Flow Control vs Error Control Quiz and Flashcards: Transport Layer Difference

Study Notes

Demultiplexing is a process where an entity delivers items to more than one source

Flow control is necessary at the transport layer to ensure reliable communication between sender and receiver processes
Four entities involved in communication at the transport layer: sender process, sender transport layer, receiver transport layer, and receiver process

Error control ensures the transport layer is reliable if required by the application
Error control involves:
- Detecting and discarding corrupted packets
- Keeping track of lost and discarded packets and resending them
- Recognizing duplicate packets and discarding them
- Buffering out-of-order packets until the missing packets arrive

TCP is a connection-oriented, reliable transport protocol
Provides connection-oriented/stream-oriented communication over a connectionless network layer protocol (IP)
Supports flow control and error control
Described in RFCs 793, 1122, 5681
TCP lies between the application layer and the network layer, serving as an intermediary between application programs and network operations

Provides process-to-process communication using port numbers
Stream-oriented protocol, creating an environment where two processes seem to be connected by an imaginary "tube" carrying bytes across the internet
Needs buffers for storage due to differing sending and receiving rates
Uses segmentation to group bytes together into packets
Uses sequence numbers to reconstruct the data stream with segments in correct order
Offers full-duplex service, allowing data to flow in both directions at the same time
Performs multiplexing at the sender and demultiplexing at the receiver
Reliable transport protocol using acknowledgment mechanism to check safe and sound arrival of data
Provides flow, error, and congestion control