Connectionless protocol is a standard that enables the transmission of data from one computer to another, even though no effort is made to determine whether the receiving computer is online or capable of receiving the information. This is the underlying protocol in any packet-switching network, such as the Internet, in which a unit of data is broken down into small-sized packets, each with a header containing the address of the data’s intended destination. On the Internet, it is called the Internet Protocol (IP).
IP is concerned only with breaking down the data into packets for transmission and reassembling the packets after they have been received. A connection-oriented protocol (on the Internet, TCP) works at another level to ensure that all the packets are received. Research on computer networks has disclosed that this design is highly efficient. See connection-oriented protocol, TCP
Technipages Explains Connectionless Protocol
A connectionless protocol creates a phenomenon where the communication between two network endpoints where a message transmitted from one endpoint to another without the foreknowledge of any proposed operation. From one end, the device sends data to the other end before verifying that the device on the other end prepared to utilize the sent data and this describes how most transmissions on the open internet operate. Some internet connectionless protocols allow for error correction by carrying retransmission of the data if necessary, another important thing to note is that the device sending a message sends it addressed to the intended recipient. If there are problems with the transmission, it may be necessary to resend the data several times. The Internet Protocol (IP) and User Datagram Protocol (UDP) are connectionless protocols. Examples of such connectionless protocols the internet functions with are HTTP (hypertext transfer), IP, UDP, ICMP, IPX, and TIPC.
Common Uses of Connectionless Protocol
- Connectionless protocols stand as the bridge to allow transmission on the internet whether the networks are online or not
- Connection protocols have been modified to allow retransmission in the case of a failed data transmission
- IPs are a good example to showcase how a connectionless protocol works
Common Misuses of Connectionless Protocol
- Connectionless protocols are only operational when both networks are online and are ready to use the data.