Editing Internet protocol suite (section)

{{short description|Framework for communication protocols used in IP networking}}
{{About|the protocols that make up the Internet architecture|the IP network protocol only|Internet Protocol}}
{{Use American English|date=October 2020}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2020}}

{{IPstack}}

The '''Internet protocol suite''', commonly known as '''TCP/IP''', is a framework for organizing the set of [[communication protocol]]s used in the [[Internet]] and similar [[computer network]]s according to functional criteria. The foundational protocols in the suite are the [[Transmission Control Protocol]] (TCP), the [[User Datagram Protocol]] (UDP), and the [[Internet Protocol]] (IP). Early versions of this networking model were known as the '''Department of Defense''' ('''DoD''') '''model''' because the research and development were funded by the [[United States Department of Defense]] through [[DARPA]].

The Internet protocol suite provides [[End-to-end principle|end-to-end data communication]] specifying how data should be packetized, addressed, transmitted, [[routed]], and received. This functionality is organized into four [[abstraction layer]]s, which classify all related protocols according to each protocol's scope of networking.{{Ref RFC|1122}}{{Ref RFC|1123}} An implementation of the layers for a particular application forms a [[protocol stack]]. From lowest to highest, the layers are the [[link layer]], containing communication methods for data that remains within a single network segment (link); the [[internet layer]], providing [[internetworking]] between independent networks; the [[transport layer]], handling host-to-host communication; and the [[application layer]], providing process-to-process data exchange for applications.

The [[technical standard]]s underlying the Internet protocol suite and its constituent protocols are maintained by the [[Internet Engineering Task Force]] (IETF). The Internet protocol suite predates the [[OSI model]], a more comprehensive reference framework for general networking systems.