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Difficulty: MediumTCP vs UDP Comparison and Protocols

A network engineer is optimizing a time-sensitive financial market data broadcast application where minimizing packet processing delay is critical. The development team decides to transport the data feeds using UDP rather than TCP. Which statement accurately compares the Layer 4 header overhead and operational behavior of UDP relative to TCP?

  1. UDP uses a fixed 8-byte header and operates statelessly without connection establishment, whereas TCP uses a minimum 20-byte header and maintains stateful connection tracking.Answer
  2. B
    UDP uses a 20-byte header but achieves lower latency by omitting sequence numbers, whereas TCP header size dynamically scales down to 8 bytes when window scaling is disabled.
  3. C
    UDP reduces header overhead to 8 bytes by moving flow control mechanisms directly into the Layer 3 IP header flags.
  4. D
    UDP maintains a fixed 8-byte header by utilizing negative acknowledgments (NAKs) sent from the destination to report lost datagrams.

Answer

UDP utilizes a fixed 8-byte header and operates statelessly without connection setup, while TCP uses a minimum 20-byte header and maintains stateful tracking.
The correct answer accurately states that UDP has a streamlined fixed 8-byte header containing only source port, destination port, length, and checksum fields, and operates without establishing connection state. TCP, by contrast, requires at least 20 bytes of header space for fields such as sequence numbers, acknowledgments, control bits, and window size, maintaining active state tracking across the session.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze UDP Layer 4 header structure.
UDP headers contain Source Port (2 bytes), Destination Port (2 bytes), Length (2 bytes), and Checksum (2 bytes), resulting in a fixed 8-byte overhead.
Determining the exact byte overhead of UDP.
2
Analyze TCP Layer 4 header structure and state management.
TCP base headers require 20 bytes to accommodate fields for sequence numbers, acknowledgment numbers, flags, window size, and checksum. TCP also requires connection state tracking (handshake, sequence numbering, ACK tracking).
Comparing UDP header size and operational state to TCP.
3
Evaluate the choices to find the statement that accurately reflects these protocol properties.
The statement identifying UDP's fixed 8-byte stateless operation versus TCP's minimum 20-byte stateful tracking is correct.
Matching protocol features to Layer 4 standard specifications.

Key Concept

TCP vs UDP Header Overhead and Connection State
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

TCP vs UDP Comparison and Protocols

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