The network edge consists of those objects using the internet such as clients, servers and application. To communicate, objects must adhere to the same networking protocol.
A protocol is an agreed-upon set of rules governing a data transmission.
The Internet Protocol is the primary protocol at the internet layer of the TCP/IP stack. It is the governing protocol in charge of the exchange of packets to a remote host. This protocol is responsible for determining the source and destination IP addresses of every packet.
The network administrator assigns every host on a network a unique IP address. Whereas the hardware address refers to the physical network card, the IP address refers to a logical address that the network administrator has assigned to the host.
IP not only provides a standardized ‘envelope’ for the information that is sent; it also contains ‘headers’ that provide addressing, routing and message handling information that enables a message to be directed to its final destination over the various media that compose the internet.
It is important to note that IP is completely independent of hardware used, which means it needs own addressing scheme inn order to transmit data.
Originally, the IP were not developed by any international standardization organization. They were developed by the US Department of Defense research project to connect a number of different networks designed by different vendors into a network of networks.
What is internet protocol?
