stream control transmission protocol (SCTP)
The Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) enables network operators to route the signaling messages of their switching systems over the Internet and more easily implement new services such as Internet telephony. Its mechanisms serve to increase the performance and reliability of IP services by enabling the transport of signaling messages, such as SS7 signaling.
The SCTP protocol is a secure transport protocol. It was developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force( IETF), is described in RFC 2960, and performs tasks beyond signaling transport. For this reason, SCTP was placed on the same level in the IP protocol stack as the TCP protocol, so that SCTP can be used whenever an application requires the special performance of the new protocol.
The SCTP protocol supports several services, including optional reception of data packets in the correct order, sequential transmission of messages in multiple streams, and confirmed, error-free data reception. The SCTP protocol is particularly suitable as a transport protocol for Session Initiation Protocol( SIP) and ISDN User Part( ISUP) messages. The chunks in the SCTP header are data containers with different contents defined by the chunk type.