Sockets

A socket identifies several pieces of information about a communication channel:

• Protocol: How the operating systems exchange application data

• Destination host: The destination host address(es) for packets sent on this socket

• Destination application ID or port: Identifies the appropriate socket on the destination host

• Source host: Identifies which host is sending the data

  • Information rarely needed

• Local application ID or port: A 16 bit integer that identifies which application is sending data along this socket

  • only if reply is needed

Example of the URL : protocol://Destination.host:destinationPort/