The document provides an overview of the OSI model, which defines 7 layers of abstraction for characterizing and standardizing network communication functions. It describes each of the 7 layers, including the physical, data link, network, transport, session, presentation and application layers. The physical layer defines electrical specifications for devices and transmission mediums. Higher layers deal with issues like routing, congestion control, session establishment, data encoding and common application protocols. The OSI model aimed to standardize network architectures but TCP/IP is now more widely used.

1. OSI MODEL
By : Alok Pareek, Satish Solanki
&
Harsh Vardhan Sikhwal

2. WHAT IS OSI?
 The Open Systems Interconnection model (OSI model) is a product
of the Open Systems Interconnection effort at the International
Organization for Standardization. It is a prescription of characterizing
and standardizing the functions of a communications system in terms
of abstraction layers. Similar communication functions are grouped
into logical layers. An instance of a layer provides services to its
upper layer instances while receiving services from the layer below.
 For example, a layer that provides error-free communications across
a network provides the path needed by applications above it, while it
calls the next lower layer to send and receive packets that make up
the contents of that path. Two instances at one layer are connected
by a horizontal connection on that layer.

3. HISTORY
 Work on a layered model of network architecture was started and the
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) began to
develop its OSI framework architecture. OSI had two major
components: an abstract model of networking, called the Basic
Reference Model or seven-layer model, and a set of specific
protocols.
 The concept of a seven-layer model was provided by the work of
Charles Bachman, Honeywell Information Services. Various aspects
of OSI design evolved from experiences with the ARPANET, the
fledgling Internet, NPLNET, EIN, CYCLADES network and the work
in IFIP WG6.1. The new design was documented in ISO 7498 and its
various addenda. In this model, a networking system was divided
into layers. Within each layer, one or more entities implement its
functionality. Each entity interacted directly only with the layer
immediately beneath it, and provided facilities for use by the layer
above it

4. OSI Model with Diagram

5. DESCRIPTION OF OSI LAYERS
According to recommendation X.200, there are seven layers. These
Seven layers are
 Layer 1: Physical 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 optical cable. This includes the
layout
of pins, voltages, cable specifications, 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:
Establishment and termination of a connection to
a communications medium.

6. Participation in the process whereby the communication resources
are effectively shared among 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.
Parallel SCSI buses operate in this layer, although it must be
remembered that the logical SCSI protocol is a transport layer protocol
that runs over this bus. Various physical-layer Ethernet standards are
also in this layer; Ethernet incorporates both this layer and the data link
layer. The same applies to other local-area networks, such as token
ring, FDDI, ITU-TG.hn and IEEE 802.11, as well as personal area
networks such as Bluetooth and IEEE 802.15.4.

7. 2) The Data Link Layer:
The main task of the data link layer is to take a raw transmission facility and
transform it into a line that appears free of undetected transmission errors to
the network layer. To accomplish this, the sender breaks the input data into
data frames (typically a few hundred or a few thousand bytes), transmits
the frames sequentially, and processes the acknowledgment frames sent back
by the receiver.
The issues that the layer has to solve:
To create and to recognize frame boundaries - typically by attaching
special bit patterns to the beginning and end of the frame,
To solve the problem caused by damaged, lost or duplicate frames (the
data link layer may offer several different service classes to the network
layer, each with different quality and price),to keep a fast transmitter from
drowning a slow receiver in data,
If the line is bi-directional, the acknowledgment frames compete for the
use of the line with data frames.

8. 3) The Network Layer:
The main task of the network layer is to determine how data can be
delivered from source to destination. That is, the network layer is
concerned with controlling the operation of the subnet.
The issues that the layer has to solve:
To implement the routing mechanism,
To control congestions,
To do accounting,
To allow interconnection of heterogeneous networks.

9. 4) The Transport Layer:
The basic function of the transport layer is to accept data from the session
layer, split it up into smaller units if need be, pass them to the network layer,
and ensure that the pieces all arrive correctly at the other end. All this must be
done in a way that isolates the upper layers from the inevitable changes in the
hardware technology.
The issues that the transport layer has to solve:
 To realize a transport connection by several network connections if the
session layer requires a high throughput or multiplex several transport
connections onto the same network connection if network connections are
expensive,
 To provide different type of services for the session layer,
 To implement a kind of flow control

10. 5) The Session Layer:
The session layer allows users on different machines to establish sessions
between them. A session allows ordinary data transport, as does the transport
layer, but it also provides enhanced services useful in some applications.
Some of these services are:
 Dialog control - session can allow traffic to go in both directions at the
same time, or in only one direction at a time. If traffic can go only in
one way at a time, the session layer can help to keep track of whose
turn it is. Token management - for some protocols it is essential that
both sides do not attempt the same operation at the same time. The
session layer provides tokens that can be exchanged. Only the side
holding the token may perform the critical action.
 Synchronization - by inserting checkpoints into the data stream the
layer eliminates problems with potential crashes at long operations.
After a crash, only the data transferred after the last checkpoint
have to be repeated

11. 6) The Presentation Layer:
The presentation layer performs certain functions that are requested
sufficiently often to warrant finding a general solution for them, rather than
letting each user solve the problem. This layer is, unlike all the lower layers,
concerned with the syntax and semantics of the information transmitted.
A typical example of a presentation service is encoding data in a standard
agreed upon way. Different computers may use different ways of internal
coding of characters or numbers. In order to make it possible for computers
with different representations to communicate, the data structures to be
exchanged can be defined in an abstract way, along with a standard encoding
to be used "on the wire". The presentation layer manages these abstract data
structures and converts from the representation used inside the computer to
the network standard representation and back

12. 7) The Application Layer:
The application layer contains a variety of protocols that are commonly
needed.
For example, there are hundreds of incompatible terminal types in the world. If
they have to be used for a work with a full screen editor, many problems arise
from their incompatibility. One way to solve this problem is to define network
virtual terminal and write editor for this terminal. To handle each terminal type,
a piece of software must be written to map the functions of the network virtual
terminal onto the real terminal. All the virtual terminal software is in the
application layer.
Another application layer function is file transfer. It must handle different
incompatibilities between file systems on different computers. Further facilities
of the application layer are electronic mail, remote job entry, directory lookup
ant others

13. Problem’s in OSI Model
 Seven layers not widely accepted
 Standardized before implemented
 Top three layers fuzzy
 Internet or TCP/IP layering widespread