THE INSTITUTE OF FINANCE MANAGEMENT (IFM)

MWANZA CAMPUS
e-Business
ITU 08509
Lecture Six
Layers of OSI Model

OSI stands for Open Systems Interconnection. It has been developed by ISO –
‘International Organization of Standardization‘, in the year 1984. It is a 7 layer
architecture with each layer having specific functionality to perform. All these 7 layers work
collaboratively to transmit the data from one person to another across the globe.

1. Physical Layer (Layer 1):- The lowest layer of the OSI reference model is the physical
layer. It is responsible for the actual physical connection between the devices. The
physical layer contains information in the form of bits. It is responsible for transmitting
individual bits from one node to the next. When receiving data, this layer will get the

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 signal received and convert it into 0s and 1s and send them to the Data Link layer,
which will put the frame back together.

The functions of the physical layer are:

1. Bit synchronization: The physical layer provides the synchronization of the bits by
providing a clock. This clock controls both sender and receiver thus providing
synchronization at bit level.
2. Bit rate control: The Physical layer also defines the transmission rate i.e. the
number of bits sent per second.
3. Physical topologies: Physical layer specifies the way in which the different,
devices/nodes are arranged in a network i.e. bus, star or mesh topolgy.
4. Transmission mode: Physical layer also defines the way in which the data flows
between the two connected devices. The various transmission modes possible are:
Simplex, half-duplex and full-duplex.
Devices under physical layer: Hub, Repeater, Modem, Cables are Physical Layer devices.

Note: Network Layer, Data Link Layer and Physical Layer are also known as Lower Layers
or Hardware Layers

2. Data Link Layer (DLL) (Layer 2): The data link layer is responsible for the node to
node delivery of the message. The main function of this layer is to make sure data
transfer is error-free from one node to another, over the physical layer. When a packet
arrives in a network, it is the responsibility of DLL to transmit it to the Host using its
MAC address.

Data Link Layer is divided into two sub layers:

1. Logical Link Control (LLC)
2. Media Access Control (MAC)

The packet received from Network layer is further divided into frames depending on the
frame size of NIC (Network Interface Card). DLL also encapsulates Sender and Receiver’s
MAC address in the header.
The Receiver’s MAC address is obtained by placing an ARP(Address Resolution Protocol)
request onto the wire asking “Who has that IP address?” and the destination host will reply
with its MAC address.

The functions of the data Link layer are:

1. Framing: Framing is a function of the data link layer. It provides a way for a sender
to transmit a set of bits that are meaningful to the receiver. This can be
accomplished by attaching special bit patterns to the beginning and end of the
frame.
2. Physical addressing: After creating frames, Data link layer adds physical addresses
(MAC address) of sender and/or receiver in the header of each frame.
3. Error control: Data link layer provides the mechanism of error control in which it detects and
retransmits damaged or lost frames.
4. Flow Control: The data rate must be constant on both sides else the data may get
corrupted thus, flow control coordinates that amount of data that can be sent before
receiving acknowledgement.

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 5. Access control: When a single communication channel is shared by multiple
devices, MAC sub-layer of data link layer helps to determine which device has control
over the channel at a given time.

Example of devices from Data Link layer are Switch & Bridge.

Note: Packet in Data Link layer is referred as Frame.

3. Network Layer (Layer 3): - Network layer works for the transmission of data from one
host to the other located in different networks. It also takes care of packet routing i.e.
selection of the shortest path to transmit the packet, from the number of routes
available. The sender & receiver’s IP address are placed in the header by the network
layer.

The functions of the Network layer are:

1. Routing: The network layer protocols determine which route is suitable from source
to destination. This function of network layer is known as routing.
2. Logical Addressing: In order to identify each device on internetwork uniquely,
network layer defines an addressing scheme. The sender & receiver’s IP address are
placed in the header by network layer. Such an address distinguishes each device
uniquely and universally.

Note: Segment in Network layer is referred as Packet. Network layer is implemented by

networking devices such as routers.

4. Transport Layer (Layer 4): Transport layer provides services to application layer and
takes services from network layer. The data in the transport layer is referred to
as Segments. It is responsible for the End to End Delivery of the complete message. The
transport layer also provides the acknowledgement of the successful data transmission
and re-transmits the data if an error is found.

 At sender’s side:- Transport layer receives the formatted data from the upper
layers, performs Segmentation and also implements Flow & Error control to
ensure proper data transmission. It also adds Source and Destination port
number in its header and forwards the segmented data to the Network Layer.
Note: The sender need to know the port number associated with the receiver’s
application. Generally, this destination port number is configured, either by
default or manually. For example, when a web application makes a request to a
web server, it typically uses port number 80, because this is the default port
assigned to web applications. Many applications have default port assigned.

 At receiver’s side:-Transport Layer reads the port number from its header and
forwards the Data which it has received to the respective application. It also
performs sequencing and reassembling of the segmented data.

The functions of the transport layer are:

1. Segmentation and Reassembly: This layer accepts the message from the
(session) layer, breaks the message into smaller units. Each of the segment
produced has a header associated with it. The transport layer at the destination
station reassembles the message.

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 2. Service Point Addressing: In order to deliver the message to correct process,
transport layer header includes a type of address called service point address or port
address. Thus by specifying this address, transport layer makes sure that the
message is delivered to the correct process.

The services provided by the transport layer:

 Connection Oriented Service: It is a three-phase process which include
– Connection Establishment
– Data Transfer
– Termination / disconnection
In this type of transmission, the receiving device sends an acknowledgement, back
to the source after a packet or group of packet is received. This type of transmission
is reliable and secure.
 Connection less service: It is a one-phase process and includes Data Transfer. In
this type of transmission, the receiver does not acknowledge receipt of a packet. This
approach allows for much faster communication between devices. Connection-
oriented service is more reliable than connectionless Service.

Note: Data in the Transport Layer is called as Segments. Transport layer is operated by
the Operating System. It is a part of the OS and communicates with the Application Layer
by making system calls. Transport Layer is called as Heart of OSI model.

5. Session Layer (Layer 5): This layer is responsible for establishment of connection,
maintenance of sessions, authentication and also ensures security.

The functions of the session layer are:

 Session establishment, maintenance and termination: The layer allows the two
processes to establish, use and terminate a connection.
 Synchronization: This layer allows a process to add checkpoints which are
considered as synchronization points into the data. These synchronization point help
to identify the error so that the data is re-synchronized properly, and ends of the
messages are not cut prematurely and data loss is avoided.
 Dialog Controller: The session layer allows two systems to start communication
with each other in half-duplex or full-duplex.

SCENARIO:
Let’s consider a scenario where a user wants to send a message through some Messenger
application running in his browser. The “Messenger” here acts as the application layer which
provides the user with an interface to create the data. This message or so-called Data is
compressed, encrypted (if any secure data) and converted into bits (0’s and 1’s) so that it
can be transmitted.

6. Presentation Layer (Layer 6): Presentation layer is also called the Translation
layer. The data from the application layer is extracted here and manipulated as per the
required format to transmit over the network.

The functions of the presentation layer are :

1. Translation: For example, ASCII to EBCDIC.
2. Encryption/ Decryption: Data encryption translates the data into another form or
code. The encrypted data is known as the cipher text and the decrypted data is
known as plain text. A key value is used for encrypting as well as decrypting data.

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 3. Compression: Reduces the number of bits that need to be transmitted on the
network.

7. Application Layer (Layer 7): At the very top of the OSI Reference Model stack of
layers, we find Application layer which is implemented by the network applications.
These applications produce the data, which has to be transferred over the network. This
layer also serves as a window for the application services to access the network and for
displaying the received information to the user.

Example: Application – Browsers, Skype Messenger etc. Application Layer is also

called as Desktop Layer.

The functions of the Application layer are:

1. Network Virtual Terminal
2. FTAM-File transfer access and management
3. Mail Services
4. Directory Services

OSI model acts as a reference model and is not implemented in the Internet because of its
late invention. Current model being used is the TCP/IP model.

TCP/IP MODEL

Figure 2. Comparison between OSI and TCP/IP

As we can see from the above figure, presentation and session layers are not there in
TCP/IP model. Also note that the Network Access Layer in TCP/IP model combines the
functions of Datalink Layer and Physical Layer.

1. Layer 4. Application Layer: - Application layer is the top most layer of four layer
TCP/IP model. Application layer is present on the top of the Transport layer.
Application layer defines TCP/IP application protocols and how host programs
interface with Transport layer services to use the network. Application layer includes
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 all the higher-level protocols like DNS (Domain Naming System), HTTP (Hypertext
Transfer Protocol), Telnet, SSH, FTP (File Transfer Protocol), TFTP (Trivial File
Transfer Protocol), SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), SMTP (Simple Mail
Transfer Protocol) , DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol), X Windows, RDP
(Remote Desktop Protocol) etc.

2. Layer 3. Transport Layer: - Transport Layer is the third layer of the four layer
TCP/IP model. The position of the Transport layer is between Application
layer and Internet 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. The main
protocols included at Transport layer are TCP (Transmission Control
Protocol) and UDP (User Datagram Protocol).

3. Layer 2. Internet Layer: - Internet Layer is the second layer of the four layer
TCP/IP model. The position of Internet layer is between Network Access
Layer and Transport layer. Internet layer pack data into data packets known as IP
datagrams, which contain source and destination address (logical address or IP
address) information that is used to forward the datagrams between hosts and
across networks. The Internet layer is also responsible for routing of IP datagrams.
Packet switching network depends upon a connectionless internetwork layer. This
layer is known as Internet layer. Its job is to allow hosts to insert packets into any
network and have them to deliver independently to the destination. At the
destination side data packets may appear in a different order than they were sent. It
is the job of the higher layers to rearrange them in order to deliver them to proper
network applications operating at the Application layer.

The main protocols included at Internet layer are IP (Internet Protocol), ICMP
(Internet Control Message Protocol), ARP (Address Resolution Protocol), RARP
(Reverse Address Resolution Protocol) and IGMP (Internet Group Management
Protocol).

4. Layer 1. Network Access Layer: - Network Access Layer is the first layer of the
four layer TCP/IP model. Network Access Layer defines details of how data is
physically sent through the network, including how bits are electrically or optically
signaled by hardware devices that interface directly with a network medium, such as
coaxial cable, optical fiber, or twisted pair copper wire.

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