Tuesday, 8 September 2015

OSI Model

TUTORIAL 2 - OSI MODEL


OSI model is a reference tool for understanding data communication between any network systems. It consists of seven layers where one layer performs specific functions to support the layer above it.

LEVEL 1- PHYSICAL LAYER
·      Describes the electrical or optical signals used for communication. It is responsible for movement of bits from one node to the next. It is concerned with physical characteristics of electric or optical signalling techniques , representation of bits, data rate (number of bits sent per second and duration of the bit), synchronization of bit, line configuration( connection of devices to the media), physical topology and transmission mode(simplex, half-duplex, full duplex).                                  

LEVEL 2- DATA LINK LAYER
·    Transforms physical layer into a link making it error free to the layers above. It is responsible for moving frames i.e packets with address information. It is concerned with framing which divide bits into data units knows as frames, physical addressing of the frames, flow control of the data, error control which adds reliability to the link, and access control which determines which device has control over the link.

LEVEL 3- NETWORK LAYER
·    Source to destination delivery of packets (small chunks of broken data sent over a computer network) ensuring that it arrives at its destination intact. It is responsible for Logical addressing adding a header to the packet received from the above layer and Routing which sends the packet to its final destination.

LEVEL 4- TRANSPORT LAYER
·   Responsible for process to process delivery of the entire message ensuring that it arrives at the destination intact and in order. Other responsibilities include error control, flow control, connection control between devices and terminating it after data is transferred, segmentation and reassembly where a message is divided into segments that contain sequence numbers which allows for the message to be reassembled upon destination arrival and service point addressing also known as port address.

LEVEL 5- SESSION LAYER
·    It is responsible for developing, maintaining and synchronizing interaction between communication systems. It is also its responsibility to allow systems to dialog allowing processors to communicate using the same transmission mode and synchronization of the data.

LEVEL 6- PRESENTATION LAYER
·   This layer is responsible for the translation of the information to bits prior transmission, compression of data to reduce the number of bits contained, and encryption which transforms the original information into a different form before sending it forward.

LEVEL 7-APPLICATION LAYER
·      Allows user access to the network. It offers mail services, directory services that provide distributed database source and access to global information, file transfer, access and management, and network virtual terminal that allows a user to log onto a remote host.

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REFERENCE LIST
Simoneau,P.2009.The OSI model: Understanding the seven layers of computer networks(PDF).:Global Knowledge Training. Available: http://faculty.spokanefalls.edu/Rudlock/files/WP_Simoneau_OSIModel.pdf (Accessed 04 September 2015)


Forouzan, B,A.2007.Data Communication and networking(online).New York,USA.Alan R Apt.Available: http://iit.qau.edu.pk/books/Data%20Communications%20and%20Networking%20By%20Behrouz%20A.Forouzan.pdf  (Accessed 07 September 2015).

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