TCP Segment

made up of a TCP header and a data section

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Destination Port - port of the service the traffic is intended for

Source Port - high-numbered port chosen from a special section of ports known as ephemeral ports

  • required to keep outgoing connections separate
  • necessary for when web server replies, the computer making the original request can send this data to the program that was actually requesting it

Sequence Number - 32-bit number used to keep track of where in a sequence of TCP segments this one is expected to be

Acknowledgment Number - number of the next expected segment

Data Offset Field - 4-bit number that communicates how long the TCP header for this segment is

  • this is so receiving network understands where the actual data payload begins

TCP Window or Checksum - specifies the range of sequence numbers that might be sent before an acknowledgement is required

Urgent Pointer Field - used in conjunction with one of the TCP control flags to point out particular segments that might be more important than others

Options Field - it is sometimes used for more complicated flow control protocols