By Theodore John Socolofsky and Claudia Jeanne Kale
This RFC is a tutorial on the TCP/IP protocol suite, focusing particularly on the steps in forwarding an IP datagram from source host to destination host through a router. It does not specify an Internet standard. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
This tutorial contains only one view of the salient points of TCP/IP, and therefore it is the "bare bones" of TCP/IP technology. It omits the history of development and funding, the business case for its use, and its future as compared to ISO OSI. Indeed, a great deal of technical information is also omitted. What remains is a minimum of information that must be understood by the professional working in a TCP/IP environment. These professionals include the systems administrator, the systems programmer, and the network manager. This tutorial uses examples from the UNIX TCP/IP environment, however the main points apply across all implementations of TCP/IP. Note that the purpose of this memo is explanation, not definition. If any question arises about the correct specification of a protocol, please refer to the actual standards defining RFC. The next section is an overview of TCP/IP, followed by detailed descriptions of individual components.