Difference between OSI and TCP/IP Reference Model

Following are some major differences between OSI Reference Model and TCP/IP Reference Model, with diagrammatic
comparison below.

OSI(Open System Interconnection) TCP/IP(Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol)

1. OSI is a generic, protocol independent standard, 1. TCP/IP model is based on standard protocols around which the
acting as a communication gateway between the Internet has developed. It is a communication protocol, which
network and end user. allows connection of hosts over a network.
2. In OSI model the transport layer guarantees the 2. In TCP/IP model the transport layer does not guarantees delivery
delivery of packets. of packets. Still the TCP/IP model is more reliable.
3. Follows vertical approach. 3. Follows horizontal approach.
4. OSI model has a separate Presentation layer and 4. TCP/IP does not have a separate Presentation layer or Session
Session layer. layer.
5. Transport Layer is both Connection Oriented and Connection
5. Transport Layer is Connection Oriented.
less.
6. Network Layer is both Connection Oriented and
6. Network Layer is Connection less.
Connection less.
7. OSI is a reference model around which the
networks are built. Generally it is used as a guidance 7. TCP/IP model is, in a way implementation of the OSI model.
tool.
8. Network layer of OSI model provides both 8. The Network layer in TCP/IP model provides connectionless
connection oriented and connectionless service. service.
9. OSI model has a problem of fitting the protocols
9. TCP/IP model does not fit any protocol
into the model.
10. Protocols are hidden in OSI model and are easily
10. In TCP/IP replacing protocol is not easy.
replaced as the technology changes.
11. OSI model defines services, interfaces and
11. In TCP/IP, services, interfaces and protocols are not clearly
protocols very clearly and makes clear distinction
separated. It is also protocol dependent.
between them. It is protocol independent.
12. It has 7 layers 12. It has 4 layers

Diagrammatic Comparison between OSI Reference Model and TCP/IP Reference Model
KEY TERMS in Computer Networks
Following are some important terms, which are frequently used in context of Computer Networks.
Terms Definition
The OSI model is a product of the Open Systems Interconnection project at the International
1. ISO
Organization for Standardization. ISO is a voluntary organization.
2. OSI Model Open System Interconnection is a model consisting of seven logical layers.
Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol Model is based on four layer model
3. TCP/IP Model
which is based on Protocols.
Unshielded Twisted Pair cable is a Wired/Guided media which consists of two conductors
4. UTP
usually copper, each with its own colour plastic insulator
Shielded Twisted Pair cable is a Wired/Guided media has a metal foil or braided-mesh
5. STP
covering which encases each pair of insulated conductors. Shielding also eliminates crosstalk
Point-to-Point connection is a protocol which is used as a communication link between two
6. PPP
devices.
7. LAN Local Area Network is designed for small areas such as an office, group of building or a factory.
Wide Area Network is used for the network that covers large distance such as cover states of a
8. WAN
country
Metropolitan Area Network uses the similar technology as LAN. It is designed to extend over
9. MAN
the entire city.
Undesired effect of one circuit on another circuit. It can occur when one line picks up some
10. Crosstalk signals travelling down another line. Example: telephone conversation when one can hear
background conversations. It can be eliminated by shielding each pair of twisted pair cable.
Public Switched Telephone Network consists of telephone lines, cellular networks, satellites
11. PSTN for communication, fiber optic cables etc. It is the combination of world's (national, local and
regional) circuit switched telephone network.
12. File Transfer, Access Standard mechanism to access files and manages it. Users can access files in a remote
and Management (FTAM) computer and manage it.
The signal is continuously variable in amplitude and frequency. Power requirement is high
13. Analog Transmission
when compared with Digital Transmission.
It is a sequence of voltage pulses. It is basically a series of discrete pulses. Security is better
14. Digital Transmission
than Analog Transmission.
15. Asymmetric digital A data communications technology that enables faster data transmission over copper
subscriber line(ADSL) telephone lines than a conventional voice band modem can provide.
Alternatively referred to as a base station and wireless router, an access point is a wireless
16. Access Point receiver which enables a user to connect wirelessly to a network or the Internet. This term
can refer to both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices.
Short for acknowledgement, ACK is an answer given by another computer or network device
17. Acknowledgement
indicating to another computer that it acknowledged the SYN/ACK or other request sent to it.
(ACK)
Note: If the signal is not properly received an NAK is sent.
The term active topology describes a network topology in which the signal is amplified at each
18. Active Topology
step as it passes from one computer to the next.
Protocol for satellite and terrestrial radio transmissions. In pure Aloha, a user can
communicate at any time, but risks collisions with other users' messages. Slotted Aloha
19. Aloha
reduces the chance of collisions by dividing the channel into time slots and requiring that the
user send only at the beginning of a time slot.
ARP is a used with the IP for mapping a 32-bit Internet Protocol address to a MAC address that
20. Address Resolution
is recognized in the local network specified in RFC 826.
Protocol(ARP)

Physical Layer - OSI Reference Model

Physical layer is the lowest layer of the OSI reference model. It is responsible for sending bits from one computer to
another. This layer is not concerned with the meaning of the bits and deals with the setup of physical connection to the
network and with transmission and reception of signals.

Functions of Physical Layer

Following are the various functions performed by the Physical layer of the OSI model.
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.
Line Configuration: This layer connects devices with the medium: Point to Point configuration and Multipoint
configuration.
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.
Deals with baseband and broadband transmission.

Design Issues with Physical Layer

The Physical Layer is concerned with transmitting raw bits over a communication channel.
The design issue has to do with making sure that when one side sends a 1 bit, it is received by the other side as a 1 bit and
not as a 0 bit.
Typical questions here are:
How many volts should be used to represent a 1 bit and how many for a 0?
How many nanoseconds a bit lasts?
Whether transmission may proceed simultaneously in both directions?
Whether transmission may proceed simultaneously in both directions?
How many pins the network connector has and what each pin is used for?
The design issues here largely deal with mechanical, electrical and timing interfaces, and the physical transmission
medium, which lies below the physical layer.
Data Link Layer - OSI Model
Data link layer performs the most reliable node to node delivery of data. It forms frames from the packets that are received
from network layer and gives it to physical layer. It also synchronizes the information which is to be transmitted over the
data. Error controlling is easily done. The encoded data are then passed to physical.
Error detection bits are used by the data link layer. It also corrects the errors. Outgoing messages are assembled into
frames. Then the system waits for the acknowledgements to be received after the transmission. It is reliable to send
message.
The main task of the data link layer is to transform a raw transmission facility into a line that appears free of undetected
transmission errors to the network layer. It accomplishes this task by having the sender break up the input data into data
frames(typically a few hundred or few thousand bytes) and transmit the frames sequentially. If the service is reliable, the
receiver confirms correct receipt of each frame by send back an acknowledgement frame.

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.
Design Issues with Data Link Layer
The issue that arises in the data link layer(and most of the higher layers as well) is how to keep a fast transmitter from
drowning a slow receiver in data. Some traffic regulation mechanism is often needed to let the transmitter know how
much buffer space the receiver has at the moment. Frequently, the flow regulation and the error handling are integrated.
Broadcast networks have an additional issue in the data link layer: How to control access to the shared channel. A special
sublayer of the data link layer, the Medium Access Control(MAC) sublayer, deals with this problem.
Network Layer - OSI Model
The network Layer controls the operation of the subnet. The main aim of this layer is to deliver packets from source to
destination across multiple links (networks). If two computers (system) are connected on the same link, then there is no
need for a network layer. It routes the signal through different channels to the other end and acts as a network controller.
It also divides the outgoing messages into packets and to assemble incoming packets into messages for higher levels.
In broadcast networks, the routing problem is simple, so the network layer is often thin or even non-existent.

Functions of Network Layer

It translates logical network address into physical address. Concerned with circuit, message or packet switching.
Routers and gateways operate in the network layer. Mechanism is provided by Network Layer for routing the packets to
final destination.
Connection services are provided including network layer flow control, network layer error control and packet sequence
control.
Breaks larger packets into small packets.

Design Issues with Network Layer

A key design issue is determining how packets are routed from source to destination. Routes can be based on static tables
that are wired into the network and rarely changed. They can also be highly dynamic, being determined anew for each
packet, to reflect the current network load.
If too many packets are present in the subnet at the same time, they will get into one another's way, forming bottlenecks.
The control of such congestion also belongs to the network layer.
Moreover, the quality of service provided(delay, transmit time, jitter, etc) is also a network layer issue.
When a packet has to travel from one network to another to get to its destination, many problems can arise such as:
The addressing used by the second network may be different from the first one.
The second one may not accept the packet at all because it is too large.
The protocols may differ, and so on.
It is up to the network layer to overcome all these problems to allow heterogeneous networks to be interconnected.
Transport Layer - OSI Model
The basic function of the Transport layer is to accept data from the layer above, split it up into smaller units, pass these
data units to the Network layer, and ensure that all the pieces arrive correctly at the other end.
Furthermore, all this must be done efficiently and in a way that isolates the upper layers from the inevitable changes in the
hardware technology.
The Transport layer also determines what type of service to provide to the Session layer, and, ultimately, to the users of
the network. The most popular type of transport connection is an error-free point-to-point channel that delivers messages
or bytes in the order in which they were sent.
The Transport layer is a true end-to-end layer, all the way from the source to the destination. In other words, a program on
the source machine carries on a conversation with a similar program on the destination machine, using the message
headers and control messages.

Functions of Transport Layer

Service Point Addressing: Transport Layer header includes service point address which is port address. This layer gets the
message to the correct process on the computer unlike Network Layer, which gets each packet to the correct computer.
Segmentation and Reassembling: A message is divided into segments; each segment contains sequence number, which
enables this layer in reassembling the message. Message is reassembled correctly upon arrival at the destination and
replaces packets which were lost in transmission.
Connection Control: It includes 2 types:
Connectionless Transport Layer : Each segment is considered as an independent packet and delivered to the transport
layer at the destination machine.
Connection Oriented Transport Layer : Before delivering packets, connection is made with transport layer at the
destination machine.
Flow Control: In this layer, flow control is performed end to end.
Error Control: Error Control is performed end to end in this layer to ensure that the complete message arrives at the
receiving transport layer without any error. Error Correction is done through retransmission.

Design Issues with Transport Layer

Accepting data from Session layer, split it into segments and send to the network layer.
Ensure correct delivery of data with efficiency.
Isolate upper layers from the technological changes.
Error control and flow control.
Session Layer - OSI Model
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.

Functions of Session Layer

Dialog Control : This layer allows two systems to start communication with each other in half-duplex or full-duplex.
Token Management: This layer prevents two parties from attempting the same critical operation at the same time.
Synchronization : This layer allows a process to add checkpoints which are considered as synchronization points into
stream of data. Example: If a system is sending a file of 800 pages, adding checkpoints after every 50 pages is
recommended. This ensures that 50 page unit is successfully received and acknowledged. This is beneficial at the time of
crash as if a crash happens at page number 110; there is no need to retransmit 1 to100 pages.

Design Issues with Session Layer

To allow machines to establish sessions between them in a seamless fashion.
Provide enhanced services to the user.
To manage dialog control.
To provide services such as Token management and Synchronization.
Presentation Layer - OSI Model
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.
In order to make it possible for computers with different data representations to communicate, the data structures to be
exchanged can be defined in an abstract way. The presentation layer manages these abstract data structures and allows
higher-level data structures(eg: banking records), to be defined and exchanged.

Functions of Presentation Layer

Translation: Before being transmitted, information in the form of characters and numbers should be changed to bit
streams. The presentation layer is responsible for interoperability between encoding methods as different computers use
different encoding methods. It translates data between the formats the network requires and the format the computer.
Encryption: It carries out encryption at the transmitter and decryption at the receiver.
Compression: It carries out data compression to reduce the bandwidth of the data to be transmitted. The primary role of
Data compression is to reduce the number of bits to be 0transmitted. It is important in transmitting multimedia such as
audio, video, text etc.
Design Issues with Presentation Layer
To manage and maintain the Syntax and Semantics of the information transmitted.
Encoding data in a standard agreed upon way. Eg: String, double, date, etc.
Perform Standard Encoding on wire.
Application Layer - OSI Model
It is the top most layer of OSI Model. Manipulation of data(information) in various ways is done in this layer which enables
user or software to get access to the network. Some services provided by this layer includes: E-Mail, transferring files,
distributing the results to user, directory services, network resources, etc.
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 that are used are: File Transfer Protocol(FTP), Trivial File Transfer Protocol(TFTP), Simple Mail
Transfer Protocol(SMTP), TELNET, Domain Name System(DNS) etc.

Functions of Application Layer

Mail Services: This layer provides the basis for E-mail forwarding and storage.
Network Virtual Terminal: It allows a user to log on to a remote host. The application creates software emulation of a
terminal at the remote host. User's computer talks to the software terminal which in turn talks to the host and vice versa.
Then the remote host believes it is communicating with one of its own terminals and allows user to log on.
Directory Services: This layer provides access for global information about various services.
File Transfer, Access and Management (FTAM): It is a standard mechanism to access files and manages it. Users can access
files in a remote computer and manage it. They can also retrieve files from a remote computer.

Design Issues with Application Layer

There are commonly reoccurring problems that occur in the design and implementation of Application Layer protocols and
can be addressed by patterns from several different pattern languages:
Pattern Language for Application-level Communication Protocols
Service Design Patterns
Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture
Pattern-Oriented Software Architecture
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. Protocols are set of rules which govern every possible communication over a network. These
protocols describe the movement of data between the source and destination or the internet. They also offer simple
naming and addressing schemes.
Protocols and networks in the TCP/IP model:
Overview of TCP/IP reference model
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.
The features that stood out during the research, which led to making the TCP/IP reference model were:
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.
The overall idea was to allow one application on one computer to talk to(send data packets) another application running
on different computer.

Different Layers of TCP/IP Reference Model

Below we have discussed the 4 layers that form the TCP/IP reference model:
Layer 1: Host-to-network Layer
Lowest layer of the all.
Protocol is used to connect to the host, so that the packets can be sent over it.
Varies from host to host and network to network.

Layer 2: Internet layer

Selection of a packet switching network which is based on a connectionless internetwork layer is called a internet layer.
It is the layer which holds the whole architecture together.
It helps the packet to travel independently to the destination.
Order in which packets are received is different from the way they are sent.
IP (Internet Protocol) is used in this layer.
The various functions performed by the Internet Layer are:
Delivering IP packets
Performing routing
Avoiding congestion

Layer 3: Transport Layer

It decides if data transmission should be on parallel path or single path.
Functions such as multiplexing, segmenting or splitting on the data is done by transport layer.
The applications can read and write to the transport layer.
Transport layer adds header information to the data.
Transport layer breaks the message (data) into small units so that they are handled more efficiently by the network layer.
Transport layer also arrange the packets to be sent, in sequence.

Layer 4: Application Layer

The TCP/IP specifications described a lot of applications that were at the top of the protocol stack. Some of them were
TELNET, FTP, SMTP, DNS etc.
TELNET is a two-way communication protocol which allows connecting to a remote machine and run applications on it.
FTP(File Transfer Protocol) is a protocol, that allows File transfer amongst computer users connected over a network. It is
reliable, simple and efficient.
SMTP(Simple Mail Transport Protocol) is a protocol, which is used to transport electronic mail between a source and
destination, directed via a route.
DNS(Domain Name Server) resolves an IP address into a textual address for Hosts connected over a network.
It allows peer entities to carry conversation.
It defines two end-to-end protocols: TCP and UDP
TCP(Transmission Control Protocol): It is a reliable connection-oriented protocol which handles byte-stream from source
to destination without error and flow control.
UDP(User-Datagram Protocol): It is an unreliable connection-less protocol that do not want TCPs, sequencing and flow
control. Eg: One-shot request-reply kind of service.
Merits of TCP/IP model
It operated independently.
It is scalable.
Client/server architecture.
Supports a number of routing protocols.
Can be used to establish a connection between two computers.
Demerits of TCP/IP
In this, the transport layer does not guarantee delivery of packets.
The model cannot be used in any other application.
Replacing protocol is not easy.
It has not clearly separated its services, interfaces and protocols.