Illustrated TCP/IP by Matthew G. Naugle Wiley Computer Publishing, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN: 0471196568   Pub Date: 11/01/98

Chapter 219
Selected TCP/IP Applications

This section gives you an introduction to TELNET, FTP, TFTP, SMTP (including POP), and DNS.

There can be many applications written for the TCP/IP environment, and many exist today. There are word processing systems, CAD/CAM systems, mail systems, and so on. The seven most common applications (besides Web applications) that run on the TCP/IP network system are:

TELNET (Remote Terminal Emulation)

File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP)

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)

Post Office Protocol (POP)

Domain Name Service (DNS)

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)

These applications are fully documented in the RFCs and almost always are delivered with any TCP/IP protocol suite in the market today. This means that you can switch to almost any type of computer using TCP applications software and the commands and functions of these programs will be the same.

The applications were specifically written for TCP/IP and basically provide almost all the applications that users need to access any network. Database programs, word processing programs, and so forth, are all viable programs, but are not pertinent to the operation of a TCP/IP network. Using the foregoing application, a user can find any other needed application on the Internet. The ones just listed are the bare minimum needed to create a networked user environment in which all users can actively communicate and share data with each other across the network.

One nice thing about these available network applications is that they run on TCP/IP no matter which operating system is being used. The commands, their connection techniques, the commands that control the application, and the interface to the user almost always will be the same. So, if you normally work with Unix and then switch for a day to DOS, the same FTP commands that operated on the Unix machine will be there in the DOS machine. It is hard to say that with most applications today. The discussion starts with the TELNET protocol.

The protocols are covered briefly. Please refer to the TCP/IP books listed at the back of this book for more information about these protocols.