Open Systems Interconnection

(OSI) Model
Lecture-2
Computer Network & Communication (I)
Contents
• Introduction
• The OSI Reference Model
• Introduction to Encapsulation

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Background
• In the late 1970s, the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference model was created by the
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to break through this barrier.
• The OSI model was meant to help vendors create interoperable network devices and software in
the form of protocols, or standards, so that different vendors’ networks could become compatible
and work together.
• The OSI model is the primary architectural model for networks. It describes how data and
network information are communicated from an application on one computer through the
network media to an application on another computer. The OSI reference model breaks this
approach into layers.
• A reference model is a conceptual blueprint of how communications should take place. It
addresses all the processes required for effective communication and divides these processes into
logical groupings called layers.

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Advantages of Reference Models (OSI)
• The OSI model divides network communication processes into smaller and simpler components,
thus aiding component development, design, and troubleshooting.
• It allows multiple-vendor development through the standardization of network components.
• It encourages industry standardization by defining the specific functions that occur at each layer
of the model.
• It allows various types of network hardware and software to communicate.
• It prevents changes in one layer from affecting other layers, facilitating development and making
application programming much easier.

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The OSI Reference Model
• OSI model isn’t a physical model; it’s a conceptual and comprehensive yet fluid set of guidelines,
which application developers utilize to create and implement applications that run on a network.
• It also provides a framework for creating and implementing networking standards, devices, and
internetworking schemes.
The OSI model has seven layers:
• Application (Layer 7)
• Presentation (Layer 6)
• Session (Layer 5)
• Transport (Layer 4)
• Network (Layer 3)
• Data Link (Layer 2)
• Physical (Layer 1)

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The OSI Reference Model
• The OSI’s seven layers are divided into two groups. The top three layers define the rules of how
the applications working within host machines communicate with each other as well as with end
users. The bottom four layers define how the actual data is transmitted from end to end.

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The Application Layer
• The Application layer of the OSI model marks the spot where users communicate or interact with
the computer. Technically, users communicate with the network stack through application
processes, interfaces, or APIs that connect the application in use to the operating system of the
computer.
• The Application layer is also responsible for identifying and establishing the availability of the
intended communication partner and determining whether sufficient resources for the requested
communication exist.
• It’s important to remember that the Application layer acts as an interface between application
programs. For instance, Microsoft Word doesn’t reside at the Application layer, it interfaces with
the Application layer protocols.

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The Presentation Layer
• The Presentation layer gets its name from its purpose: it presents data to the Application layer
and is responsible for data translation and code formatting.
• A successful data-transfer technique is to adapt the data into a standard format before
transmission. Computers are configured to receive this generically formatted data and then
convert it back into its native format for reading—for example, from EBCDIC to ASCII. By providing
translation services, the Presentation layer ensures that the data transferred from one system’s
Application layer can be read and understood by the Application layer on another system.
• The OSI has protocol standards that define how standard data should be formatted. Tasks like
data compression, decompression, encryption, and decryption are all associated with this layer.
Some Presentation layer standards are even involved in multimedia operations.

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The Session Layer
• The Session layer is responsible for setting up, managing, and then tearing down sessions
between Presentation layer entities.
• This layer also provides dialog control between devices, or nodes. It coordinates communication
between systems and serves to organize their communication by offering three different modes:
simplex , half duplex , and full duplex .
• The Session layer basically keeps applications’ data separate from other applications’ data. For a
good example, the Session layer allows multiple web browser sessions on your desktop at the
same time.

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The Transport Layer
• The Transport layer segments and reassembles data into a data stream. Services located in the
Transport layer handle data from upper-layer applications and unite it onto the same data stream.
They provide end-to-end data transport services and can establish a logical connection between
the sending host and destination host on an internetwork.
• The Transport layer is responsible for providing the mechanisms for multiplexing upper layer
applications, establishing virtual connections, and tearing down virtual circuits. It also hides the
many and sundry details of any network-dependent information from the higher layers,
facilitating data transfer.
• Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and User Datagram Protocol (UDP) work on the transport
layer and give application developers more options because they have a choice between them
when they’re working with TCP/IP protocols.

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The Transport Layer
• The Transport layer can be connectionless or connection-oriented.
• Before a transmitting host starts to send segments down the model, the sender’s TCP process
contacts the destination’s TCP process to establish a connection. The resulting creation is known
as a virtual circuit. This type of communication is called connection-oriented.
• During this initial handshake, the two TCP processes also agree on the amount of information that
will be sent in either direction before the respective recipient’s TCP sends back an
acknowledgment.
• The two operating systems communicate by sending messages over the network confirming that
the transfer is approved and that both sides are ready for it to take place. After all of this required
synchronization occurs, a connection is fully established, and the data transfer begins.
• This virtual circuit setup is called overhead.

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The Transport Layer
• In the connection-oriented session—the three-
way handshake— pictured in Figure 2.4:
1. The first “connection agreement” segment is a
request for synchronization.
2. The next segments acknowledge the request
and establish connection parameters— the
rules—between hosts. These segments
request that the receiver’s sequencing is
synchronized here as well so that a
bidirectional connection is formed.
3. The final segment is also an acknowledgment.
It notifies the destination host that the
connection agreement has been accepted and
that the connection has been established. Data
transfer can now begin.

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Flow Control
• Data integrity is ensured at the Transport layer by maintaining flow control and by allowing users
to request reliable data transport between systems. Flow control provides a means for the
receiver to govern the amount of data sent by the sender.
• It prevents a sending host on one side of the connection from overflowing the buffers in the
receiving host—an event that can result in lost data.
• Reliable data transport employs a connection-oriented communications session between
systems, and the protocols involved ensure that the following will be achieved:
1. The segments delivered are acknowledged back to the sender upon their reception.
2. Any segments not acknowledged are retransmitted.
3. Segments are sequenced back into their proper order upon arrival at their destination.
4. A manageable data flow is maintained to avoid congestion, overloading, and data loss.
what happens when a machine receives a flood of datagrams too quickly for it to process?
It stores them in a memory section called a buffer. But this buffering tactic can only solve the
problem if the datagrams are part of a small burst. If not, and the datagram deluge continues, a
device’s memory will eventually be exhausted, its flood capacity will be exceeded, and it will react
by discarding any additional datagrams that arrive

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Flow Control
• This mechanism works kind of like a stoplight, signaling the
sending device to stop transmitting segment traffic to its
overwhelmed peer. After the peer machine’s receiver processes
the segments abounding in its memory reservoir (its buffer), it
sends out a “ready” transport indicator. When the machine
waiting to transmit the rest of its datagrams receives this “go”
indictor, it resumes its transmission.
• a service is considered connection-oriented if it has the
following characteristics:
• A virtual circuit is set up (such as a three-way handshake).
• It uses sequencing.
• It uses acknowledgments.
• It uses flow control.

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Windowing
• Ideally, data throughput happens quickly and
efficiently. And as you can imagine, it would be
slow if the transmitting machine had to wait for
an acknowledgment after sending each
segment.
• The quantity of data segments (measured in
bytes) that the transmitting machine is
allowed to send without receiving an
acknowledgment is represented by something
called a window .

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Acknowledgments
• Reliable data delivery ensures the integrity of a
data stream being sent from one machine to the
other through a fully functional data link. It
guarantees that the data won’t be duplicated or
lost. This is achieved through something called
positive acknowledgment with retransmission.
• a technique that requires a receiving machine to
communicate with the transmitting source by
sending an acknowledgment message back to the
sender when it receives data.
• The sender documents each segment it sends and
waits for this acknowledgment before sending the
next segment. When it sends a segment, the
transmitting machine starts a timer and
retransmits if it expires before an
acknowledgment is returned from the receiving
end.

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The Network Layer
• The Network layer manages logical device addressing, tracks the location of devices on the
network, and determines the best way to move data. This means that the Network layer must
transport traffic between devices that aren’t locally attached.
• Routers are Layer 3 devices that are specified at the Network layer and provide the routing
services within an internetwork.
• Two types of packets are used at the Network layer:
• Data Packets These are used to transport user data through the internetwork. Protocols used to
support data traffic are called routed protocols. Two examples of routed protocols are Internet
Protocol (IP) and Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6).
• Route-Update Packets These are used to update neighboring routers about the networks
connected to all routers within the internetwork. Protocols that send route-update packets are
called routing protocols, and some common ones are Routing Information Protocol (RIP), RIPv2,
Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP), and Open Shortest Path First (OSPF). Route-
update packets are used to help build and maintain routing tables on each router.

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The Network Layer
• The routing table used by a
router includes the following
information:
• Network Addresses These are
protocol-specific network
addresses.
• Interface This is the exit
interface a packet will take
when destined for a specific
network.
• Metric This value equals the
distance to the remote network.
Different routing protocols use
different ways of computing this
distance.

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The Network Layer
Here are some key points about routers that you really should commit to memory:
• Routers, by default, won’t forward any broadcast or multicast packets.
• Routers use the logical address in a Network layer header to determine the next-hop router to forward the packet to.
• Routers can use access lists, created by an administrator, to control security on the types of packets that are allowed
to enter or exit an interface.
• Routers can provide Layer 2 bridging functions if needed and can simultaneously route through the same interface.
• Layer 3 devices (routers, in this case) provide connections between virtual LANs (VLANs).
• Routers can provide quality of service (QoS) for specific types of network traffic.

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The Data Link Layer
• The Data Link layer provides the physical transmission of the data and handles error notification,
network topology, and flow control. This means the Data Link layer ensures that messages are
delivered to the proper device on a LAN using hardware (MAC) addresses and translates
messages from the Network layer into bits for the Physical layer to transmit.
• The Data Link layer formats the message into pieces, each called a data frame , and adds a
customized header containing the destination and source hardware addresses.
• The Data Link layer is responsible for the unique identification of each device that resides on a
local network.
• For a host to send packets to individual hosts on a local network as well as transmit packets
between routers, the Data Link layer uses hardware addressing.

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The Data Link Layer
• The IEEE Ethernet Data Link layer has two sublayers:
• Media Access Control (MAC) Defines how packets are placed on the media. Physical addressing is
defined here.
• Logical Link Control (LLC) Responsible for identifying Network layer protocols and then
encapsulating them.

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The Physical Layer
• The Physical layer communicates directly with the various types of actual communication media.
Different kinds of media represent these bit values in different ways.
• The Physical layer specifies the electrical, mechanical, procedural, and functional requirements
for activating, maintaining, and deactivating a physical link between end systems.

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Introduction to Encapsulation
• When a host transmits data across a network to another device, the data goes through
encapsulation : It’s wrapped with protocol information at each layer of the OSI model. Each layer
communicates only with its peer layer on the receiving device.
• To communicate and exchange information, each layer uses Protocol Data Units (PDUs) . These
hold the control information attached to the data at each layer of the model.
• At a transmitting device, the data-encapsulation method works like this:
1. User information is converted to data for transmission on the network.
2. Data is converted to segments, and a reliable connection is set up between the transmitting and
receiving hosts.
3. Segments are converted to packets or datagrams, and a logical address is placed in the header so each
packet can be routed through an internetwork. A packet carries a segment of data.
4. Packets or datagrams are converted to frames for transmission on the local network. Hardware
(Ethernet) addresses are used to uniquely identify hosts on a local network segment. Frames carry
packets.
5. Frames are converted to bits, and a digital encoding and clocking scheme is used.

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Introduction to Encapsulation

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Reference
• CompTIA-Network-Study-Guide-Exam-N10-007

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