Connection-Oriented Services

A connection-oriented service is one that establishes a dedicated connection between the communicating entities before data communication commences. It is modeled after the telephone system. To use a connection-oriented service, the user first establishes a connection, uses it and then releases it. In connection-oriented services, the data streams/packets are delivered to the receiver in the same order in which they have been sent by the sender.

Connection-oriented services may be done in either of the following ways −

• Circuit-switched connection: In circuit switching, a dedicated physical path or a circuit is established between the communicating nodes and then data stream is transferred.
• Virtual circuit-switched connection: Here, the data stream is transferred over a packet switched network, in such a way that it seems to the user that there is a dedicated path from the sender to the receiver. A virtual path is established here. However, other connections may also be using this path.

Connection-oriented services may be of the following types −

• Reliable Message Stream: e.g. sequence of pages
• Reliable Byte Stream: e.g. song download
• Unreliable Connection: e.g. VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)

Advantages of Connection-Oriented Services

• This is mostly a reliable connection.
• Congestions are less frequent.
• Sequencing of data packets is guaranteed.
• Problems related to duplicate data packets are alleviated.
• Suitable for long connection.

Disadvantages of Connection-Oriented Services

• Resource allocation is needed before communication. This often leads to under-utilized network resources.
• The lesser speed of connection due to the time is taken for establishing and relinquishing the connection.
• In the case of router failures or network congestions, there are no alternative ways to continue communication.

Jai Janardhan

Updated on: 17-Jun-2020

5K+ Views

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