Computer Network Model

OSI Model

• The OSI Model is a layered framework for the design of network

systems that allows for communication across all types of
computer systems.
• A reference model is a conceptual framework for understanding
relationships. The purpose of the OSI reference model is to guide
vendors and developers so the digital communication products and
software programs they create can interoperate and to facilitate
a clear framework that describes the functions of a networking or
telecommunication system.
• There are n numbers of users who use computer
network and are located over the world. So to ensure,
national and worldwide data communication, systems
must be developed which are compatible to
communicate with each other ISO has developed a
standard. ISO stands for International organization of
Standardization. This is called a model for Open
System Interconnection (OSI) and is commonly known
as OSI model.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv4y_uOneC0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ilk7UXzV_Qc
 Feature of OSI Model

• Big picture of communication over network is

understandable through this OSI model.
• We see how hardware and software work together.
• We can understand new technologies as they are developed.
• Troubleshooting is easier by separate networks.

• Can be used to compare basic functional relationships on

different networks.
 The OSI reference model has 7 layers. The principles that were
applied to arrive at the seven layers can be briefly summarized
as follows:

A layer should be created where a different abstraction is

needed.

Principles of
OSI Reference
Each layer should perform a well-defined function.

Model The function of each layer should be chosen with an eye

toward defining internationally standardized protocols.

The layer boundaries should be chosen to minimize the

information flow across the interfaces.

The number of layers should be large enough that distinct

functions need not be thrown together in the same layer out
of necessity and small enough that architecture does not
become unwieldly.
 OSI model distinguishes well
between the services, interfaces and
protocols.

Merits of OSI Protocols of OSI model are very well

hidden.
reference
model Protocols can be replaced by new
protocols as technology changes.

Supports connection oriented

services as well as connectionless
service.
 Model was devised before
the invention of protocols.

Demerits of
OSI reference Fitting of protocols is
model tedious task.

It is just used as a
reference model.
 The Physical Layer

• At Layer 1, the Physical layer of the OSI model is responsible for

ultimate transmission of digital data bits from the Physical layer of
the sending (source) device over network communications media
to the Physical layer of the receiving (destination) device.
Examples of Layer 1 technologies include Ethernet
cables and Token Ring networks.

• At the Physical layer, data are transmitted using the type of

signaling supported by the physical medium: electric voltages,
radio frequencies, or pulses of infrared or ordinary light.
 Functions of Physical Layer

• Representation of Bits: Data in this layer consists of stream of bits. The

bits must be encoded into signals for transmission. It defines the type of
encoding i.e. how 0's and 1's are changed to signal.
• Data Rate: This layer defines the rate of transmission which is the
number of bits per second.
• Synchronization: It deals with the synchronization of the transmitter
and receiver. The sender and receiver are synchronized at bit level.
• Interface: The physical layer defines the transmission interface between
devices and transmission medium.
• Topologies: Devices must be connected using the following topologies:
Mesh, Star, Ring and Bus.
• Transmission Modes: Physical Layer defines the direction of transmission
between two devices: Simplex, Half Duplex, Full Duplex.
 Data Link Layer

• When obtaining data from the Physical layer, the Data

Link layer checks for physical transmission errors and
packages bits into data "frames". The Data Link layer
also manages physical addressing schemes such
as MAC addresses for Ethernet networks, controlling
access of any various network devices to the physical
medium. Because the Data Link layer is the single most
complex layer in the OSI model, it is often divided into
two parts, the "Media Access Control" sublayer and the
"Logical Link Control" sublayer.
• LLC : The LLC sublayer provides error-free transfer of data
frames from one node to another. The LLC sublayer establishes
and terminates logical links, controls frame flow, sequences
frames, acknowledges frames, and retransmits unacknowledged
frames. The LLC sublayer uses frame acknowledgement and
retransmission to provide virtually error-free transmission over
the link to the layers above.
• MAC : The MAC sublayer manages access to the physical layer,
checks frame errors, and manages address recognition of
received frames.
 Functions of Data Link Layer

• Framing: Frames are the streams of bits received from the network layer into
manageable data units. This division of stream of bits is done by Data Link Layer.
• Physical Addressing: The Data Link layer adds a header to the frame in order to
define physical address of the sender or receiver of the frame, if the frames are to
be distributed to different systems on the network.
• Flow Control: A flow control mechanism to avoid a fast transmitter from running a
slow receiver by buffering the extra bit is provided by flow control. This prevents
traffic jam at the receiver side.
• Error Control: Error control is achieved by adding a trailer at the end of the
frame. Duplication of frames are also prevented by using this mechanism. Data
Link Layers adds mechanism to prevent duplication of frames.
• Access Control: Protocols of this layer determine which of the devices has control
over the link at any given time, when two or more devices are connected to the
same link
 Network Layer

• Network layer works for the transmission of data from one host to the other
located in different networks. It also takes care of packet routing i.e.
selection of the shortest path to transmit the packet, from the number of
routes available. The sender & receiver’s IP address are placed in the header
by network layer.
The functions of the Network layer are :
• Routing: The network layer protocols determine which route is suitable from
source to destination. This function of network layer is known as routing.
• Logical Addressing: In order to identify each device on internetwork
uniquely, network layer defines an addressing scheme. The sender &
receiver’s IP address are placed in the header by network layer. Such an
address distinguishes each device uniquely and universally.
To accomplish this end-to-end transport, Layer 3 uses four basic
processes:
* Addressing
* Encapsulation
* Routing
* Decapsulation

• Addressing
• First, the Network layer must provide a mechanism for addressing these
end devices. If individual pieces of data are to be directed to an end
device, that device must have a unique address. In an IPv4 network,
when this address is added to a device, the device is then referred to as
a host.
 Encapsulation

• The network layer PDU- protocol Data Unit is the packet. Encapsulation
entails adding layer 3 specific information based on the segments from the
transport layer. Such information includes headers and trailers.

• Routing
• the Network layer must provide services to direct these packets to their destination host.
The source and destination hosts are not always connected to the same network. In fact,
the packet might have to travel through many different networks. Along the way, each
packet must be guided through the network to reach its final destination.

• Decapsulation
• When the packet arrives at the destination, it must be decoded and moved up the OSI
layers to the application layer. Decapsulation is used to reassemble the packets to
segments which are then used in the transport layer.
 Decapsulation

• When the packet arrives at the destination, it must be decoded and

moved up the OSI layers to the application layer. The network layer
carries packets and does not contain information about the upper
levels such as the application type. Decapsulation is used to
reassemble the packets to segments which are then used in the
transport layer.
 Transport Layer

• The Transport Layer delivers data across network

connections. TCP is the most common example of a
Transport Layer 4 network protocol. Different transport
protocols may support a range of optional capabilities
including error recovery, flow control, and support for re-
transmission.
• The standard protocols used by Transport Layer to enhance
it’s functionalities are : TCP(Transmission Control Protocol),
UDP( User Datagram Protocol), DCCP( Datagram Congestion
Control Protocol)
Various responsibilities of a Transport Layer –

• Process to process delivery –

While Data Link Layer requires the MAC address of source- destination
hosts to correctly deliver a frame and Network layer requires the IP
address for appropriate routing of packets , in a similar way Transport
Layer requires a Port number to correctly deliver the segments of data to
the correct process amongst the multiple processes running on a
particular host. A port number is a 16 bit address used to identify any
client-server program uniquely.
Multiplexing and Demultiplexing –
•
Multiplexing allows simultaneous use of different
applications over a network which are running on a host.
Transport layer provides this mechanism which enables us
to send packet streams from various applications
simultaneously over a network. Transport layer accepts
these packets from different processes differentiated by
their port numbers and passes them to network layer after
adding proper headers. Similarly Demultiplexing is required
at the receiver side to obtain the data coming from various
processes. Transport receives the segments of data from
network layer and delivers it to the appropriate process
running on the receiver’s machine.
5. Session Layer

• The Session Layer allows users on different machines to

establish active communication sessions between them.
• It's main aim is to establish, maintain and synchronize the
interaction between communicating systems. Session layer
manages and synchronize the conversation between two
different applications. In Session layer, streams of data are
marked and are resynchronized properly, so that the ends of
the messages are not cut prematurely and data loss is avoided.
 Session layer functionalities:

• 1. Session management
• As its name suggests, the session layer is responsible for
managing a session which includes opening, closing and
managing a session between end-user application processes.
You can think of session layer as the main layer which handles
the requests and responses between the two applications.
• For example, if you are downloading some pictures from
Facebook, a network path is defined by the network layer but
the requests for the photos and responses by Facebook to you is
handled by the session layer.
• 2. Authentication
• Before establishing a session with some network peer, it is
important for one of the computers to know that another peer
it is communicating to is a legitimate one. Authentication is
the process of verifying that "you are who , you say you are".
• 3. Authorization
• So the basic difference between the two is: authentication is
the process of verifying that "you are who you say you are",
authorization is the process of verifying that "you are
permitted to do what you are trying to do". Authorization thus
presupposes authentication.
6. Presentation Layer

• The primary goal of this layer is to take care of

the syntax and semantics of the information exchanged
between two communicating systems. Presentation layer
takes care that the data is sent in such a way that the
receiver will understand the information(data) and will be
able to use the data. Languages(syntax) can be different of
the two communicating systems. Under this condition
presentation layer plays a role translator.
• The application layer passes data meant for transport to
another device in a certain format. The presentation layer
then prepares this data in the most appropriate format the
receiving application can understand. Common formats
include ASCII and extended binary-coded decimal interchange
code (EBCDIC) for text; JPEG, GIF and TIFF for images; and
MPEG, MIDI and QuickTime for video.
presentation layer is responsible for:

• Data Compression, by reducing the number of bits requiring

transmission, which improves the data throughput.
• Data Encryption and Decryption: Encryption is needed for security
purposes when sending data across networks. An encryption
algorithm is used during transmission, while a decryption algorithm is
used at the receiving node. Encryption and decryption typically
involves the secure sockets layer (SSL) protocol, which has become
more popular when used by the presentation layer.
7. Application Layer

• The Application layer supplies network services to end-

user applications. Network services are typically
protocols that work with user's data. For example, in a
Web browser application, the Application layer
protocol HTTP packages the data needed to send and
receive Web page content. This Layer 7 provides data to
(and obtains data from) the Presentation layer.
 The application layer provides many services, including:

• Simple Mail Transfer Protocol

• File transfer
• Web surfing
• Web chat
• Email clients
• Network data sharing
• Virtual terminals
• Various file and data operations
• The application layer provides full end-user access to a variety
of shared network services for efficient OSI model data flow.
This layer has many responsibilities, including error handling
and recovery, data flow over a network and full network flow.
It is also used to develop network-based applications.
 The TCP/IP Reference Model

• TCP/IP means Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol. It is

the network model used in the current Internet architecture as well.

• TCP/IP that is Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol was

developed by Department of Defence's Project Research Agency (ARPA,
later DARPA) as a part of a research project of network interconnection
to connect remote machines.
• Support for a flexible architecture. Adding more machines to a network
was easy.
• The network was robust, and connections remained intact untill the
source and destination machines were functioning.
Diagrammatic Comparison between OSI Reference Model and TCP/IP Reference Model
Protocols and networks in the TCP/IP model:
 Network Access Layer

• A network layer is the lowest layer of the TCP/IP model.

• A network layer is the combination of the Physical layer and Data Link layer
defined in the OSI reference model.
• This layer is mainly responsible for the transmission of the data between two
devices on the same network.
• The functions carried out by this layer are encapsulating the IP datagram
into frames transmitted by the network and mapping of IP addresses into
physical addresses.
• The protocols used by this layer are ethernet, token ring, FDDI, X.25, frame
relay.
Internet Layer
• An internet layer is the second layer of the TCP/IP
model.
• An internet layer is also known as the network layer.
• The main responsibility of the internet layer is to send
the packets from any network, and they arrive at the
destination irrespective of the route they take.

• Protocol used in Internet Layer:

• IP Protocol: IP protocol is used in this layer, and it is the

most significant part of the entire TCP/IP suite.
Following are the responsibilities of this protocol:

• IP Addressing: This protocol implements logical

host addresses known as IP addresses. The IP
addresses are used by the internet and higher
layers to identify the device and to provide
internetwork routing.
• Host-to-host communication: It determines the
path through which the data is to be transmitted.
• Routing:
 Transport Layer

• The transport layer is responsible for the reliability, flow control, and
correction of data which is being sent over the network. It uses following
protocol
• User Datagram protocol and Transmission control protocol. ( UDP & TCP )

User Datagram Protocol (UDP)

• UDP provides connectionless service and end-to-end delivery of transmission.

• It is an unreliable protocol as it discovers the errors but not specify the error.
• User Datagram Protocol discovers the error, and ICMP protocol reports the error to
the sender that user datagram has been damaged.
 Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)
• It provides a full transport layer services to applications.
• It creates a virtual circuit between the sender and receiver, and it is
active for the duration of the transmission.
• TCP is a reliable protocol as it detects the error and retransmits the
damaged frames. Therefore, it ensures all the segments must be
received and acknowledged before the transmission is considered to
be completed and a virtual circuit is discarded.
• At the sending end, TCP divides the whole message into smaller units
known as segment, and each segment contains a sequence number
which is required for reordering the frames to form an original
message.
• At the receiving end, TCP collects all the segments and reorders them
based on sequence numbers.
Application Layer

• An application layer is the topmost layer in the TCP/IP model.

• It is responsible for handling high-level protocols, issues of
representation.
• This layer allows the user to interact with the application.
• When one application layer protocol wants to communicate with
another application layer, it forwards its data to the transport
layer.
Following are the main protocols used in the
application layer:

• HTTP: HTTP stands for Hypertext transfer protocol. This protocol

allows us to access the data over the world wide web. It transfers
the data in the form of plain text, audio, video.
• SNMP: SNMP stands for Simple Network Management Protocol. It is
a framework used for managing the devices on the internet by
using the TCP/IP protocol suite.
• SMTP: SMTP stands for Simple mail transfer protocol. The TCP/IP
protocol that supports the e-mail is known as a Simple mail
transfer protocol.
• DNS:
• TELNET: