Computer Networks

OSI vs TCP/IP, Transport Protocols, Subnetting/CIDR & Routing Protocols

 1. Introduction to Computer Networks
• A computer network connects devices to exchange data and share resources.

• Networking uses protocols, addressing, routing and layered architectures.

• The Internet is a large interconnected collection of networks.

 2. Network Layering
• Layering divides networking tasks into manageable functions.

• Each layer provides services to the layer above and uses services below.

• Layering improves interoperability, modularity and troubleshooting.

 3. OSI Model
• OSI has seven layers: Physical, Data Link, Network, Transport, Session, Presentation and Application.

• Each layer has defined responsibilities.

• It is mainly a reference model for understanding network communication.

 4. OSI Layer Functions
• Physical: bits and signaling.

• Data Link: frames, MAC addressing and local delivery.

• Network: logical addressing and routing.

• Transport: end-to-end delivery and reliability.

• Session/Presentation: session management, representation and translation.

• Application: services used by applications.

 5. TCP/IP Model
• The TCP/IP architecture commonly uses four layers: Link, Internet, Transport and Application.

• Some descriptions use five layers by separating the Physical layer from the Link layer.

• TCP/IP reflects the protocol suite used by the Internet.

 6. OSI vs TCP/IP
• OSI has seven conceptual layers; TCP/IP is organized around fewer practical protocol layers.

• OSI is primarily a reference model; TCP/IP combines architecture with widely deployed protocols.

• Both use layering and include transport and network/internet functions.

• The mapping between the two is not perfectly one-to-one.

 7. Encapsulation & Decapsulation
• Application data is passed down the stack and encapsulated with headers.

• Transport layer creates segments/datagrams; network layer creates packets; link layer creates frames.

• At the receiver, headers are processed and removed as data moves upward.

• This enables each layer to perform its specific task.

 8. Transport Layer
• Provides end-to-end communication between applications.

• Important functions include multiplexing, segmentation, flow control, reliability and congestion handling.

• The main Internet transport protocols are TCP and UDP.

 9. TCP Overview
• TCP is connection-oriented and provides a reliable, ordered byte stream.

• It uses sequence numbers, acknowledgments and retransmissions.

• TCP also provides flow control and congestion control.

• Applications such as web traffic, file transfer and email commonly use TCP-based transports.
 10. TCP Three-Way Handshake
• Step 1: Client sends SYN with an initial sequence number.

• Step 2: Server replies with SYN-ACK.

• Step 3: Client sends ACK.

• After the handshake, both sides can exchange application data.

• The handshake establishes connection state and initial sequence-number information.

 11. TCP Reliability
• Sequence numbers identify byte positions.

• ACKs indicate successfully received data.

• Lost data can be retransmitted.

• Checksums help detect corruption.

• These mechanisms provide reliable, ordered delivery to the application.

 12. TCP Flow Control
• Flow control protects the receiver from being overwhelmed.

• TCP uses a receive window to advertise how much additional data the receiver can accept.

• The sender adjusts its sending behavior according to the advertised window.

• Flow control is about receiver capacity, not network congestion.

 13. TCP Congestion Control
• Congestion control protects the network from excessive traffic.

• TCP uses mechanisms such as congestion window, slow start and congestion avoidance.

• When congestion is inferred, the sender reduces its sending rate.

• Congestion control is different from receiver-side flow control.

 14. UDP
• UDP is connectionless and provides an unreliable datagram service.

• It does not guarantee delivery, ordering or retransmission.

• UDP has low protocol overhead and supports applications that can tolerate loss or implement their own
recovery.

• Common uses include DNS, streaming, real-time applications and some modern Internet protocols.
 15. TCP vs UDP
• TCP: connection-oriented, reliable, ordered byte stream, flow and congestion control.

• UDP: connectionless datagrams, no built-in delivery/order guarantee, low overhead.

• Choice depends on application requirements rather than simply speed.

 16. IP Addressing
• An IP address identifies an interface within an IP network.

• IPv4 uses 32-bit addresses; IPv6 uses 128-bit addresses.

• Subnetting divides an address space into smaller network prefixes.

• Routers use destination prefixes to forward packets.

 17. Subnetting Basics
• A subnet mask/prefix length separates network bits from host bits.

• IPv4 prefix notation uses CIDR, such as /24.

• For a traditional IPv4 subnet, host capacity depends on the number of host bits and reserved addresses.

• Subnetting improves address organization and routing efficiency.

 18. CIDR
• CIDR = Classless Inter-Domain Routing.

• CIDR represents networks as address/prefix-length pairs, such as [Link]/24.

• It supports flexible allocation instead of fixed address classes.

• Route aggregation can combine multiple contiguous prefixes into a larger summarized route.
 19. Subnetting Example
• Example: [Link]/24 has 256 total IPv4 addresses.

• Splitting it into /26 creates four equal-size subnets.

• Each /26 contains 64 addresses; traditional usable host count is 62 per subnet.

• The four network blocks begin at .0, .64, .128 and .192.
 20. Routing
• Routing determines how packets travel between different IP networks.

• A router consults its routing table and selects an appropriate next hop.

• Routes may be learned directly, statically configured or dynamically exchanged by routing protocols.

• The best route is selected using protocol-specific rules and metrics.

 21. RIP
• RIP is a distance-vector interior gateway protocol.

• It uses hop count as its routing metric.

• Its maximum usable hop count is 15; 16 represents unreachable.

• RIP is simple but has limited scalability compared with modern alternatives.
 22. OSPF
• OSPF is a link-state interior gateway protocol.

• Routers exchange link-state information and build a topology database.

• Shortest Path First calculations are used to determine routes.

• OSPF supports hierarchical areas; Area 0 is the backbone area.

• It generally converges faster and scales better than RIP in larger networks.
 23. BGP
• BGP is the principal inter-domain routing protocol used between autonomous systems.

• It is a path-vector protocol and makes routing decisions using policy and path attributes.

• BGP is fundamental to Internet-scale routing.

• Unlike RIP and OSPF, BGP is designed for inter-domain routing and policy control.
 24. Routing Protocol Comparison
• RIP: distance vector, hop-count metric, simple and limited scalability.

• OSPF: link state, cost-based SPF, designed for scalable internal routing.

• BGP: path vector, policy-driven, used between autonomous systems.

• The appropriate protocol depends on network scope, policy and operational requirements.
 25. Summary
• OSI and TCP/IP use layered networking architectures.

• TCP provides reliable transport with handshake, flow control and congestion control; UDP provides
lightweight datagrams.

• Subnetting and CIDR organize IP address space and support route aggregation.

• RIP, OSPF and BGP serve different routing roles and scales.

• Together, these concepts form core computer-networking knowledge.