Layered Architecture

Gaurav S. Kasbekar
Dept. of Electrical Engineering
IIT Bombay

Introduction 1-1
Reference
❑ These are a modified version of slides by
Kurose and Ross available at:
http://ctas.poly.asu.edu/millard/CET459/lectno/K%
20-%20R%20stuff/index.html

Introduction 1-2
 Motivation
Networks are complex! router
workstation
❑ Lot of components server
mobile
 end systems local ISP
 routers
 communication links

❑ Lot of networking regional ISP

functions
 reliable data transfer
 routing
 congestion control company
network
 medium access control
Introduction 1-3
 Motivation
❑ Approach to simplify design of a large and complex
system…
❑ Break it down into smaller parts
 “modularity”
❑ E.g.:
 Circuit Design: large circuit divided into blocks
 Programming: large program divided into functions,
procedures
❑ Different parts may be designed independently
provided interfaces standardized
 e.g., function return value and arguments, signals at I/O
ports of circuit blocks
❑ This is the idea used in network design
 “Layering”
1-4
 Analogy
❑ Two philosophers at different locations want to communicate
 Location A (e.g., India)
 Location B (e.g., Germany)
❑ The philosopher at
 Location A: speaks only Hindi
 Location B: speaks only German
❑ Each philosopher uses services of a translator to convert to/ from a
common language (English)
❑ Each translator uses services of a secretary to transmit/ receive
messages (e.g., via email, phone)

1-5
 Analogy
❑ Overall task of communication between philosophers broken down into:
 Philosophers: what msg to send and when, how to respond to received msgs
 Translators: take msg from philosopher, pass translated msg to secretary & vice
versa
 Secretaries: take msg from translator, send to secretary at other location & vice
versa
❑ Layered Architecture
 Layer 3: the philosophers
 Layer 2: the translators
 Layer 1: the secretaries
❑ Each layer distributed across multiple locations

1-6
Layers in the Internet

Introduction 1-7
Layered Architecture
❑ Layer n provides a service to layer n+1 by:
 itself performing some actions
 using services provided by layer n-1

❑ E.g.: Translators provide service of

delivering msgs sent by one philosopher to
the other in an understandable language
 themselves perform translation
 use service of secretaries to actually transmit
msgs via phone, email, etc.

Introduction 1-8
 Layered Architecture
E.g.:
❑ Network Layer provides unreliable packet
transfer between end systems A and B
(packets may be dropped, corrupted, re-
ordered)
❑ Transport Layer
 uses unreliable packet transfer service of
Network Layer
 itself performs some actions (e.g., error
detection, retransmissions)
to provide reliable packet transfer service to
Application Layer
Introduction 1-9
Communication in Layered Architecture

1) Peer-to-peer communication, e.g., among

 the translators at the two locations
 the network layer entities at different nodes

2) Interfaces between adjacent layers at

the same location, e.g.,
 Philosopher passes the msg to be sent to
translator
 Secretary passes msg received from other
secretary to translator
 APIs/ set of commands in machines

❑ Peer-to-peer communication accomplished

via lower layers
Introduction 1-10
 Information Hiding
❑ Layer n can access the services provided
by layer n-1 using only the service
interface
 does not need to know how layer n-1 implements
the service
 views layer n-1 as a black box

❑ More generally, a layer does not need to

know implementation details of any other
layer to perform its own function

Introduction 1-11
 Advantages of Layering
❑ Complex task divided into smaller,
manageable tasks at different layers
❑ Implementation of a layer can be changed/
updated without affecting other layers
provided interfaces are unchanged, e.g.,
 translators may change from using English to
using French as common language
 long-distance links in telephone n/w were changed
from copper cable to fiber optic without having
to change higher layers
 updates in software programs at a layer

❑ Once interfaces are standardized, different

teams/ companies can develop hardware/
software for different layers 1-12
Layers in Internet

Introduction 1-13
 Layers in Internet

Application

Transport

Network

Link

Physical

• Application and transport layers only in end systems

• Lower three layers in end systems as well as routers 1-14
 Layers in Internet
❑ Application: network applications,
associated protocols
 HTTP, FTP, SMTP Application
❑ Transport: data transfer between
apps in end systems Transport
 TCP, UDP
❑ Network: routing of packets from Network
source to destination end system
 routing protocols, IP Link
❑ Link: packet transfer between
Physical
neighboring end systems/ routers
 PPP, Ethernet
❑ Physical: bit transfer on physical
link 1-15
Application Layer
❑ Network applications and associated
protocols reside here
❑ Example 1: Web
 Web browser (e.g., Firefox, Chrome, Internet
Explorer, Microsoft Edge)
 Web server (e.g., Apache, Microsoft server)
 HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP): protocol
for web document request and transfer
❑ Example 2: Email
 Mail readers (e.g., Gmail, Webmail)
 Mail servers (where user mailboxes are stored)
 Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)
Introduction 1-16
Application Layer
❑ Example 3: File Transfer
 File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
 File sharing/ download programs (e.g., ftp in
Linux, WinSCP)
❑ Example 4: Internet telephony
 User programs (e.g., Skype, Google Meet,
Microsoft Teams)
 Various possible protocols, e.g., Real-Time
Transport Protocol (RTP), Skype protocol

Introduction 1-17
 Transport Layer
❑ Manages data transfer between
applications in end systems
❑ Multiple applications in an end system may
be communicating with applications in other
end systems
❑ Transport layer performs multiplexing and
demultiplexing
 using unique identifier (port number) assigned
to each application process
❑ Some additional services (next slide)
❑ Transport Layer Protocols in Internet:
 Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)
 User Datagram Protocol (UDP) 1-18
Transport Layer
❑ TCP
 Reliable data transfer (recovery from bit
errors and packet losses, in order delivery of
packets)
 Congestion Control
 Flow Control

❑ UDP
 minimal protocol: no reliable data transfer,
congestion control or flow control
 used by real-time services

Introduction 1-19
 Network Layer
❑ Transport layer at source end system
passes msg along with destination address
to network layer
❑ Network layer routes packet over network
to destination
 Typically over large number of intermediate
routers
 Needs to know path to destination

❑ Network layer periodically computes paths

 using routing algorithms
❑ Internet Protocol (IP)
 network layer protocol in internet
Introduction 1-20
 Link Layer
❑ Recall: network layer routes packets over
multiple hops from source end system to
destination end system
❑ To move a packet from a node A to next
node B in path
 Network layer at A passes packet to link layer
at A
 Link layer at A sends packet to link layer at B
 Link layer at B passes packet to network layer
at B
❑ Examples: PPP, Ethernet, Wi-Fi
Introduction 1-21
 Link Layer
❑ Recovery from bit errors in physical link
❑ If physical link is a shared medium
 Medium Access Control (MAC)
 “MAC Sublayer”

Introduction 1-22
 Physical Layer
❑ Recall: link layer moves packets between
neighboring nodes
❑ Physical layer moves the individual bits in
packet across physical link
❑ Physical layer issues
 Modulation/ demodulation
 bit synchronization, timing

❑ Physical layer provides “bit pipe”

 unaware of where packets start and end

Introduction 1-23
 source
message M application
Encapsulation
segment Ht M transport
datagram Hn Ht M network
frame Hl Hn Ht M link
physical
Hl Hn Ht M link Hl Hn Ht M
physical

switch

destination Hn Ht M network Hn Ht M
M application H l Hn Ht M link Hl Hn Ht M
Ht M transport physical
Hn Ht M network
Hl Hn H t M link router
physical

Introduction 1-24
 Encapsulation
❑ When a packet passed from layer n to layer
n-1, latter appends additional information
 “header”
 e.g., source and destination addresses, port
numbers, checksum bits, sequence numbers
❑ Header removed when packet passed from
layer n-1 to n at peer node

Introduction 1-25
 Disadvantages of Layering
❑ Duplication of functionality
 E.g., error-checking often at both link and
transport layers
❑ Loss in performance
 functions at different layers cannot be jointly
optimized
 example on next slide

❑ “Cross-Layer Design”
 Two or more layers combined
 Better performance
 Complicated to design, maintain
1-26
 Example
❑ File transfer from end system A to B via several
intermediate routers
❑ A connected to next hop router by wireless link
 prone to errors
❑ Transport layer at A adapts transmission rate to pkt
loss rate
❑ Can’t distinguish between pkt losses due to
congestion in n/w and those due to errors on
wireless link
❑ Transmission rate adaption algorithm performance
could have been improved if this info were available

1-27