One of the greatest functions of the OSI specifications is to assist in data transfer between disparate hosts regardless if they’re Unix, Windows, or Mac based.
But keep in mind that the OSI model isn’t a physical model; it’s a conceptual and comprehensive yet fluid set of guidelines, which application developers utilize to create and implement applications that run on a network. It also provides a framework for creating and implementing networking standards, devices, and internetworking schemes. The OSI model has seven layers:
- Application (Layer 7)
- Presentation (Layer 6)
- Session (Layer 5)
- Transport (Layer 4)
- Network (Layer 3)
- Data Link (Layer 2)
- Physical (Layer 1)
The OSI’s seven layers are divided into two groups. The top three layers define the rules of how the applications working within host machines communicate with each other as well as with end users. The bottom four layers define how the actual data is transmitted from end to end.
The Application Layer
The Application layer of the OSI model marks the spot where users actually communicate or interact with the computer. Technically, users communicate with the network stack through application processes, interfaces, or APIs that connect the application in use to the operating system of the computer. The Application layer chooses and determines the availability of communicating partners along with the resources necessary to make their required connections. It coordinates partnering applications and forms a consensus on procedures for controlling data integrity and error recovery. The Application layer comes into play only when it’s apparent that access to the network will be needed soon. Take the case of Internet Explorer (IE). You could uninstall every trace of networking components from a system, such as TCP/IP, the network card, and so on, and you could still use IE to view a local HTML document without a problem. But things would definitely get messy if you tried to do something like view an HTML document that had to be retrieved using HTTP or nab a file with FTP or TFTP because IE responds to requests like those by attempting to access the Application layer. So what’s happening is that the Application layer acts as an interface between the application program—which isn’t part of the layered structure— and the next layer down by providing ways for the application to send information down through the protocol stack. In other words, IE doesn’t reside within the Application layer— it interfaces with Application layer protocols when it needs to deal with remote resources.
The Application layer is also responsible for identifying and establishing the availability of the intended communication partner and determining whether sufficient resources for the requested communication exist.
These tasks are important because computer applications sometimes require more than just desktop resources. Often, they unite communicating components from more than one network application. Prime examples are fi le transfers and email as well as enabling remote access, network-management activities, and client-server processes like printing and information location. Many network applications provide services for communication over enterprise networks, but for present and future internetworking, the need is fast developing to reach beyond the limitations of current physical networking.
The Presentation Layer
The Presentation layer gets its name from its purpose: it presents data to the Application layer and is responsible for data translation and code formatting.
A successful data-transfer technique is to adapt the data into a standard format before transmission. Computers are configured to receive this generically formatted data and then convert it back into its native format for reading—for example, from EBCDIC to ASCII. By providing translation services, the Presentation layer ensures that the data transferred from one system’s Application layer can be read and understood by the Application layer on another system.
The OSI has protocol standards that define how standard data should be formatted. Tasks like data compression, decompression, encryption, and decryption are all associated with this layer. Some Presentation layer standards are even involved in multimedia operations.
The Session Layer
The Session layer is responsible for setting up, managing, and then tearing down sessions between Presentation layer entities. This layer also provides dialog control between devices, or nodes. It coordinates communication between systems and serves to organize their communication by offering three different modes: simplex , half duplex , and full duplex . To sum up, the Session layer basically keeps applications’ data separate from other applications’ data. For a good example, the Session layer allows multiple web browser sessions on your desktop at the same time.
The Transport Layer
The Transport layer segments and reassembles data into a data stream. Services located in the Transport layer handle data from upper-layer applications and unite it onto the same data stream. They provide end-to-end data transport services and can establish a logical connection between the sending host and destination host on an internetwork.
The Transport layer is responsible for providing the mechanisms for multiplexing upperlayer applications, establishing virtual connections, and tearing down virtual circuits. It also hides the many and sundry details of any network-dependent information from the higher layers, facilitating data transfer, The Transport layer can be connectionless or connection-oriented .
The Network Layer
The Network layer manages logical device addressing, tracks the location of devices on the network, and determines the best way to move data. This means that the Network layer must transport traffic between devices that aren’t locally attached. Routers are Layer 3 devices that are specified at the Network layer and provide the routing services within an internetwork.
The Data Link Layer
The Data Link layer provides the physical transmission of the data and handles error notification, network topology, and flow control. This means the Data Link layer ensures that messages are delivered to the proper device on a LAN using hardware (MAC) addresses and translates messages from the Network layer into bits for the Physical layer to transmit.
The Data Link layer formats the message into pieces, each called a data frame , and adds a customized header containing the destination and source hardware addresses. This added information forms a sort of capsule that surrounds the original message in much the same way that engines, navigational devices, and other tools were attached to the lunar modules of the Apollo project. These various pieces of equipment were useful only during certain stages of flight and were stripped off the module and discarded when their designated stage was complete. This is a great analogy for data traveling through networks because it works very similarly.
It’s important for you to understand that routers, which work at the Network layer, don’t care about where a particular host is located. They’re only concerned about where networks are located and the best way to reach them—including remote ones. Routers are totally obsessive when it comes to networks, and in this instance, obsession is a good thing! The Data Link layer is responsible for the unique identification of each device that resides on a local network.
The Physical Layer
the Physical layer does two important things: it sends bits and receives bits. Bits come only in values of 1 or 0—a Morse code with numerical values. The Physical layer communicates directly with the various types of actual communication media. Different kinds of media represent these bit values in different ways. Some use audio tones, and others employ state transitions —changes in voltage from high to low and low to high. Specific protocols are needed for each type of media to describe the proper bit patterns to be used, how data is encoded into media signals, and the various qualities of the physical media’s attachment interface.