COMPUTER NETWORKS

The OSI Model

■ International standard organization (ISO) established a
committee in 1977 to develop an architecture for computer
communication.
■ Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference model is the
result of this effort.
■ In 1984, the OSI reference model was approved as an
international standard for communications architecture.
 The OSI Model
■ An open system is a set of protocols that allows any two
different systems to communicate regardless of their
underlying architecture.

Note

ISO is the organization;

OSI is the model.
 OSI Reference Model: 7 Layers
■ The OSI model is built of seven ordered layers:
 Layer-1 (Physical)
■ The lowest layer of the OSI model, concerned with the
transmission and reception of the unstructured raw bit stream
over physical medium.
 Functions of Physical Layer
■ Physical Characteristics of Interface & Media
– Defines characteristics of Interface between device and
Transmission Medium
– Also defines the type of transmission medium
■ Representation of Bits/Encoding
– The physical layer data consists of a stream of bits (sequence of 1’s
and 0’s)
– To be transmitted the bits must be ENCODED into signals:
Electrical or Optical
– Physical layer decides the type of ENCODING (how 0s and 1s are
changed to signals)
 Functions of Physical Layer
■ Data Rate / Transmission Rate
– Date Rate (Bits per second) also decided by the Physical Layer
– So , Physical layer defines the Duration of a Bit
– Means how long will a bit last
■ Synchronization of Bits
– Sender and Receiver must be synchronized at the bit level
– Sender and Receiver clocks must be synchronized
– It is done by Physical layer
 Functions of Physical Layer
■ Line Configuration
– Physical Layer is also concerned with Line Configuration
– Line Configuration represents the connection of device with the
Medium i.e. Point-To-Point or Multipoint
■ Physical Topology
– Mesh, Star, Ring, Bus etc.
■ Transmission Mode
– Physical Layer also defines the direction of Transmission between
the devices
– Simplex. Half Duplex, Full Duplex
 Layer-1 (Physical)

Note

The physical layer is responsible for moving

individual bits from one
(node) to the next.
 Layer-2 (Data Link)
■ The data datalink layer provides error-free transfer of data
frames from one node to another over the physical layer,
allowing layers above it to assume virtually error-free
transmission over the link.
 Functions of Data Link Layer
■ Framing
– The data link divides the stream of bits from Network layer into
manageable data units called FRAMES. This process is known as
Framing.
■ Physical Addressing
– Frames need to be transmitted to different systems on a network
– Data Link layer adds a HEADER to Frame
– Header defines the physical address of sender(Source address) and/or
receiver address (Destination address)
 Functions of Data Link Layer
■ Flow Control
– Data Link layer imposes Flow Control mechanisms to prevent
overwhelming the receiver
■ Error Control
– Data link layer adds reliability to physical layer by adding
mechanisms to detect and retransmit lost or damaged frames
– Also uses a mechanism to prevent duplication of frames
– Error Control bits are added to the form in the TRAILER
 Functions of Data Link Layer
■ Access Control
– Two or more devices may be connected to a single link
– Data link protocols are necessary to determine which device will
have the control of the link at a given time
 Layer-2 (Data Link)

Note

The data link layer is responsible for

moving frames from one hop to (node) to
the next.
 Layer-3 (Network)
■ The network layer is responsible for the source-to-destination
delivery of individual packets, possibly across multiple
networks (links).
 Function of Network Layer
■ Logical Addressing
– If a packet is going from one network to another, we need another
addressing system to help distinguish source & destination systems
– Network layer adds Header to the data coming from upper layers that
among other things include LOGICAL ADDRESS of the sender and
receiver
■ Routing
– Responsible for routing of packets
 Layer-3 (Network)

Note

The network layer is responsible for the

delivery of individual packets from the
source host to the destination host.
 Layer-4 (Transport)
■ The transport layer is responsible fro process-to-process
delivery of the entire message.
■ The transport layer ensures that messages are delivered error-
free, in sequence, and with no loss or duplications.
 Functions of Transport Layer
■ Service Point Addressing
– Computers run several programs at the same time
– Source-to-Destination delivery means delivery not only from one
computer to the other but also from a specific process on one
computer to a specific process on the other
– Transport layer header includes a type of address called Service
Point Address or PORT Address
– Network layer gets each packet to the correct computer while
Transport layer gets entire message to the correct process on that
computer
 Functions of Transport Layer
■ Segmentation and Reassembly
– Message is divided into transmittable segments
– Each segment contains a sequence number
– These sequence numbers enable Transport layer at the receiving end
to reassemble message correctly at the destination and to identify and
replace lost packets
 Functions of Transport Layer
■ Connection Control
– Transport layer can be either connection-less or
connection-oriented
– Connection-less
■ Treats each segment as an independent packet and delivers it
to the transport layer of the destination computer
– Connection-oriented
■ A connection is established first with Transport layer before
delivering the packet.
■ After all data is transmitted, the connection is disconnected
 Functions of Transport Layer
■ Flow Control
– Like Data link layer, Transport layer is also responsible for Flow control
– Flow control is performed end-to-end rather than across a single link
■ Error Control
– Like data link layer, Transport layer is responsible for the Error Control
– Error control is performed end-to-end
– This layer makes sure that entire message reaches receiver Transport
layer without error
– Error can be a result of Lost, damaged or duplicated data and usually
retransmission is done
 Layer-4 (Transport)

Note

The transport layer is responsible for the

delivery of a message from one process to
another.
 Layer-5 (Session)
■ The session layer allows session establishment between
processes running on different stations .
■ Request from my system to that server for Authentication.(user name & password.)
■ Respond by server (Authorization). Only to access some allowed things. But after
authentication
■ After Authentication a session is created for my machine with that server.
■ Session restoration.(Check Point eg chrome , login in to Gmail tabs (Session beans )
■ Video in a download with check points size divided by n.
■ Webinar or web Conferencing ( Problems lip-sync synchronization Flow control.)
■ it is not provided by operating system it’s the task of that application which you are
using ( web app , mobile app)
 Function of Session Layer
■ Dialog Control
– Session layer allows two systems to enter into a dialog.
– It allows communication between two processes to take place either
in half duplex or full duplex mode
■ Synchronization
– Session layer allows a process to add check points (synchronization
points) in a stream of data
– If a system is sending a file of 2000 pages, it is advisable to insert
check points after every 100 page to ensure that each 100 page unit is
received and acknowledged independently
 Function of Session Layer
– In this case, if a crash happens during the transmission of page 523 ,
retransmission at page 501
– Page 1-500 need not to be retransmitted
 Layer-5 (Session)

Note

The session layer is responsible for the

dialog control and synchronization.
 Layer-6 (Presentation)
■ The presentation layer formats the data to be presented to the
application layer. It can be viewed as the translator for the
network.
 Functions of Presentation Layer
■ Translation
– At sender end, changes the information from sender dependent
format into a common format
– At the receiving end, changes the information from common format
into its receiver dependent format
■ Encryption
– Responsible for encryption and decryption of sensitive information
 Functions of Presentation Layer
■ Compression:
– Responsible for data compression of the data to be transmitted
– Data compression reduces the number of bits to be transmitted
– Data compression becomes particularly important in transmission of
multimedia such as text, audio and video
 Layer-6 (Presentation)

Note

The presentation layer is responsible for

the translation, compression, and
encryption.
■ Code conversion ASCII Code to Ebcdic code (Formatting of Data)
■ Encryption and decryption.( by Keys and Algorithm)
■ Compression ( redundant repeated data , empty spaces in a loss but my be expected to
loss the data )
■ It help the application.
■ the process of adding info in the form of header adding on each layer is call
encapsulation means data hiding.
■ Presentation layer its working is also not the responsibility of OS but it is done by that
application.
■ Person who is coding that app it’s the responsibility of that person to include the above
capacities.
 Layer-7 (Application)
■ The application layer serves as the window for users and
application processes to access network services.
■ It provides user interface and support for the services such as
Electronic mail, Remote File access and Transfer, Shared
Database Management and other services
 Functions of Application Layer
■ Network Virtual Terminal
– Using this software the user can log on the to a computer that is
remotely connected on the network
■ File Transfer, Access & Management
– This application allows a user to access files on the remote
computers to make changes or read data
– The purpose of this access is to retrieve files from a remote computer
and to manage or control files in that remote computer
■ Mail Services
– This application provides the basis for email forwarding and storage
 Layer-7 (Application)

Note

The application layer is responsible for

providing services to the user.
An exchange using
the OSI model
Summary of OSI Layers
 TCP/IP protocol suite
■ TCP/IP, or the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet
Protocol, is a suite of communication protocols used to
interconnect network devices on the internet. 
■ The TCP/IP protocol suite was developed prior to the OSI model
■ Therefore, the layers of TCP/IP do not match exactly with 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.
TCP/IP and OSI model
 Addressing
■ Four levels of addresses are used in an internet employing the
TCP/IP protocols:
– Physical address,
– Logical address,
– Port address and
– Application-specific address.
 Relationship of layers and
addressing in TCP/IP
■ Each address is related to a specific layer in the TCP/IP architecture
 Physical Address
■ The physical address, is also known as link address, is the address
of a node as defined by its LAN OR WAN
■ It is included in the frame used by the datalink layer
■ Most local area networks use a 48-bit (6-byte) physical address
written as 12 hexadecimal digits; every byte (2 hexadecimal digits)
is separated by a colon
07:01:02:01:2C:4B
A 6-byte (12 hexadecimal digits) physical address
 Physical Address

packet packet
discarded discarded
1 packet
87 10 Data accepted
87 10 Data

2 3
4
 Logical Address
■ Logical address are necessary for universal communication that are
independent of underlying physical networks.
■ A logical address in the internet is currently a 32-bit address that
can uniquely define a host connected to the internet.
Logical Address
 Port Address
■ The IP address and Physical address are necessary for quantity of
data to travel from a source to destination host.
■ Where as port address is necessary to deliver a data from one
running process of the sender computer to the other process of the
destination.
Port Address
Note

The physical addresses change from hop to

hop, but the logical and port addresses
usually remain the same.
 Specific Address
■ Some application have user-friendly addresses that are designed for
that specific address.
– The e-mail address
– URL (Universal Resource Locator)
■ www.google.com