Established in 1947, the International Standards Organization (ISO) is a multinational
body dedicated to worldwide agreement on international standards.
An ISO standard that covers all aspects of network communications is the Open Systems
Interconnection model.
It was first introduced in the late 1970s.
An open system is a set of protocols that allows any two different systems to
communicate regardless of their underlying architecture.
The purpose of the OSI model is to show how to facilitate communication between
different systems without requiring changes to the logic of the underlying hard
ware and software.
The OSI model is not a protocol; it is a model for understanding and designing a network
architecture that is flexible, robust, and interoperable.
ISO is the organization. OSI is the model
The OSI model is a layered framework for the design of network systems that allows
communication between all types of computer systems.
It consists of seven separate but related layers, each which defines a part of the process of
moving information across a network.
Layered Architecture
The OSI model is composed of seven ordered layers: physical (layer 1), datalink(layer2),
network (layer 3), transport (layer 4), session (layer 5), presentation (layer 6), and
application (layer 7).
Figure shows the layers involved when a message is sent from device A to device B.
As the message travels from A to B, it may pass through many intermediate nodes.
These intermediate nodes usually involve only the first three layers of the OSI model.
Within a single machine, each layer calls upon the services of the layer just below it.
Layer 3, for example, uses the services provided by layer 2 and provides services for
layer 4.
Between machines, layer x on one machine communicates with layer x on another
machine.
This communication is governed by an agreed-upon series of rules and conventions
called protocols.
The processes on each machine that communicate at a given layer are called peer-to-peer
processes.
Communication between machines is therefore a peer-to-peer process using the protocols
appropriate to a given layer.
Peer-to-Peer Processes
At the physical layer, communication is direct: In Figure 2.3, device A sends a stream
of bits to device B (through intermediate nodes).
At the higher layers, however, communication must move down through the layers on
device A, over to device B, and then back up through the layers.
Each layer in the sending device adds its own information to the message it receives from
the layer just above it and passes the whole package to the layer just below it.
At layer I the entire package is converted to a form that can be transmitted to the
receiving device.
At the receiving machine, the message is unwrapped layer by layer, with each process
receiving and removing the data meant for it.
For example, layer 2 removes the data meant for it, then passes the rest to layer 3.
Layer 3 then removes the data meant for it and passes the rest to layer 4, and so on.
Organization of the Layers
The seven layers can be thought of as belonging to three subgroups. Layers I, 2, and
3-physical, data link, and network-are the network support layers; they deal with the
physical aspects of moving data from one device to another (such as electrical
specifications, physical connections, physical addressing, and transport timing and
reliability).
Layers 5, 6, and 7-session, presentation, and application-can be thought of as the user
support layers; they allow interoperability among unrelated software systems.
Layer 4, the transport layer, links the two subgroups and ensures that what the lower
layers have transmitted is in a form that the upper layers can use.
The upper OSI layers are almost always implemented in software; lower layers are a
combination of hardware and software, except for the physical layer, which is mostly
hardware.
At Sender:
D7 means the data unit at layer 7, D6 means the data unit at layer 6, and so on. The
process starts at layer 7 (the application layer), then moves from layer to layer in
descending, sequential order.
At each layer, a header, or possibly a trailer, can be added to the data unit.
Commonly, the trailer is added only at layer 2.
When the formatted data unit passes through the physical layer (layer 1), it is changed
into an electromagnetic signal and transported along a physical link
At Receiver:
Upon reaching its destination, the signal passes into layer 1 and is transformed back into
digital form.
The data units then move back up through the OSI layers.
As each block of data reaches the next higher layer, the headers and trailers attached to it
at the corresponding sending layer are removed, and actions appropriate to that layer are
taken.
By the time it reaches layer 7, the message is again in a form appropriate to the
application and is made available to the recipient.
Layers Description in pdf.