UNIT-1

Protocol Architecture: Need for protocol architecture, TCP/IP protocol

architecture, OSI model, TCP/IP Vs OSI model.
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Protocol Architecture
A protocol architecture is the layered structure of hardware and software
that supports the exchange of data between systems and supports distributed
applications, such as electronic mail and file transfer.

We use the concept of layers in our daily life. The process of sending a
letter to a friend would be complex if there were no services available from the
post office. Figure below shows the steps in this task:

NEED FOR A PROTOCOL ARCHITECTURE

When computers, exchange data, the procedures involved can be quite
complex. ex. file transfer. There must be a data path between the two
computers. But also need:

• Source to activate communications Path or inform network of destination

• Source must check destination is prepared to receive

• File transfer application on source must check destination file

management system will accept and store file for his user
 • May need file format translation

Instead of implementing the complex logic for this as a single module,

the task is broken up into subtasks, implemented separately. In a protocol
architecture, the modules are arranged in a vertical stack, each layer in the stack
performs a related subset of the functions. It relies on the next lower layer to
perform more primitive functions. It provides services to the next higher layer.
The peer layers communicate using a set of rules or conventions known as a
protocol.

Key Elements of a Protocol

Communication is achieved by having the corresponding, or peer, layers

in two systems communicate. 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 a protocol are:

• Syntax: Concerns the format of the data blocks

• Semantics: Includes control information for coordination and error handling

• Timing: Includes speed matching and sequencing.

THE TCP/IP PROTOCOL ARCHITECTURE

Communications can be said to involve three agents: applications (eg. file

transfer), computers (eg. PCs & servers), and networks.

These applications, and others, execute on computers that can often

support multiple simultaneous applications. Computers are connected to
networks, and the data to be exchanged are transferred by the network from one
computer to another. Thus, data transfer involves first getting the data to the
computer in which the application resides and then getting the data to the
intended application within the computer. Can think of partitioning these tasks
into 3 layers as shown above.

The TCP/IP protocol architecture is a result of protocol research and

development conducted on the experimental packet-switched network,
ARPANET, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
(DARPA), and is generally referred to as the TCP/IP protocol suite. This
protocol suite consists of a large collection of protocols that have been issued as
Internet standards by the Internet Activities Board (IAB).

Organizes the communication task into five relatively independent layers.

 Physical layer

 Network access layer

 Internet layer

 Host-to-host, or transport layer

 Application layer

The physical layer covers the physical interface between a data transmission
device (e.g., workstation, computer) and a transmission medium or network.
This layer is concerned with specifying the characteristics of the transmission
medium, the nature of the signals, the data rate, and related matters.

The network access layer is concerned with the exchange of data between an
end system (server, workstation, etc.) and the network to which it is attached.
The sending computer must provide the network with the address of the
destination computer, so that the network may route the data to the appropriate
destination. The sending computer may wish to invoke certain services, such as
priority, that might be provided by the network. The specific software used at
this layer depends on the type of network to be used.

The internet layer provides procedures used to allow data to traverse multiple
interconnected networks, to provide communications between devices are
attached to different networks. The Internet Protocol (IP) is used at this layer to
provide the routing function across multiple networks. This protocol is
implemented not only in the end systems but also in routers. A router is a
processor that connects two networks and whose primary function is to relay
data from one network to the other on its route from the source to the
destination end system.
The host-to-host layer, or transport layer, collects mechanisms in a common
layer shared by all applications to provide reliable delivery of data. Regardless
of the nature of the applications, there is usually a requirement that data be
exchanged reliably, ensuring that all of the data arrives at the destination
application and that the data arrives in the same order in which they were sent.
These mechanisms for providing reliability are essentially independent of the
nature of the applications. The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is the most
commonly used protocol to provide this functionality.

Finally, the application layer contains the logic needed to support the various
user applications. For each different type of application, such as file transfer, a
separate module is needed that is peculiar to that application.

Operation of TCP and IP

Figure above indicates how these protocols are configured for

communications. To make clear that the total communications facility may
consist of multiple networks, the constituent networks are usually referred to as
subnetworks. Some sort of network access protocol, such as the Ethernet logic,
is used to connect a computer to a subnetwork. This protocol enables the host to
send data across the subnetwork to another host or, if the target host is on
another subnetwork, to a router that will forward the data. IP is implemented in
all of the end systems and the routers. It acts as a relay to move a block of data
from one host, through one or more routers, to another host. TCP is
implemented only in the end systems; it keeps track of the blocks of data to
assure that all are delivered reliably to the appropriate application.

For successful communication, every entity in the overall system must have a
unique address. Actually, two levels of addressing are needed. Each host on a
subnetwork must have a unique global internet address; this allows the data to
be delivered to the proper host. Each process with a host must have an address
that is unique within the host; this allows the host-to-host protocol (TCP) to
deliver data to the proper process. These latter addresses are known as ports.

Consider a simple operation where a process on host A, wishes to send a

message to another process on host B. The process at A hands the message
down to TCP with instructions to send it to host B. TCP hands the message
down to IP with instructions to send it to host B. Note that IP need not be told
the identity of the destination port. Next, IP hands the message down to the
network access layer (e.g., Ethernet logic) with instructions to send it to router J
(the first hop on the way to B). To control this operation, control information as
well as user data must be transmitted.

The sending process generates a block of data and passes this to TCP.
TCP may break this block into smaller pieces to make it more manageable. To
each of these pieces, TCP appends control information known as the TCP
header, forming a TCP segment.

Next, TCP hands each segment over to IP, with instructions to transmit it
to B. These segments must be transmitted across one or more subnetworks and
relayed through one or more intermediate routers. This operation, too, requires
the use of control information. Thus IP appends a header of control information
to each segment to form an IP datagram.
 Finally, each IP datagram is presented to the network access layer for
transmission across the first subnetwork in its journey to the destination. The
network access layer appends its own header, creating a packet, or frame. The
packet is transmitted across the subnetwork to router J.

TRANSPORT LAYER PROTOCOL (TCP)

For most applications running as part of the TCP/IP protocol architecture,

the transport layer protocol is TCP. TCP provides a reliable connection for the
transfer of data between applications. A connection is simply a temporary
logical association between two entities in different systems. A logical
connection refers to a given pair of port values. For the duration of the
connection each entity keeps track of TCP segments coming and going to the
other entity, in order to regulate the flow of segments and to recover from lost
or damaged segments.

TCP segments include a header. Figure below shows the header format
for TCP, which is a minimum of 20 octets, or 160 bits.

The Source Port and Destination Port fields identify the applications at
the source and destination systems that are using this connection. The Sequence
Number, Acknowledgment Number, and Window fields provide flow control
and error control. The checksum is a 16-bit frame check sequence used to detect
errors in the TCP segment.
USER DATAGRAM PROTOCOL (UDP)

In addition to TCP, there is one other transport-level protocol that is in

common use as part of the TCP/IP protocol suite: the User Datagram Protocol
(UDP). UDP does not guarantee delivery, preservation of sequence, or
protection against duplication. UDP enables a procedure to send messages to
other procedures with a minimum of protocol mechanism. Some transaction-
oriented applications make use of UDP; eg SNMP (Simple Network
Management Protocol). Because it is connectionless, UDP has very little to do.
Essentially, it adds a port addressing capability to IP.

The UDP header also includes a checksum to verify that no error occurs
in the data; the use of the checksum is optional.

INTERNET PROTOCOL (IP)

For decades, the keystone of the TCP/IP protocol architecture has been
IP. Figure below shows the IP header format, which is a minimum of 20 octets,
or 160 bits. The header, together with the segment from the transport layer,
forms an IP-level PDU referred to as an IP datagram or an IP packet. The
header includes 32-bit source and destination addresses. The Header Checksum
field is used to detect errors in the header. The Protocol field indicates which
higher-layer protocol is using IP. The ID, Flags, and Fragment Offset fields are
used in the fragmentation and reassembly process.
TCP/IP Applications

A number of applications have been standardized to operate on top of TCP. We

mention three of the most common here.

The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) provides a basic electronic

mail transport facility for transferring messages among separate hosts. The
SMTP protocol does not specify the way in which messages are to be created;
some local editing or native electronic mail facility is required. The target
SMTP module will store the incoming message in a user's mailbox.

The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is used to send files from one system
to another under user command. Both text and binary files are accommodated.
FTP sets up a TCP connection to the target system for the exchange of control
messages. Once a file transfer is approved, a second TCP data connection is set
up for the data transfer, without the overhead of any headers or control
information at the application level. When the transfer is complete, the control
connection is used to signal the completion and to accept new file transfer
commands.

TELNET provides a remote logon capability, which enables a user at a

terminal or personal computer to logon to a remote computer and function as if
directly connected to that computer. The protocol was designed to work with
simple scroll-mode terminals. Terminal traffic between User and Server
TELNET is carried on a TCP connection.
OSI (OPEN SYSTEMS INTERCONNECTION)

The Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference model was developed

by the International Organization for Standardization, as a model for a computer
protocol architecture and as a framework for developing protocol standards.

The OSI model consists of seven layers. The designers of OSI assumed
that this model and the protocols developed within this model would come to
dominate computer communications, eventually replacing proprietary protocol
implementations and rival multivendor models such as TCP/IP. This has not
happened. Although many useful protocols have been developed in the context
of OSI, the overall seven-layer model has not flourished. Instead, the TCP/IP
architecture has come to dominate.

Physical layer

The physical layer is responsible for movements of individual bits from one hop
(node) to the next.

Data link layer

The data link layer is responsible for moving frames from one hop (node) to the
next.
Network layer

The network layer is responsible for the delivery of individual packets from the
source host to the destination host.

Transport layer

The transport layer is responsible for the delivery of a message from one
process to another.
Session layer

The session layer is responsible for dialog control and synchronization.

Presentation layer

The presentation layer is responsible for translation, compression, and

encryption.

Application layer

The application layer is responsible for providing services to the user.

SUMMARY OF LAYERS

TCP/IP Vs OSI model

There are a number of reasons why the TCP/IP architecture has come to
dominate. Perhaps the most important is that the key TCP/IP protocols were
mature and well tested at a time when similar OSI protocols were in the
development stage. When businesses began to recognize the need for
interoperability across networks, only TCP/IP was available and ready to go.

Another reason is that the OSI model is unnecessarily complex, with

seven layers to accomplish what TCP/IP does with fewer layers. Figure above
illustrates the layers of the TCP/IP and OSI architectures, showing roughly the
correspondence in functionality between the two.

OSI Model TCP/IP Model

It is developed by ISO It is developed by ARPANET
(International Standard (Advanced Research Project Agency
Organization) Network).

Provides a clear distinction Doesn’t have any clear distinction

between interfaces, services, and between services, interfaces, and
protocols. protocols.

Referred as Open Systems TCP refers to Transmission Control

Interconnection. Protocol.

Uses the network layer to define

Uses only the Internet layer.
routing standards and protocols.

Has seven (07) layers. Has five (05) layers.

Transport layer is only connection- Transport (host-to-host) layer can be

oriented. connection-oriented or connectionless.

Session and presentation layers are There is no session and presentation

a part of the OSI model. layer in the TCP model.

It is defined after the advent of the It is defined before the advent of the
Internet. internet.

Protocol Independent Standard

Protocol Dependent Standard (Working)
(Theoretical)

***** End of Chapter 2 *****