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User Datagram Protocol (UDP)
The User Datagram Protocol (UDP) is a connectionless Transport (host-to-host) layer protocol. UDP does not provide message acknowledgments; rather, it simply transports datagrams.

Like TCP, UDP utilizes port addresses to deliver datagrams. These port addresses, however, aren’t associated with virtual circuits and merely identify local host processes. UDP is preferred over TCP when high performance or low network overhead is more critical than reliable delivery. Because UDP doesn’t need to establish, maintain, and close connections, or control data flow, it generally outperforms TCP.

UDP is the Transport layer protocol used with the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), the standard network management protocol used with TCP/IP networks. UDP enables SNMP to provide network management with a minimum of network overhead.