Sometimes called an access method, a protocol is a standard used to define a method of exchanging data over a computer network, such as local area network, Internet, Intranet, etc. Each protocol has its own method of how to handle data in the following situations.

  • How data is formatted when sent.
  • What to do with data once received.
  • How data is compressed.
  • How to check for errors in the data.

Likely the most important protocol is TCP/IP (transmission control protocol/Internet protocol) which is used to govern the communications of every computer connected to the Internet. HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), used to transmit data over the world wide web (Internet), is “carried” by TCP/IP. Below is a list of the various protocols currently listed in the Computer Hope dictionary.

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

Communications protocol, Connectionless, Network terms

ADSI Aloha AppleTalk ARP ASP

BGMP BGP BOOTP

CHAP CIFS CTCP

DDP DHCP

EAP EDIINT EIGRP Ethernet EtherTalk

FDHP Frame relay FSP FTP

None

H.323 HDLC HTTP

ICA ICMP IGES IGMP IGP IGRP IMAP IP IPsec IPv4 IPv6 IPX/SPX

Kerberos Kermit

L2TP LAPM LDAP LFAP

Mailto MNP MPLS

NBT NCP NetBEUI NNTP NSP NTP

OSPF

PEP PIM POP PPPoE PPP PPTP

RAP RARP RDP RIP RLP RTP RTSP RTTP

SFTP SLIP SNAP SMTP SNMP SOAP SOCKS SSH STP

TFTP TCP/IP TKIP

UDP

VOIP VRRP

WAP

X.25

ZIP

  • Network and network card help and support.