TCP/IP Tutorials

Page 2: How TCP/IP Works

As mentioned in previous chapter, TCP/IP is a common language on the Internet so that computers with different operating system (Windows, Unix, Linux, BSD, etc..) can communicate with each others. Let’s see how TCP/IP works today.

The following schematic diagram shows how TCP/IP works on the Internet. Imagine that the Windows workstation is now going to communicate with the Linux workstation.

Here’s the scenario when the Windows workstation sending data to the Linux workstation:

1. The TCP/IP software in Window workstation transform the data to TCP/IP format.
2. The data then transmit through the Internet to the Linux workstation.
3. When the Linux workstation receive the data, the TCP/IP software installed in the Linux workstation will tranform the data to the format of it’s own system.

How about when Linux workstation send data to Windows workstation :

1. The TCP/IP software in Linux workstation transform the data to TCP/IP format.
2. The data then transmit through the Internet to the Windows workstation.
3. When the Windows workstation receive the data, the TCP/IP software installed in the Windows workstation will transform the data to the format of it’s own system.

This is how computers on the Internet using TCP/IP to communicate with each others.