User Datagram Agreement (UDP)
Written on 04:53 by Ahmet Emir
If you were to analyze User Datagram Agreement (UDP) with TCP, the above is basically the
scaled-down abridgement archetypal that’s sometimes referred to as a attenuate protocol. Like a attenuate person
on a esplanade bench, a attenuate agreement doesn’t booty up a lot of room—or in this case, abundant bandwidth
on a network.
UDP doesn’t action all the accretion and whistles of TCP either, but it does do a aces job of
transporting advice that doesn’t crave reliable delivery—and it does so appliance far fewer
network resources. (UDP is covered thoroughly in Request for Comments 768.)
The Requests for Comments (RFCs) anatomy a alternation of notes, started in 1969,
about the Internet (originally the ARPAnet). The addendum altercate abounding aspects of
computer communication; they focus on networking protocols, procedures,
programs, and concepts but additionally accommodate affair notes, opinion, and sometimes
humor.
There are some situations in which it would absolutely be astute for developers to opt for UDP
rather than TCP. Remember the babysitter SNMP up there at the Process/Application layer?
SNMP monitors the network, sending alternate letters and a adequately abiding breeze of status
updates and alerts, abnormally aback active on a ample network. The amount in aerial to establish,
maintain, and abutting a TCP affiliation for anniversary one of those little letters would reduce
what would be an contrarily healthy, able arrangement to a dammed-up bog in no time!
Another accident calling for UDP over TCP is aback believability is already handled at the
Process/Application layer. Arrangement File System (NFS) handles its own believability issues, making
the use of TCP both abstract and redundant. But ultimately, it’s up to the appliance developer
to adjudge whether to use UDP or TCP, not the user who wants to alteration abstracts faster.
UDP does not arrangement the segments and does not affliction in which adjustment the segments arrive
at the destination. But afterwards that, UDP sends the segments off and forgets about them. It
doesn’t chase through, analysis up on them, or alike acquiesce for an acceptance of safe
arrival—complete abandonment. Because of this, it’s referred to as an capricious protocol.
This does not beggarly that UDP is ineffective, alone that it doesn’t handle issues of reliability.
78 Chapter 2 Introduction to TCP/IP
Further, UDP doesn’t actualize a basic circuit, nor does it acquaintance the destination before
delivering advice to it. Because of this, it’s additionally advised a connectionless protocol.
Since UDP assumes that the appliance will use its own believability method, it doesn’t use any.
This gives an appliance developer a best aback active the Internet Agreement stack: TCP
for believability or UDP for faster transfers.
So if you’re appliance Voice over IP (VoIP), for example, you absolutely don’t appetite to use UDP,
because if the segments access out of adjustment (very accepted in IP networks), they’ll aloof be passed
up to the abutting OSI (DoD) band in whatever adjustment they’re received, consistent in some seriously
garbled data. On the added hand, TCP sequences the segments so they get put aback together
in absolutely the appropriate order—something UDP aloof can’t do.
