Assume that you have made a request for a web page through your web browser to…
2020
Assume that you have made a request for a web page through your web browser to a web server. Initially the browser cache is empty. Further, the browser is configured to send HTTP requests in non-persistent mode. The web page contains text and five very small images. The minimum number of TCP connections required to display the web page completely in your browser is ________ .
Attempted by 110 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: 6
Answer: 6 TCP connections.
Key insight: With HTTP in non-persistent mode and an empty browser cache, the browser opens a separate TCP connection for each object it requests.
The HTML page (the text) is one object → requires 1 TCP connection.
Each of the five images is a separate object → each image requires its own TCP connection (5 connections).
Total = 1 (HTML) + 5 (images) = 6 TCP connections.
Note: DNS lookups (typically using UDP) and the TCP three-way handshake are implementation details and not counted as additional TCP connections beyond the per-object connection count.