Q. Can you explain about Internet Protocol?

Internet protocol specifies the rules which define the details of how computers communicate. It specifies exactly how a packet should be formed and how a router should forward each packet on toward its destination. Internet Protocol (IP) is protocol by which data is sent from one computer to another computer on Internet. Every computer (called a host) on Internet has at least one IP address which uniquely identifies it from all other computers on Internet. When receiving or sending data, message gets divided into little chunks known as packet. Every one of these packets comprise both senders Internet address and receiver's address. Packet which follows IP specification is known as an IP datagram. Internet transmits an IP datagram across a single network by placing it inside a network packet. For network entire IP datagram is data. When network packet arrives at next computer, computer opens packet and extracts datagram. Receiver examines destination address on datagram to conclude how to process it. When a router, figures out that datagram should be sent across another network, router creates a new network packet, encloses datagram inside packet and sends packet across another network toward its destination. When a packet carrying a datagram arrives at its final destination, local software on machine opens the packet and processes datagram. Since a message is divided into a number of packets a different route can transmit every packet across the Internet. Packets can arrive in a different order than order they were sent in. Internet Protocol just delivers them. It's up to another protocol, Transmission Control Protocol to put them back in right order. IP is a connectionless protocol that means that there is no established connection between end points that are communicating. Every packet which travels through the Internet is treated as an independent unit of data without any relation to any other unit of data. In Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) communication model, IP is in layer 3, Networking Layer.