COMPILED BY LOKENDRA KUMAR TIWARI FOR PGDCA P BATCH 2008

BASIC CONCEPT OF LAYERING

Network architectures define the standards and techniques for designing and building communication systems for computers and other devices. In the past, vendors developed their own architectures and required that other vendors conform to this architecture if they wanted to develop compatible hardware and software. There are proprietary network architectures such as IBM's SNA (Systems Network Architecture) and there are open architectures like the OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) model defined by the International Organization for Standardization. The previous strategy, where the computer network is designed with the hardware as the main concern and software is afterthought, no longer works. Network software is now highly structured.

To reduce the design complexity, most of the networks are organized as a series of layers or levels, each one build upon one below it. The basic idea of a layered architecture is to divide the design into small pieces. Each layer adds to the services provided by the lower layers in such a manner that the highest layer is provided a full set of services to manage communications and run the applications. The benefits of the layered models are modularity and clear interfaces, i.e. open architecture and comparability between the different providers' components.

Open System Interconnection Reference Model

The Open System Interconnection (OSI) reference model describes how information from a software application in one computer moves through a network medium to a software application in another computer. The OSI reference model is a conceptual model composed of seven layers, each specifying particular network functions. The model was developed by the International Standards Organization (ISO) in 1984, and it is now considered the primary architectural model for inter-computer communications.

The model is called the ISO OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) Reference Model because it deals with connecting open systemsthat is, systems that are open for communication with other systems.

The OSI Reference Model includes seven layers:

References: B.A. Forouzan, A.S. Tanenbaum, Sumita Arora, Madhulika Jain, IIT notes.

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The seven layers of the OSI reference model can be divided into two categories: upper layers and lower layers.

The upper layers of the OSI model deal with application issues and generally are implemented only in software.

Functions of the OSI Layers.

The Physical Layer

The physical layer is concerned with transmission of raw bits over a communication channel. It specifies the mechanical, electrical and procedural network interface specifications and the physical transmission of bit streams over a transmission medium connecting two pieces of communication equipment. In simple terns, the physical layer decides the following:

1 Number of pins and functions of each pin of the network connector (Mechanical) 2 Signal Level, Data rate (Electrical) 3 Whether simultaneous transmission in both directions
References: B.A. Forouzan, A.S. Tanenbaum, Sumita Arora, Madhulika Jain, IIT notes.

COMPILED BY LOKENDRA KUMAR TIWARI FOR PGDCA P BATCH 2008

1 2

Establishing and breaking of connection Deals with physical transmission

The physical layer is responsible for movements of individual bits from one hop (node) to the next.

The Data Link Layer The goal of the data link layer is to provide reliable, efficient communication between adjacent machines connected by a single communication channel. Specifically:

1 Group the physical layer bit stream into units called frames. Note that frames are nothing
more than ``packets'' or ``messages''. By convention, we shall use the term ``frames'' when discussing DLL packets. Its called FRAMING

2 Error control. The data link layer adds reliability to the physical layer by adding
mechanisms to detect and retransmit damaged or lost frames. It also uses a mechanism to recognize duplicate frames. Error control is normally achieved through a trailer added to the end of the frame.

3 Flow control prevents a fast sender from overwhelming a slower receiver. For example, a
supercomputer can easily generate data faster than a PC can consume it.

Access control. When two or more devices are connected to the same link, data link layer protocols are necessary to determine which device has control over the link at any given time.

Framing, Flow Control, Error Control and Access Control are main function of DLL

Network Layer
The basic purpose of the network layer is to provide an end-to-end communication capability in contrast to machine-to-machine communication provided by the data link layer. This end-to-end

References: B.A. Forouzan, A.S. Tanenbaum, Sumita Arora, Madhulika Jain, IIT notes.

COMPILED BY LOKENDRA KUMAR TIWARI FOR PGDCA P BATCH 2008

is performed using two basic approaches known as connection-oriented or connectionless network-layer services. The network layer establishes the route between the sending and receiving stations. The unit of data at the network layer is called a packet. Main Functions of Data Link Layer are

1 2 3 4

Routing Congestion and deadlock control Internetworking (A path may traverse different networking technologies) The network layer is responsible for translating logical addresses, or names, into physical addresses.

The main device found at the Network layer is a router.

NOTE: If two systems are connected to the same link, there is usually no need for a network layer. However, if the two systems are attached to different networks (links) with connecting devices between the networks (links), there is often a need for the network layer to accomplish source-to-destination delivery.

The network layer is responsible for the delivery of individual packets from the source host to the destination host. (Routing)

Transport Layer
The basic function of the transport layer is to accept data from above, split it up into smaller units if need be, pass these to the network layer, and ensure that the pieces all arrive correctly at the other end. it ensures that data is successfully sent and received between two computers. The lower data link layer (layer 2) is only responsible for delivering packets from one node to another. Thus, if a packet gets lost in a router somewhere in the enterprise Internet, the transport layer will detect that. It ensures that if a 12MB file is sent, the full 12MB is received. Main Functions of Transport Layers are

References: B.A. Forouzan, A.S. Tanenbaum, Sumita Arora, Madhulika Jain, IIT notes.

COMPILED BY LOKENDRA KUMAR TIWARI FOR PGDCA P BATCH 2008

1 Service-point addressing. Computers often run several programs at the same time. For
this reason, source-to-destination delivery means delivery not only from one computer to the next but also from a specific process (running program) on one computer to a specific process (running program) on the other. The transport layer header must therefore include a type of address called a service-point address (or port address). The network layer gets each packet to the correct computer; the transport layer gets the entire message to the correct process on that computer.

2 Segmentation and reassembly 3 Connection control. The transport layer can be either connectionless or connection
oriented.

4 Flow control. Like the data link layer, the transport layer is responsible for flow control.
However, flow control at this layer is performed end to end rather than across a single link.

5 Error control. Like the data link layer, the transport layer is responsible for error control.
However, error control at this layer is performed process-to process rather than across a single link. The sending transport layer makes sure that the entire message arrives at the receiving transport layer without error (damage, loss, or duplication). Error correction is usually achieved through retransmission.

The transport layer is responsible for the delivery of a message from one process to another.

The Session Layer

The session layer allows users on different machines to establish sessions between them. Sessions offer various services, including dialog control (keeping track of whose turn it is to transmit), token management (preventing two parties from attempting the same critical operation at the same time), and synchronization (check pointing long transmissions to allow them to continue from where they were after a crash).

References: B.A. Forouzan, A.S. Tanenbaum, Sumita Arora, Madhulika Jain, IIT notes.

COMPILED BY LOKENDRA KUMAR TIWARI FOR PGDCA P BATCH 2008

The session layer is responsible for dialog control and synchronization

Presentation Layer
This layer is concerned with Syntax and Semantics of the information transmitted, unlike other layers, which are interested in moving data reliably from one machine to other. Few of the services that Presentation layer provides are:

Translation.: Translates the data in the bits/ so that it may be transferred using suitable

transmission medium.

Encryption. To carry sensitive information, a system must be able to ensure privacy.

Encryption means that the sender transforms the original information to another form and sends the resulting message out over the network. Decryption reverses the original process to transform the message back to its original form.

Compression. Data compression reduces the number of bits contained in the

information. Data compression becomes particularly important in the transmission of multimedia such as text, audio, and video.

The presentation layer is responsible for translation, compression, and encryption. Application Layer The application layer contains a variety of protocols that are commonly needed by users. One widely-used application protocol is HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol), which is the basis for the World Wide Web. When a browser wants a Web page, it sends the name of the page it wants to the server using HTTP. The server then sends the page back. Other application protocols are used for file transfer, electronic mail etc..

The application layer is responsible for providing services to the user. i.e SMTP,TELNET,HTTP.

References: B.A. Forouzan, A.S. Tanenbaum, Sumita Arora, Madhulika Jain, IIT notes.

COMPILED BY LOKENDRA KUMAR TIWARI FOR PGDCA P BATCH 2008

References: B.A. Forouzan, A.S. Tanenbaum, Sumita Arora, Madhulika Jain, IIT notes.

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