OSI Model

By: Mohammad Zeid Mohammad Abbas Mohammad Jida

During the early years of our modern computer era, very

few standards and protocols existed between various manufacturers

!owever, standards became necessity as technology

advanced "his was especially true with regard to networ#s, and networ#ing technology
$ince the main purpose of a networ# is to share

information, a standard that governs how this information is formatted, transmitted, received and verified would ma#e it possible for information to be shared openly, even when dealing with dissimilar networ#s

"his need for a standard means of implementing open

communications led the %$& and A'$% to develop the seven(layer networ# communications model #nown as &pen $ystems %nterconnect
By providing guidelines regarding the way networ# e)uipment

should be manufactured and how networ# operating systems communicate on a networ#, the &$% model became the common lin# that allows data to be transmitted and exchanged reliably
Although it does not actually perform any functions or do any of the

actual wor#, the &$% model defines the way things should be done by the software and hardware on a networ# so that communications can ta#e place between two computers or nodes

%n this way, the &$% model provides a universal set of rules that ma#e it

possible for various manufacturers and developers to create software and hardware that is compatible with each other "his ma#es for organi*ed communications
As % thought about this, % related it to the freeways that connect the

various states of the mainland + $ Because all of these freeways were constructed with the same set of standards regarding the width of each lane, the proper side that a person should drive on, the speed at which they should travel, and so on, people can comfortably drive across the country in an organi*ed and efficient manner and car manufacturers are able to design cars within these guidelines as well

&n the other hand, if each state had devised its own set of rules,

each differing from the other, not only would there be a lot more chaos on the roads, but also car manufacturers would have a hard time designing vehicles that would be compatible with each state,s roads "o me, this illustrates the importance of the &$% model with respect to networ# communications 'ot only is it the foundation for all networ# communications today, but also because it is such a fundamental part of these communications, it becomes very apparent to me that it is very important for a networ# technician to understand the &$% model in full detail

"he &$% model is made up of the following layers: the physical, data

lin#, networ#, transport, session, presentation and application

"ogether, these seven layers are collectively referred to as a stac# As a

node receives data, each layer starting with the physical layer extracts the various portions of the pac#et and this process wor#s its way up to the application layer
-hen data is sent, it begins at the application layer and travels down

to the physical layer "he information is pushed to the next layer of the stac# by means of commands called primitives
.ach layer uses a peer protocol to encode the information, which

ensures that the same layer on the receiving node will be able to understand the information