Transmission Control Protocol

(TCP)

TCP/IP Protocol Suite 1

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
 TCP Services
Outline
TCP Features
Segment
TCP Connection
Windows in TCP
Flow Control
Error Control
Congestion Control
Options

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 TCP SERVICES

TCP lies between the application layer and the

network layer,

It serves as the intermediary between the

application programs and the network
operations.

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 TCP/IP protocol suite

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 Encapsulation

Frame IP TCP
header
header Application-layer data
header

TCP payload
IP payload
Data-link layer payload

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 Stream delivery Service

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 Sending and receiving buffers

Stream of bytes

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 TCP segments

The bytes of data being transferred in each connection are

numbered by TCP.

The numbering starts with an arbitrarily generated number.

Segment N Segment 1
H H

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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?

The following shows the sequence number for each segment:

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 sequence number

The value in the sequence number field of a segment

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

acknowledgment number

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.

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TCP segment format

A packet in TCP is called a segment.

11
 Control field

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 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.

How TCP, which uses the services of IP, a connectionless

protocol, can be connection-oriented?

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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 Pseudoheader added to the TCP segment

The use of the checksum in TCP is mandatory.

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 Connection establishment using three-way handshake

Passive
Active open
open seq: 8000

UAPRS F
SYN
seq: 15000
Connection ack: 8001
opened 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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 A SYN segment cannot carry data, but it
consumes one sequence number.

A SYN + ACK segment cannot carry

data, but does consume one
sequence number.

An ACK segment, if carrying no data,

consumes no sequence number.
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 Data Transfer

seq: 8001
Send
request ack: 15001
UAPRS F
Data Receive
bytes: 8001-9
000

Send seq: 9001

request ack: 15001
UAPRS F
Data Receive
bytes: 9001-1
0000

seq: 15001 Send

ack: 10001 request
UAPRS F
Data
17000
bytes: 15001-
seq: 10000
ack: 17001
UAPRS F
rwnd:10000

Connection Termination

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 Connection termination using three-way handshake

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 The FIN segment
consumes one sequence number if it
does not carry data.

FIN + ACK segment

consumes one sequence number if it
does not carry data.

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 Half-Close

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 WINDOWS IN TCP

TCP uses two windows for each direction of data

transfer
(send window and receive window)
(i.e. 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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Send window in TCP

22
 Receive window in TCP

rwnd= buffer size – number of bytes waiting to be pulled

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 FLOW CONTROL

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.

We temporarily assume that the logical channel

between the sending and receiving TCP is error-
free.

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 TCP/IP protocol suite

Messages 1
are pushed 5 Flow control 3 Messages
are pulled
feedback

2
Segements are pushed
4
Flow control feedback

Figure shows
•unidirectional data transfer between a sender and a receiver;
•bidirectional data transfer can be deduced from unidirectional one

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 An example of flow control

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 Shrinking of Windows

The new advertisement, however, defines the new value of rwnd as 4, in which
210 + 4 < 206 + 12.

(byte 214 which has been already sent is outside the window)
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When the send window shrinks, it may creates a problem:

Following relations can need to maintained by receiver to prevent

shrinking

New ack number + new rwnd > = Last ack number + Last rwnd

One way to prevent this situation is:

let the receiver postpone its feedback until enough buffer locations are
available in its window. (to meet the above relation)

In other words, the receiver should wait until more bytes are consumed
by its process.
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 Silly Window Syndrome
 Sending data in very small segments

1. Syndrome created by the Sender

 Sending application program that creates data slowly
(e.g. 1 byte at a time)

Prevention
 Wait and collect data to send in a larger block

 How long should the sending TCP wait?

 Solution: Nagle’s algorithm

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Nagle’s algorithm

Nagle’s algorithm takes into account

(1)the speed of the application program that creates the data, and
(2) the speed of the network that transports the data

Observation
1. If application program faster than network, segments are larger
2. If application program slower than network, segments are smaller
 Silly Window Syndrome

Syndrome created by the Receiver

 Receiving application program consumes data slowly (e.g. 1 byte at a
time)

The receiving TCP announces a window size of 1 byte. The sending

TCP sends only 1 byte…
Two Solution Proposed
 1: Clark’s solution
 II: Delayed Acknowledgement

Clark’s Approach
 Sending an ACK as soon as data arrives but announcing a window
size of zero until there is enough space to accommodate a segment
of max. size or until half of the buffer is empty

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 Silly Window Syndrome
Solution 2: Delayed Acknowledgement
 The receiver waits until there is decent amount of space in its incoming
buffer before acknowledging the arrived segments

 Advantage
 The delayed acknowledgement prevents the sending TCP from sliding its
window.
 It also reduces traffic.

 Disadvantage:
 it may force the sender to retransmit the unacknowledged segments

 TCP balances the advantage & disadvantage and defines that the
acknowledgement should not be delayed by more than 500ms

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Lecture videos on the topic can be found at

Transport Layer Services

https://youtu.be/IL-xFm5h_fE

Transmission Control Protocol - TCP Part-1

https://youtu.be/7tQBgArvvMA

TCP-Part2 - TCP Connection

https://youtu.be/5FsrWyzXskw

TCP-Part3 - Windows in TCP and Flow Control

https://youtu.be/Oc5OiScAIzg

TCP Flow Control

https://youtu.be/t7jkz9M1dHk

Silly Window Syndrome

https://youtu.be/-8YJBXPTi4I

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