Network services: connectivity and reliability

Network services, connectivity, and reliability are the three core concepts of this lesson, which introduces key network services and classifies them based on two fundamental aspects: whether or not a connection exists between sender and receiver, and the service’s level of reliability.

The text distinguishes between connection-oriented and connectionless services, contrasting the concept of a stable logical “channel” with that of independent packets that may traverse the network via different paths.

The lesson then explores the difference between reliable and unreliable services: in the former, the system attempts to guarantee data delivery, accuracy, and ordering through acknowledgments, checks, and retransmissions; in the latter, speed is often prioritized, accepting the potential loss of some data.

Examples provided include video calls, location updates, cloud file uploads, and important notifications.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Eddy, W. (Ed.). (2022). Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). RFC 9293. IETF / RFC Editor.

Postel, J. (1981). Transmission Control Protocol. RFC 793. IETF / RFC Editor.

Postel, J. (1980). User Datagram Protocol. RFC 768. IETF / RFC Editor.

Postel, J. (1981). Internet Protocol. RFC 791. IETF / RFC Editor.

Deering, S., & Hinden, R. (2017). Internet Protocol, Version 6 (IPv6) Specification. RFC 8200. IETF / RFC Editor.

Schulzrinne, H., Casner, S., Frederick, R., & Jacobson, V. (2003). RTP: A Transport Protocol for Real-Time Applications. RFC 3550. IETF / RFC Editor.

Rosenberg, J., Schulzrinne, H., Camarillo, G., Johnston, A., Peterson, J., Sparks, R., Handley, M., & Schooler, E. (2002). SIP: Session Initiation Protocol. RFC 3261. IETF / RFC Editor.

Iyengar, J., & Thomson, M. (2021). QUIC: A UDP-Based Multiplexed and Secure Transport. RFC 9000. IETF / RFC Editor.

Pauly, T., Kinnear, E., & Schinazi, D. (2022). An Unreliable Datagram Extension to QUIC. RFC 9221. IETF / RFC Editor.

Allman, M., Paxson, V., & Blanton, E. (2009). TCP Congestion Control. RFC 5681. IETF / RFC Editor.

Paxson, V., Allman, M., Chu, J., & Sargent, M. (2011). Computing TCP’s Retransmission Timer. RFC 6298. IETF / RFC Editor.

Secondary sources

Kurose, J. F., & Ross, K. W. Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach. Pearson.

Tanenbaum, A. S., & Wetherall, D. J. Computer Networks. Pearson.

Comer, D. E. Computer Networks and Internets. Pearson.

Peterson, L. L., & Davie, B. S. Computer Networks: A Systems Approach. Morgan Kaufmann.

Stallings, W. Data and Computer Communications. Pearson.

Forouzan, B. A. Data Communications and Networking. McGraw-Hill.

Stevens, W. R. TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1: The Protocols. Addison-Wesley.

Index

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