Computer Networks

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Networks
 Any connection between two or more computers
 e.g. Even when you connect two computers via a USB
cable
 Networks use a set of low-level protocols (rules for
communication)
 e.g. TCP/IP
 Networks use standardized hardware
 e.g. Twisted pair cabling & Ethernet hubs, ATM
switches & optical fibre cabling

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 Simplex

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 Half-Duplex

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 Full-Duplex

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 Concepts of Packets
 Computer networks divide data into small blocks called
packets
 Packets are send individually

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 Local Area Network

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 Metropolitan Area Network

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 Wide Area Network

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Networks: Purpose
 Sharing files
 FTP, NNTP
 Communicating
 E-Mail, instant messaging, games
 Executing programs remotely
 rlogin, telnet

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TCP/IP

 TCP/IP is actually two protocols:

 TCP: Transport control protocol
 Creates reliable transport (handles lost
messages), offers a logical stream of data
(reorders mixed up messages)
 IP: Internet protocol
 Defines addressing (e.g. 137.207.32.2), routing
protocols (how to get messages from source to
destination), etc.

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Internet Messaging
 TCP is a reliable protocol
 If a message does not arrive, it is re-sent
 Messages must be acknowledged by their
recipients before a certain time expires
 The message’s time-to-live (TTL) value

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 Layered Architectures

Schemes for Organizing the

Responsibility of Networking Components

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The OSI Reference Model
 A layered service model developed by the
International Standardization Organization
(ISO)
 Defines 7 conceptual layers
 Each serves a very specific purpose
 OSI: Open System Interconnection
 Developed as a reference to be used for all
future protocols

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The OSI Reference Model
 The 7 layers are (highest to lowest level):

1. Application
2. Presentation
3. Session
4. Transport
5. Network
6. Data link
7. Physical

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 The OSI Reference Model

Physical Layer
 Represents the actual network hardware
 Deals with problems such as:
 Sending signals across wires
 e.g. Charging a wire with a specific voltage

 Converting bits to signals

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 The OSI Reference Model

Data Link Layer

 Represents the interface to the network
hardware
 Deals with problems such as:
 Transmission of groups of bits
 e.g. Groups of bits might represent an ASCII text
string, a floating point number, or a chunk of
binary data
 Verifying data integrity (using checksums)
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 The OSI Reference Model

Network Layer
 Handles the connection between sender and receiver
 Deals with problems such as:
 Determining a path from the sender node to the
recipient node (i.e. routing)
 Determining the correct recipient (i.e. addressing)
 Network congestion
 Fragmenting data into packets
 Reassembly of packets

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 The OSI Reference Model

Transport Layer
 Represents an end-to-end reliable
communication stream
 Deals with problems such as:
 Lost (unacknowledged) packets
 Duplicate packets
 Reordering packets

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 The OSI Reference Model

Session Layer
 Represents a dialogue between sender and receiver
 Deals with problems such as:
 Authentication of the sender node on the packet
assembler and disassembler (PAD)
 This is a remote computer which provided the lower

layers in a shared manner, which required

authentication

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 The OSI Reference Model

Presentation Layer
 Specifies data representations so that both sides can
determine how to read data
 e.g. How many bytes to use for floating point values
(including compressed as well as uncompressed
values, encryption)
 e.g. What is the order of the bytes?
 Uses an ISO-defined standard for these
representations: Abstract Syntax Notation 1 (ASN.1)

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 The OSI Reference Model

Application Layer
 Defines what data is stored in the message
(specific to each application)
 e.g. An E-Mail application would store such
things as recipient, subject, and body text into
an E-Mail application-level message
 e.g. A web server would put header
information (information about the server & the
document) as well as the document itself into
its application-level messages
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The TCP/IP Service Model
 Researchers developing the TCP/IP protocol
suite also developed a layered reference
model
 The TCP/IP reference model consists of 5
layers
 3 software layers
 1 software & hardware layer
 1 hardware layer

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The TCP/IP Service Model
 The 5 layers:

1. Application
2. Transport
3. Internet
4. Network Interface
5. Hardware

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 The TCP/IP Service Model

Application Layer
 Defines what data is stored in the message (specific
to each application)
 e.g. An E-Mail application would store such things as
recipient, subject, and body text into an E-Mail
application-level message
 e.g. A web server would put header information
(information about the server & the document) as well
as the document itself into its application-level
messages
 Essentially, this layer is identical to the application
layer in the OSI reference model
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 The TCP/IP Service Model

Transport Layer
 Handles end-to-end communication
 Divides the data into manageable chunks of
information (packets)
 Provides reliable communication
 Ensures that all packets are received

 Provides error-free communication

 Uses a checksum to verify data integrity

 Implemented by the TCP protocol

 Transport control protocol
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 The TCP/IP Service Model

Internet Layer
 Handles communication between machines
 The path of a message is determined (routing)
 The destination of a message is determined
(addressing)
 Implemented by the IP protocol
 Internet protocol

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 The TCP/IP Service Model

Network Interface Layer

 Handles low level interaction with hardware
 Issues commands to the hardware to transmit a
number of bits (1 or 0)
 Deals with hardware-specific concerns

 Implemented by the device drivers for the hardware

installed into the operating system
this layer is identical to the data
 Essentially,
link layer in the OSI model

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 The TCP/IP Service Model

Hardware Layer
 Actually transmits signals onto the network
 Deals with issues such as:
 How to transmit signals (e.g. electrify the wire)
 How to detect problems (e.g. collisions)
 Represents the actual network hardware
 Essentially this layer is identical to the physical layer
in the OSI model

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TCP/IP Service Model: Overview
 Major differences between OSI and TCP/IP:
 TCP/IP has no presentation layer
 The applications must agree on a data format (how

many bytes for a floating point, etc)

 Thus, presentation/encoding is handled by the

application layer
 TCP/IP has no session layer
 Not significant: It does little in modern networks

 In TCP/IP a session is typically managed by the

application layer

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