Haramaya University

College of Computing and

Informatics
Department of Computer Science

Data Communication and Computer

Networks

Network Models

1 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025

 Network Models
Computer networks are created by
different entities.
Standards are needed so that these
heterogeneous networks can
communicate with one another.
The two best-known standards are the
OSI model and the TCP/IP model.
Protocols are sets of instructions
designed and coded by programmers.
2 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025
 The OSI Model
It was developed by the International
Organization for Standardization (ISO).
It is a model for a computer protocol
architecture and as a framework for
developing protocol standards.
An ISO standard that covers all aspects of
network communications is the Open
Systems Interconnection (OSI) model.
Comprises of seven layers

3 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025

 Advantages of OSI
Network communication is broken into
smaller, more manageable parts.
Allows different types of network
hardware and software to communicate
with each other.
All layers are independent and changes
does not affect other layers.
Easier to understand network
communication.
4 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025
 Why layered
communication?
To reduce complexity of communication task
by splitting it into several layered small tasks
• assists in protocol design
• foster competition
• changes in one layer do not affect other
layers
• provides a common language

5 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025

 Summary of OSI Layers

6 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025

 LAYER 7: APPLICATION

The application layer is responsible for

providing services to the user.
Closest to the user and provides user interfaces
Establishes the availability of intended
communication partners.
Examples of Application layer protocols are:
Telnet, SMTP, FTP, SNMP, HTTP, DNS, DHCP

7 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025

 LAYER 6: PRESENTATION

Presentation layer is concerned with the syntax and

semantics of the information exchanged between two
systems
Presentation layer serves as a translator.
This layer is primarily responsible for the translation,
encryption and compression of data
Defines coding and conversion functions
This layer also manages security issues by providing
services such as data encryption and data
compression
Examples of these formats and schemes are: MPEG,
QuickTime, ASCII, EBCDIC, GIF, TIFF, JPEG
For example, the popular audio format MP3uses MPEG
8 compression.
Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025
 LAYER 5: SESSION
The session layer defines how to start, control and

end conversations (called sessions) between

applications
Establishes dialog control between the two
computers in a session, regulating which side transmits,
plus when and how long it transmits (Full duplex)
Synchronization: Allows processes to add check points.

E.g. Insert check point at every 100 pages of 2000 pages

file to ensure that each 100-page unit is received &
acknowledged.
Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025
9
 LAYER 4: TRANSPORT
 It regulates information flow to ensure process-to- process
connectivity between host applications reliably and accurately
 Adds service point address or Port address
 Segmentation & Re-assembly: SEGMENTS data from sending
node and reassembles data on receiving node
 Flow control / Error control at Source to destination level
 Connection oriented transport service ensures that data is
delivered error free, in sequence with no losses or
duplications
 Establishes, maintains and terminates virtual circuits
 Connection oriented / Connectionless:
-TCP (Reliable, provides guaranteed delivery),
-UDP (Unreliable, less overhead, reliability can be
provided by
the Application layer)
 Provides multiplexing: the support of different flows of data
10 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025
to different applications on the same host
 LAYER 3: NETWORK

Defines source to destination delivery of packets

across NWs
Defines logical addressing and best path
determination.
Treat each packet independently
Defines how routing works and how routes are
learned
Converts frames to packets
Routed protocols ( encapsulate data into packets)
and Routing protocols (create routing tables) work
on this layer
Examples of Routed protocols are: IP, IPX,
AppleTalk and Routing protocols are OSPF,
IGRP/EIGRP,
11
RIP, BGP
Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025
Routers operate at Layer 3.
 LAYER 2: DATA LINK
Packages raw bits from the physical layer into FRAMES
The data link layer provides reliable transit of data
across a physical link by using the Media Access Control
(MAC) addresses
 Source & Destination ( address of device that connects one
Network to next) address
refers to a set of procedures used to restrict the
 Flow Control:

amount of data that the sender can send before receiving an

acknowledgement
 Error Control: refers to both error detection and error
correction
Data Link LAN specifications: Fast Ethernet, Token
Ring, FDDI .
Data Link WAN specifications are: Frame Relay, PPP,
X.25.
12 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025
 Sub layers of Layer 2
Logical link layer (LLC)
 Used for communication with upper layers
 Error correction
 Flow control
Media Access Control (MAC)
 Access to physical medium

Frames include information about:

Which computers are in communication with each other
When communication between individual computers
begins and when it ends
Which errors occurred while the computers
communicated (LLC)

13 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025

 Data Link- Layer 2
e.g. of a simple data frame.
 The sender ID represents the address of the computer that
is sending the information.
 The destination ID represents the address of the
computer to which the information is being sent.
 The control information is used for frame type, and
routing information.
 The cyclical redundancy check (CRC) provides error
correction and verification.

14 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025

 Layer 1: Physical Layer
Physical Layer
Define physical characteristics of network. E.g.
wires, connector, voltages, data rates,
Asynchronous, Synchronous Transmission
Handles bit stream or binary transmission
Used to maintain, activate and deactivate
physical link.
For receiver it reassembles bits and send to upper
layer for frames.
For Sender it convert frames
into bit stream and send on
transmission medium.
15 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025
 Properties of Physical
Layers
Deals with bit stream.
Transmits raw bit stream over physical
cable
defines cables, cards, and physical aspects
defines NIC attachments to hardware, how
cable is attached to NIC
defines techniques to transfer bit stream to
cable
Layer 1 Device: Repeater, Hub,
Multiplexer

16 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025

 Physical layer
physical
connection

Transporting bits from one end node to

the next
- type of the transmission media (twisted-pair, coax,
optical fiber, air)
- bit representation (voltage levels of logical values)
- data rate (speed-the number of bits sent each
second)
17 - synchronization
Compiled by Gadisa A. of bits (time synchronization)
01/31/2025
 Difference between Layer 1
and Layer 2
Layer 1 cannot communicate with upper
layers
Layer 2 does this using LLC

Layer 1 cannot identify computer

Layer 2 uses addressing process

Layer 1 can only describe stream of bits

Layer 2 uses framing to organize bits

18 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025

 Data Encapsulation
Data Encapsulation is the process of adding a
header to wrap/envelop the data that flows down
the OSI model.
The 5 Steps of Data Encapsulation are:
1. The Application, Presentation and Session layers
create DATA from users' input.
2. The Transport layer converts the DATA to
SEGMENTS
3. The Network layer converts the Segments to
Packets (datagram)
4. The Data Link layer converts the PACKETS to
FRAMES
5. The Physical layer converts the FRAMES to BITS.
19 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025
 OSI Reference Model

 Packet assembly and disassembly process

20 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025
TCP/IP PROTOCOL SUITE
By IETF: The Internet Engineering Task
Force/DoD (Department of Defense)

The TCP/IP protocol suite was developed prior to the

OSI model.
Therefore, the layers in the TCP/IP protocol suite do
not match exactly with those in the OSI model.

The original TCP/IP protocol suite was defined as

four software layers built upon the hardware.

Today, however, TCP/IP is thought of as a five-layer

model with the layers named similarly to the ones
in the OSI model.
21 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025
 Layers in the TCP/IP Protocol Suite

b. Categorization
into Five layers
22 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025
 The key features of a protocol
 In the context of data networking, a protocol is a
formal set of rules and conventions that
governs how computers exchange information
over a network medium.
 The peer layers communicate by means of formatted blocks of
data that obey a set of rules or conventions known as a
protocol. The key features of protocol are:
Syntax – Syntax.-refers to the structure or format
of the data, meaning the order in which they are
presented.
Semantics - control info. & error handling
Timing - speed matching & sequencing-decides
23 when data
Compiled should
by Gadisa A. be sent and how fast they can
01/31/2025
be sent.
 OSI and TCP/IP similarities

Similarities include:
 Both have layers.

 Both have application layers, though they include very different

services.
 Both have comparable transport and network layers.

 Both assume packets are switched. This means that individual

packets may take different paths to reach the same destination.

This is contrasted with circuit-switched networks where all the
packets take the same path.
24 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025
 OSI and TCP/IP Differences
Differences include:
 TCP/IP combines the presentation and session layer issues into its

application layer.
 TCP/IP combines the OSI data link and physical layers into the

network access layer.

 TCP/IP appears simpler because it has fewer layers.

 TCP/IP protocols are the standards around which the Internet developed,

so the TCP/IP model gains credibility just because of its protocols.

 In contrast, networks are not usually built on the OSI protocol, even

though the OSI model is used as a guide.

25 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025
 Network Models

26 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025

 TCP/IP Process/Application
layer
These process integrate the various activities
and duties spanning the focus of the OSI’s
corresponding top three layers (Application,
Presentation, and Session).
 Controls user-interface specifications.

27 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025

 TCP/IP Host-to-Host/Transport layer
The Host-to-Host layer parallels the functions of
the OSI’s Transport layer, defining protocols for
setting up the level of transmission service for
applications.
It tackles issues like creating reliable end-to-end
communication and ensuring the error-free
delivery of data.
It handles packet sequencing and maintains
data integrity.

28 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025

 TCP/IP INTERNET LAYER
The Internet layer corresponds to the OSI’s
Network layer, designating the protocols
relating to the logical transmission of
packets over the entire network.
It takes care of the addressing of hosts by
giving them an IP (Internet Protocol)
address and handles the routing of packets
among multiple networks.

29 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025

 TCP/IP NETWORK ACCESS LAYER

At the bottom of the DoD model, the Network

Access layer implements the data exchange
between the host and the network.
The equivalent of the Data Link and Physical
layers of the OSI model, the Network Access
layer oversees hardware addressing and
defines protocols for the physical
transmission of data.
The reason TCP/IP became so popular is
because there were no set physical layer
specifications, so it could run on any existing
or future physical network!
30 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025
 Some TCP/IP Protocols

31 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025

 Some of application
layer protocols and
their functions

32 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025

 Application layer protocol- Simple
Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)
Governs the transmission of mail messages
and attachments
SMTP is used in the case of outgoing
messages
More powerful protocols such as POP3 and
IMAP4 are needed and available to manage
incoming messages
POP3(Post Office Protocol version 3) is the
older protocol
IMAP4(Internet Mail Access Protocol
version 4) is the more advanced protocol
33 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025
 Application layer
protocol- Telnet
Telnet is a protocol used to log on to remote
hosts using the TCP/IP protocol suite.
Using Telnet, a TCP connection is established and
keystrokes on the user’s machine act like
keystrokes on the remotely connected machine.
Often, Telnet is used to connect two dissimilar
systems (such as PCs and UNIX machines).
Through Telnet, you can control a remote host
over LANs and WANs such as the Internet.
For example, network managers can use Telnet to
log on to a router from a computer elsewhere on
their LAN and modify the router’s configuration.
34 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025
 Application layer protocol- File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) lets us transfer files, and

it can accomplish this between any two machines
using it.
But accessing a host through FTP is only the first
step.
Users must then be subjected to an authentication
login that’s usually secured with passwords
and usernames implemented by system
administrators to restrict access.
FTP’s functions are limited to listing and
manipulating directories, typing file contents,
and copying files between hosts.
35 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025
36 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025
37 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025
 Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP)
Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) is stock version
of FTP, but it’s the protocol of choice if you know
exactly what you want and where to find it
because it’s fast and so easy to use!
But TFTP doesn’t offer the abundance of functions
that FTP does because it has no directory-
browsing abilities, meaning that it can only send
and receive files

 There’s no authentication as with FTP, so it’s

even more insecure, and few sites support it
because of the inherent security risks.
 A significant difference between FTP and TFTP is

38
that TFTP relies on UDP at the Transport layer,
Compiled by Gadisa A.
but
01/31/2025
FTP uses TCP protocol.
 Simple Network Management
Protocol (SNMP)
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)
collects and manipulates valuable network
information.
 It gathers data from a network management
station (NMS) at fixed or random intervals,
requiring them to disclose certain
information, or even asking for certain
information from the device.
In addition, network devices can inform the
NMS about problems as they occur so the
39
network
Compiled by administrator
Gadisa A. is alerted. 01/31/2025
 SNMP

40 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025

 Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
 It’s used to manage communications between web
browsers and web servers and opens the right
resource when you click a link, wherever that
resource may actually reside.
In order for a browser to display a web page, it must
find the exact server that has the right web page,
plus the exact details that identify the information
requested.
The browser can understand what you need when
you enter a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), which
we usually refer to as a web address, e.g.
http://www.lammle.com/forum and
http://www.lammle.com/blog.
Each URL defines the protocol used to transfer data,
41 the name of the server, and the particular web
Compiled by Gadisa A.
page
01/31/2025
42 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025
 Hypertext Transfer Protocol
Secure (HTTPS)
Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is also
known as Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol.
It uses Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).
Sometimes you’ll see it referred to as SHTTP or S-
HTTP, which were slightly different protocols, but
since Microsoft supported HTTPS, it became the
de facto standard for securing web
communication.
But no matter-as indicated, it’s a secure version of
HTTP that arms you with a whole bunch of
security tools for keeping transactions
43 between a web
Compiled by Gadisa A. browser and a server secure.
01/31/2025
 Domain Name Service (DNS)
 The Domain Name System (DNS) is a directory lookup
service that provides a mapping between the name of
a host on the Internet and its numerical address.
 Domain Name Service (DNS)-resolves hostnames- to
IP addresses specifically, Internet names, such as
www.hu.edu.et
 But you don’t have to actually use DNS. You just type
in the IP address of any device you want to
communicate with and find the IP address of a URL by
using the Ping program.

For example, >ping www.cisco.com will return the IP

address resolved by DNS.

44 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025

 Domain Name System (DNS)
Resolves domain names to IP addresses
and vice versa
•An IP address identifies hosts on a network
and the Internet as well, but DNS was
designed to make our lives easier.
•The IP address would change and no one
would know what the new one was.
•DNS allows you to use a domain name to
www.hu.edu.et 10.1.0.15
specify an IP address.DNS Server

45 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025

 Domain Name
A domain name is represented by a series of
character strings, called labels, separated by
dots.
 Each label represents a level in the domain
naming hierarchy.
 E.g In the domain name www.google.com, com
is the top-level domain (TLD), google is the
second-level domain, and www is the third-
level domain.
Each second-level domain can contain multiple
third level domains.
E.g In addition to www.google.com, Google also
owns the following domains: news.google.com,
46 maps.google.com,
Compiled by Gadisa A. and mail.google.com. 01/31/2025
 DNS cont’d…
The very last section of the domain is
called its top-level domain (TLD) name

15- Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025

47 Top-level domains, including some relatively new ones
48 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025
 Dynamic Host Configuration
Protocol (DHCP)
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)
assigns IP addresses to hosts dynamically.
It allows for easier administration and works
well in small to very large network
environments.
Many types of hardware can be used as a DHCP
server, including a Cisco router.
A DHCP address conflict occurs when two
hosts use the same IP address. This
sounds bad, and it is!

49 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025

 A lot of information a DHCP server can provide
to a host when the host is requesting an IP
address from the DHCP server.
Here’s a list of the most common types of
information a DHCP server can provide:
 IP address
 Subnet mask
 Domain name
 Default gateway (routers)
 DNS server address

50 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025

 This is the four-step process a client takes to
receive an IP address from a DHCP server:
1. The DHCP client broadcasts a DHCP Discover
message looking for a DHCP server (Port 67).
2. The DHCP server that received the DHCP
Discover message sends a layer 2 unicast DHCP
Offer message back to the host.
3. The client then broadcasts to the server a
DHCP Request message asking for the offered
IP address and possibly other information.
4. The server finalizes the exchange with a
unicast DHCP Acknowledgment message.
Etc….

51 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025

 Some of Transport
layer protocols and
their functions

52 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025

 TCP(Transmission Control
Protocol)
 TCP: takes large blocks of information from an
application and breaks them into segments.
 It numbers and sequences each segment to
keep the order the application intended.
 After these segments are sent on the transmitting
host, TCP waits for an acknowledgment of the
receiving end’s.
 Retransmitting any segments that aren’t
acknowledged.
 It is Connection oriented means that a virtual
connection is established before any user data is
53 transferred.
Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025
 TCP cont’d..
 TCP can also recognize duplicate
messages and will discard them
appropriately.
 If the sending computer is transmitting too
fast for the receiving computer, TCP can
employ flow control mechanisms to slow
data transfer.
 TCP can also communicates delivery
information to the upper-layer protocols and
applications it supports.
 All these characteristics makes TCP an end-to-
end reliable transport protocol.
54 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025
 TCP SEGMENT FORMAT

15- Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025

55
 Some of fields in TCP segment
Source port : This is the port number of the
application on the host sending the data.
Destination port: This is the port number of
the application requested on the destination
host.
Sequence number: A number used by TCP
that puts the data back in the correct order or
retransmits missing or damaged data
during a process called sequencing.
Acknowledgment number: The value is the
TCP octet that is expected next.

56 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025

 Cont’d…

Header length: The number of 32-bit words in the TCP

header, which indicates where the data begins.
Reserved: for future use, Always set to zero.
Code bits/flags: Controls functions used to set up and
terminate a session.
-it used to determine segment purpose, e.g. SYN, ACK
Window: is window size the sender willing to accept, in
octets.
Checksum: The cyclic redundancy check (CRC), used
because TCP doesn’t trust the lower layers and checks
everything.
The CRC checks the header and data fields

-TCP keeps check that if bytes are damaged, through

checksum.
57 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025
Etc….
 User Datagram Protocol
(UDP)
User Datagram Protocol (UDP) is basically the
scaled-down economy model of TCP, which is why
UDP is sometimes referred to as a thin protocol.
 Like a thin person , a thin protocol doesn’t take
up a lot of room—or in this case, require much
bandwidth on a network.
UDP does not sequence the segments and
does not care about the order in which the
segments arrive at the destination.
UDP just sends the segments off and forgets about
them.
58 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025
 UDP cont’d…
It doesn’t follow segments, check up on
them, or even allow for an acknowledgment of
safe arrival. Because of this, it’s referred to as
an unreliable protocol.
This does not mean that UDP is ineffective,
only that it doesn’t deal with reliability
issues at all.
Furthermore, UDP doesn’t create a virtual
circuit or doesn’t contact the destination
before delivering information to it.
- Because of this, it’s also considered a
connectionless protocol.
59 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025
 UDP cont’d…
NOTE:
Since UDP assumes that the application will
use its own reliability method, it doesn’t
use any itself.
This presents an application developer with a
choice when running the Internet Protocol
stack: TCP for reliability or UDP for
faster transfers.
TCP sequences the segments so they get
put back together in exactly the right order,
which is something UDP just can’t do.
60 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025
 UDP in short
 Minimum overhead.
 Used to send short messages.
 Not reliable as TCP (out of order, missing
datagram, duplicate datagram).
 Lack of flow control and error control
 Faster and efficient
 Communication takes place using ports.
 Header contains following information:
 Source port number (16 bits)
 Destination port number (16 bits)
 Total length(16 bits)
 checksum(16 bits)

61 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025

62 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025
63 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025
 Some of Internet or
Network layer protocols
and their functions

64 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025

Internet Protocol (IP) (Layer 3
protocol)
Used for data communication in packet switched
network
Unreliable and connectionless (no specific
path)
Unreliable
 Data corruption
 Packet lost
 Out of order
Packet called Datagram
 Internetworking computers
 Internet Protocol versions: IPv4, IPv6

65 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025

 IP

66 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025

 Cont’d…
Source & destination IP address (32 bits
each): contain IP address of sender and intended
recipient.
Options (variable length): Mainly used to record
a route, or timestamps, or specify routing.
Identification: copied into fragment, allows
destination to know which fragments belong
to which datagram
Fragment Offset (12 bits): specifies the
offset in the original datagram of the data
being carried in the fragment
Measured in units of 8 bytes starting at 0
Flags (3 bits): control fragmentation
67 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025
 ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol)
(Layer 3)
Used to report errors with delivery of IP data.
E.g. if particular service or host not reachable
or to check routers are correctly routing .
Ping tool uses ICMP to check host is
reachable and how long it takes to reach.
ICMP message is delivered in IP packet.
Error reporting not error correction.
Two types of messages
Error reporting message
 Problems with router or host e.g. destination unreachable,
time exceeded, parameters problem
Query message
68 Compiled by Gadisa A.
 01/31/2025
Help in getting specific information. e.g. neighbors
 ICMP Errors
Network Errors:
Host or network unreachable
Network congestion message:
When router buffers too many packets,
and don’t process with same speed as
received, generates source quench
message. Too many messages results
congestion.
Time exceed
ICMP timeout message is generated when
host is unreachable.
69 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025
 IGMP Layer 3
Internet Group Management Protocol
IGMP-is used to facilitate the
simultaneous transmission of a message
to a group of recipients.
Protocol that manages group
membership.
Provides information to multicast routers
about the membership status of hosts.
Routers use IGMP to determine which
hosts belong to a multicast group
Hosts use IGMP to join or leave a
70 Compiled by Gadisa A. 01/31/2025
multicast group.