A protocol stack is organized in such a way that the highest level of communication resides in the top layer. Each layer in the stack is built on the services of the immediate lower layer.
The TCP/IP protocol stack has four layers, as follows:
- Application layer: This layer manages the high-level protocols, including representation, coding, and dialogue control issues. It handles everything related to applications, and the data is packed appropriately for the next layer. It is a user process that cooperates with other processes on the same host or a different one. Examples of protocols at this layer are TELNET, File Transfer Protocol (FTP), and Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP).
- Transport layer: This ...