2-1 LAYERED TASKS

We use the concept of layers in our daily life. As an

example, let us consider two friends who communicate
through postal mail. The process of sending a letter to a
friend would be complex if there were no services
available from the post office.

Topics discussed in this section:

Sender, Receiver, and Carrier
Hierarchy

2.1
 Figure 2.1 Tasks involved in sending a letter

2.2
 2-2 THE OSI MODEL
Established in 1947, the International Standards
Organization (ISO) is a multinational body dedicated to
worldwide agreement on international standards. An ISO
standard that covers all aspects of network
communications is the Open Systems Interconnection
(OSI) model. It was first introduced in the late 1970s.

Topics discussed in this section:

Layered Architecture
Peer-to-Peer Processes
Encapsulation

2.3
 Note

ISO is the organization.

OSI is the model.

2.4
 Figure 2.2 Seven layers of the OSI model

2.5
 Figure 2.3 The interaction between layers in the OSI model

2.6
 Figure 2.4 An exchange using the OSI model

2.7
A LAYERED NETWORK MODEL
 The OSI Reference Model is composed of seven layers, each specifying
particular network functions.
 The process of breaking up the functions or tasks of networking into
layers reduces complexity.
 Each layer provides a service to the layer above it in the protocol
specification.
 Each layer communicates with the same layer’s software or hardware
on other computers.
 The lower 4 layers (transport, network, data link and physical —Layers
4, 3, 2, and 1) are concerned with the flow of data from end to end
through the network.
 The upper four layers of the OSI model (application, presentation and
session—Layers 7, 6 and 5) are orientated more toward services to the
applications.
 Data is Encapsulated with the necessary protocol information as it
moves down the layers before network transit.
THE SEVEN OSI REFERENCE MODEL LAYERS
 Physical Layer
 The physical layer is responsible for movements of
individual bits from one hop (node) to the next.
The Physical layer is also concerned with the following:
 Physical characteristics of interfaces and medium

 Representation of bits.

 Data rate

 Synchronization of bits

 Line configuration

 Physical topology

 Transmission mode

2.10
 Figure 2.5 Physical layer

2.11
 Data link layer

 The data link layer is responsible for moving

frames from one hop (node) to the next.
 Other responsibilities of the data link layer include
the following:
 Framing
 Physical addressing.
 Flow control
 Error control
 Access control.

2.12
 Figure 2.6 Data link layer

2.13
 Figure 2.7 Hop-to-hop delivery

2.14
 Network Layer
 The network is responsible for the delivery of individual
packets from the source host to the destination host.
 Whereas the data link layer oversees the delivery of the packet

between two systems on the same network (links), the network

layer ensures that each packet gets from its point of origin to its
final destination.
Other responsibilities of the network layer include the following:
 Logical addressing

 Routing

2.15
 Figure 2.8 Network layer

2.16
 Figure 2.9 Source-to-destination delivery

2.17
 Transport Layer
 The transport layer is responsible for process-to-process delivery
of the entire message.
 A process is an application program running on a host. Whereas

the network layer oversees source-to-destination delivery of

individual packets, it does not recognize any relationship between
those packets. It treats each one independently, as though each
piece belonged to a separate message, whether or not it does.
Other responsibilities of the transport layer include the following:
 Service-point addressing

 Segmentation and reassembly

 Connection control

 Flow control

 Error control

2.18
 Figure 2.10 Transport layer

2.19
 Figure 2.11 Reliable process-to-process delivery of a message

2.20
 Session Layer
 The session layer is the network dialog controller.
 It establishes, maintains, and synchronizes the interaction among

communicating systems.
Specific responsibilities of the session layer include the following:
 Dialog control

 Synchronization

2.21
Figure 2.12 Session layer

2.22
 Presentation Layer
 The presentation layer is concerned with the syntax and
semantics of the information exchanged between two
systems
 If necessary, the presentation layer translates between multiple

data formats by using a common format.

Specific responsibilities of the presentation layer include the
following:
 Translation

 Encryption

 Compression

2.23
 Figure 2.13 Presentation layer

2.24
 Application Layer
 The application layer enables the user, whether human or
software, to access the network.
 It provides user interfaces and support for services such as

electronic mail,remote file access and transfer, shared database

management, and other types of distributed information
services.
Specific services provided by the application layer include the
following:
 Network virtual terminal

 File transfer, access, and management.

 Mail services

 Directory services

2.25
 Figure 2.14 Application layer

2.26
OSI in Action
A message begins at the top
application layer and moves down the
OSI layers to the bottom physical
layer.
As the message descends, each
successive OSI model layer adds a
header to it.
A header is layer-specific information
that basically explains what functions
the layer carried out.
Conversely, at the receiving end,
headers are striped from the message
as it travels up the corresponding
layers.
 Figure 2.15 Summary of layers

2.28
 TCP/IP PROTOCOL SUITE

2.29
 TCP/IP PROTOCOL SUITE

• The TCPIIP protocol suite was developed prior to the OSI model.
Therefore.the layers in the TCP/IP protocol suite do not exactly
match those in the OSI model.
• The original TCP/IP protocol suite was defined as having four layers:
host-to-network, internet, transport, and application. However, when
TCP/IP is compared to OSI, we can say that the TCP/IP protocol suite
is made of five layers: physical, data link, network, transport, and
application.
• The first four layers provide physical standards, network
interfaces, internetworking, and transport functions that
correspond to the first four layers of the OSI model.
• The three topmost layers in the OSI model,however, are represented in
TCPIIP by a single layer called the application layer

2.30
 Figure 2.16 TCP/IP and OSI model

2.31
 Physical and Data Link Layers
 At the physical and data link layers, TCPIIP does not define

any specific protocol. It supports all the standard and

proprietary protocols. A network in a TCPIIP internetwork can
be a local-area network or a wide-area network.
Network Layer
 At the network layer (or, more accurately, the internetwork
layer), TCP/IP supports the Internetworking Protocol. IP, in
turn, uses four supporting protocols: ARP,RARP, ICMP, and
IGMP.

2.32
 Transport Layer
 Traditionally the transport layer was represented in TCP/IP by
two protocols: TCP and UDP. IP is a host-to-host protocol,
meaning that it can deliver a packet from one physical device to
another. UDP and TCP are transport level protocols responsible
for delivery of a message from a process to another process.
 A new transport layer protocol, SCTP, has been devised to meet

the needs of VOIP applications.

Application Layer
 The application layer in TCPIIP is equivalent to the combined

session, presentation, and application layers in the OSI model

2.33