What is flow control in networking?

What is flow control in networking?

• A. A technique to manage protocol version.
• B. A technique to manage the route.
• C. A technique to manage the rate of data transmission between sender and receiver.
• D. A method to encrypt data.

Answer: (C)

Flow control regulates how fast data can be sent so the receiver can actually handle it. The receiver tells the sender how much buffer space is available (the window), and the sender uses that information to pace its transmissions. If the receiver’s buffer is full, the sender must pause until more space becomes available. This keeps data from being dropped due to overflow and is especially important when the two ends operate at different speeds or one side temporarily slows down. A familiar example is TCP’s receive window mechanism, which is a clear end-to-end method for matching the sender’s rate to the receiver’s capacity. It’s distinct from routing, encryption, or version management, which handle other aspects of networking. So the concept is about managing the rate of data transmission between sender and receiver.

Flow control regulates how fast data can be sent so the receiver can actually handle it. The receiver tells the sender how much buffer space is available (the window), and the sender uses that information to pace its transmissions. If the receiver’s buffer is full, the sender must pause until more space becomes available. This keeps data from being dropped due to overflow and is especially important when the two ends operate at different speeds or one side temporarily slows down. A familiar example is TCP’s receive window mechanism, which is a clear end-to-end method for matching the sender’s rate to the receiver’s capacity. It’s distinct from routing, encryption, or version management, which handle other aspects of networking. So the concept is about managing the rate of data transmission between sender and receiver.