Unit : 1

BASIC NETWORK ARCHITECTURE

1.1 Network Goals

1.2 Network Types
1.3 Network topologies
1.4 Switching Techniques
1.5 Layered Architecture
OSI reference Model
TCP/IP model
DATA COMMUNICATION AND NETWORKING :
Data communication refers to the transmission of digital data between two or more nodes or
computers connected in a network to exchange data. The physical connection in a network can
be established using the wired media or wireless media. Data communication deals with the
transmission of signals in a reliable and efficient manner. Networking deals with the
architecture of communication networks used to interconnect the communication channels. The
data which is transmitted in the network can be digital bits, voice ,images or video
communications. Data communication is referred to as Local if the communicating devices are
located in the same geographical area. It is said to Remote if the communicating devices are
apart.

NETWORK GOALS:

 Resource Sharing-Availability of hardware and software resources to all the computers

in a network.
 Reliability-Having alternate sources of supply within a network
 Scalability -Ability to increase the system performance when the workload grows.
 Enable communication between network applications on different end-points

– End-points? computers, cell phones….

– Application? Web, Peer to Peer, Streaming video, IM

– Communication? transfer bits or information across a “network”

 Network must understand application needs/demands

– What data rate? Number of bits transferred from source to destination at a given time

– Traffic pattern? bursty or constant bit rate

– Traffic target? multipoint or single destination, mobile or fixed

NETWORK TERMINOLOGY:

Let us look into the components which are necessary for the data communication in a network.

 MESSAGE: The data or the information to be transmitted in the network. It can be bits,
digital or analog signals, video or audio file.
 SENDER: It is the computer or the source or the device that generates the message and
sends the message in the network.
 RECIEVER: It is the computer or destination or the device that receives the message
sent by the sender. The communication distance between the sender and the receiver
decides the types of network which will be discussed in the following section.
 MEDIUM: The communication channel or the physical path used to transmit the
message from the sender to the receiver is termed as a Medium. The communication
channels can either be wired medium like optical fiber cable, coaxial cable or wireless
medium like LASER, satellite communication.
 PROTOCOL: It is the set of rules that governs and maintain the communication between
the devices. The sender and the receiver follows the same protocols to communicate
between themselves.
 ROUTER: It is an electronic device that connects together two or more networks and
directs the data between them. A router is an internetworking device that forwards
packet between networks by processing information found in the datagram or packets.
 WORKSTATIONS/NODES: The individual computers connected to a network that
share data and information are called workstation or terminals or nodes.
 SERVER: The computer in the networking environment that controls the functioning of
entire network is called as server
 MODEM: It stands for Modulator Demodulator .A modem is an electronic device which
allows the data to be transmitted from sender to the receiver through a standard
telephone wires. it converts the digital signal from the computers to analog signal a,d
vice versa.
 NETWORK INTERFACE CARD(NIC) : An NIC is a hardware component which
allows the computers to physically access a network medium. It uses a low level
addressing system called MAC address. Each NIC will have an unique MAC address
which is of 16 bits.
 REPEATERS: A repeater is an electronic device that receives a signal, regenerates it
and retransmits ,so that the signal can travel longer distance without degeneration.

 BRIDGES: A network bridge connects multiple network segments. It broadcasts to all

ports of the network. It identifies which MAC addresses are reachable through specific
ports.
 SWITCHES: It is a device that forwards and filters the datagram (data block) between
ports based on the MAC addresses in the data packets.
NETWORK TYPES:

A communication network can be classified on the basis of different criteria, such as

 Geographical Location
 Computational Models
 Network Relationship

Let us travel into each criteria ,to learn about the types of network.

NETWORK TYPES ON THE BASIS OF GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION:

Generally, networks are distinguished based on their geographical span. A network can be as
small as distance between your mobile phone and its Bluetooth headphone and as large as the
internet itself, covering the whole geographical world. It is divided into 3 major categories.
They are

 Local Area Network

 Wide Area Network
 Metropolitan Area Network

LOCAL AREA NETWORK:

A computer network which spans inside a building and controlled under single administrative
system is generally termed as Local Area Network (LAN). Usually, LAN covers an
organization, offices, schools, colleges or universities. Number of systems connected in LAN
may vary from 2 to as millions.

LAN provides a useful way of sharing the resources like printers, file servers, scanners, and
internet between the end users.
LANs are composed of inexpensive networking and routing equipment. It may contains local
servers serving file storage and other locally shared applications. It mostly operates on private
IP addresses and does not involve heavy routing. LAN works under its own local domain and
controlled centrally.LAN uses either Ethernet or Token-ring technology. Ethernet is most
widely employed LAN technology and uses Star topology, while Token-ring is rarely
seen.LAN can be a wired network, wireless LAN , or in both forms at once.

METROPOLITAN AREA NETWORK

The Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) generally expands throughout a city such as cable TV
network. It can be in the form of Ethernet, Token-ring, ATM, or Fiber Distributed Data
Interface (FDDI).Metro Ethernet is a service which is provided by Internet Service
Providers(ISPs). This service enables its users to expand their Local Area Networks. For
example, MAN can help an organization to connect its corporate office to its branch offices in
a city.

Backbone of MAN is high-capacity and high-speed fiber optics. MAN works in between Local
Area Network and Wide Area Network. MAN provides uplink for LANs to WANs or internet.

WIDE AREA NETWORK

The Wide Area Network (WAN) covers a wide area which may span across provinces and
even a whole country. Generally, telecommunication networks are Wide Area Network. These
networks provide connectivity to MANs and LANs. Since they are equipped with very high
speed backbone, WANs use very expensive network equipment.
WAN may use advanced technologies such as Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Frame
Relay, and Synchronous Optical Network (SONET). WAN may be managed by multiple
administration.

INTERNETWORK
A network of networks is called an internetwork, or simply the internet. It is the largest
network in existence on this planet. The internet hugely connects all WANs and it can have
connection to LANs and Home networks. Internet uses Transmission Control Protocol
(TCP/IP) suite and uses Internet Protocol(IP) as its addressing protocol. Internet is widely
implemented using IPv4. Because of shortage of address spaces, it is gradually migrating from
IPv4 to IPv6.

Internet enables its users to share and access enormous amount of information worldwide. It
uses WWW, FTP, email services, audio and video streaming etc. At huge level, internet works
on Client-Server model.

Internet uses very high speed backbone of fiber optics. To inter-connect various continents,
fibers are laid under sea known to us as submarine communication cable.

Internet is widely deployed on World Wide Web services using HTML linked pages and is
accessible by client software known as Web Browsers. When a user requests a page using
some web browser located on some Web Server anywhere in the world, the Web Server
responds with the proper HTML page. The communication delay is very low.
Internet is serving many proposes and is involved in many aspects of life. Some of them are:

 Web sites
 E-mail
 Instant Messaging
 Blogging
 Social Media
 Marketing
 Networking
 Resource Sharing
 Audio and Video Streaming

NETWORK TYPE BASED ON RELATIONSHIP:

Computer networks can be classified according to the functional relationship which exists
between the elements of the network .There are 2 types of network architecture. They are

 peer to peer networks

 Client /server networks

PEER TO PEER NETWORKS:

Peer to Peer network, referred as P2P , is a type of network in which each workstation has
equivalent capabilities and responsibilities. This differs from client/server architectures, in
which some computers are dedicated to serving the others. Peer-to-peer networks are generally
simpler, but they usually do not offer the same performance under heavy loads.P2P is suitable
for simple LAN networks.
CLIENT/SERVER NETWORK:

A client-server network is a central computer, also known as a server, which hosts data and
other forms of resources. Clients such as laptops and desktop computers contact the server and
request to use data or share its other resources with it. A client-server network is designed for
end-users called clients to access resources (such as files, songs, video collections or some other
service) from a central computer called a server. A client computer request services to the
server. The server accepts the request ,process it and respond back to the clients. Both client and
server can reside in the same system. A server host runs one or more server programs which
share their resources with clients. A client does not share any of its resources, but requests a
server's content or service function. Clients therefore initiate communication sessions with
servers which await incoming requests.
A server is responsible for managing the resources in the network ,controlling the traffic
,providing the access rights to the clients.

NETWORK TYPES BASED ON COMPUTATIONAL MODELS:

Network can be classified on the basis of the computational capability. There are 3 defined
model. They are

 Centralized Computing
 Distributed Computing
 Collaborative computing

CENTRALIZED COMPUTING:
Centralized computing is computing done at a central location (SERVER), using terminals that
are attached to a central computer. The computer itself may control all the peripherals directly
(if they are physically connected to the central computer), or they may be attached via a
terminal server. It offers greater security over decentralized systems ,because all of
the processing is controlled in a central location. In addition, if one terminal breaks down, the
user can simply go to another terminal and log in again, and all of their files will still be
accessible. Depending on the system, they may even be able to resume their session from the
point they were at before, as if nothing had happened.
One major disadvantage is that, the central computer performs the computing functions and
controls the remote terminals. This type of system relies totally on the central computer. If the
central computer crash, the entire system will "go down" and the entire network will be
unavailable.
DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING:

Distributed computing also refers to the use of distributed systems to solve computational
problems. In distributed computing, a problem is divided into many tasks, each of which is
solved by one or more computers, which communicate with each other by message passing.
Distributed systems are groups of networked computers, which have the same goal for their
work. The terms "concurrent computing", "parallel computing", and "distributed computing"
have a lot of overlap, and no clear distinction exists between them.

COLLABORATIVE COMPUTING:
Collaborative computing ,otherwise called Hybrid Computing is a combination of centralized
and distributed computing.

The nodes are connected to each other, but they depend on the server for processing a specific
request.

NETWORK TOPOLOGY:

Network topology is the way in which various elements of the network like nodes , links and
computers connected together. This topology of a network is the geometrical representation of
the relationship of all the links connecting the devices or nodes. A link can be defined as the
physical communication that transfers the data from one device to another device.
There are six types of topology that are in practice today. They are

 BUS
 RING
 STAR
 MESH
 TREE
 HYBRID

BUS:

Bus topology also referred to as Line topology is a network type in where every computer and
network device is connected to a single cable Line called BUS with the help of interface
connectors.
This central cable is the backbone of the network Every workstation communicates with the
other device through this Bus. A signal from the source is broadcasted and it travels to all
workstations connected to bus cable. Although the message is broadcasted but only the intended
recipient, whose MAC address or IP address matches, accepts it. If the MAC /IP address of
machine doesn’t match with the intended address, machine discards the signal.
A terminator is added at ends of the central cable, to prevent bouncing of signals.

Advantages:
1. It is easy to set-up and expand the bus network.
2. Requires less cable length compared to other network.
3. Bus topology costs very less since only main cable line is required.
4. Linear Bus network is mostly used in small networks.

Disadvantages:
1. If a main cable is damaged then network will fail or be split into two networks.
2. Difficult to identify the problem if the entire network shuts down ,since single
communication channel is shared by the network.
3. It is slow when more devices are added into the network. More network traffic slows down
the bus speed. Since only one device transmits at a time, all the other devices has to wait for
the transmission time. This reduces the efficiency of the network.

RING TOPOLOGY:
It is called ring topology because it forms a ring as each computer is connected to another
computer, with the last one connected to the first. Exactly two neighbors for each device.
Various nodes are connected in a physical ring or circle ,in which data flows in a circle from
one station to another station. Each node has a dedicated point to point line connection with
only two devices on either side.
There are 2 kinds of ring topology:
1. Single Ring
2. Dual Ring

SINGLE RING:
A single cable is shared by all the devices and data travels only in one direction. Each device
waits for its turn and transmit the data. The next device can transmit the data only after the first
data reached its destination. At a given time only one data is transmitted in this topology.

DUAL RING:
Data transmission is allowed in both the directions. It uses two rings to send the data in
different direction, which enables more data transfer in the network.
TOKEN PASSING IN RING TOPOLOGY:
A token is a special bit pattern which travels around the ring topology . Each node in the ring
receives the token in sequence and passes it to the next computer which continues until it
reaches the origin. If a node wants to send a message ,it should catch the token ,attaches a
message to it and transmits in the network. The token circulates until a node is ready to send
and captures the token.

ADVANTAGES:
 It is easier to identify and isolate the fault in the network.
 Data transfer is fast and without a bottle neck. It is relatively simple.
 Adding additional nodes has very little impact on bandwidth.
 It prevents network collisions .

DISADVANTAGES:
 Each packet of data must pass through all the computers between source and
destination.
 If a workstation or port goes down, the entire network gets affected.
 Network is highly dependent on the wire which connects different components.
 Network cards are expensive as compared to Ethernet cards and hubs.

STAR TOPOLOGY:
This topology consists of a central node, to which all other nodes are connected. This central
node provides a common connection point for all nodes through a hub. In star topology, every
node (computer workstation or any other peripheral) is connected to a central node called a hub
or switch.

The computers are connected only through the central controller called Hub. There is no direct
link between the nodes in the network. A logical connection between two nodes is established
by the central hub from the source node to the destination node. The source node sends the data
to the controller and the controller sends the data to the reciever. This is accomplished by
routing function.

ADVANTAGES:
 Performance of the network is dependent on the capacity of central hub.
 Easy to connect new nodes or devices. In star topology new nodes can be added easily
without affecting rest of the network. Similarly components can also be removed easily.
 Monitoring the network is simple ,since it is a Centralized management.
 Failure of one node or link doesn’t affect the rest of network. At the same time its easy
to detect the failure and troubleshoot it.

DISADVANTAGES:
 The entire network collapses if the central hub fails.
 The use of hub ,router or switches increases the establishment cost of network.

MESH TOPOLOGY:
In a mesh network topology, each of the network node, computer and other devices, are
interconnected with one another. Every node not only sends its own signals but also relays data
from other nodes. In fact a true mesh topology is the one where every node is connected to
every other node in the network. Each node has a point to point link to every other node. Each
node has multiple paths between every other node of the network.

ADVANTAGES:
 Data can be transmitted from different devices simultaneously. This topology can
withstand high traffic.
 Even if one of the components fails there is always an alternative present. So data
transfer doesn’t get affected.
 Expansion and modification in topology can be done without disrupting other nodes.
 There is no traffic congestion problem, since multiple paths exits between the source
and destination.

DISADVANTAGES:
 Overall cost of this network is way too high as compared to other network topologies.
 Set-up and maintenance of this topology is very difficult. Even administration of the
network is tough.

TREE TOPOLOGY:
A tree network is a combination of two or more star networks connected together. Each star
network is a local area network (LAN) in which there is a central computer or server to
which all the workstation nodes are directly linked. The central computers of the star
networks are connected to a main cable called the bus. Thus a tree network is a bus
network of star network.
 The central hub in the tree is an active hub which contains repeater. The repeater
regenerates the bit pattern before transmitting it to the next node. In a tree, data can flow
from top to bottom (hub to the nodes).

ADVANTAGES:
 It is an extension of Star and bus Topologies, so in networks where these topologies
can't be implemented individually for reasons related to scalability, tree topology is the
best alternative.
 Expansion of Network is possible and easy.
 The whole network can be divided into segments (star networks), which can be easily
managed and maintained.
 Error detection and correction is easy.
 Each segment is provided with dedicated point-to-point wiring to the central hub.
 If one segment is damaged, other segments are not affected.

DISADVANTAGES:
 Because of its basic structure, tree topology, relies heavily on the main bus cable, if it
breaks whole network is crippled.
 As more and more nodes and segments are added, the maintenance becomes difficult.

HYBRID TOPOLOGY:
A hybrid topology is a topology that combines two or more different physical topologies in a
single network. When different topologies are connected to one another, they do not display
characteristics of any one specific topology. This is when it becomes a hybrid topology. It is
chosen, when there are more than two basic working topologies in place already and these have
to be connected to one another. When there is a star topology connected to another star
topology, it still remains a star topology. However, when a star topology and bus topology are
connected to one another, it gives rise to the creation of a hybrid topology.

ADVANTAGES:

 Reliable as Error detecting and trouble shooting is easy.

 Effective as it is easy to increase the size of network by adding new components,
without disturbing existing architecture.
 Scalable as size can be increased easily.
 Flexible as many topologies are connected together.

DISADVANTAGES:

 Complexity in the design of network.

 Implementation of the network is higher.

SWITCHING TECHNIQUES:

A communication network may consist of a large number of nodes ,devices and switches. Data
transfer is possible among these components only if they are connected to each other in the
network. Point to Point connection between the components provides all possible links between
the source and the destination. But if all the devices are interconnected in the network
throughout the entire data transfer, it increases the complexity and cost of the network. To
overcome this a technique called Switching is used. Switching is process to forward packets
coming in from one port to a port leading towards the destination. When data comes on a port it
is called ingress, and when data leaves a port or goes out it is called egress.

A switching network has many interlinked nodes called switches which establishes temporary
connections between the source and the destination during the data transmission.

In the above shown fig XX , the nodes labeled A - L communicates to each other through the
switches labeled I - VII.

At broad level, switching can be divided into two major categories:

 Connection Oriented: An circuit or an connection is established along the path

between the end points before the data if forwarded from source to destination. The
connection will be turned off once the data transmission is completed. This is also
called Dedicated path establishment.

 Connectionless: No dedicated path is established before the data transmission.The data

is forwarded on behalf of forwarding tables. No previous handshaking is required and
acknowledgements are optional.

TYPES OF SWITCHING TECHNIQUE:

There are basically three types of switching methods are made available. Out of three
methods, circuit switching and packet switching are commonly used but the message switching
has been opposed out in the general communication procedure but is still used in the networking
application.
1) Circuit Switching
2) Packet Switching
3) Message Switching

1.CIRCUIT SWITCHING :

When two nodes communicate with each other over a dedicated communication path, it
is called circuit switching. It is the simplest method of data communication in which a dedicated
physical connection or a path is established between the sender and the receiver. There is a need
of pre-specified route from which data will travels and no other data is permitted .In circuit
switching, to transfer the data, circuit must be established so that the data transfer can take
place.

In circuit switching the path selection or routing decision is made when the path is set up
across the network. The data is transmitted continuously between the sender and the receiver
only after the link is established. This dedicated path will be maintained only for the duration of
data transfer. The path is disconnected once the data transmission is completed.

The telephone system uses Circuit Switching technique . It establishes a path that connects the
caller's telephone to the receiver's telephone by making a physical connection. The fig XXX
shows a circuit switched network in which the nodes A is connected to E through 3 switches
I,III and IV. These switches provides a dedicated lines between the sender and the receiver.
Here I,II,IV,V are connected to the nodes, but III is only the routing node. Circuit Switching is
established in Physical Layer.

The communication in circuit switching has three phases.

1. Establish a circuit or setup phase

2. Transfer the data
3. Disconnect the circuit

Let us discuss the stages now.

1.SETUP PHASE:

In this phase, a dedicated path is established between the sender and the receiver before the
actual data transfer takes place. In the fig XXX ,a dedicated path is set up between node A and
E ,like A to I,I to III, III to IV ,IV to E prior to the data transmission .

2.TRANSFER THE DATA:

Once the dedicated path is established the actual data transmission takes place. The data flows
continuously from the source to the destination. The intermediate connections between the
sender and the receiver Duplex, means the communication takes place in both the direction.

3.DISCONNECT THE CIRCUIT:

This phase initiates the disconnection of the network when any one of the scenario occurs.

 when the data transmission is successfully completed.

 when any one of the communicating nodes needs to disconnect by sending a signal to
each switch to release the resources.

ADVANTAGES :

 The communication channel (once established) is dedicated.

 Dedicated continuous path is best suitable for long continuous data transfer.

DISADVANTAGES:

 Possible long wait to establish a connection, (10 seconds, more on long- distance or
international calls.) during which no data can be transmitted.
  More expensive than any other switching techniques,because a dedicated path is
required for each connection.
 Inefficient use of the communication channel, because the channel is not used when the
connected systems are not using it.

2.PACKET SWITCHING TECHNIQUE:

Packet switching can be seen as a solution that tries to combine the advantages of message and
circuit switching and to minimize the disadvantages of both.

First lets deal with what is a packet?

A packet is small chunks of the data or message which is to be transmitted. In packet switching
technique the message is divided into packets which may of fixed or variable sizes. Each packet
includes a Header that contains information about the source address , destination address and
some control information. The packets travels in the network node-node. At each node the data
is first stored and the destination address is checked according to the header information. It is
then forwarded to the next node if the destination has not yet reached. This technique is called
STORE AND FORWARD. Each packets follow different route to reach the destination. The
digital computer data communication uses Packet switching network communication.

There are two methods of packet switching:

1. Datagram Packet Switching

2. Virtual Circuit Packet Switching

PACKET SWITCHING - DATAGRAM

Datagram packet switching is similar to message switching , in that each packet is a self-
contained unit with complete addressing information attached. Even if a packet is a part of
multi-packet transmission the network treats it as an individual unit called DATAGRAM. This
fact allows packets to travel in all possible paths through the network to reach the destination .

The packets, each with the same destination address, do not follow the same route, and they
may arrive out of sequence at the exit point node (or the destination). Reordering is done at the
destination point based on the sequence number of the packets. It is possible for a packet to get
destroyed or lost if one of the nodes on its way is crashed momentarily. Thus all its queued
packets may be lost.

Datagram packet switching networks are referred to as Connectionless connection ,since there
is no prior connection is established before the packets are transmitted. Datagram network is
established in the Network Layer.

PACKET SWITCHING - VIRTUAL CIRCUIT

In the virtual circuit approach, a preplanned route is established before any data packets are
sent. A logical connection is established when

 A sender sends a "call request packet" to the receiver and

 The receiver sends back an acknowledge packet "call accepted packet" to the sender if
the receiver agrees for the data communication.

In Virtual circuit approach the connection is set up ,data is transferred and after the
transmission, the connection is tear down. Resources are allocated during the set up phase as in
circuit switching networks or on-Demand as in datagram network. All the packets of a message
follow the same path established during the connection. A virtual circuit network is
implemented in the Data Link Layer. Fig XXX shows Phases in Virtual Circuit Packet
switching.

ADVANTAGES :

1.No dedicated network is needed.

2.A switching node can route the packets only when required.
3.Data transfer is done on packet basis. So intermediated switches need not wait for the entire
message. This increases the transmission speed.
4.Many devices communicates through the same network channel which increases the
bandwidth of the network.

DISADVANTAGES:
1. Packets may be lost on their route, so sequence numbers are required to identify missing
packets.
2. Switching nodes requires more processing power as the packet switching protocols are more
complex.
3. Switching nodes for packet switching require large amount of RAM to handle large
quantities of packets.
4. A significant data transmission delay occurs - Use of store and forward method causes a
significant data transmission.

3.MESSAGE SWITCHING TECHNIQUE:

A message is a logical unit of the data to be transferred ,which is of invariable length. In

message switching, the whole message is treated as a data unit and is transmitted as an entire
unit.

In message switching if a node wants to send a message ,it attaches the destination address to
the message. It does not have a dedicated path between the sender and the receiver. Messages
are transmitted from source to destination through intermediate nodes. The intermediate nodes,
first receives the whole message and buffers it until there are resources available to transfer it
to the next hop. If the next hop is not having enough resource to accommodate large size
message, the message is stored and the switch waits.

The intermediate nodes stores the complete message ,checks for errors and if it is not the
destination ,transmits the message to the next node based on the available free channel. The
message is first stored in each intermediate node and forwarded to the next node, till the
destination node is reached. This switching method is termed as STORE and FORWARD
network.
In Fig XXX the data communication between node A and node B can take a dynamic path
,since the path is established as the data travels. when the data reaches its destination ,the path
at which the data travelled is released and is available for the next data transfer. The
transmission from A to B can take any one of the path like A-1-3-4-B or A-1-2-4-B or A-1-2-
3-4-B depending on the availability of the free path at that particular moment.

Telegraph communication system uses message switching communication.

ADVANTAGES:

1.No physical connection is required between the source and destination.

2.Reduces the traffic congestion in the network since the message is stored until the
communication channel becomes available.
3.There is no limit in the size of the message which is transmitted in the network.
4.Efficient usage of the communication channels, since there is no preplanned routing
technique is followed.

DISADVANTAGES:
1. Store and Forward technique causes delay in the transmission of the data from sender to the
receiver.
2. Due to the unlimited message size, the availability of the buffer to store the message
becomes practically difficult all the time.

LAYERED ARCHITECTURE - NETWORK REFERENCE MODEL:

OSI REFERENCE MODEL:

The Open Systems Interconnection model (OSI Model) is a conceptual model that
characterizes and standardizes the communication functions of a telecommunication or
computing system without regard of their underlying internal structure and technology. The
Open System Interconnection (OSI) model is the basics for all communications that takes place
between computers and other networking devices. This model is based on International
Standard Organization (ISO) governance, which defines the global standard for the
communication network. OSI model allows any two different systems to communicate
irrespective of their architecture.

The OSI model doesn't do any functions in the networking process, It is a conceptual framework
to understand complex interactions .The OSI model takes the task of internetworking and
divides that up into what is referred to as a vertical stack that consists of the following seven
layers.

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

Fig XXX shows the communication between the layers in OSI model. Each layer calls upon the
services of the layer just below it. Each layer in one network communicates with same layer in
the other network. This communication is governed by protocols which can be either vertical or
horizontal relationship. This type of relationship is known as Peer to Peer communication.

During communication the Application Layer of the device A communicates with the
Application Layer of device B by passing data through other layers.
Layers in OSI Model:

Each layer in OSI model performs a specific function for processing the data before it is passed
to the layer either above or below. The OSI layer model is shown in Fig XX.

Layer 1 : PHYSICAL LAYER

The physical layer is the bottom layer in the seven layer OSI (open system interconnection)
reference model. In the OSI communications model, the physical layer supports the electrical or
mechanical interface to the physical medium. This layer conveys the raw bit stream through the
network at the electrical, optical or radio level. It provides the hardware means of sending and
receiving data on a carrier network. It is not concerned with MAC addresses, IP addresses
and packets, which are dealt with by layers higher in the hierarchy. It is responsible for the
actual physical connection between the devices. (see Fig XXX)

The physical layer performs services requested by the data link layer, which is the layer directly
above it. Its major functions and services are:
  The establishment and termination of connections to a communications medium
(e.g., twisted pair cable or optical fiber cable),
 Conversion between the representation of digital data in computers (or other
network devices) and the corresponding signals transmitted over the
communications medium .
 Participation in the efficient sharing among multiple devices of the
communications medium through the use of flow control and collision
resolution (i.e., recovery from simultaneous transmission by two or more
devices).
 Physical layer defines the transmission rate called Bit rate control. i.e number of
bits sent in one second.
 This layer defines the way in which the different devices or nodes are arranged in
a network. i.e bus ,star etc.

Devices that operate at the physical layer include repeaters, hubs, network interface cards
(NICs), cables and connectors. Repeaters are used to regenerate electrical signals that
have attenuated (i.e., weakened) as a result of distance. A hub is a common connection point for
twisted pair or optical fiber connecting devices in a LAN.

LAYER 2: DATA LINK LAYER

Data Link Layer is the second layer of OSI model. It is responsible for reliable node-node
delivery of data. It receives the data from the network layer and creates the Frames ,add
physical address to these frames and pass them to physical layer which is shown in Fig XXX.

The three main functions of the Data Link layer are to deal with transmission errors, regulate
the flow of data, and provide a well-defined interface to the Network layer. When it transfers
the data to the Network layer, it uses timers and sequence numbers to check for errors to ensure
that data is successfully received. The Data Link layer has different services and protocols to
complete its tasks. The protocols are the rules required to successfully pass data successfully to
the next layer.
Data Link Layer consists of two sub-layers as shown in Fig XXX.

1.Logical Link Control (LLC) sublayer

2.Medium Access Control (MAC) sublayer

LLC Sublayer provides interface between the media access methods and network layer
protocols such as Internet protocol which is a part of TCP/IP protocol suite. This sublayer
determines whether the communication is going to be connectionless or connection-oriented at
the data link layer.

MAC sublayer is responsible for connection to physical media. The MAC layer is responsible
for moving data packets to and from one Network Interface Card (NIC) to another across a
shared channel. These packets contains all the addressing information necessary to transmit
from source to destination. MAC address is a 12 digit hexadecimal number which is unique to
every computer. MAC address of a device is located in NIC.

The functions of Data Link Layer:

Data link layer does many tasks on behalf of upper layer. These are:

 Framing

Data-link layer takes packets from Network Layer and encapsulates them into Frames.
Then, it sends each frame bit-by-bit on the hardware. At receiver end, data link layer
picks up signals from hardware and assembles them into frames.

 Addressing

Data-link layer provides hardware addressing mechanism. Hardware address is

assumed to be unique on the link. It is encoded into hardware at the time of
manufacturing.

 Synchronization
 When data frames are sent on the link, both machines must be synchronized in order to
transfer to take place.

 Error Control

Sometimes signals may have encountered problem in transition and the bits are flipped.
These errors are detected and attempted to recover actual data bits. It also provides
error reporting mechanism to the sender.

 Flow Control

Stations on same link may have different speed or capacity. Data-link layer ensures
flow control that enables both machine to exchange data on same speed.

 Multi-Access Control

When host on the shared link tries to transfer the data, it has a high probability of
collision. Data-link layer provides mechanism such as CSMA/CD to equip capability of
accessing a shared media among multiple Systems.

LAYER 3: NETWORK LAYER

Network Layer is the third layer if OSI model. Network layer takes the responsibility for routing
packets from source to destination within or outside a subnet. Two different subnet may have
different addressing schemes or non-compatible addressing types. Same with protocols, two
different subnet may be operating on different protocols which are not compatible with each
other. Network layer has the responsibility to route the packets from source to destination,
mapping different addressing schemes and protocols. Data link layer moves the frames from
one node to another node on the same network, but the network layer carries the packet from the
source to destination in different subnets also .

The relationship of network layer to the data link layer and the transport layer is shown in Fig
XXX.
The functions of Network Layer are

 Routing is the decision taken by the network layer when there are several possible routes
available to send the data from the source to destination. These networks are
interconnected through a device called Routers or Gateways that route the packet to their
final destination. Network layer concentrate on providing route to the frames to travel.
 Addressing : Data link layer provides physical addressing ,but network layer resolves
another addressing called Logical addressing that deals with transfer of data across the
network. When the data is transferred outside the network , this layer adds the logical
address along with the packets and transmitted across the network. These logical address
are termed as IP address.

LAYER 4: TRANSPORT LAYER :

Transport layer is the fourth layer of OSI model. Transport layer offers peer-to-peer and end-to-
end connection between two processes on remote hosts. Transport layer takes data from upper
layer (i.e. Application layer) and then breaks it into smaller size segments called Packets,
numbers each byte, and hands over to lower layer (Network Layer) for delivery. It is
responsible for delivery of the entire information from source to destination. It makes sure that
all the packets of a particular message has been delivered properly from source to destination in
the order that has been sent.

The transport layer controls the reliability of communications through flow control,
segmentation, and error control. Transport layer communicates with upper layers and takes
services from the network layer. It receives the message from the upper layer and divides it into
packets at source and reassembles these packets into message at the destination . Fig XXX
shows the Transport layer
Transport layer provides two types of services between the source and the destination. They

1.Connection oriented connection

2.Connectionless connection

Connection Oriented connection :

TCP is the protocol used for this service. The receiving node sends an acknowledgement to the
sender ,after the packet is received properly. This mode of transmission is reliable .Data can be
sent in bi-directional mode.

Connectionless connection:

User Datagram Packet (UDP) is the protocol ,which provides this service in transport layer. The
receiver does not acknowledge the receipt of the packet . The sender assumes that the packets
are sent properly and has reached the receiver. This mode of transmission is faster but not
reliable.

Table RRRR shows the difference between the connection oriented and connectionless
connection services.
ACRONYM Transmission Control User Datagram Protocol or
Protocol (TCP) Universal Datagram Protocol
(UDP)
CONNECTION connection-oriented protocol. connectionless protocol.
FUNCTION As a message makes its way UDP is also a protocol used in
across the internet from one message transport or transfer. This
computer to another. This is is not connection based which
connection based. means that one program can send a
load of packets to another and that
would be the end of the
relationship.
USAGE TCP is suited for applications UDP is suitable for applications
that require high reliability, that need fast, efficient
and transmission time is transmission, such as games.
relatively less critical. UDP's stateless nature is also
useful for servers that answer
small queries from huge numbers
of clients.
USE BY OTHER HTTP, HTTPs, FTP, SMTP, DNS, DHCP, TFTP, SNMP, RIP,
PROTOCOLS
Telnet VOIP.
ORDERING OF DATA TCP rearranges data packets UDP has no inherent order as all
PACKETS
in the order specified. packets are independent of each
other. If ordering is required, it has
to be managed by the application
layer.
SPEED The speed for TCP is slower UDP is faster because there is no
than UDP. error-checking for packets.
RELIABILITY There is absolute guarantee There is no guarantee that the
that the data transferred messages or packets sent would
remains intact and arrives in reach at all.
the same order in which it was
sent.
HEADER SIZE TCP header size is 20 bytes UDP Header size is 8 bytes.
COMMON HEADER Source port, Destination port, Source port, Destination port,
FILES
Check Sum Check Sum
STREAMING OF DATA Data is read as a byte stream, Packets are sent individually and
no distinguishing indications are checked for integrity only if
are transmitted to signal they arrive. Packets have definite
message (segment) boundaries which are honored
boundaries. upon receipt, meaning a read
operation at the receiver socket
will yield an entire message as it
was originally sent.
WEIGHT TCP is heavy-weight. TCP UDP is lightweight. There is no
requires three packets to set ordering of messages, no tracking
up a socket connection, before connections, etc. It is a small
any user data can be sent. transport layer designed on top of
TCP handles reliability and IP.
congestion control.
DATA FLOW CONTROL TCP does Flow Control. TCP UDP does not have an option for
requires three packets to set flow control
up a socket connection, before
any user data can be sent.
TCP handles reliability and
congestion control.
ERROR CHECKING TCP does error checking UDP does error checking, but no
recovery options.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT No Acknowledgment
Acknowledgement segments
HANDSHAKE SYN, SYN-ACK, ACK No handshake (connectionless
protocol)
CHECKSUM Checksum to detect errors

FUNCTIONS OF TRANSPORT LAYER:

1. Divides the message into small segments called packets from the sender and reassembles
them into a message at the receiver side.
2.Establishing the connection between the sender and receiver ,by providing connection
oriented or connectionless connections using TCP or UDP protocols.

3.Provides the point-point delivery services which includes the address of both sender and
receiver called Service Access Point(SAP) or Port Address.

4. Controls the flow of data between the source and the destination .Ensures to prevent the
source from sending data packets faster than the destination can handle. Controls the errors
during transmission and retransmits the data when an error has occurred.

SESSION LAYER:

In the OSI model, the session layer is the fifth layer, which controls the connections between
multiple computers. The session layer tracks the dialogs between computers, which are also
called sessions. This layer establishes, controls and ends the sessions between local and remote
applications. The session layer manages a session by initiating the opening and closing of
sessions between end-user application processes. This layer also controls single or multiple
connections for each end-user application, and directly communicates with both the presentation
and the transport layers. The services offered by the session layer are generally implemented in
application environments using remote procedure calls (RPCs).

The session layer allows session establishment between processes running on different stations.
It provides

1. Session establishment, maintenance and termination: allows two application processes on

different machines to establish, use and terminate a connection, called a session.

2. Session support: performs the functions that allow these processes to communicate over the
network, performing security, name recognition, logging, and so on. Fig XXX shows the
functions of Session Layer
FUNCTIONS OF SESSION LAYER:

1. Establishing ,maintaing and ending the session using SYN (synchronization) packet to the
destination to establish the connection. The receiver sends ACK (Acknowledgement) packet to
the sender once It receives the packet.

2. Controls the dialog between the sender and the receiver during the data transmission.

3. Maintaing the synchronization of the data flow. If a packet is lost during transmission.It
ensures that the packets are retransmitted in the order by using some check points.

LAYER 6: PRESENTATION LAYER

Presenation layer is the sixth layer in OSI model. The presentation layer is responsible for the
delivery and formatting of information to the application layer for further processing or display.
It relieves the application layer of concern regarding syntactical differences
in data representation within the end-user systems. Presentation layer takes care that the data is
sent in such a way that the receiver will understand the information (data) and will be able to
use the data. Languages (syntax) can be different of the two communicating systems. Under this
condition presentation layer plays a role translator.

An example of a presentation service would be the conversion of an EBCDIC-coded

text computer file to an ASCII-coded file. The presentation layer is the lowest layer at which
application programmers consider data structure and presentation, instead of simply sending
data in the form of datagrams or packets between hosts. Fig XXX shows the Presentation Layer
in OSI.

FUNCTIONS OF PRESENTATION LAYER:

1. Translation : Before being transmitted, information in the form of characters and numbers
should be changed to bit streams. The presentation layer is responsible for interoperability
between encoding methods as different computers use different encoding methods. It
translates data between the formats the network requires and the format the computer.
2. Encryption : It carries out encryption at the transmitter and decryption at the receiver.
3. Compression : It carries out data compression to reduce the bandwidth of the data to be
transmitted. The primary role of Data compression is to reduce the number of bits to be
0transmitted. It is important in transmitting multimedia such as audio, video, text etc.
LAYER 7 : APPLICATION LAYER

Application Layer is the topmost layer in OSI model. Manipulation of data (information) in
various ways is done in this layer which enables user or software to get access to the network.
Some services provided by this layer includes: E-Mail, transferring of files, distributing the
results to user, directory services, network resource etc. It allows the applications to
communicate with applications on other computers a though they were on same computer.

Several protocols are associated with application layer that provides different services to the
user. They are as follows

FTP File Transfer Protocol

DHCP Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
DNS Domain Name System
NFS Network File System
SMTP Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
POP3 Post Office Protocol-3
SNMP Simple Network Management Protocol
 HTTP Hyper Text Transfer Protocol
BGP Border Gateway Protocol
RIP Routing Information Protocol

FUNCTIONS OF APPLICATION LAYER:

1. Mail Services : This layer provides the basis for E-mail forwarding and storage.
2. Network Virtual Terminal : It allows a user to log on to a remote host. The application
creates software emulation of a terminal at the remote host. User’s computer talks to the
software terminal which in turn talks to the host and vice versa. Then the remote host
believes it is communicating with one of its own terminals and allows user to log on.
3. Directory Services : This layer provides access for global information about various
services.
4. File Transfer, Access and Management (FTAM) : It is a standard mechanism to
access files and manages it. Users can access files in a remote computer and manage it.
They can also retrieve files from a remote computer.

TCP/IP REFERENCE MODEL:

TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) is the basic communication language

or protocol of the Internet. It can also be used as a communications protocol in a private
network (either an intranet or an extranet). This model is the base for the present day internet.

Overview of TCP/IP Layer:

TCP/IP that is transmission control protocol and the internet protocol was developed by
Department of Defense Project Research Agency (ARPA, later DARPA) under the project of
network interconnection. Originally it was created to connect military networks together, later it
was used by government agencies and universities. It is robust to failures and flexible to diverse
networks. Most widely used protocol for interconnecting computers and it is the protocol of the
internet.

TCP/IP is a two-layer program. The higher layer, Transmission Control Protocol, manages the
assembling of a message or file into smaller packets that are transmitted over the Internet and
received by a TCP layer that reassembles the packets into the original message. The lower layer,
Internet Protocol, handles the address part of each packet so that it gets to the right destination.
Each gateway computer on the network checks this address to see where to forward the
message. Even though some packets from the same message are routed differently than others,
they'll be reassembled at the destination.

Layers in TCP/IP Reference Model:

The four layers of TCP/IP model are

1. Application Layer
2. Transport Layer
3. Internet Layer
4. Network Layer

LAYER 1 : NETWORK LAYER :

The lowest layer of the TCP/IP protocol hierarchy . It is also called as Network Access Layer
or Network Interface Layer . It defines how to use the network to transmit an IP datagram.
Unlike higher-level protocols, Network Access Layer protocols must know the details of the
underlying network , its packet structure and addressing to correctly format the data being
transmitted to comply with the network constraints.
The TCP/IP Network Access Layer can encompass the functions of all three lower layers
of the OSI reference Model (Physical, Data Link and Network layers).

Access protocol is a set of rules that defines how the hosts access the shared medium.
Functions performed at this level include encapsulation of IP datagrams into the frames
transmitted by the network, and mapping of IP addresses to the physical addresses used by the
network. One of TCP/IP's strengths is its universal addressing scheme. The IP address must be
converted into an address that is appropriate for the physical network over which the datagram
is transmitted.
LAYER 2: INTERNET LAYER:
Internet Layer provides services that are equivalent to the OSI Network layer. The primary
concern of the protocol at this layer is to manage the connections across networks as
information is passed from source to destination. The Internet Protocol (IP) is the primary
protocol at this layer of the TCP/IP model. It also specifies a format for a packet. It controls the
congestion and determines the routes for the packets.

LAYER 3 : TRANSPORT LAYER

The purpose of Transport layer is to permit devices on the source and destination hosts to carry
on a conversation. Transport layer defines the level of service and status of the connection used
when transporting data. There are two end to end protocols at Transport layer. They are TCP
(Transmission Control Protocol) for a reliable connection oriented service and UDP (User
Datagram Protocol) for unreliable connectionless services.

Any program running in the application layer has the ability to send a message using TCP or
UDP. The application can communicate with the TCP or the UDP service, whichever it
requires. Both the TCP and UDP communicate with the Internet Protocol in the internet layer.
In all cases communication is a two way process. The applications can read and write to the
transport layer. Error control and flow control are the two major functions of transport layer.

LAYER 4: APPLICATION LAYER

The application layer is concerned with providing network services to applications. There are
many application network processes and protocols that work at this layer, including Hyper Text
Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP) and File Transfer Protocol
(FTP).

At this layer sockets and port numbers are used to differentiate the path and sessions which
applications operate. Most application layer protocols, especially on the server side, have
specially allocated port numbers, e.g. HTTP = 80 and SMTP = 25, and FTP = 20 (Control), 21
(Data).

Fig XXX TCP/IP protocol suite.

Table XXX shows the protocols used in TCP/IP and in OSI model architecture