machines are connected, they are able to send data using segments to each other simultaneously. Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is one of the transport layer protocols in the TCP/IP protocol suite. The unit of data transfer between two devices using TCP software is called a segment; it has 20 to 60 bytes of header, followed by data from the application program. A TCP connection normally consists of three phases: connection establishment, data transfer, and connection termination. The connection establishment in TCP is called three way handshaking. TCP uses flow control, implemented as a sliding window mechanism, to avoid bulk data at the receiver. TCP uses error control to provide a reliable service. Corrupt and lost segments are retransmitted, and duplicate segments are discarded.