Description of the Internet Protocol Stack

Introduction
This document is a technical description of the internet protocol stack. The internet protocol stack is a
conceptual model which contains a set of communications protocols used on the internet and similar
computer networks. A protocol is a series of rules that defines the format, the order of messages
exchanged, as well as the actions taken on the transmission.
This document will provide a nut-and-bolt view of the internet protocol stack. It is assumed that the
readers are undergraduate students in computer science or related fields. Therefore, some basic
terminologies will not be defined.

The 5-Layer Model

To provide structure to the design of network
protocols, network designers use layers to
organize protocols, and the network
hardware and software that implement the
protocols. The internet protocol stack consists
of five layers: the physical, link, network,
transport, and application layers. These layers
are organized in a hierarchy, which defines
the method and the sequence of
transmission. The process of transmission is
discussed in the last section. Figure1 shows
the hierarchy of the layers as well as a
summary of the functions each layer
performs.
Protocol layering has both conceptual and
operational benefits. Layers offer a structured
way to address system components. Similarly, modularity allows for easy system components updates.
The following sections will take a top-down approach to discuss each layer in detail.

v. Application Layer
The application layer hosts network applications, such as web browsers, and their application-
layer protocols. The internets application layer includes many protocols, such as the HTTP for
webpages and SMTP for email messages. The message generated from user application will
typically interact with these protocols. The application-layer protocol provides application
services to users and programs. It is distributed over multiple end systems, for example PC and
web servers, with the application in one end system using the protocol to exchange a message
with the application in another end system.
 Figure2: An overview of application layer

iv. Transport Layer

The transport layer establishes connection running on different hosts and transfers application-
layer messages in between the hosts. There are two major protocols in this layer, TCP and UDP.
TCP protocol provides services such as flow control (sender/receiver speed matching) and
congestion control (message segmentation). On the other hand, UDP protocol provides a
connectionless service, which is a no-frills service that provides no flow or congestion control.
However, depending on the application, either one of them is used to transfer application-layer
messages.

Figure3: An overview of transport layer

iii. Network Layer

The network layer moves the network-layer packet from one router to another. The transport-
layer protocol in a source router passes a transport-layer packet and destination address to the
network layer. The network layer then provides a secure service of delivering the packet to the
transport layer in the destination router. Furthermore, the network layer must run the IP
protocol, which is used to identify the source and destination of the packet.

Figure4: An overview of network layer

ii. Link Layer

The link layer moves a packet from one node, usually a host or router, to the next node in the
route. Examples of link-layer protocols include Ethernet, WiFi, and the cable access networks
DOCSIS protocol. Different from the transport layer, which routes a packet through a series of
routers between the source and the destination, the link layer receives the packet from the
network layer and delivers the packet (referred as frame in link layer) to the next node along
 the route. At this next node, the link layer passes the link-layer frame up to the network layer.
The following graph illustrates the interaction between the network and link layer.

Figure5: Data transfer between link layer and network layer

i. Physical Layer
The physical layer moves the individual bits within the frame from one network element to an
adjacent network element. The protocols in this layer are dependent on the actual transmission
medium of the link such as twisted-pair copper wire and single-mode fiber optics. Physical layer
protocols act as the transceiver that sends and receives signals on the physical wire to transmit
the bits found in link-layer frames.

Figure6: An overview of physical layer

Encapsulation/ De-encapsulation
As the message travels through the internet protocol stack, the protocols at each layer either add or
remove fields from the basic header. Encapsulation is when headers are added to the data by protocols
during the sending phase. Alternatively, de-encapsulation is when headers are removed by protocols
from the data during the receiving phase
Figure7 on the next page shows the physical data path of a message that takes down a sending end
systems protocol stack, and then takes up the protocol stack at the receiving end system. The
paragraph that follows Figure7 provides an example to demonstrate the process of sending an email
message form computer A to computer B. It also shows the methods that the internet protocol stack
performs at each stage.
 Figure7: Overview of data transmission over the Internet

Computer A/Sender:
1) The user at computer A sends an email message.
2) The email message in computer A is processed in application layer using the Simple Mail
Transfer Protocol (SMTP) and passed down to the transport layer.
3) The transport layer takes the message and appends additional header information to
create the transport-layer segment that will be used by the receiver-side transport layer.
4) The transport-layer segment is passed to the network layer, which adds the network-
layer header information to form the network-layer datagram.
5) The network-layer datagram is passed to the link/physical layers, which adds the link-
layer header information to generate the link-layer frame.
Internet:
6) The message uses the header information to travel through the internet medium via
numerous routers and a wide range of link types between the source and the
destination.
Computer B/Receiver:
7) The link-layer frame travels from the link/physical layers to the internet layer and
removes the link-layer header information.
8) The network-layer datagram moves up to the transport layer, and removes the network-
layer header information.
9) The transport-layer segment reaches to the application layer and removes the
transport-layer header information.
10) The user of computer B is able to read the email at the application layer of the receiver-
side.
The message first encapsulates in the sender-side by appending header information in each layer.
When it arrives at the receiver-side, the packet de-encapsulates by removing the header information in
each layer. The encapsulated message will only contain the original message when it arrives at the
application layer of the destination system.
 References
1. Figure2-5: http://microchipdeveloper.com/tcpip:tcp-ip-five-layer-model

2. Figure7: http://www.cellbiol.com/bioinformatics_web_development/chapter-1- internet-

networks-and-tcp-ip/the-tcpip-family-of-internet-protocols/

3. Computer Networks: A Top-Down Approach Featuring the Internet, Seventh Edition,

J. Kurose and K. Ross, 2017.