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User Datagram Protocol

 

User Data Protocol or UDP is a transport layer protocol that does not needs to establish any connection prior to the data transfer. 

It permits the packets to be dropped instead of delayed for high performance. 

It is more efficient in the terms of latency and bandwidth. 

 

UDP Header

It is an 8 bytes header, where the first part contains all the necessary information and the rest consists of data. 

The UDP port number fields are each 16 bits long, therefore the range is defined from 0 to 65535, and the port number 0 is reserved. 

 

Applications of UDP

  1. It is used for simple request-response when the size of the data is less.
  2. It is suitable for multicasting.
  3. It can be used for routing update protocols.
  4. It is generally used for real-time applications that cannot handle delays. 
  5. It is fast. It takes the datagram from the Network layer, attaches the header, and sends it to the user. 
  6. It reduces the requirement of resources.
  7. It helps the application layer to the following tasks:
  1. Traceroute
  2. Record route
  3. Timestamp
  1. UDP is used as a transport layer protocol in the following:
  1. NTP (Network Time Protocol)
  2. DNS (Domain Name Service)
  3. BOOTP, DHCP.
  4. NNP (Network News Protocol)
  5. Quote of the day protocol
  6. TFTP, RTSP, RIP.

Reference

User Datagram Protocol