IP Networking and Cyber Security

OSI Model

1 OSI MODEL
STRUCTURE
1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 INTRODUCTION OBJECTIVE ISO MODEL LAYERED ARCHITECTURE LAYERS OF OSI MODEL SUMMARY SELF ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED FURTHER READINGS

1.1

INTRODUCTION

The OSI is the reference model which acted as reference theoretical model for developing a working model of Internet in the form of TCP/IP protocol suite. 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 communication is the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model (ISO/IEC 7498-1). An open system is a model that allows any two different systems to communicate regardless of their underlying architecture. Vendor-specific protocols close off communication between unrelated systems. The purpose of the OSI model is to open communication between different systems without requiring changes to the logic of the underlying hardware 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.

1.2

OBJECTIVE
After reading this unit, you should be able to understand: ISO Model Layered Architecture Layers of OSI Model

1.3

ISO MODEL

The Open Systems Interconnection model is a layered framework for the design of network systems that allows for communication across all types of computer systems. It consists of seven separate but related layers, each of which defines a segment of the

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IP Networking and Cyber Security

OSI Model

process of moving information across a network. Understanding the fundamentals of the OSI model provides a solid basis for exploration of data communication.

1.4

LAYERED ARCHITECTURE

The OSI model is built of seven ordered layers: Physical (layer 1), Data link (layer 2), Network (layer 3), Transport (layer 4), Session (layer 5), Presentation (layer 6), and Application (layer 7). The Control is passed from one layer to the next, starting at the application layer in one station, and proceeding to the bottom layer, over the channel to the next station and back up the hierarchy. During the process data is encapsulated from the higher layer to the lower layer and reverse is performed at the other end.

1.5

LAYERS OF OSI MODEL

In OSI reference model there seven layers of protocols. Each layer provides services to the layer above it. There are in all seven layers of in OSI. They are: 1. Physical Layer: It is the lower most layer of the OSI reference model. It is layer which is responsible for direct interaction of the OSI model with hardware. The hardware provides service to the physical layer and it provides service to the datalink layer. The physical layer defines electrical and physical specifications for devices. In particular, it defines the relationship between a device and a transmission medium, such as a copper or fiber optical cable. This includes the layout of pins, voltages, line impedance, cable specifications, signal timing, hubs, repeaters, network adapters, host bus adapters (HBA used in storage area networks) and more. The major functions and services performed by the physical layer are:

7: Applicaion 6: Presentation 5: Session 4: Transport

3: Network

Establishment and termination of a connection to a communications medium. 2: Data Link Participation in the process whereby the communication resources are effectively shared among 1: Physical multiple users. For example, contention resolution and flow control. Modulation or conversion between the representation of digital data in user equipment and the corresponding signals transmitted over a communications channel. These are signals operating over the physical cabling (such as copper and optical fiber) or over a radio link.

2. Datalink Layer: There may be certain errors which may occur at the physical layer. If possible, these errors are corrected by the datalink layer. The datalink layer provides the way by which various entities can transfer the data to the network. BSNL Online Certificate Programme For Restricted Circulation Page 2 of 6

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The data link layer provides the functional and procedural means to transfer data between network entities and to detect and possibly correct errors that may occur in the physical layer. Originally, this layer was intended for point-to-point and point-tomultipoint media, characteristic of wide area media in the telephone system. Local area network architecture, which included broadcast-capable multi-access media, was developed independently of the ISO work in IEEE Project 802. IEEE work assumed sublayer-ing and management functions not required for WAN use. In modern practice, only error detection, not flow control using sliding window, is present in data link protocols such as Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP), and, on local area networks, the IEEE 802.2 LLC layer is not used for most protocols on the Ethernet, and on other local area networks, its flow control and acknowledgment mechanisms are rarely used. Sliding window flow control and acknowledgment is used at the transport layer by protocols such as TCP, but is still used in niches where X.25 offers performance advantages. The ITU-T G.hn standard, which provides high-speed local area networking over existing wires (power lines, phone lines and coaxial cables), includes a complete data link layer which provides both error correction and flow control by means of a selective repeat Sliding Window Protocol. Both WAN and LAN service arrange bits, from the physical layer, into logical sequences called frames. Not all physical layer bits necessarily go into frames, as some of these bits are purely intended for physical layer functions. For example, every fifth bit of the FDDI bit stream is not used by the layer. WAN protocol architecture Connection-oriented WAN data link protocols, in addition to framing, detect and may correct errors. They are also capable of controlling the rate of transmission. A WAN data link layer might implement a sliding window flow control and acknowledgment mechanism to provide reliable delivery of frames. IEEE 802 LAN architecture Practical, connectionless LANs began with the pre-IEEE Ethernet specification, which is the ancestor of IEEE 802.3. This layer manages the interaction of devices with a shared medium, which is the function of a media access control (MAC) sub-layer. Above this MAC sub-layer is the media-independent IEEE 802.2 Logical Link Control (LLC) sub-layer, which deals with addressing and multiplexing on multi-access media. While IEEE 802.3 is the dominant wired LAN protocol and IEEE 802.11 the wireless LAN protocol, obsolete MAC layers include Token Ring and FDDI. The MAC sub-layer detects but does not correct errors. 3. Network Layer: It does not allow the quality of the service to be degraded that was requested by the transport layer. It is also responsible for data transfer sequence from source to destination. The network layer provides the functional and procedural means of transferring variable length data sequences from a source host on one network to a destination host on a different network (in contrast to the data link layer which connects hosts within the same network), while maintaining the quality of service requested by the transport layer. The network layer performs network routing functions, and might also perform fragmentation and reassembly, and report delivery errors. Routers operate at this layer, BSNL Online Certificate Programme For Restricted Circulation Page 3 of 6

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sending data throughout the extended network and making the Internet possible. This is a logical addressing scheme values are chosen by the network engineer. The addressing scheme is not hierarchical. The network layer may be divided into three sublayers: 1) Subnetwork access that considers protocols that deal with the interface to networks, such as X.25; 2) Subnetwork-dependent convergence when it is necessary to bring the level of a transit network up to the level of networks on either side 3) Subnetwork-independent convergence handles transfer across multiple networks. It manages the connectionless transfer of data one hop at a time, from end system to ingress router, router to router, and from egress router to destination end system. It is not responsible for reliable delivery to a next hop, but only for the detection of erroneous packets so they may be discarded. A number of layer-management protocols belong to the network layer. These include routing protocols, multicast group management, network-layer information and error, and network-layer address assignment. It is the function of the payload that makes these belong to the network layer, not the protocol that carries them. 4. Transport Layer: The reliability of the data is ensured by the transport layer. It also retransmits those data that fail to reach the destination. The transport layer provides transparent transfer of data between end users, providing reliable data transfer services to the upper layers. The transport layer controls the reliability of a given link through flow control, segmentation/desegmentation, and error control. Some protocols are state- and connection-oriented. This means that the transport layer can keep track of the segments and retransmit those that fail. The transport layer also provides the acknowledgement of the successful data transmission and sends the next data if no errors occurred. Although not developed under the OSI Reference Model and not strictly conforming to the OSI definition of the transport layer, the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) of the Internet Protocol Suite are commonly categorized as layer-4 protocols within OSI. 5. Session Layer: The session layer is responsible for creating and terminating the connection. Management of such a connection is taken care of by the session layer. The session layer controls the dialogues (connections) between computers. It establishes, manages and terminates the connections between the local and remote application. It provides for full-duplex, half-duplex, or simplex operation, and establishes checkpointing, adjournment, termination, and restart procedures. The OSI model made this layer responsible for graceful close of sessions, which is a property of the Transmission Control Protocol, and also for session check pointing and recovery, which is not usually used in the Internet Protocol Suite. The session layer is commonly implemented explicitly in application environments that use remote procedure calls. On this level, Inter-Process communication happen (SIGHUP, SIGKILL, End Process, etc.).

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6. Presentation Layer: This layer is responsible for decoding the context (syntax and semantics) of the higher level entities. The presentation layer establishes context between application-layer entities, in which the higher-layer entities may use different syntax and semantics if the presentation service provides a mapping between them. If a mapping is available, presentation service data units are encapsulated into session protocol data units, and passed down the stack. This layer provides independence from data representation (e.g., encryption) by translating between application and network formats. The presentation layer transforms data into the form that the application accepts. This layer formats and encrypts data to be sent across a network. It is sometimes called the syntax layer. The original presentation structure used the Basic Encoding Rules of Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1), with capabilities such as converting an EBCDIC-coded text file to an ASCII-coded file, or serialization of objects and other data structures from and to XML. 7. Application Layer: Whichever software application that implements socket programming will communicate with this layer. This layer is closest to the user. The application layer is the OSI layer closest to the end user, which means that both the OSI application layer and the user interact directly with the software application. This layer interacts with software applications that implement a communicating component. Such application programs fall outside the scope of the OSI model. Application-layer functions typically include identifying communication partners, determining resource availability, and synchronizing communication. When identifying communication partners, the application layer determines the identity and availability of communication partners for an application with data to transmit. When determining resource availability, the application layer must decide whether sufficient network or the requested communication exist. In synchronizing communication, all communication between applications requires cooperation that is managed by the application layer. Some examples of application-layer implementations also include: On OSI stack: FTAM File Transfer and Access Management Protocol X.400 Mail Common Management Information Protocol (CMIP)

1.6

SUMMARY

OSI model is reference model which clearly mentions the independent functions of each layer. This has resulted in developments in different layered areas irrespective of the functionality in other layers.

1.7

SELF ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS

a) b) c) d) What are the different layers in OSI model? What are the advantages of having layered OSI architecture? What is the importance of physical layer? Explain the Transport layer function. Page 5 of 6

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IP Networking and Cyber Security e) Explain the function of transport layer

OSI Model

1.8

REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED FURTHER READINGS

Andrew S. Tanenbaum, D. J. (2010). Computer Networks (5th Edition). RFC - Internet Official Protocol Standards. (n.d.). Stallings, W. (2010). Data and Computer Communications (9th Edition). http://en.wikipedia.org/

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