UNIT -3

The Transport Layer

Services Provided to the Upper Layers
Services Provided to the Upper Layers
• Transport entity: This is the software or
hardware component in the transport layer
that ensures data reliability. It can be in the
operating system, a library, or a network card.
• A TPDU is a unit of data passed between the
transport entities on Host 1 and Host 2. It
contains the actual data plus information to
ensure the message gets delivered properly.
Services Provided to the Upper Layers
• There are two types of network service.
1. The connection-oriented transport service.
2. The connectionless transport service
Transport Service Primitives
Transport Service Primitives …
 A state diagram for a simple
connection management scheme.
Elements of Transport Protocols
 Elements of Transport Protocols
• Transport protocol similar to data link
protocols.
• Both do error control and flow control.
 Elements of Transport Protocols
• Addressing
• Connection Establishment
• Connection Release
 Addressing
• SAP - Service Access Point
• TSAP - Transport Service Access Point
• NSAP - Network Service Access Point
Addressing
Addressing
 Addressing
• A name server is a special process that helps users find the
TSAP address of a service by providing a mapping between
service names and TSAP addresses
• To handle this situation, an alternative scheme is often
used. In this model, there exists a special process called a
name server or sometimes a directory server. To find the
TSAP address corresponding to a given service name, such
as ''time of day,'' a user sets up a connection to the name
server (which listens to a well-known TSAP). The user then
sends a message specifying the service name, and the
name server sends back the TSAP address. Then the user
releases the connection with the name server and
establishes a new one with the desired service.
 Connection Establishment
Tomlinson’s Method for Connection
Establishment
Each computer has a clock that keeps
running, even if the system crashes. When a
connection is started, the sequence number of
packets is tied to the clock, ensuring no two
connections have the same number.
 Connection Establishment
• Packet lifetime can be restricted to a known
maximum using one (or more) of the following
techniques:
1. Restricted subnet design.
2. Putting a hop counter in each packet.
3. Timestamping each packet.
 Connection Establishment …
• Restricted subnet: In a restricted subnet, the
network ensures that no packet can travel in
circles or be delayed indefinitely.
• Hop counter: Each packet gets a number (hop
count) that decreases every time it passes
through a device on its way to the destination.
• Timestamping: Each packet is stamped with the
time it was created. If a packet gets too old, the
network routers discard it based on a
predetermined expiration time.
Connection Establishment
 Connection Establishment
• The forbidden region refers to a time interval
and sequence number range in which
sequence numbers cannot be reused after a
system restart or crash. This concept is used in
transport layer protocols to prevent delayed
duplicate packets from being misinterpreted
as new data.
 Connection Establishment
• Three-way handshake.
3 steps :
Connection Establishment …
 Connection Release
• There are two styles of terminating a
connection:
1. Asymmetric release
2. Symmetric release
 Connection Release
• Asymmetric release is
the way the telephone
system works, when one
party hangs up, the
connection is broken.

• Abrupt and may cause

data loss
 THE INTERNET TRANSPORT
PROTOCOLS: UDP
• User Datagram Protocol – UDP
• The connectionless protocol .
• UDP transmits segments consisting of an 8-
byte header followed by the pay load.
…
 …
• Source Port (16 bits):
This field contains the port number of the
sender (source) application. It helps identify the
sending application on the source machine.
Destination Port (16 bits):
This field contains the port number of the
recipient (destination) application. It identifies
which application on the receiving machine
should handle the incoming data.
 …
• UDP Length (16 bits):
This field specifies the total length of the UDP
datagram, including both the header and the
payload (data) that follows it.
• UDP Checksum (16 bits):
The checksum is used for error-checking. It
ensures that the UDP header and data haven't
been corrupted during transmission.
The IPv4 pseudo header included in
the UDP checksum.
 …
• Source Address (32 bits):
This field contains the IPv4 address of the
sending device.
• Destination Address (32 bits):
This field holds the IPv4 address of the receiving
device.
 ….
• Zeros (8 bits):
The 8 bits of zeros are used to ensure proper
alignment of the fields in the pseudo-header.
• Protocol (8 bits):
This field contains the protocol number used by
UDP, which is 17 in IPv4.
 TCP (Transmission Control Protocol)
• TCP was formally defined in RFC 793 in
September 1981.
• RFC 1122 added clarifications and fixed some
bugs.
• RFC 1323 made TCP better for high-speed
networks.
• RFC 2018 introduced selective
acknowledgements
 ….
• RFC 2581 added rules for managing network
congestion.
• RFC 2873 allowed some header fields to be
used for quality of service.
• RFC 2988 improved how TCP sets its
retransmission timers
• RFC 3168 introduced a way to signal when the
network is congested.
 ..
• Port
A port is a logical access point in a computer
network, identified by a 16-bit number, that is
used to identify specific processes or network
services. It helps direct data to the correct
application or service on a device.
 …
• A well-known port is a port number in the
range from 0 to 1023 that is reserved for
specific services and protocols. These ports
are typically used by system services and
applications that require a standard
connection point, like:
• Port 80 for HTTP (web traffic)
• Port 443 for HTTPS (secure web traffic)
• Port 25 for SMTP (email sending)
 …
• TCP service is obtained by both the sender
and the receiver creating end points, called
sockets.
…
 …
• A 5 tuple refers to a unique combination of
parameters that identifies a specific TCP
connection between two devices on a network.
1. Protocol: TCP (Transmission Control Protocol)
2. Source IP address: The IP address of the sending
host
3. Source port: The port on the sending host
4. Destination IP address: The IP address of the
receiving host
5. Destination port: The port on the receiving host
 …
• CWR (Congestion Window Reduced):
Indicates that the sender has reduced its
sending rate in response to congestion.
• ECE (Explicit Congestion Notification Echo):
Alerts the sender about network congestion.
• URG (Urgent Pointer Valid): Set when the
urgent pointer field contains valid data.
• ACK: Indicates that the Acknowledgement
Number is valid.
 ..
• PSH (Push): Requests the receiver to pass data
to the application immediately.
• RST (Reset): Resets a confused or invalid
connection.
• SYN: Used to initiate a connection.
• FIN: Indicates that the sender has finished
sending data and wants to close the
connection.
 …
• The window size is a TCP flow control
parameter that tells the sender how many
bytes it can send without waiting for an
acknowledgment. It ensures efficient data
transmission by dynamically adapting to the
receiver’s buffer availability, preventing
overflow, and avoiding unnecessary waiting
time.
 ….

• The Urgent Pointer field in the TCP

header is used when the URG (Urgent)
flag is set to 1. It indicates that certain
data within the segment is "urgent" and
should be prioritized for processing by
the receiver.
 …
• The Options field in the TCP header allows adding extra
features not covered by the standard header.
Common options include:
• MSS (Maximum Segment Size): Specifies the largest
packet size a host can handle.
• Window Scale: Expands the window size for better
performance on high-speed networks.
• Timestamp: Tracks packet timing to calculate round-trip
time and prevent sequence number wrapping.
• SACK (Selective Acknowledgment): Informs the sender
of specific data received, helping to retransmit only lost
packets efficiently.
TCP Connection Establishment
Connections
 TCP Connection Establishment
Connections
• a malicious sender can tie up resources on a
host by sending a stream of SYN segments and
never following through to complete the
connection. This attack is called a SYN flood,
and it crippled many Web servers in the
1990s.
 TCP Connection Establishment
Connections
• SYN cookies are a defense mechanism against
SYN flood attacks. Instead of storing a sequence
number after sending a SYN-ACK message, the
server generates a special sequence number
using a cryptographic function. This "SYN cookie"
is sent to the client. If the client completes the
handshake by sending the correct ACK
(acknowledging the cookie), the server can
recreate the original sequence number to verify
the connection—without having stored anything
earlier.
 TCP Connection Release
• Closing a TCP connection requires both sides
to send FIN and receive ACKs.
• Both sides exchange ACKs to confirm the
termination
• Timers are used to ensure connections don’t
hang forever if one side doesn't respond.
TCP Connection Management
Modeling
 TCP Congestion Control
• Congestion collapse occurs when a network
becomes overloaded, causing a drastic drop in
goodput .Although data packets are still being
sent, most get delayed, lost, or retransmitted,
consuming even more network resources and
making the situation worse.
TCP Congestion Control