TCP/IP protocol suite

Disclaimer:This does not intend to cover the whole ?internet suite of protocols? topic. It does although try to give basic idea on how and what are those protocols do. Please forgive any ?surely- unwanted mistake made in this effort by me. Feel free to ask me whatever you want

The Internet suite of protocols

TCP/IP is a general term used to refer to an entire suite of protocols that are use used to provide communication on a variety of layers between widely distributed different types of computers. TCP and IP are just two of the protocols contained within the family of protocols properly known as ?The internet suite protocols?.

IP: IP is the most commonly layer protocol used on the World Wide Web. All WWW, e-mail exchanging or almost any other internet activity is based on the Internet Protocol widely known by its acronyms, IP. It was the first packet-switched protocol. Originally developed to allow communication on the ARPAnet, IP has continually evolved and is currently the most important layer 3 protocol still in use.

Unlike IPX, an IP node address has no direct relationship with its associeated NIC¢s MAC address(hardware address). Therefore a mechanism to resolve IP addresses to MAC ones is required to deliver packets within an IP network such as a LAN. There are two protocols that are used for this job:
ARP(Address resolution protocol): This one is used if an IP address is known and the MAC address for the particular workstation is required. Each node in the network uses ARP to determine the MAC address for each destination.
RARP(reverse address resolution protocol): It is used if the MAC address of a workstation is known and the IP address of this particular workstation is required. RARP is most commonly used to provide configuration information at boot time.

Because IP is by definition a connectionless thus unreliable protocol and transport mechanism, it does require other protocols-mechanisms to deliver error and status messages via the Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP).
ICMP: ICMP delivers a variety of error status and control messages related to the ability of the IP to deliver its encapsulated payloads. What ICMP actually does is to use IP as a transport mechanism and is able to deliver a variety of error messages considering data being transferred eg Echo Reply , Destination Unreachable(everyone has seen these messages even when executing a ping command for example)
IP routing Protocols
There are two basic routing protocols used to maintain IP routing tables: RIP and OSPF.

RIP(Routing Information Protocol): It is a router to router protocol associated with IP that uses routing tables with multiple records within. RIP broadcasts its routing tables to all directly connected routers every 30 seconds.Those directly attached routers propagate the new routing tables to the routers attached to them.
OSPF(Open Shortest Path First): OSPF is an example of a link state protocol that was mainly developed to overcome some of RIP¢s shortcomings. It does what its name says?calculates the shortest path with the use of algorithms?.

Transport Layer Protocols

UDP(User Datagram Protocol): The user datagram protocol is used to provide unreliable, connectionless messaging services for applications. UDP is the perfect transport/session layer protocol for delivering streaming media packets because of its packet headers size and the fact that they(packets) require no acknowledgments from the receiving nodes.
TCP(Transmission Control Protocol): The majority of network requires a more reliable that UDP can offer. To provide connection-oriented, reliable data transmission the TCP is the transport/session layer protocol of cho

Nice tut
Here are total TCP/IP Family protocol
The TCP/IP Protocol Family
Transport
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP): connection-based services
User Datagram Protocol (UDP): connectionless services
Routing
Internet Protocol (IP): handles transmission of information
Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP): handles status messages for IP
Routing Information Protocol (RIP): determines routing
Open Shortest Path First (OSPF): alternate protocol for determining routing
Network Addresses
Address Resolution Protocol (ARP): determines addresses
Domain Name System (DNS): determines addresses from machine names
Reverse Address Resolution Protocol (RARP): - determines addresses


User Services
Boot Protocol (BOOTP): starts up a network machine
File Transfer Protocol (FTP): transfers files
Telnet: allows remote logins
Gateway Protocols
Exterior Gateway Protocol (EGP): transfers routing information for external networks
Gateway-to-Gateway Protocol (GGP): transfers routing information between gateways
Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP): transfers routing information for internal networks Others
Network File System (NFS): enables directories on one machine to be mounted on another
Network Information Service (NIS): maintains user accounts across networks
Remote Procedure Call (RPC): enables remote applications to communicate
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP): transfers electronic mail
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP): sends status messages about the network

Hmmm, i think the tutorial is not complete. Let me guess, you wrote it in a office like application, and then tried to copy paste it into the thread. Try reposting it. It happens to me too sometimes. I write my tutorials in open office. If i copy paste it directly it gets cut off. I simply save the office application, then close it. After openening it again, i then copy paste it into the thread. That seems to work. Good luck.

Cheers.