User Datagram Protocol from FOLDOC

User Datagram Protocol

(UDP) Internet standard network layer, transport layer and session layer protocols which provide simple but unreliable datagram services. UDP is defined in STD 6, RFC 768. It adds a checksum and additional process-to-process addressing information [to what?]. UDP is a connectionless protocol which, like TCP, is layered on top of IP.

UDP neither guarantees delivery nor does it require a connection. As a result it is lightweight and efficient, but all error processing and retransmission must be taken care of by the application program.

Unix manual page: udp(4).

[Postel, Jon, User Datagram Protocol, RFC 768, Network Information Center, SRI International, Menlo Park, Calif., August 1980].

Last updated: 1998-02-11

Nearby terms:

User Brain Damage ♦ User Datagram Protocol ♦ user experience ♦ user-friendly

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