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Throughout this documentation, the term protocol refers to a set of
rules that define how computers communicate with one another. There are
two types of protocols which are important when working with network
applications: transport protocols and application protocols.
Transport protocols define how data is exchanged between systems. The
two transport protocols discussed in this guide are the Transmission
Control Protocol (TCP) and the User Datagram Protocol (UDP). These
protocols provide the underlying communication channel used by network
applications.
Application protocols are built on top of transport protocols to perform
specific tasks. For example, the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is used to
transfer files, while the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is used
to send email messages. Other common application protocols include HTTP
for web services and SSH for secure remote access.
The Internet application protocols are defined in standards documents
called RFCs (Request For Comments) which are maintained by the Internet
Engineering Task Force. The following protocols standards are
implemented by the SocketTools controls:
File Transfer
| Protocol |
Standards |
Description |
| FTP |
RFC 959, RFC
1579, RFC
2228, RFC
2428, RFC
3659
|
File Transfer Protocol including security, NAT/firewall support, and extended directory services. |
| SSH / SFTP |
RFC 4251, RFC
4252, RFC
4253, RFC
4254
|
Secure Shell protocol used for secure remote access and file transfers. |
| TLS |
RFC 8446 |
Transport Layer Security used by FTPS and other secure protocols. |
Web Services and REST APIs
| Protocol |
Standards |
Description |
| HTTP |
RFC 9110, RFC
9112
Legacy:
RFC 1945, RFC
2616
|
Hypertext Transfer Protocol used by websites, REST APIs and cloud services. |
| URI / URL |
RFC 3986
Legacy:
RFC 1738
|
Uniform Resource Identifier syntax and resource naming conventions. |
| TLS |
RFC 8446 |
Secure transport protocol used by HTTPS services and APIs. |
| Compression |
RFC 1951, RFC
1952
|
Deflate and GZIP compression formats commonly used by HTTP servers. |
Electronic Mail
| Protocol |
Standards |
Description |
| SMTP |
RFC 5321, RFC
1869, RFC
6531
Legacy:
RFC 2821
|
Message submission and transfer protocol with service extensions and internationalized email support.
|
| Message Format |
RFC 5322
Legacy:
RFC 822
|
Internet message header and body format. |
| MIME |
RFC 2045, RFC
2049, RFC
2183, RFC
2231
|
Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions including attachments, content types and parameter encoding. |
| POP3 |
RFC 1939 |
Post Office Protocol Version 3. |
| IMAP4 |
RFC 3501 |
Internet Message Access Protocol Version 4. |
| TLS |
RFC 8446 |
Secure transport protocol used by SMTPS, POP3S and IMAPS. |
Network News (Usenet)
| Protocol |
Standards |
Description |
| NNTP |
RFC 3977
Legacy:
RFC 977, RFC
2980
|
Network News Transfer Protocol used to access and manage Usenet servers. |
| TLS |
RFC 8446 |
Secure transport protocol used by NNTPS servers. |
Internet Infrastructure
| Protocol |
Standards |
Description |
| DNS |
RFC 1034, RFC
1035
|
Domain Name System used to resolve host names and service records. |
| ICMP |
RFC 792 |
Internet Control Message Protocol used by Ping and network diagnostics. |
| IPv6 |
RFC 8200 |
Internet Protocol Version 6. |
| Time Protocol |
RFC 868 |
Simple network time service. |
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