networking model

A generic term referring to any set of protocols and standards collected into a comprehensive grouping that, when
followed by the devices in a network, allows all the devices to communicate.

A networking model, sometimes also called either a networking architecture or networking blueprint, refers to a
comprehensive set of documents.
- Documents define everything that should happen for a computer network to work.
- Some documents define a protocol, which is a set of logical rules that devices must follow to
communicate.
- Other documents define some physical requirements for networking.
- For example, a document could define the voltage and current levels used on a particular cable when
transmitting data.


Created by ISO and ITU-T to develop standards for data networking that facilitate multivendor equipment
interoperability.

- However, the world has not always been so simple.
- Once upon a time, networking protocols didnt exist, including TCP/IP.
- Vendors created the first networking protocols; these protocols supported only that vendors computers.
- For example, IBM published its Systems Network Architecture (SNA) networking model in 1974.
- Other vendors also created their own proprietary networking models.
- As a result, if your company bought computers from three vendors, network engineers often had to
create three different networks based on the networking models created by each company, and then
somehow connect those networks, making the combined networks much more complex.
- The left side of Figure 1-3 shows the general idea of what a companys enterprise network might have
looked back in the 1980s, before TCP/IP became common in enterprise internetworks
- Although vendor-defined proprietary networking models often worked well, having an open, vendo
rneutral networking model would aid competition and reduce complexity.
- The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) took on the task to create such a model, starting
as early as the late 1970s, beginning work on what would become known as the Open Systems
Interconnection (OSI) networking model.
- ISO had a noble goal for the OSI model: to standardize data networking protocols to allow communication
between all computers across the entire planet.
- ISO worked toward this ambitious and noble goal, with participants from most of the technologically
developed nations on Earth participating in the process.
- A second, less formal effort to create an open, vendor-neutral, public networking model sprouted forth
from a U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) contract.
- Researchers at various universities volunteered to help further develop the protocols surrounding the
original DoD work.
- These efforts resulted in a competing open networking model called TCP/IP. During the 1990s, companies
began adding OSI, TCP/IP, or both to their enterprise networks.
- However, by the end of the 1990s, TCP/IP had become the common choice, and OSI fell away. The center
part of Figure 1-3 shows the general idea behind enterprise networks in that decadestill with networks
built upon multiple networking models, but including TCP/IP.

Presentation layer implementations are not typically associated with a particular protocol stack. The standards for
video and graphics are examples. Some well-known standards for video include QuickTime and Motion Picture
Experts Group (MPEG). QuickTime is an Apple Computer specification for video and audio, and MPEG is a standard
for video compression and coding.

The Transport layer provides for the segmentation of data and the control necessary to reassemble these pieces
into the various communication streams. Its primary responsibilities to accomplish this are:
- Tracking the individual communication between applications on the source and destination hosts
- Segmenting data and managing each piece
- Reassembling the segments into streams of application data
- Identifying the different applications
Tracking Individual Conversations
Any host may have multiple applications that are communicating across the network. Each of these applications
will be communicating with one or more applications on remote hosts. It is the responsibility of the Transport layer
to maintain the multiple communication streams between these applications.
Segmenting Data
As each application creates a stream data to be sent to a remote application, this data must be prepared to be sent
across the media in manageable pieces. The Transport layer protocols describe services that segment this data
from the Application layer. This includes the encapsulation required on each piece of data. Each piece of
application data requires headers to be added at the Transport layer to indicate to which communication it is
associated.
Reassembling Segments
At the receiving host, each piece of data may be directed to the appropriate application. Additionally, these
individual pieces of data must also be reconstructed into a complete data stream that is useful to the Application
layer. The protocols at the Transport layer describe the how the Transport layer header information is used to
reassemble the data pieces into streams to be passed to the Application layer.
Identifying the Applications
In order to pass data streams to the proper applications, the Transport layer must identify the target application.
To accomplish this, the Transport layer assigns an application an identifier. The TCP/IP protocols call this identifier
a port number. Each software process that needs to access the network is assigned a port number unique in that
host. This port number is used in the transport layer header to indicate to which application that piece of data is
associated.
The Transport layer is the link between the Application layer and the lower layer that are responsible for network
transmission. This layer accepts data from different conversations and passes it down to the lower layers as
manageable pieces that can be eventually multiplexed over the media.
Applications do not need to know the operational details of the network in use. The applications generate data
that is sent from one application to another, without regard to the destination host type, the type of media over
which the data must travel, the path taken by the data, the congestion on a link, or the size of the network.
Additionally, the lower layers are not aware that there are multiple applications sending data on the network.
Their responsibility is to deliver data to the appropriate device. The Transport layer then sorts these pieces before
delivering them to the appropriate application.
Data Requirements Vary
Because different applications have different requirements, there are multiple Transport layer protocols. For some
applications, segments must arrive in a very specific sequence in order to be processed successfully. In some cases,
all of the data must be received for any of it to be of use. In other cases, an application can tolerate some loss of
data during transmission over the network.
In today's converged networks, applications with very different transport needs may be communicating on the
same network. The different Transport layer protocols have different rules allowing devices to handle these
diverse data requirements.
Some protocols provide just the basic functions for efficiently delivering the data pieces between the appropriate
applications. These types of protocols are useful for applications whose data is sensitive to delays.
Other Transport layer protocols describe processes that provide additional features, such as ensuring reliable
delivery between the applications. While these additional functions provide more robust communication at the
Transport layer between applications, they have additional overhead and make larger demands on the network.