Chalem Systems Group Glossary of Important Database Terminology: Protocols-Internet

Protocols, Internet

In the most general sense, a protocol is a set of rules that specifies how various entities will communicate with one another. In international diplomacy, "protocol" refers to the rituals and rules of etiquette followed by heads of state, diplomats, and other government officials. Similarly, in the language of information technology, a protocol is a set of rules defining how computers or computer networks communicate.The essence of the Internet is an agreement by network and computer operators to follow a common set of protocols. Although the millions of computers connected to the Internet use many different operating systems, they are able to communicate with one another because they all follow these protocols. The most fundamental of these protocols is TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol) which underlies all Internet communications. Other protocols are for more specific purposes: SMTP (Simple Mail Transport Protocol) for transmission of email; HTTP (Hyper-Text Transport Protocol) for communication between web browsers and web servers; HTML (Hyper-Text Markup Language), which defines how web content should be displayed in web browsers; and many others.