Week 2 Networking Layer Architecture

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.
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.

US government initially requires all of its computers be equipped with protocols

to be developed for OSI model.

However, later the condition was reversed that ultimately make the OSI model not
to be used for protocol development.

ISO is the organization.

OSI is the model.

Today we shall briefly describe the functions of each layer in the OSI model . we
will start discussion from top layer (Application) coming down to physical layer.
7. Application Layer

– provides a user interface (responsible for providing services to the user) and
enables network applications to communicate with other network applications.

Examples: HTTP, Telnet, FTP

6. Presentation Layer

– responsible for translation (data format).

Translation: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 requires.
Processes such as compression and encryption are also handled at this layer

Examples: MIME

5. Session Layer

– determines how to establish, control and terminate a session between the two
systems.

The main functions of the session layer are as follows:

Dialog Control : It works as a dialog controller. It allows the systems to communicate in either
half-duplex or full-duplex mode of communication.

Token Management: It is responsible for token management.

Synchronization : It synchronizes communication. It adds synchronization points or checkpoints

in data streams for long communications. This ensures that data streams up to the checkpoints are
successfully received and acknowledged. In case of any failures, only the streams after the
checkpoints have to be re-transmitted.

Examples: SSL, NetBIOS

4. Transport Layer
– provides reliable or unreliable delivery of a message from one process to another
process and provides error recovery and flow control.

The Transport layer breaks the data into blocks of data which we call Segments. Every Segment also gets
the Port number to identify which upper layer application needs to receive the data on the destination
device.

 Service-point addressing It gets the entire message to the correct process

on that computer
 Segmentation and reassembly reassemble message
 Connection control can be either connectionless or connection oriented.
 Connectionless treats each segment as an independent packet and
delivers it to the transport layer at the destination machine.
 Connection Oriented transport layer makes a connection with the
transport layer at the destination machine first before delivering the
packets
 Flow control is performed end to end rather than across a single link.
 Error control is performed process-to process rather than across a single
link

Examples: TCP, UDP

3. Network Layer
 Source-to-destination delivery

–responsible for the delivery of individual packets from the source host to the
destination host.

 Logical addressing It adds a header to the packet, includes the logical

addresses of the sender and receiver
 Routing In a large network, routers or switches route packets to their final
destination with the help of network layer.
Examples: IP, ICMP

2. Data Link

HOP TO HOP delivery

– combines packets into bytes and bytes into frames. This layer is responsible for
moving frames from one hop (node) to the next.

The Data Link layer is divided into two sublayers:

Logical Link Control – used for flow control and error detection and
Media Access Control – used for hardware addressing and controlling the access
method.
Framing The data link layer divides the stream of bits received from the network
layer into manageable data units called frames.

Physical addressing adds a header to the frame to define the sender and/or
receiver of the frame.

Flow control It imposes a flow control mechanism to avoid overwhelming the

receiver.

Error control It detects and retransmit damaged or lost frames. It recognize

duplicate frames. Error control is normally achieved through a trailer added to the
end of the frame

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

Examples: PPP, HDLC, Ethernet

1. Physical Layer

1. Physical – defines how to move bits from one hop (device) to another. It deals

With:

Data rate. The transmission rate-the number of bits sent and received

Synchronization of bits. the sender and the receiver clocks must be synchronized

Line configuration. point-to-point configuration or a multipoint

Transmission mode. simplex, half-duplex, or full-duplex

Physical topology and the physical characteristics of the transmission medium,

describing connectors, pins(how many, what purpose etc.), cables(straight through,

twisted pair etc.), connectors (RJ45?), and network interface cards.

Examples: Ethernet

Session layer connection vs Transport layer connection

Session layer establish, maintain and terminate connections between end hosts.

Transport layer (TCP) establishes, maintains and terminates process-to-process connections. In

UDP, process-to-process message delivery is ensured without establishing a proper connection.

Data Flow and Encapsulation

Data flow occurs when two devices are connected in a network with some kind of shared
transmission medium. An application running on the source device creates some kind of data.
This happens at the Application layer.

In our case the application needs to add encryption to that data. This will be done at the
Presentation layer.

At the Session layer it appends the Session ID. At this point the information is still one block of
data.

Next, data goes down to the Transport layer. The Transport layer breaks the data into blocks of
data which we call Segments. Every Segment also gets the Port number to identify which upper
layer application needs to receive the data on the destination device.

The Segment is then passed to the Network layer. The Network layer takes the Segment, which
includes the Port number, and appends the source and destination IP address. At that point the
Segment becomes a Packet.

The Packet is then passed to the Data Link layer where the source and destination MAC
addressand the CRC is added. At this point we have a Frame.
The Frame then is sent to the physical device where it is translated into some kind of a signal,
whether it’s electrical, radio wave, light or other signal. This Frame then becomes some kind of a
signal that represents a series of zeros and ones. This is why at the Physical layer we often call it
Bits. The Network Interface Card (NIC) prepares those signals and sends it out on the
transmission medium.

Decapsulation at the Destination Device

The destination device receives series of bits and interprets them as a Frame. It then examines
the MAC addresses and CRC. If everything is OK, it removes MAC addresses and the CRC, and
passes the data up to the Network layer. At this point the IP addresses within the packet are
examined. If the IP addresses are OK, they are removed and the Packet is forwarded up to the
Transport layer where the Segment is then examined. The Port number is looked at and the
Segment gets forwarded up the to the appropriate application specified by the Port number. At
this point the Session ID is used, any encryption may be removed, and the data in its original
form is presented to the application that needs to interpret it.