What is SCTP?
SCTP stands for Stream Control Transmission Protocol. At a basic level, SCTP is designed to be reliable, handle de-duplication of packets, and support packets that may be delivered in order or out of order. Beyond transporting messages, SCTP can also set up a connection between users. On a deeper level, SCTP includes native support for multiplexing: multiple applications can take advantage of a single transport connection. SCTP also supports multi-homing, which enables automatic failover from a primary connection to a secondary one.
At the most basic level, it lets you reliably send information from one computer to another without any complications.
What is SCTP used for?
SCTP’s uses can generally fit into two cases:
1. Sending some amount of data.
Imagine a scenario where two people are texting when one person remembers a picture that they want to send. As they text back and forth, an image gets uploaded, which takes some time to get sent. SCTP can handle multiple things going on at the same time and doesn’t delay any messages from being sent just because an image is being uploaded! Thanks to SCTP, text messages can be safely delivered to each person and nothing in their conversation is lost in transit or delayed just because something else is being transferred at the same time as their messages.
Building on this idea, users can share larger files with each other. This includes anything: birthday videos, audio recordings, even boring paperwork; anything that’s a file can be sent!
2. Sending small amounts of data with a purpose.
In a new scenario, imagine two people who are texting back and forth when one person gets hungry. They send a message saying, “I want a pizza!” When the other person receives the text, they think, “Maybe I should do something about that!” The recipient can choose to do something useful for the sender with that information.
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