Protokolleve

Protokolleve is a term used in some Norwegian- and Danish-language technical literature to describe the protocol level within a layered communication model. It refers to the set of responsibilities in a network stack that govern how protocols are specified, negotiated, encoded, transmitted, and interpreted.

In standard models such as the OSI seven-layer model or the TCP/IP stack, protocol behavior is distributed across several layers. The protokolleve concept is less about a fixed single layer and more about the collection of protocol-level concerns that span one or more layers, including message formatting, state management, error detection, flow control, and encapsulation.

Within this frame, the protokolleve encompasses both the design of protocol specifications—such as how a client and server negotiate capabilities—and their implementation in software and hardware, such as protocol stacks in operating systems, network interface cards, and middleware.

Examples of protocol-level concerns include the use of HTTP atop TCP, DNS queries over UDP or TCP, TLS for security, and the ways these protocols negotiate session state and handle retransmission or congestion control at the protocol level. The term is primarily used in education and technical discussion rather than as a formal standard, and it may be used interchangeably with “protocol layer” or “protocol stack” in certain contexts. References generally point to standard protocol specifications published by organizations such as the IETF and ISO.