Packet exchange for TCP connection

the actual packet exchange that takes place for a complete TCP connection: the connection establishment, data transfer, and connection termination. We also show the TCP states through which each endpoint passes.

The client in this example announces an MSS of 536 (indicating that it implements only the minimum reassembly buffer size) and the server announces an MSS of 1,460 (typical for IPv4 on an Ethernet). It is okay for the MSS to be different in each direction.

Once a connection is established, the client forms a request and sends it to the server. We assume this request fits into a single TCP segment (i.e., less than 1,460 bytes given the server's announced MSS). The server processes the request and sends a reply, and we assume that the reply fits in a single segment (less than 536 in this example). We show both data segments as bolder arrows. Notice that the acknowledgment of the client's request is sent with the server's reply. This is called piggybacking and will normally happen when the time it takes the server to process the request and generate the reply is less than around 200 ms. If the server takes longer, say one second, we would see the acknowledgment followed later by the reply.

We then show the four segments that terminate the connection. Notice that the end that performs the active close (the client in this scenario) enters the TIME_WAIT state.

It is important to notice in Figure that if the entire purpose of this connection was to send a one-segment request and receive a one-segment reply, there would be eight segments of overhead involved when using TCP. If UDP was used instead, only two packets would be exchanged: the request and the reply. But switching from TCP to UDP removes all the reliability that TCP provides to the application, pushing lots of these details from the transport layer (TCP) to the UDP application. Another important feature provided by TCP is congestion control, which must then be handled by the UDP application. Nevertheless, it is important to understand that many applications are built using UDP because the application exchanges small amounts of data and UDP avoids the overhead of TCP connection establishment and connection termination.