OSI Model

Presentation Layer Protocol

Ferolino, Gil John C. B.S
CpE -4

Presentation layer
responsible for the delivery and formatting of
information to the application layer for further
processing or display
is the lowest layer at which application programmers
consider data structure and presentation, instead of
simply sending data in the form of datagrams or
packets between hosts
An example of a presentation service would be the
conversion of anEBCDIC-coded textcomputer fileto an
ASCII-coded file.

In many widely used applications and protocols, no distinction is made between the presentation and application layers.
Example:
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), generally regarded as an application-layer protocol, has presentation-layer aspects such as the ability to identify character encoding for proper conversion, which is then
done in the application layer.

The presentation layer of the Open System

Interconnection (OSI) model is responsible for
how that data looks or is formatted.

Consider an example in which spies

exchange encoded messages.

Using SMTPS, the client side of the application passes the text to
the presentation layer services and requests encryption.
A Transport Layer Security (TLS) component at the presentation
layer receives the unencrypted message and proceeds to encrypt
the message using standard TLS processes.
The encrypted message flows down through the remaining OSI
layers, over the physical network to the server.
At the server, the message is sent up through all of the layers
until it arrives at the presentation layer.
Now, the servers TLS processes will take over and decrypt the
message so that it is clearly readable.
The clear text message is then delivered to the SMTP application
layer protocol for processing.
In this case, the next step would be to deliver the message to the
recipients mailbox.

Protocols
Other protocols sometimes considered at this level (though perhaps not strictly adhering to the
OSI model) include:

Apple Filing Protocol (AFP)

Independent Computing Architecture (ICA), the Citrix system core protocol
Lightweight Presentation Protocol (LPP)
NetWare Core Protocol (NCP)
Network Data Representation (NDR)
Telnet (a remote terminal access protocol)
Tox, The Tox protocol is sometimes regarded as part of both the presentation
and application layer
eXternal Data Representation (XDR)
X.25 Packet Assembler/Disassembler Protocol (PAD)

Apple Filing Protocol

The Apple Filing Protocol (AFP), formerly AppleTalk Filing
Protocol, is a proprietary network protocol that offers file
services for Mac OS X and original Mac OS. In Mac OS X,
AFP is one of several file services supported, with others
including Server Message Block (SMB), Network File
System (NFS), File Transfer Protocol (FTP), and WebDAV.

Independent Computing
Architecture

Independent Computing Architecture (ICA) is a

proprietary protocol for an application server system,
designed by Citrix Systems. The protocol lays down a
specification for passing data between server and
clients, but is not bound to any one platform.

Lightweight Presentation Protocol

Used to provide ISO presentation services on top of
TCP/IP based protocol stacks. It is defined in RFC 1085

NetWare Core Protocol

The NetWare Core Protocol (NCP) is a network protocol
used in some products from Novell, Inc. It is usually
associated with the client-server operating system
Novell NetWare which supported primarily MS-DOS
client stations, but more recently a support of other
platforms such as Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Linux,
Windows NT and various flavors of Unix was added.

Network Data Representation

Network Data Representation (NDR) is an
implementation of the presentation layer in the OSI
model.

Telnet
Telnet is an application protocol used on the Internet or
local area networks to provide a bidirectional interactive
text-oriented communication facility using a virtual
terminal connection. User data is interspersed in-band
with Telnet control information in an 8-bit byte oriented
data connection over the Transmission Control Protocol
(TCP).

Tox (software)
Tox is a free and open-source, peer-to-peer, encrypted
instant messaging and video calling software. The
stated goal of the project is to provide secure yet easily
accessible communication for everyone.[1]

External Data Representation

External Data Representation (XDR) is a standard data
serialization format, for uses such as computer network
protocols. It allows data to be transferred between
different kinds of computer systems. Converting from
the local representation to XDR is called encoding.
Converting from XDR to the local representation is
called decoding. XDR is implemented as a software
library of functions which is portable between different
operating systems and is also independent of the
transport layer.

X.25
X.25 is an ITU-T standard protocol suite for packet
switched wide area network (WAN) communication. An
X.25 WAN consists of packet-switching exchange (PSE)
nodes as the networking hardware, and leased lines,
plain old telephone service connections or ISDN
connections as physical links.

Presentation
(Layer 6)

This layer provides independence from differences in

data representation (e.g., encryption) by translating
from application to network format, and vice versa. The
presentation layer works to transform data into the form
that the application layer can accept. This layer formats
and encrypts data to be sent across a network,
providing freedom from compatibility problems. It is
sometimes called the syntax layer.

QUESTIONS
1.) Describe the presentation layer protocols of the OSI
protocol suite.
2.) Describe the EBCDIC to ASCII Conversion Chart
3.) Describe External Data Representation.
4.) Describe Tox protocol.

ANSWERS
1. The presentation layer implementation of the OSI protocol suite consists
of a presentation protocol and a presentation service. The presentation
protocol enables presentation-service users (PS-users) to communicate
with the presentation service.
2. EBCDIC is an 8-bit coding scheme. Valid hex values for an EBCDIC
character are 00 to FF..The 16 rows in the chart below correspond to the
first hex digit of an EBCDIC character (0 to F). The contents of the cells
shows the ASCII value (in hex) that corresponds to that EBCDIC character.
3. External Data Representation (XDR) is a standard data serialization
format, for uses such as computer network protocols. It allows data to be
transferred between different kinds of computer systems.
4. The core of Tox is an implementation of the Tox protocol, an example of
the application layer of the OSI model and arguably the presentation layer.
Implementations of the Tox protocol not done by the project exist, an
example of one being Xot.