Howdy open0102,
The simple paragraph is at the end of this answer. Here is
some background detail in case you need it.
Intergrated Publishing has a nice module on network communications
that starts here.
http://www.tpub.com/innc/
Here is the pertinent information for your question.
http://www.tpub.com/innc/11.htm
"... why all the need for protocols? Don't all computers work in
binary? Do they not all have operating systems? If a computer wants
to communicate with another system, do you not simply connect them
together using some type of cable? The answers to these questions
are yes, yes, and yes; however, the commonalities seem to stop there.
Ideally, if the hardware, network software, application software, and
cabling were all supplied by the same manufacturer, we would have
relatively few problems to contend with when we design and implement
a network. Everything would work together rather smoothly. However, a
computer manufacturer's architecture can make it difficult to
interconnect hardware offered by other competing
manufacturers/vendors.
The protocols used by communications devices are also highly complex
and are often completely different from one manufacturer to another.
Then, there is the network software. Network software from one LAN
vendor usually won't work on a competitor's network, nor will the
application programs. Even the cabling must be selected for a specific
local-area network."
To view the original of this next document, you will either need
Microsoft Powerpoint, or the free Microsoft Powerpoint viewer download
available through this Microsoft web page.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=D1649C22-B51F-4910-93FC-4CF2832D3342
Here are some outline points from the Dublin City University School
of Computing that defines what protocols are, and the need for them.
http://www.compapp.dcu.ie/~kmaher/2001_7_extending_OSI.ppt
"Protocol: An agreement that specifies the format and meaning of
messages that are exchanged by computers"
"Why the need for protocols?
- Hardware is low level
- Many problems can occur
- Bits corrupted or destroyed
- Entire packet lost
- Packet duplicated
- Packets delivered out of order
Need mechanisms to distinguish among
- Multiple computers on a network
- Multiple applications on a computer
- Multiple copies of a single application on a computer"
So, in one simple paragraph, since there are all types of hardware
and software out there that want and need to communicate with each
other, there needs to be agreed ways to allow this network of
hardware and software to talk to each other. These agreed ways are
called protocols.
If you need any clarification, feel free to ask.
Search Strategy: Personal experience plus the below search.
Google search on keywords: "need for protocols" network
interconnection
://www.google.com/search?q=%22need+for+protocols%22+network+interconnection
Looking Forward, denco-ga |
Clarification of Answer by
denco-ga
on
06 Sep 2003 16:25 PDT
Howdy open0102,
Not a stupid question at all, but in some ways, a more
difficult question, as protocols are changing all the
time, and the number and kinds of protocols depend on
the network, etc.
There are many, many ways to set up a network, and the
change of one piece of hardware, or the update of some
software on any of the devices on that network, might
introduce new protocols, or remove protocols, which has
to be taken into consideration.
It can be kept to the basics though.
This University of Calgary page details their network,
which is a somewhat typical architecture. You might
want to look at the entire article because it has some
diagrams of their network topography, etc.
http://www.ucalgary.ca/it/netserv/arch/network.html
"3.1 Protocols
- This is the layer that gets the data from one network
to another network via a router
- There are a number of protocols used at this layer
- Internet - IP
- Novell - SPX
- Microsoft - Netbeui
- Macintosh - Appletalk
- Users can run whatever protocol they choose on their
local network
- Central routers will permit only the IP protocol"
You will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the PDF
document(s) referenced below. If you do not have it, you
can download it from the Adobe website.
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
The proliferation of protocols is causing problems, as
demonstrated in this article on the Carnegie Mellon School
of Computer Science website.
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/project/coda/Web/docdir/wlmodel96.pdf
"A TRACE-BASED APPROACH FOR MODELING WIRELESS CHANNEL BEHAVIOR"
by Giao T. Nguyen, Randy H. Katz, Brian Noble, and Mahadev
Satyanarayanan
...
"Due to the large number of protocols at different network
layers, it is often infeasible to build and measure all of
them."
Hope this helps!
Search Strategy:
Google search on keywords: "number of protocols" network
://www.google.com/search?q=%22number+of+protocols%22+network
Looking Forward, denco-ga
|
