The Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) model has seven layers.

This article
describes and explains them, beginning with the 'lowest' in the hierarchy (the
physical) and proceeding to the 'highest' (the application). The layers are stacked
this way
!pplication
"resentation
Session
Transport
#etwork
$ata %ink
"hysical
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The physical layer, the lowest layer o+ the OSI model, is concerned with the
transmission and reception o+ the ,nstr,ct,red raw bit stream over a physical
medi,m. It describes the electrical-optical, mechanical, and +,nctional inter+aces
to the physical medi,m, and carries the signals +or all o+ the higher layers. It
provides
$ata encoding modi.es the simple digital signal pattern (/s and 0s) ,sed
by the "( to better accommodate the characteristics o+ the physical
medi,m, and to aid in bit and +rame synchroni1ation. It determines
o 2hat signal state represents a binary /
o &ow the receiving station knows when a 3bit4time3 starts
o &ow the receiving station delimits a +rame
"hysical medi,m attachment, accommodating vario,s possibilities in the
medi,m
o 2ill an external transceiver (5!6) be ,sed to connect to the
medi,m7
o &ow many pins do the connectors have and what is each pin ,sed
+or7
Transmission techni8,e determines whether the encoded bits will be
transmitted by baseband (digital) or broadband (analog) signaling.
"hysical medi,m transmission transmits bits as electrical or optical signals
appropriate +or the physical medi,m, and determines
o 2hat physical medi,m options can be ,sed
o &ow many volts-db sho,ld be ,sed to represent a given signal
state, ,sing a given physical medi,m
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The data link layer provides error4+ree trans+er o+ data +rames +rom one node to
another over the physical layer, allowing layers above it to ass,me virt,ally error4
+ree transmission over the link. To do this, the data link layer provides
%ink establishment and termination establishes and terminates the logical
link between two nodes.
:rame tra;c control tells the transmitting node to 3back4o<3 when no
+rame b,<ers are available.
:rame se8,encing transmits-receives +rames se8,entially.
:rame acknowledgment provides-expects +rame acknowledgments.
$etects and recovers +rom errors that occ,r in the physical layer by
retransmitting non4acknowledged +rames and handling d,plicate +rame
receipt.
:rame delimiting creates and recogni1es +rame bo,ndaries.
:rame error checking checks received +rames +or integrity.
5edia access management determines when the node 3has the right3 to
,se the physical medi,m.
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The network layer controls the operation o+ the s,bnet, deciding which physical
path the data sho,ld take based on network conditions, priority o+ service, and
other +actors. It provides
*o,ting ro,tes +rames among networks.
S,bnet tra;c control ro,ters (network layer intermediate systems) can
instr,ct a sending station to 3throttle back3 its +rame transmission when the
ro,ter's b,<er .lls ,p.
:rame +ragmentation i+ it determines that a downstream ro,ter's
maxim,m transmission ,nit (5T6) si1e is less than the +rame si1e, a ro,ter
can +ragment a +rame +or transmission and re4assembly at the destination
station.
%ogical4physical address mapping translates logical addresses, or names,
into physical addresses.
S,bnet ,sage acco,nting has acco,nting +,nctions to keep track o+ +rames
+orwarded by s,bnet intermediate systems, to prod,ce billing in+ormation.
Communications Subnet
The network layer so+tware m,st b,ild headers so that the network layer
so+tware residing in the s,bnet intermediate systems can recogni1e them and ,se
them to ro,te data to the destination address.
This layer relieves the ,pper layers o+ the need to know anything abo,t the data
transmission and intermediate switching technologies ,sed to connect systems. It
establishes, maintains and terminates connections across the intervening
comm,nications +acility (one or several intermediate systems in the
comm,nication s,bnet).
In the network layer and the layers below, peer protocols exist between a node
and its immediate neighbor, b,t the neighbor may be a node thro,gh which data
is ro,ted, not the destination station. The so,rce and destination stations may be
separated by many intermediate systems.
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The transport layer ens,res that messages are delivered error4+ree, in
se8,ence, and with no losses or d,plications. It relieves the higher layer protocols
+rom any concern with the trans+er o+ data between them and their peers.
The si1e and complexity o+ a transport protocol depends on the type o+ service it
can get +rom the network layer. :or a reliable network layer with virt,al circ,it
capability, a minimal transport layer is re8,ired. I+ the network layer is ,nreliable
and-or only s,pports datagrams, the transport protocol sho,ld incl,de extensive
error detection and recovery.
The transport layer provides
5essage segmentation accepts a message +rom the (session) layer above
it, splits the message into smaller ,nits (i+ not already small eno,gh), and
passes the smaller ,nits down to the network layer. The transport layer at
the destination station reassembles the message.
5essage acknowledgment provides reliable end4to4end message delivery
with acknowledgments.
5essage tra;c control tells the transmitting station to 3back4o<3 when no
message b,<ers are available.
Session m,ltiplexing m,ltiplexes several message streams, or sessions
onto one logical link and keeps track o+ which messages belong to which
sessions (see session layer).
Typically, the transport layer can accept relatively large messages, b,t there are
strict message si1e limits imposed by the network (or lower) layer. (onse8,ently,
the transport layer m,st break ,p the messages into smaller ,nits, or +rames,
prepending a header to each +rame.
The transport layer header in+ormation m,st then incl,de control in+ormation,
s,ch as message start and message end =ags, to enable the transport layer on
the other end to recogni1e message bo,ndaries. In addition, i+ the lower layers do
not maintain se8,ence, the transport header m,st contain se8,ence in+ormation
to enable the transport layer on the receiving end to get the pieces back together
in the right order be+ore handing the received message ,p to the layer above.
End-to-end layers
6nlike the lower 3s,bnet3 layers whose protocol is between immediately
ad>acent nodes, the transport layer and the layers above are tr,e 3so,rce to
destination3 or end4to4end layers, and are not concerned with the details o+ the
,nderlying comm,nications +acility. Transport layer so+tware (and so+tware above
it) on the so,rce station carries on a conversation with similar so+tware on the
destination station by ,sing message headers and control messages.
S)SSIO# %!')*
The session layer allows session establishment between processes r,nning on
di<erent stations. It provides
Session establishment, maintenance and termination allows two
application processes on di<erent machines to establish, ,se and terminate
a connection, called a session.
Session s,pport per+orms the +,nctions that allow these processes to
comm,nicate over the network, per+orming sec,rity, name recognition,
logging, and so on.
"*)S)#T!TIO# %!')*
The presentation layer +ormats the data to be presented to the application
layer. It can be viewed as the translator +or the network. This layer may translate
data +rom a +ormat ,sed by the application layer into a common +ormat at the
sending station, then translate the common +ormat to a +ormat known to the
application layer at the receiving station.
The presentation layer provides
(haracter code translation +or example, !S(II to )?($I(.
$ata conversion bit order, (*4(*-%:, integer4=oating point, and so on.
$ata compression red,ces the n,mber o+ bits that need to be transmitted
on the network.
$ata encryption encrypt data +or sec,rity p,rposes. :or example,
password encryption.
!""%I(!TIO# %!')*
The application layer serves as the window +or ,sers and application processes to
access network services. This layer contains a variety o+ commonly needed
+,nctions
*eso,rce sharing and device redirection
*emote .le access
*emote printer access
Inter4process comm,nication
#etwork management
$irectory services
)lectronic messaging (s,ch as mail)
#etwork virt,al terminals