Networking Protocols Every Backend Developer Should Know

If you were handed a package without an address or phone number and told to deliver it to someone named John, you would probably end up very confused and frustrated—there are probably a million Johns in the world! You wouldn’t know who exactly to give it to. This is how the internet will be if networking (or network) protocols don’t exist. Chaos.

Networking protocols are a set of rules that govern how devices communicate with each other over the internet. They define how data should be formatted, routed, and received on the internet. Without networking protocols, computers across the globe will be unable to share information.

In this article, you will learn about some of the networking protocols I think every backend developer should know.

Why Should Backend Developers Care About Networking Protocols?

As a backend developer, your role will often require managing data flows between servers, databases, and clients. Networking protocols define the rules for how these interactions happen and ensure scalability, reliability, security and efficiency.

If you don’t have a good grasp of networking protocols, some of these things might happen to you:

1. Debugging Becomes Much Harder: If your app encounters connectivity issues, you will probably find it difficult to debug if you don’t know how TCP/IP works or why your DNS might be failing.

2. Your App’s Performance Might Suffer: If you don’t know anything about networking protocols, you will skip them when deciding on your app’s design and communication strategies. Poorly implemented communication strategies will make your app appear slow and give users a bad experience.

3. Increase in Security Risk: Protocols like HTTPS and SFTP are critical for encrypting sensitive data. In cases where you need to configure them, a misconfiguration could expose your system to vulnerabilities.

4. Scalability is Limited: Protocols like gRPC and WebSocket enable modern, scalable architectures like microservices and real-time applications. For instance, If you don’t understand how WebSocket works, you might never be able to build and scale a chatting application or multiplayer game.

Networking protocols are crucial for everything that happens on the web, and if you plan to build an application for the web, you should know the bare minimum about them.

5 Networking Protocols Backend Developers Should Know

There are many netwoking protocold available on the internet and it is easy to get overwhelmed by them. Here are some networking protocols I think every backend developer will find useful:

1. HTTP/HTTPS: HTTP means HyperText Transfer Protocol. It is the foundation of communication on the internet. HTTPS refers to the secure version of HTTP. It encrypts data using SSL/TLS to encrypt data
   If you have ever built a website or a REST API, you must have used HTTP(S). Most apps on the internet use this protocol.

2. FTP/SFTP: FTP means File Transfer Protocol. It is the standard protocol that determines how to transfer files between a client and server over a network. SFTP is basically FTP with an added layer of encryption for security.
   If you need to build a video streaming application, you will need some knowledge of FTP to make certain choices. FTP is also important when you want to move your backups between local and remote servers.

3. DNS: DNS stands for Domain Name System. DNS turns human readable domain names such as www.google.com to IP addresses. The DNS is very important for traffic routing on the internet. Many times when you want to host your project, you will need to configure the DNS.
   Understanding DNS will give you an edge when debugging network issues.

4. WebSocket: WebSocket is a protocol that establishes a persistent connection between the client and server. It enables a two-way communication model that allows both parties to send and receive information simultaneously.
   In regular HTTP, the the request-response cycle is the standard. The server cannot contact the client without receiving a request and the client cannot receive data from the server without making a request.
   In contrast, WebSocket maintains an open connection, allowing both the client and server to send data at any time. This protocol is very useful for apps that require real time updates like chat applications, financial trading platforms, and online games.

5. SMTP: SMTP means Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. It is the standard protocol for sending emails. If you have an application that needs to send emails (for example, autentication emails after signup), you will use SMTP to send such emails.

Conclusion

Networking protocols cannot be ignored when building anything for the web. This article has scratched the surface about some of the networking protocols you will need as a backend developer.

You should try to gain more knowledge about these protocols as you build your projects and observe how everything connects.

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