EET446 COMPUTER

NETWORKS
Module 1: Introduction – Uses of computer networks, Network
hardware, Network software – Protocol hierarchies – Design issues for
the layers – Connection oriented versus connectionless service.
Reference models – The OSI reference model, The TCP/IP reference
model, Comparison of OSI and TCP/IP reference models.
Computer Network
• Computer network can be defined as a group of computers and other devices
connected in some way so as to be able to exchange data.
• Computer network is a set of nodes connected by communication link for
exchanging data
• Node : Computer, printer, smartphone, server or any other device capable of
sending and receiving data
• Communication Link: The medium which carry data/information. It can be wired
or wireless
• In computer networks, computing devices exchange data with each other using
communication links.
Advantages of Computer Network
• It enhances communication and availability of information: Networking allow
users to talk in real time and send files to other people wherever they are in the
world. Also, it allows access to a vast amount of useful information.
• It allows for more convenient resource sharing: The resources available with a
person/system can be shared to large audience. The resources they wanted to get
across would be completely shared by connecting to a computer network which
their audience is also using. It is significant for larger companies that has huge
numbers of resources to be shared.
• It makes file sharing easier : Computer networking allows easier accessibility for
people to share their files, which greatly helps them with saving more time and
effort, since they could do file sharing more effectively.
Advantages of Computer Network
• It is highly flexible. This technology is known to be very flexible, as it adapts to the
available network resources and adapts to the latest information.
• It is reliable: Reliability implies backing up information. Due to some reason, equipment
crashes, the information get inaccessible on one PC, another duplicate of similar
information is accessible on another workstation for future use, which prompts smooth
working and further handling without interruption.
• It increases cost efficiency. With computer networking, you can use a lot of software
products available on the market which can just be stored or installed in your system or
server and can then be used by various workstations.
• It boosts storage capacity. Since you are going to share information, files and resources
to other people, you have to ensure all data and content are properly stored in the system.
With this networking technology, you can do all of this without any hassle, while having
all the space you need for storage.
Disadvantages of Computer Network
• It lacks independence. Computer networking involves a process that is operated
using computers, so people will be relying more of computer work, instead of
exerting an effort for their tasks at hand. Aside from this, they will be dependent
on the main file server, which means that, if it breaks down, the system would
become useless, making users idle.
• It poses security difficulties. Because there would be a huge number of people
who would be using a computer network to get and share some of their files and
resources, a certain user’s security would be always at risk.
• It allows for more presence of computer viruses and malware. There would be
instances that stored files are corrupt due to computer viruses. Thus, network
administrators should conduct regular check-ups on the system, and the stored
files at the same time.
Disadvantages of Computer Network
• Its light policing usage promotes negative acts. Providing users with internet
connectivity has fostered undesirable behaviour among them. Web is a minefield of
distractions - online games.
• It requires an efficient handler. A computer network to work efficiently and optimally,
it requires personnel with high technical skills and know-how of its operations and
administration.
• It requires an expensive set-up. Though computer networks are said to be an
inexpensive system when it is already running, its initial set up cost can still be high
depending on the number of computers to be connected. Expensive devices, such as
routers, switches, hubs, etc., can add up to the cost.
• It lacks robustness. If a computer network’s main server breaks down, the entire system
would become useless. Also, if it has a bridging device or a central linking server that
fails, the entire network would also come to a standstill. To deal with these problems,
huge networks should have a powerful computer to serve as file server to make setting up
and maintaining the network easier.
Uses of Computer Network
1. Business Applications
Resource sharing
• The goal is to make all programs, equipment, and especially data available to anyone on
the network without regard to the physical location of the resource or the user.
• An obvious and widespread example is having a group of office workers share a common
printer.
VPN (Virtual Private Network)
• Networks called VPN may be used to join the individual networks at different sites into
one extended network.
• VPN is an online service that creates a secure connection between the user device and a
remote server.
• This goal may be summarized by saying that it is an attempt to end limits caused due to
geography.
Client-Server Model
• Consider a company’s information system as
consisting of one or more databases with
company information and some number of
employees who need to access them remotely.
• In this model, the data are stored on powerful
computers called servers. Often these are
centrally housed and maintained by a system
administrator.
• The employees have simpler machines, called
clients, on their desks, with which they access
remote data.
Communication Medium
• A computer network can provide a powerful communication medium among employees.
• Virtually every company that has two or more computers now has email (electronic
mail), which employees generally use for daily communication.
• Telephone calls between employees may be carried by the computer network instead of
relying on the phone company. This technology is called IP telephony or Voice over IP
(VoIP) when Internet technology is used.
• The microphone and speaker at each end may belong to a VoIP-enabled phone or the
employee’s computer. Companies find this a wonderful way to save on their telephone
bills.
• Video Conferencing: Video conferencing enables employees at distant locations to see
and hear each other as they hold a meeting. This technique is a powerful tool for
eliminating the cost and time previously devoted to travel.
Desktop sharing
• Technology in which remote workers see and interact with a graphical computer screen.
• This makes it easy for two or more people who work far apart to read and write a shared
blackboard or write a report together. When one worker makes a change to an online document, the
others can see the change immediately, instead of waiting communication via letter or email.
E-Commerce
• E-Commerce (electronic commerce) enables companies in doing business electronically, with
customers and suppliers.
• Airlines, bookstores, and other retailers have discovered that many customers like the convenience
of shopping from home. Companies provide catalogs of their goods and services online and take
orders online.
• Manufacturers of automobiles, aircraft, and computers, among others, buy subsystems from a
variety of suppliers and then assemble the parts. Using computer networks, manufacturers can
place orders electronically as needed. This reduces the need for large inventories and enhances
efficiency.
2. Home Applications
Robert Metcalfe, the inventor of Ethernet, hypothesized that the value of a network is
proportional to the square of the number of users because this is roughly the number of
different connections that may be made. This hypothesis is known as ‘‘Metcalfe’s law.’’
Access to Remote Information
• Internet access provides home users with connectivity to remote computers.
• User surf the World Wide Web for information or just for fun. Information available
include arts, business, cooking, government, health, history, hobbies, recreation, science,
sports, travel, and many others.
• Online newspapers - which may be personalized as per the interests of the user.
• Online Digital Library – Organizations like IEEE have all their journals and conference
proceedings online.
• Electronic book readers and online libraries may make printed books obsolete.
Peer to Peer Communication
• Network is mostly used as client – server model.
• But peer-peer communication, individuals who form a loose group can
communicate with others in the group. Every person can, in principle,
communicate with one or more other people; there is no fixed division into clients
and servers.
• Central Database not required
• Examples are:
Email, Skype
Interactive Environment
• Network allows interactions between a person and a remote database full of
information or between a person and another person.
• E-mail is already used on a daily basis by millions of people all over the world.
• Internet can be used by applications to carry audio (eg: radio stations) and video
(eg: youtube)
• Social network applications - here, the flow of information is driven by the
relationships that people declare between each other, e.g: Facebook.
• Groups of people can work together to create content. A wiki, for example, is a
collaborative Web site that the members of a community edit. The most famous
wiki is the Wikipedia, an encyclopedia anyone can edit.
E-Commerce
• Home shopping is already popular and enables users to inspect the online catalogs
of thousands of companies.
• If a customer buys a product electronically but cannot figure out how to use it,
online technical support may be consulted.
• Access to financial institutions - Many people already pay their bills, manage their
bank accounts, and handle their investments electronically.
• Electronic Flea Market - Online auctions of second-hand goods have become a
massive industry. Unlike traditional e-commerce, which follows the client-server
model, online auctions are peer-to-peer in the sense that consumers can act as both
buyers and sellers. Eg: OLX
Entertainment
• The distribution of music, radio and television programs, and movies over the
Internet is widespread nowadays and rival the traditional mechanisms.
• Users can find, buy, and download MP3 songs and DVD-quality movies and add
them to their personal collection.
• TV shows now reach many homes via IPTV (IP TeleVision) systems that are
based on IP technology instead of cable TV or radio transmissions.
• Online Gaming – Racing, Shooting, Soccer, Cricket etc allows user to play
virtually the game of their interest.
Ubiquitious Computing
• It means, computing is embedded into everyday life.
• Houses may employ different sensors and the data processed using these sensors
may be made accessible to the user.
• The electricity, gas and water meters could also report usage over the network.
This would save money as there would be no need to send out meter readers.
• Smoke detectors could call the fire department instead of making a loud alarm,
which will be useful if nobody is near the house.
• RFID enables identification, classification. This lets RFID readers locate and
communicate with the items over a distance of up to several meters. Eg: pets may
be tagged for locating.
3. Mobile Applications
Connectivity
• Cellular networks operated by the telephone companies are one familiar kind of
wireless network that enables us with coverage for mobile phones.
• Wireless hotspots based on the IEEE 802.11 standard enables wireless network
for mobile computers.
• Wireless communication helps in transportation system. Eg: OLA cabs (computer
network enables drivers to select a travel assignment and then for navigation using
GPS)
• Military Application – Military uses its own networking technology which may be
encrypted to prevent hacking and attacks.
• Identification of items, parts or devices can be enabled using RFID, barcode or
QR code. Scanner used for it can be enabled with mobile network.
Mobile Phone
• Text messaging or texting is tremendously popular. It lets a mobile phone user
type a short message that is then delivered by the cellular network to another
mobile subscriber.
• SMS (Short Message Service) is widespread as it makes communication easier
and faster.
• Smartphones enable easy access to internet using 4G or 5G network thus enabling
user to access multitude of services.
• As mobile phones are equipped with GPS receivers, navigating to locations,
finding nearby services, geo-tagging are possible.
M-Commerce (Mobile-Commerce)
• Payment of bills can be done using mobile phones through internet.
• This enables user to evaluate materials being purchased with other shops and
online platforms.
• Using NFC (Near Field Communication), mobile phone can act as RFID
smartcard and interact with a nearby reader for payment.
Wearable Computers
• Pacemakers and insulin pumps can be controlled over a wireless network. This lets
doctors test and reconfigure them more easily.
• Smart watches may be equipped with an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a heart rate
monitor, a GPS, and a barometer. These sensors work together to provide a wide
range of features and functionality - tracking fitness, providing notifications.
4. Social Issues
• The new-found freedom brought by computer network may result in unsolved
social, political, and ethical issues.
• Some people take a live-and-let-live view, but others feel that posting certain
material is simply unacceptable and that such content must be censored.
• Networks like a telephone company or the post office or WWW cannot be
expected to police what its users say.
• Network Neutrality: Some peer-to-peer applications and large companies may be
treated differently by the network utility thus, raising network neutrality concerns.
• Copyright Issues: Contents from a source may be illegally taken by another user
or company, which needs to be protected using Copyright rules.
• Cookies and Data Privacy: A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that is
downloaded on to your computer when you visit a website. This causes privacy
concerns.
• Phishing: Certain messages pretend as originating from a trustworthy party, for
example, your bank, to try to trick you into revealing sensitive information, for
example, credit card numbers
• CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing Test To Tell Computers and
Humans Apart): It can be difficult to prevent computers from impersonating
people on the Internet. This problem has led to the development of CAPTCHAs.
Network Hardware
• Network hardware may be classified based on
1. Transmission Technology
2. Transmission Scale
Transmission Technology
• Two types of transmission technology that are in widespread use: broadcast links and
point-to-point links
• Point-to-point links connect individual pairs of machines.
• To go from source to the destination on a network made up of point-to-point links, short
messages, called packets are used.
• Point-to-point transmission with exactly one sender and exactly one receiver is called
unicasting.
• In a broadcast network, the communication channel is shared by all the machines
on the network.
• The data (packets) sent by any machine are received by all the others. An address
field within each packet specifies the intended recipient.
• Upon receiving a packet, a machine checks the address field. If the packet is
intended for the receiving machine, that machine processes the packet.
• Broadcast systems usually also allow the possibility of addressing a packet to all
destinations by using a special code in the address field. When a packet with this
code is transmitted, it is received and processed by every machine on the network.
This mode of operation is called broadcasting.
Transmission Scale
• Networks are classified based on the scale of operation with distance as the
classification metric.
• Table depicts classification based on scale.
Personal Area Network
• It enables devices to communicate over the range of a person.
• A common example is a wireless network that connects a computer with its
peripherals. Master-Slave model is used were PC is normally the master, talking to
the mouse, keyboard, etc., as slaves.
• Bluetooth, Zigbee, RFID are examples of PAN
Local Area Network
• LAN is a privately owned network that operates within and nearby a single
building like a home, office or factory.
• Wireless LAN: Here, each computer talks to a device called Access Point or
Wireless Router which relays packets between the wireless computers and also
between them and the Internet. Speed is tens or hundreds Mbps. The standard for
wireless LANs called IEEE 802.11, popularly known as WiFi.
• Wired LAN: Here, copper wires or optical fibers are used as transmission technology.
Wired LANs run at speeds of 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps. IEEE 802.3, popularly called
Ethernet, is the most common type of wired LAN.
• Virtual LAN divide one large physical LAN into two smaller logical LANs
• PLC (Power Line Communication) is a LAN were, electric wires are used to transmit
both electric power and data.

Wireless LAN Wired LAN

Metropolitan Area Network
• MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) covers a city.
• A MAN transmitting television signals and Internet using a centralized cable
headend for subsequent distribution to people’s homes
Wide Area Network
• WAN (Wide Area Network) spans a large geographical area, often a country or
continent.
• Eg: A Company with offices at different location.
• The computers intended for running user programs are called hosts. The rest of
the network which connect these hosts are called communication subnet, or just
subnet. The job of the subnet is to carry messages from host to host.
• Subnet consists of two distinct components: transmission lines and switching
elements. Transmission lines move bits between machines. Switching elements, or
just switches (router) connect two or more transmission lines.
• WAN may be established as VPN where company might connect its offices to the
Internet or subnet may be run by a different company. The subnet operator is
known as a network service provider.
Internetwork
• The connection of two or more networks is called an internetwork or internet.
• The Internet uses ISP (Internet Service Provider) networks to connect enterprise
networks (business), home networks, and many other networks.
• Gateway: The machine that makes a connection between two or more networks
and provides the necessary translation, both in terms of hardware and software.
Interplanetary Internet
• The possibility of having larger internetworks with the Interplanetary Internet that
connects networks across space.
Network Software
Protocol Hierarchies
• Networks are organized as a stack of layers or levels, each one built upon the one
below it.
• The number of layers, the name of each layer, the contents of each layer, and the
function of each layer differ from network to network.
• The purpose of each layer is to offer certain services to the higher layers while
shielding those layers from the details of how the offered services are actually
implemented.
• When layer n on one machine communicates with layer n on another machine, the
rules and conventions used in this communication are collectively known as the
layer n protocol.
• Protocol is an agreement between the communicating parties on how
communication is to proceed.
• A five-layer network is shown.
• The entities comprising the corresponding
layers on different machines are called peers
• Peers may be software processes, hardware
devices, or even human beings.
• Below layer 1 is the physical medium
through which actual communication occurs.
• Virtual communication is shown by dotted
lines and physical communication by solid
lines.
• Between each pair of adjacent layers is an
interface.
• The interface defines which primitive
operations and services the lower layer
makes available to the upper one.
• A set of layers and protocols is called a network architecture
• The specification of an architecture must contain enough information to allow an
implementer to write the program or build the hardware for each layer so that it
will correctly obey the appropriate protocol.
• Neither the details of the implementation nor the specification of the interfaces is
part of the architecture because these are hidden away inside the machines and
not visible from the outside.
• A list of protocols used by a certain system, one protocol per layer is called
Protocol stack
• Figure shows
information flow.
• A message ‘M’ is
produced by an
application process
running in layer 5 and
given to layer 4 for
transmission.
• Layer 4 puts a header
in front of the message
to identify the message
and passes the result to
layer 3. The header
includes control
information, such as
addresses, to allow
layer 4 on the
destination machine to
deliver the message
• Layer 3 break up the incoming messages into smaller units, called packets,
adding a layer 3 header to each packet. In this example, M is split into two parts,
M1 and M2, that will be transmitted separately.
• Layer 2 adds to each piece not only a header but also a trailer, and gives the
resulting unit to layer 1 for physical transmission.
• At the receiving machine the message moves upward, from layer to layer, with
headers being stripped off as it progresses.
• The peer processes in layer 4, virtually communicate (horizontal
communication) using the layer 4 protocol.
Design Issues for the layers
1. Reliability
• One reliability issue involved is error in data transmission
• The bits of a packet traveling through the network may get damaged (inverted)
due to electrical noise, random wireless signals, hardware flaws, software bugs
etc.
• A mechanism for finding errors in received information uses error detection
codes.
• Another reliability issue is finding a working path through a network
• Often there are multiple paths between a source and destination, and in a large
network, there may be some links or routers that are broken.
• So, alternate working path should be chosen for data transmission.
• The network should automatically make this decision. This is called routing.
Design Issues for the layers
2. Evolution of Network
• Over time, networks grow larger and new designs emerge that need to be
connected to the existing network.
• The protocol layering strategy supports change by dividing the overall problem
and hiding implementation details.
• Since there are many computers on the network, every layer needs a mechanism
for identifying the senders and receivers that are involved in a particular message.
This mechanism is called addressing or naming, in the low and high layers,
respectively.
• Different network technologies often have different limitations. Differences in
order of messages, maximum size of a message that the networks can transmit
etc., will lead to need for disassembling, transmitting, and then reassembling
messages.
• When networks get large, new problems arise. Cities can have traffic jams, a
shortage of telephone numbers etc.
Design Issues for the layers
3. Resource Allocation
• Networks provide a service to hosts from their underlying resources, so
mechanisms that divide their resources so that one host does not interfere with
another too much are required.
• Many designs share network bandwidth dynamically, according to the short-term
needs of hosts, rather than by giving each host a fixed fraction of the bandwidth
that it may or may not use. This design is called statistical multiplexing, meaning
sharing based on the statistics of demand.
• Flow control is required when sender is fast and receiver is slow.
• If too many computers want to send/receive too much data, it leads to overloading
of the network called congestion. One strategy is for each computer to reduce its
demand when it experiences congestion. Most networks must provide service to applications
• Networks must provide service to applications on time with required content,
which is termed as Quality of Service.
Design Issues for the layers
4. Security of Network
• Networks must be able to tackle various kind of threats.
• Eavesdropping (Snooping) is a form of cyber attack that enables hackers to
intercept, delete, or modify data that is transmitted between devices.
• Mechanisms that provide confidentiality defend against this threat, and they can
be implemented in multiple layers.
• Mechanisms for authentication prevent someone from impersonating someone
else.
Connection-Oriented vs Connectionless Service

• Layers can offer two different types of service to the layers above them:
connection-oriented and connectionless.
1. Connection-oriented service
• The service is modelled based on the telephone system.
• In a connection-oriented network service, the service user first establishes a
connection, uses the connection, and then releases the connection.
• The essential aspect of such connection is that it acts like a tube: the sender pushes
objects (bits) in at one end, and the receiver takes them out at the other end.
• In most cases the order is preserved so that the bits arrive in the order they were
sent.
• When a connection is established, the sender, receiver, and subnet conduct a
negotiation about the parameters to be used, such as maximum message size,
quality of service required etc.
1. Connection-oriented service (cont..)
• One side makes a proposal and the other side can accept it, reject it, or make a
counter proposal.
• Reliable service is implemented by having the receiver acknowledge the receipt of
each message so, the sender is sure that it arrived. The acknowledgement process
introduces delays.
• Reliable connection-oriented service has two minor variations: message
sequences and byte streams.
• In message sequences, the message boundaries are preserved, i.e, when two
1024-byte messages are sent, they arrive as two distinct 1024-byte messages,
never as one 2048-byte message. Eg: Sending sequence of pages.
• In byte streams, the connection is simply a stream of bytes, with no message
boundaries. When 2048 bytes arrive at the receiver, there is no way to tell if they
were sent as one 2048-byte message, two 1024-byte messages, or 2048 1-byte
messages. Eg: Downloading movies.
• In certain applications like voice over IP (voice call through internet), delays
introduced by acknowledgements are unacceptable. Hence a unreliable connection
is established in this case.
Connection-Oriented vs Connectionless Service

2. Connectionless service
• The service is modelled based on postal system.
• Each message (packet) carries the full destination address, and each one is routed
through the intermediate nodes inside the system independent of all the subsequent
messages.
• When the intermediate nodes receive a message in full before sending it on to the
next node, this is called store-and-forward switching.
• The alternative, in which the onward transmission of a message at a node starts
before it is completely received by the node, is called cut-through switching.
2. Connectionless service (cont..)
• Unreliable (not acknowledged) connectionless service is often called datagram
service. For example, spammers send electronic junk-mail to many recipients. The
spammer send message that has a high probability of arrival.
• Reliability is essential in certain applications. Such a service is called
acknowledged datagram. Text messaging on mobile phones is an example.
• Another service is the request-reply service. In this service the sender transmits a
single datagram containing a request; the reply contains the answer.
• Request-reply is commonly used to implement communication in the client-server
model: the client issues a request and the server responds to it.
• For example, a mobile phone client might send a query to a map server to retrieve
the map data for the current location.
Connection-Oriented vs Connectionless Service
The different types of services are tabulated as:
Reference Models
OSI Reference Model
• Open Systems Interconnection model (also called ISO OSI model) is a network
architecture developed by international standards organization (ISO) for
international standardization of the protocols used in the various layers.
• It deals with connecting open systems that is, systems that are open for
communication with other systems.
• OSI model has 7 layers.
OSI Reference
Model
• The OSI
reference model
is depicted here
• Note that
Physical
Medium is not
added.
OSI Reference
Model
• OSI reference
model with
intermediate
nodes shown.
1. Physical Layer
• The physical layer is concerned with transmitting raw bits over a communication
channel.
• The design issues have to do with making sure that when one side sends a 1 bit it is
received by the other side as a 1 bit.
• Typical design questions here are, what electrical signals should be used to represent a
1 and a 0, how many nanoseconds a bit lasts etc..
• It Provides a standardized interface to physical transmission media, including:
1. Mechanical specification of electrical connectors and cables, for example maximum
cable length .
2. Electrical specification of transmission line.
• On the sender side, the physical layer receives the data from Data Link Layer and
encodes it into signals to be transmitted onto the physical medium.
• On the receiver side, the physical layer receives the signals from the transmission
medium decodes it back into data and sends it to the Data Link Layer
• Responsibility : Bit-by-bit transmission
2. Data Link Layer
• Data Link layer adds reliability to the physical layer by providing error
detection and correction mechanisms.
• On the sender side, the Data Link layer receives the data from Network Layer
and divides the stream of bits into fixed size manageable units called as
Frames and sends it to the physical layer. This process is called Framing.
• On the receiver side, the data link layer receives the stream of bits from the
physical layer and regroups them into frames and sends them to the Network
layer.
• Broadcast networks have an additional issue in the data link layer: how to
control access to the shared channel. A special sublayer of the data link layer,
the medium access control (MAC) enables this.
• Responsibility : Transmission of Frames
3. Network Layer
• The network layer controls the operation of the subnet.
• A key design issue is determining how packets are routed from source to
destination.
• Handling of congestion, maintaining quality of service are responsibilities of
Network layer.
• The network layer at the sending side accepts data from the transport layer,
divides it into packets, adds addressing information in the header and passes
it to the data link layer.
• At the receiving end the network layer receives the frames sent by data link
layer, converts them back into packets, verifies the physical address and send
the packets to the transport layer.
• Responsibility : transmission of data packets from source to destination.
4. Transport Layer
• A logical address at network layer facilitates the transmission of data from
source to destination device. But the source and the destination both may be
having multiple processes communicating with each other. Hence it is
important to deliver the data not only from the sender to the receiver but
from the correct process on the sender to the correct process on the receiver.
• The transport layer takes care of process-to-process delivery of data and
makes sure that it is intact and in order.
• At the sending side, the transport layer receives data from the session layer,
divides it into units called segments and sends it to the network layer.
• At the receiving side, the transport layer receives packets from the network
layer, converts and arranges into proper sequence of segments and sends it to
the session layer.
• Responsibility : process to process delivery of the entire message
5. Session Layer
• The session layer allows users on different machines to establish sessions
between them.
• Session layer establishes a session between the communicating devices
called dialog and synchronizes their interaction.
• The session layer at the sending side accepts data from the presentation layer
adds checkpoints to it called syn bits and passes the data to the transport
layer.
• At the receiving end the session layer receives data from the transport layer
removes the checkpoints inserted previously and passes the data to the
presentation layer.
• Responsibility : dialog control and synchronization
6. Presentation Layer
• The presentation layer is concerned with the syntax and semantics of the
information transmitted
• The communicating devices may be having different platforms. The presentation
layer performs translation, encryption and compression of data.
• Responsibility : Translation, compression and encryption.
• Translation : The sending and receiving devices may run on different platforms
(hardware, software and operating system). Hence it is important that they
understand the messages that are used for communicating. Hence a translation
service may be required which is provided by the Presentation layers
• Compression : Compression ensures faster data transfer. The data compressed at
sender has to be decompressed at the receiving end, both performed by the
Presentation layer.
• Encryption : It is the process of transforming the original message to change its
meaning before sending it. The reverse process called decryption has to be
performed at the receiving end to recover the original message from the encrypted
message.
7. Application Layer
• The application layer contains a variety of protocols that are commonly
needed by users.
• The application layer enables the user to communicate its data to the receiver
by providing certain services.
• For example: HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol), which is the basis for the
World Wide Web. When a browser wants a web-page, it sends the name of
the page it wants to the server hosting the page using HTTP. The server then
sends the page back.
• Other application protocols are used for application layer activities like file
transfer, electronic mail etc.
• Responsibility : to provide access to network resources.
How Data Flows in the OSI Model
The Data flows through the OSI model in a step-by-step process:

• Application Layer: Applications create the data.

• Presentation Layer: Data is formatted and encrypted.
• Session Layer: Connections are established and managed.
• Transport Layer: Data is broken into segments for reliable delivery.
• Network Layer: Segments are packaged into packets and routed.
• Data Link Layer: Packets are framed and sent to the next device.
• Physical Layer: Frames are converted into bits and transmitted physically.
Reference Models
TCP/IP Reference Model
• TCP/IP Model was developed for primarily connecting multiple networks together
seamlessly.
• It is named so, after its two primary protocols.
TCP/IP Reference Model
• TCP/IP Model is shown below
1. Link Layer

• The link layer describes what links such as serial lines and classic Ethernet
must do to meet the needs of the connectionless internet layer.
• It can be interpreted as an interface between hosts and transmission links.
• Error prevention and “framing” are also provided by this layer.
• Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) framing and Ethernet IEEE 802.2 framing are
two examples of data-link layer protocols.
2. Internet Layer

• It is the layer permitting hosts to inject packets into any network and have
them travel independently to the destination (potentially on a different
network).
• They may even arrive in a completely different order than they were sent, in
which case it is the job of higher layers to rearrange them, if in-order
delivery is desired.
• The internet layer defines an official packet format and protocol called IP
(Internet Protocol), plus a companion protocol called ICMP (Internet
Control Message Protocol) that helps it function.
• The job of the internet layer is to deliver IP packets where they are supposed
to go. Packet routing and congestion are major issues in this task.
3. Transport Layer

• Transport layer is designed to allow peer entities on the source and

destination hosts to carry on a conversation.
• Two end-to-end transport protocols defined are:
• TCP (Transmission Control Protocol), is a reliable connection-oriented
protocol that allows a byte stream originating on one machine to be delivered
without error on any other machine in the internet.
• It segments the incoming byte stream into discrete messages and passes each
one on to the internet layer.
• At the destination, the receiving TCP process reassembles the received
messages into the output stream.
• TCP also handles flow control to make sure a fast sender cannot swamp a
slow receiver with more messages than it can handle
3. Transport Layer (cont..)

• UDP (User Datagram Protocol), is an unreliable, connectionless protocol

for applications that do not want TCP’s sequencing or flow control and wish
to provide their own.
• It is also widely used for one-shot, client-server-type request-reply queries
and applications in which prompt delivery is more important than accurate
delivery, such as transmitting speech or video.
4. Application Layer

• The TCP/IP model does not have session or presentation layers. Instead,
applications simply include any session and presentation functions that they
require.
• It contains all the higher-level protocols:
• Simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP) - It's a communication protocol that
allows users to send and receive emails over the internet.
• Domain Name System (DNS) - for mapping host names onto their network
addresses.
• Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) - the protocol for fetching pages on
the World Wide Web.
• Real-time Transfer Protocol (RTP) - the protocol for delivering real-time
media such as audio and video.
TCP/IP Reference Model
• Some of the protocols used in TCP/IP model is shown below
Comparison of the OSI and TCP/IP Reference Models
• In both models the layers from physical up to transport layer provide an end-to-
end, network-independent transport service to processes wishing to communicate.
These layers form the transport provider.
• The layers above in both models are application-oriented users of the transport
service.
• OSI model has 7 layers whereas TCP/IP model has only 4 layers.
• Both models have (inter)network, transport and application layers. But other
layers are different.
• OSI model supports both connectionless and connection-oriented communication
in the network layer, but only connection-oriented communication in the transport
layer.
• The TCP/IP model supports only connectionless communication in the network
layer but both in the transport layer.
Comparison of the OSI and TCP/IP Reference Models
• Three concepts in network architecture Services, Interfaces and Protocols. OSI
model clearly differentiates these concepts. Each layer performs some services for
the layer above it. A layer’s interface describes how to access the services
provided by the below layer. Protocol enables each layer to perform services with
standards.
• The TCP/IP model does differentiate between services, interfaces and protocols.
For example, the only real services offered by the internet layer are SEND IP
PACKET and RECEIVE IP PACKET.
Comparison of the OSI and TCP/IP Reference Models
• The OSI reference model was devised before the corresponding protocols were
invented. This ordering meant that the model was not biased toward one particular
set of protocols, a fact that made it quite generalized model.
• With TCP/IP the reverse was true: the protocols came first, and the model was
really just a description of the existing protocols. There was no problem with the
protocols fitting the model. The protocols in TCP/IP model is widely used to
define all network applications.
• Thus, we can say in simpler words as, for modeling of network, OSI model is
better and considering protocols, those in TCP/IP is better.