OSI Reference Model

 OSI stands for Open Systems Interconnection.

 It has been developed by ISO – ‘International Organization for Standardization‘, in
the year 1984.
 It was revised in 1995, The model is called the OSI (Open Systems Interconnection)
Reference Model.

The OSI model has seven layers. Each layer has different functions.

 Physical Layer
 Data-Link Layer
 Network Layer
 Transport Layer
 Session Layer
 Presentation Layer
 Application Layer

1. Physical Layer

 It is responsible for the actual physical connection between the devices.

 The physical layer contains information in the form of bits.
 It is the lowest layer of the OSI model.
 It establishes, maintains and deactivates the physical connection.
 It specifies the mechanical, electrical and procedural network interface specifications.
Functions of a Physical layer

 Line Configuration: It defines the way how two or more devices can be connected
physically.
 Data Transmission: It defines the transmission mode whether it is simplex, half-
duplex or full-duplex mode between the two devices on the network.
 Topology: It defines the way how network devices are arranged.
 Signals: It determines the type of the signal used for transmitting the information.

2. Data-Link Layer

 The data link layer is responsible for the error-free transfer of data frames.
 It defines the format of the data on the network.
 It provides a reliable and efficient communication between two or more devices.
 It is mainly responsible for the unique identification of each device that resides on a
local network.
 It contains two sub-layers:

Logical Link Control Layer

 It is responsible for transferring the packets to the Network layer of the receiver that is
receiving.
 It identifies the address of the network layer protocol from the header.
 It also provides flow control.

Media Access Control Layer

 A Media access control layer is a link between the Logical Link Control layer and the
network's physical layer.
 It is used for transferring the packets over the network.

Functions of Data link Layer

Framing

 The data link layer translates the physical's raw bit stream into packets known as
Frames.

Physical Addressing

 The Data link layer adds a header to the frame that contains a destination address.
 The frame is transmitted to the destination address mentioned in the header.

Flow Control

 Flow control is the main functionality of the Data-link layer.

 It is the technique through which the constant data rate is maintained on both the sides
so that no data get corrupted.
Error Control

 Error control is achieved by adding a calculated value CRC (Cyclic Redundancy

Check) that is placed to the Data link layer's trailer which is added to the message
frame before it is sent to the physical layer.

Access Control

 When two or more devices are connected to the same communication channel, then
the data link layer protocols are used to determine which device has control over the
link at a given time.

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.

Functions of Network Layer

Internetworking

 An internetworking is the main responsibility of the network layer.

 It provides a logical connection between different devices.

Addressing

 A Network layer adds the source and destination address to the header of the frame.
Addressing is used to identify the device on the internet.

Routing

 Routing is the major component of the network layer, and it determines the best
optimal path out of the multiple paths from source to the destination.

Packetizing:

 A Network Layer receives the packets from the upper layer and converts them into
packets. This process is known as Packetizing. It is achieved by internet protocol (IP).

4. Transport Layer

 The transport layer provides services to the application layer and takes services from
the network layer.
 The data in the transport layer is referred to as Segments.
 The services provided by the transport layer :
 Connection-Oriented Service: It is a three-phase process that includes
 Connection Establishment
 Data Transfer and Termination / disconnection

5. Session Layer
  The Session layer is used to establish, maintain and synchronizes the interaction
between communicating devices.
 This layer is responsible for the establishment of connection, maintenance of sessions,
authentication, and also ensures security.
 Sessions offer various services, including dialog control, token management and
synchronization

Dialog control

 Session layer acts as a dialog controller that creates a dialog between two processes

Synchronization

 Session layer adds some checkpoints when transmitting the data in a sequence

6. Presentation Layer

 A Presentation layer is mainly concerned with the syntax and semantics of the
information exchanged between the two systems.
 It acts as a data translator for a network.
 The Presentation layer is also known as the syntax layer.
 The presentation layer is also called as translation layer
 The functions of the presentation layer is translation, encryption and compression

7. Application Layer

 The application layer contains a variety of protocols that are commonly needed by
users.
 The application protocol is HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol), which is the basis
for the World Wide Web.

Example: Browsers, Skype Messenger.