HP 510x Print Server manual TCP/IP Overview Introduction, Internet Protocol IP

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TCP/IP Overview

Introduction

This appendix is intended to provide information to help you gain a basic understanding of TCP/IP.

TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) is a suite of protocols designed to define the way data is passed to network devices.

TCP/IP is rapidly becoming the most used set of protocols. The main reason this is happening is the fact that the internet only uses TCP/IP. If you have a network that you wish to connect to the internet, you must be using TCP/IP to communicate.

Internet Protocol (IP)

When information is sent across the network, the data is broken down into small packets. Each packet is sent independently of one another. IP routes all data packets on the network and provides connectionless, nonguaranteed delivery of data packets across the network. Each node on the network is assigned an IP address, including HP Jetdirect connected devices.

Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)

TCP handles breaking the data into packets and recombining the packets on the receiving end by providing a connection-oriented, reliable, and guaranteed delivery service to another node on the network. When data packets are received at their destination, TCP calculates a checksum for each packet to verify the data is not corrupt. If the data in the packet has been corrupted during transmission, TCP discards the packet and the packet is resent.

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