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Home Study Guides CCNA Routing & Switching 200-120 Chapter 1 Understanding Networks and their Building Blocks
1-3 OSI Reference Model
As discussed earlier, the OSI model was created to promote communication between devices of various vendors. It also promotes
communication between disparate hosts such as hosts using different operating platforms (Windows, OSX, Linux, etc.). Remember
that you are very unlikely to ever work on a system that uses protocols conforming to the OSI reference model. But it is essentially
to know the model and its terminology because other models such as the TCP/IP model are often compared to the OSI reference
model. Hence the discussion on this model will be limited compared to the discussion on the TCP/IP model.
The OSI reference model, like most other network models, divides the functions, protocols, and devices of a network into various
layers. The layered approach provides many benefits, some of which are:
Communication is divided into smaller and simpler components. This makes designing, developing and troubleshooting
easier.
Since it is a layered approach, the vendors write to a common input and output specification per layer. The guts of their
products functions in between the input and output code of that layer.
Changes in one layer do not affect other layers. Hence development in one layer is not bound by limitations of other layers.
For example, wireless technologies are new but old applications run seamless over them without any changes.
It is easier to standardize functions when they are divided into smaller parts like this.
It allows various types of hardware and software, both new and old to communicate with each other seamlessly.
The OSI reference model has seven such layers that can be divided into two groups. The upper layers (Layers 7, 6 and 5) define how
applications interact with the host interface, with each other, and the user. The lower four layers (Layers 4, 3, 2 and 1) define how
data is transmitted between hosts in a network. Figure 1-7 shows the seven layers and a summary of their functions.
Figure 1-7 Seven Layers of OSI Reference Model
destination address. Similarly data is moved across network mainly by routers before being finally delivered to the destination.
All these three functions logical addressing, path determination and forwarding are done at the Network Layer. Two types of
protocols are used for these functions routed protocols are used for logical addressing and forwarding while routing protocols
are used for path determinations. There are many routed protocols and routing protocols available. Some of the common ones are
discussed in great detail later the book. Routers function at this layer. Remember that routers only care about the destination
network. They do not care about the destination host itself. The task of delivery to the destination host lies on the Data Link Layer.
Data Link Layer
While the Network layer deals with data moving across networks using logical addresses, Data Link layer deals with data moving
within a local network using physical addresses. Each host has a logical address and a physical address. The physical address is only
locally significant and is not used beyond the network boundaries (across a router). This layer also defines protocols that are used to
send and receive data across the media. You will remember from earlier in the chapter that only a single host can send data at a time
in a collision domain or else packets will collide and cause a host to back off for sometime. The Data Link layer determines when
the media is ready for the host to send the data and also detects collisions and other errors in received data. Switches function at this
layer.
Physical Layer
This layer deals with the physical transmission medium itself. It activates, maintains and deactivates the physical link between
systems (host and switch for example). This is where the connectors, pin-outs, cables, electrical currents etc. are defined. Essentially
this layer puts the data on the physical media as bits and receives it in the same way. Hubs work at this layer.
Data Encapsulation
In the previous sections you learned about various layers of the OSI reference model. Each layer has its distinct function and it
interacts with the corresponding layer at the remote end. For example, the transport layer at the source will interact with the
transport layer of the destination. For this interaction, each layer adds a header in front of the data from the previous layer. This
header contains control information related to the protocol being used at that layer. This process is called encapsulation. This
header and the data being sent from one layer to the next lower layer is called a Protocol Data Unit (PDU). Figure 1-8 shows how
data gets encapsulated as it travels from layer 7 down to layer 1.
Figure 1-8 Encapsulation in OSI Reference Model
As shown in Figure 1-8, The Application layer adds its protocol dependent header to the data and creates the Layer 7 PDU which is
then passed down to the Presentation Layer. This layer then adds its header to the Layer 7 PDU to create the Layer 6 PDU and sends
it down to the Session layer. This goes on till Layer 2 receives the Layer 3 PDU. Layer 2 adds a header and a trailer to the Layer 3
PDU to create the Layer 2 PDU that is then sent to Layer 1 for transmission.
At the receiving end, Layer 1 takes the data off the wire and sends it to Layer 2. Here the Layer 2 header and trailer are examined
and removed. The resulting Layer 3 PDU is sent to Layer 3. Layer 3 in turn examines the header in the PDU and removes it. The
resulting Layer 4 PDU is sent to Layer 4. Similarly, each layer removes the header added by the corresponding layer at the source
before sending the data to the upper layer. Finally the Application layer removes the Layer 7 header and sends the data to the
application. This process of examining, processing and removing the header is known as decapsulation.
Exam Alert: It is very important to remember the Layer names, their functions and the encapsulation process. You can use a common mnemonic to remember
the layer names and their sequence All People Seem To Need Data Processing. This is an important concept on your CCNA exam.
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