Lesson 2

Computer Communication Standards:

Specific objectives
By the end of the lesson the learner should be able to

i. Understand the importance of standards

ii. Explain the function of each of the seven OSI layers
iii. Compare and contrast OSI reference model to TCP/IP
iv. Describe common use of the Internet

The most important standard is Open System Interconnect OSI and TCP/IP.
Other standards are IETF Internet Engineering Task Force, IEEE Institute of
Electronic and Electrical Engineers

The OSI standard was enacted in 1984 as an initiative of International Standards

Organization ISO.
The standard was supported by IBM,Apple, Machinitosh among others was in
response to proprietary Network environment that existed in the 70s for different
 Line codes
 Electrical signal
 Physical characters
 Addressing schemes
 Maximum packet size
 Network access mechanism
 Time-outs
 Error recovery mechanism
 Status reporting schemes
 Routing techniques
 User access control
 Connection / connectionless mechanisms etc
The principle purpose of the standard was to allow Networks to:
 Interoperate
 Internetwork.

Importance of TCP/IP

The widespread use and expansion of communications protocols is both a

prerequisite for the Internet, and a major contributor to its power and success.
The pair of Internet Protocol (or IP) and Transmission Control Protocol (or TCP)
are the most important of these, and the term TCP/IP refers to a collection (or
protocol suite) of its most used protocols. Internet Engineering Task Force (or
IETF) documents most of the protocols.

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Application layer:

Provides user interface and support services such as E-mail, FTP, shared
database management, file remote access. Others are identification of
communication partner by name or address etc. It has industry protocol such as
banking (ATM), purchasing, invoicing, videotext.

Determination of availability of partner, authority to communicate,

authentication of communication partner, cost allocation methodology, adequacy
of resource, acceptability of QoS (response time, error rate), agreement for
responsibility of error recovery, procedure for control of integrity, identification
of constraints on data eg syntax (character set, data structures)

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Presentation layer:

Provides independence to the application process from differences in data

presentation. It offers services such as code conversion, data compression, file
encryption, terminal handling (session request, data transfer and termination).

Session layer:

It’s the dialog controller i.e interaction management, who is in control of

communication between applications ie establishes connection (call setup),
manages data transfer, synchronizes the interaction among applications, adds
check points, terminates session,

Transport layer:

Provides reliable transparent transfer of data between end points, provides end
to end error recovery and flow control, process (application on a host machine)
to process delivery. Breaks up messages into small units (segmentation) and does
reassembly. Manages packet transmission through the transmission connection;
TCP- connection or UDP-connectionless. Assures correct re-assembly at the
distant end for the packets. Error control and flow control from source to
destination.

Network layer:

Provides upper layers with independence from data transmission and switching
technologies used to connect systems. It’s responsible for establishing,
maintaining and terminating connections eg X.25 virtual circuits’ protocol and
Internet Protocol. It deals with packets, IP addressing logical addresses, routing

Data link layer:

Provides reliable transfer of information across the physical link, sends blocks of
data (frames) with the necessary synchronization, error checking – CRC,
checksum and flow control. Does physical (MAC) addresses, establishes
connection between hosts, Sends and receives network addresses.

Physical layer:

Concerned with transmission of unstructured bits stream over physical medium.

Deals with mechanical, electrical and procedural characteristics to access the
physical medium, eg voltage level, bit duration, line codes, data rates,
synchronization of bits, line configuration, physical topology – ring , bus, star etc,
transmission modes. RJ 45, RJ 15, BNC l

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TCP Protocol Suite & IP Addressing

The Internet was developed to provide a communication network that could

function in wartime. Although the Internet has evolved from the original plan, it
is still based on the TCP/IP protocol suite. The design of TCP/IP is ideal for the
decentralized and robust Internet. Many common protocols were designed based
on the four-layer TCP/IP model.

Any device on the Internet that wants to communicate with other Internet
devices must have a unique identifier. The identifier is known as the IP address
because routers use a Layer 3 protocol called the IP protocol to find the best route
to that device.

In addition to the physical MAC address, each computer needs a unique IP

address to be part of the Internet. This is also called the logical address. There are
several ways to assign an IP address to a device. Some devices always have a
static address. Others have a temporary address assigned to them each time they
connect to the network. When a dynamically assigned IP address is needed, a
device can obtain it several ways.

The TCP/IP model has become the standard on which the Internet is based.

The four layers of the TCP/IP model are:

 Application layer
 Transport layer
 Internet layer
 Network access layer

Functions of the TCP/IP Application Layer

The Application Layer handles high-level protocols, representation, encoding,

and dialog control. The TCP/IP protocol suite combines all application related

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issues into one layer. It ensures that the data is properly packaged before it is
passed on to the next layer.

The following protocols functions operate at the application layer:

 File Transfer Protocol (FTP) - FTP is a reliable, connection-oriented service

that uses TCP to transfer files between systems that support FTP. It supports
bi-directional binary file and ASCII file transfers.
 Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) - TFTP is a connectionless service that
uses the User Datagram Protocol (UDP). TFTP is used on the router to
transfer configuration files and and to transfer files between systems that
support TFTP. It is useful in some LANs because it operates faster than FTP
in a stable environment.
 Network File System (NFS) - NFS is a distributed file system protocol suite
developed by Sun Microsystems that allows file access to a remote storage
device such as a hard disk across a network.
 Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) - SMTP administers the transmission
of e-mail over computer networks. It does not provide support for
transmission of data other than plain text.
 Telnet - Telnet provides the capability to remotely access another computer.
It enables a user to log into an Internet host and execute commands. A Telnet
client is referred to as a local host. A Telnet server is referred to as a remote
host.
 Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) - SNMP is a protocol that
provides a way to monitor and control network devices. SNMP is also used to
manage configurations, statistics, performance, and security.
 Domain Name System (DNS) - DNS is a system used on the Internet to
translate domain names and publicly advertised network nodes into IP
addresses.

Internet and transport layer specifications such as IP and TCP as well as

specifications for common applications.

The Transport Layer

 Provides a logical connection between a source host and a destination host

 Protocols segment and reassemble data sent by upper-layer applications into
the same data stream, or logical connection, between end points
 Sends data packets from a source to a destination through the cloud.
 The primary duty of the transport layer is to provide end-to-end control and
reliability as data travels through the network
 Also defines end-to-end connectivity between host applications.
 Transport layer protocols include TCP and UDP.

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 Transport Layer Protocol

The reliability is accomplished through the use of:

 Sliding windows
 Sequence numbers
 Acknowledgments

The functions of TCP and UDP are as follows:

 Segment upper-layer application data

 Send segments from one end device to another

The functions of TCP are as follows:

 Establish end-to-end operations

 Provide flow control through the use of sliding windows
 Ensure reliability through the use of sequence numbers and
acknowledgments

TCP is a connection-oriented protocol that addresses numerous reliability issues

to provide a reliable byte stream:

 data arrives in-order

 data has minimal error (i.e correctness)
 duplicate data is discarded
 lost/discarded packets are resent
 includes traffic congestion control

The newer STCP is also a "reliable", connection-oriented, transport mechanism. It

is Message-stream-oriented— not byte-stream-oriented like TCP — and provides
multiple streams multiplexed over a single connection.

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UDP is a connectionless datagram protocol. Like IP, it is a best effort or
"unreliable" protocol. Reliability is addressed through error detection using a
weak checksum algorithm. UDP is typically used for applications such as
streaming media (audio, video, Voice over Internet etc) where on-time arrival is
more important than reliability.

The TCP/IP Internet Layer

The Internet Protocol (IP) is a protocol used for communicating data across a
Packet Switched Networks. IP is a network layer protocol in the Internet protocol
suite and is encapsulated in a data link layer protocol (e.g., Ethernet). As a lower
layer protocol IP provides the service of communicable unique global addressing
amongst computers.

The Internet layer is used to select the best path through the network for packets
to travel. Best path determination and packet switching occur at this layer.

The main protocol that functions at this layer is IP.

Internet Layer Protocols

The purpose of the Internet layer is to select the best path through the
network for packets to travel

The following protocols operate at the Internet layer:

 IP provides connectionless, best-effort delivery routing of packets. IP

ignores the content of the packets but not the path to the destination.
 Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) provides control and
messaging capabilities.
 Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) determines the data link layer
address, or MAC address, for known IP addresses.
 Reverse Address Resolution Protocol (RARP) determines the IP
address for a known MAC address.

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IP performs the following operations:

 Defines a packet and an addressing scheme

 Transfers data between the Internet layer and network access layer
 Routes packets to remote hosts

IP is sometimes referred to as an unreliable protocol. This does not mean that IP

will not accurately deliver data across a network. IP is unreliable because it does
not perform error checking and correction. That function is handled by upper
layer protocols from the transport or application layers.

Reliability

IP provides an unreliable service (i.e., best effort delivery). This means that the
network makes no guarantees about the packet and none, some, or all of the
following may apply:

 Data corruption
 Out-of-order delivery (packets arriving out of sequence.)
 Duplicate arrival
 Lost or dropped/discarded packages

For reliability IP ensure the IP packet's header is error-free through the use of a
checksum. This has the side-effect of discarding packets with bad headers on the
spot, and with no required notification to either end (though an ICMP message
may be sent).

IP does provide re-ordering of any fragments that arrive out of order by using the
fragmentation flags and offset. TCP is a protocol that will adjust its segment size
to be smaller than the MTU. UDP and Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP)
are examples of protocols that disregard MTU size thereby forcing IP to fragment
oversized datagrams.

The primary reason for the lack of reliability is to reduce the complexity of
routers. So, even though no guarantees are made, the better the effort made by
the network, the better the experience for the user. Most protocols are built
around the idea that error checking is best done at each end of the
communication line.

TCP/IP Network Access Layer

The network access layer allows an IP packet to make a physical link to the
network media. It includes the LAN and WAN technology details and all the

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details contained in the OSI physical and data link layers. Network access layer
protocols also map IP addresses to physical hardware addresses and
encapsulate IP packets into frames. The network access layer defines the physical
media connection based on the hardware type and network interface.

Network Access Protocols

ARP and RARP work at both Internet and Network access layers

Drivers for software applications, modem cards, and other devices operate at the
network access layer.

The network access layer defines the procedures used to interface with the
network hardware and access the transmission medium. Modem protocol
standards such as Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP) and Point-to-Point Protocol
(PPP) provide network access through a modem connection. Many protocols are
required to determine the hardware, software, and transmission-medium
specifications at this layer.

Comparison of the OSI model and the TCP/IP model

The OSI and TCP/IP models have many similarities:

 Both have layers.

 Both have application layers, though they include different services.
 Both have comparable transport and network layers.
 Both use packet-switched instead of circuit-switched technology.

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Here are some differences of the OSI and TCP/IP models:

 TCP/IP combines the OSI application, presentation, and session layers

into its application layer.
 TCP/IP combines the OSI data link and physical layers into its
network access layer.
 TCP/IP appears simpler because it has fewer layers.
 When the TCP/IP transport layer uses UDP it does not provide
reliable delivery of packets. The transport layer in the OSI model
always does.

The Internet was developed based on the standards of the TCP/IP protocols.
The TCP/IP model gains credibility because of its protocols. The OSI model
is not generally used to build networks. The OSI model is used as a guide to
understand the communication process

IP addressing

For any two systems to communicate, they must be able to identify and locate
each other.

Each computer in a TCP/IP network must be given a unique identifier, or IP

address. This address, which operates at Layer 3, allows one computer to locate
another computer on a network. All computers also have a unique physical
address, which is known as a MAC address. These are assigned by the
manufacturer of the NIC. MAC addresses operate at Layer 2 of the OSI model.

An IP address is a 32-bit sequence of ones and zeros. Figure above shows a

sample 32-bit number. To make the IP address easier to work with, it is usually
written as four decimal numbers separated by periods. For example, an IP
address of one computer is 192.168.1.2. Another computer might have the
address 128.10.2.1. This is called the dotted decimal format. Each part of the
address is called an octet because it is made up of eight binary digits. For
example, the IP address 192.168.1.8 would be:

11000000.10101000.00000001.00001000 in binary notation.

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The dotted decimal notation is an easier method to understand than the binary
ones and zeros method. This dotted decimal notation also prevents a large
number of transposition errors that would result if only the binary numbers were
used. Each octet ranges from 0 to 255.

Both the binary and decimal numbers in Figure above represent the same values.
However, the address is easier to understand in dotted decimal notation. This is
one of the common problems associated with binary numbers. The long strings
of repeated ones and zeros make errors more likely.

IPv4 addressing

A router uses IP to forward packets from the source network to the destination
network. The packets must include an identifier for both the source and
destination networks. A router uses the IP address of the destination network to
deliver a packet to the correct network. When the packet arrives at a router
connected to the destination network, the router uses the IP address to locate the
specific computer on the network.

Every IP address also has two parts. The first part identifies the network where
the system is connected and the second part identifies the system.

This kind of address is called a hierarchical address, because it contains different

levels. An IP address combines these two identifiers into one number. This
number must be a unique number, because duplicate addresses would make
routing impossible. The first part identifies the system's network address. The
second part, called the host part, identifies which particular machine it is on the
network.

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 Identifying Address Classes

IP Address High First Octet Address Number of Bits in the

Class Order Bits Range Network Address
Class A 0 0 - 127 * 8
Class B 10 128- 191 16
Class C 110 192 - 123 24
Class D 1110 224 - 239 28
* 127.x.x.x address range is reserved as loop back address

Address Class Number of Networks Number of Hosts per

Network
A 126 16,777,216
B 16,384 65,535
C 2,097,152 254
D N/A N/A

IP addresses are divided into classes to define the large, medium, and small
networks. Class A addresses are assigned to larger networks. Class B addresses
are used for medium-sized networks, and Class C for small networks. The first
step in determining which part of the address identifies the network and which
part identifies the host is identifying the class of an IP address.

The Five IP Address Classes

Classful Addressing

To accommodate different size networks and aid in classifying these networks,

IP addresses are divided into groups called classes. This is known as classful
addressing. Each complete 32-bit IP address is broken down into a network part
and a host part. A bit or bit sequence at the start of each address determines the
class of the address. There are five IP address classes as shown in Figure below.

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The Class A address was designed to support extremely large networks, with
more than 16 million host addresses available. Class A IP addresses use only the
first octet to indicate the network address. The remaining three octets provide for
host addresses.

The first bit of a Class A address is always 0. With that first bit a 0, the lowest
number that can be represented is 00000000, decimal 0. The highest number that
can be represented is 01111111, decimal 127. The numbers 0 and 127 are reserved
and cannot be used as network addresses. Any address that starts with a value
between 1 and 126 in the first octet is a Class A address.

The 127.0.0.0 network is reserved for loopback testing. Routers or local machines
can use this address to send packets back to themselves. Therefore, this number
cannot be assigned to a network.

The Class B address was designed to support the needs of moderate to large-

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sized networks. A Class B IP address uses the first two of the four octets to
indicate the network address. The other two octets specify host addresses.

Class B address

The first two bits of the first octet of a Class B address are always 10. The
remaining six bits may be populated with either 1s or 0s. Therefore, the lowest
number that can be represented with a Class B address is 10000000, decimal 128.
The highest number that can be represented is 10111111, decimal 191. Any
address that starts with a value in the range of 128 to 191 in the first octet is a
Class B address.

The Class C address space is the most commonly used of the original address
classes. This address space was intended to support small networks with a
maximum of 254 hosts.

A Class C address begins with binary 110. Therefore, the lowest number that can
be represented is 11000000, decimal 192. The highest number that can be
represented is 11011111, decimal 223. If an address contains a number in the
range of 192 to 223 in the first octet, it is a Class C address.

The Class D address class was created to enable multicasting in an IP address.

A multicast address is a unique network address that directs packets with that
destination address to predefined groups of IP addresses. Therefore, a single
station can simultaneously transmit a single stream of data to multiple recipients.

Class D address

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The Class D address space, much like the other address spaces, is mathematically
constrained. The first four bits of a Class D address must be 1110. Therefore, the
first octet range for Class D addresses is 11100000 to 11101111, or 224 to 239. An
IP address that starts with a value in the range of 224 to 239 in the first octet is a
Class D address.

A Class E address has been defined. However, the Internet Engineering Task
Force (IETF) reserves these addresses for its own research. Therefore, no Class E
addresses have been released for use in the Internet. The first four bits of a Class
E address are always set to 1s. Therefore, the first octet range for Class E
addresses is 11110000 to 11111111, or 240 to 255.

Class E address

Public and private IP addresses

The stability of the Internet depends directly on the uniqueness of publicly used
network addresses.

No two machines that connect to a public network can have the same IP address
because public IP addresses are global and standardized. All machines connected
to the Internet agree to conform to the system. Public IP addresses must be
obtained from an Internet service provider (ISP) or a registry at some expense.

With the rapid growth of the Internet, public IP addresses were beginning to run
out. New addressing schemes, such as classless interdomain routing (CIDR) and
IPv6 were developed to help solve the problem. CIDR and IPv6 are discussed
later in the course.

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Private IP addresses are another solution to the problem of the impending
exhaustion of public IP addresses. As mentioned, public networks require hosts
to have unique IP addresses. However, private networks that are not connected
to the Internet may use any host addresses, as long as each host within the
private network is unique. Many private networks exist alongside public
networks. However, a private network using just any address is strongly
discouraged because that network might eventually be connected to the Internet.
RFC 1918 sets aside three blocks of IP addresses for private, internal use.

Private IP Addresses

These three blocks consist of one Class A, a range of Class B addresses, and a
range of Class C addresses. Addresses that fall within these ranges are not routed
on the Internet backbone. Internet routers immediately discard private
addresses. If addressing a nonpublic intranet, a test lab, or a home network, these
private addresses can be used instead of globally unique addresses.
IPv4 and IPv6

When TCP/IP was adopted in the 1980s, it relied on a two-level addressing

scheme. At the time this offered adequate scalability. Unfortunately, the
designers of TCP/IP could not have predicted that their protocol would
eventually sustain a global network of information, commerce, and
entertainment. Over twenty years ago, IP Version 4 (IPv4) offered an addressing
strategy that, although scalable for a time, resulted in an inefficient allocation of
addresses.

The Class A and B addresses make up 75 percent of the IPv4 address space,
however fewer than 17,000 organizations can be assigned a Class A or B network
number.

Class C network addresses are far more numerous than Class A and Class B
addresses, although they account for only 12.5 percent of the possible four billion
IP addresses.

Unfortunately, Class C addresses are limited to 254 usable hosts. This does not
meet the needs of larger organizations that cannot acquire a Class A or B
address. Even if there were more Class A, B, and C addresses, too many network
addresses would cause Internet routers to come to a stop under the burden of the

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enormous size of routing tables required to store the routes to reach each of the
networks.

As early as 1992, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) identified the
following two specific concerns:

 Exhaustion of the remaining, unassigned IPv4 network addresses. At the

time, the Class B space was on the verge of depletion.
 The rapid and large increase in the size of Internet routing tables occurred
as more Class C networks came online. The resulting flood of new
network information threatened the ability of Internet routers to cope
effectively.

Over the past two decades, numerous extensions to IPv4 have been developed.
These extensions are specifically designed to improve the efficiency with which
the 32-bit address space can be used. Two of the more important of these are
subnet masks and classless interdomain routing (CIDR), which are discussed in
more detail in later lessons.

Meanwhile, an even more extendible and scalable version of IP, IP Version 6

(IPv6), has been defined and developed.

IPv6 uses 128 bits rather than the 32 bits currently used in IPv4. IPv6 uses
hexadecimal numbers to represent the 128 bits. IPv6 provides 640 sextrillion
addresses. This version of IP should provide enough addresses for future
communication needs.

IPv4 addresses:

 are 32 bits long

 written in decimal form
 separated by periods.

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IPv6 addresses:

 are 128-bits long and

 are identifiers for individual interfaces and sets of interfaces.
 addresses are written in hexadecimal
 and separated by colons
 fields are 16 bits long
To make the addresses easier to read, leading zeros can be omitted from each
field. The field :0003: is written :3:. IPv6 shorthand representation of the 128 bits
uses eight 16-bit numbers, shown as four hexadecimal digits.

IPv6 addresses are assigned to interfaces, not nodes. Since each interface belongs
to a single node, any of the unicast addresses assigned to the interfaces of the
node may be used as an identifier for the node.

After years of planning and development, IPv6 is slowly being implemented in

select networks. Eventually, IPv6 may replace IPv4 as the dominant Internet
protocol.

Conclusion

Typical protocol properties

Most protocols specify one or more of the following properties:

 Detection of the underlying physical connection (wired or wireless), or the

existence of the other endpoint or node
 Handshaking
 Negotiation of various connection characteristics
 How to start and end a message
 How to format a message
 What to do with corrupted or improperly formatted messages (error
correction)
 How to detect unexpected loss of the connection, and what to do next
 Termination of the session or connection.

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