UNIT 3
NETWORK LAYER
Contents:
• Switching: Packet Switching
• Internet Protocols
• IPV4
• IP Addressing
• Subnetting
• IPV6,ARP,RARP,ICMP,DHCP
NETWORK LAYER:
Third layer of the OSI model.
Handles the service requests from the transport layer and further forwards the
service request to the data link layer.
Translates the logical addresses into physical addresses
Determines the route from the source to the destination and also manages the
traffic problems such as switching, routing and controls the congestion of data
packets.
The main role of the network layer is to move the packets from sending host to the
receiving host.
Services offered by Network Layer: Packetizing, Routing, Forwarding.
PACKETIZING:
Packetizing refers to the process of encapsulating data received from the payload,
which is the upper layer of the network, in a Network layer at the source, and
then decapsulating it at the destination.
The host adds a header that includes the source and the destination addresses
alongside other relevant information that is required in the process of packetizing
The receiver host receives the network layer packet from the Data Link layer,
decapsulates it, and sends the payload to the upper layer protocol. The routers
cannot change the header or the address.
ROUTING:
A mechanism that selects a way for data to be transmitted from the source to the
destination.
Router:
A specific device that does routing.
Forwards packets depending on the data in the packet header and forwarding table.
Routing algorithm:
A piece of software that determines the best path by which a packet may be sent.
Used to route packets
FORWARDING:
Forwarding means to place the packet in its route to its destination.
Requires a host or a router to have a routing table.
When a host has a packet to send or when a router has received a packet to be
forwarded, it looks at this table to find the route to the final destination.
SWITCHING:
The technique of transferring the information from one computer
network to another network is known as switching.
Switching is achieved by using switches.
A switch is a small hardware device which is used to join
multiple computers together with one local area network (LAN).
PACKET SWITCHING:
A switching technique in which the message is split into smaller bits and delivered
separately rather than all at once.
The message is broken down into smaller bits known as packets, and each packet is
assigned a unique number to indicate its sequence at the receiving end.
The headers of each packet contain information such as the source address, destination
address, and sequence number.
Packets will go across the network in the quickest possible way. At the receiving end, all
packets are reassembled in the right order.
If any packet is missing or corrupted, the message will be resent. If the packets are
received in the right order, the acknowledgment message is delivered.
INTERNET PROTOCOLS:
Internet Protocols are a set of rules that governs the communication and
exchange of data over the internet.
Both the sender and receiver should follow the same protocols in order to
communicate the data.