Why layers in networking

We use strictly necessary cookies to enable site functionality and improve the performance of our website. We also store cookies to personalize the website content and to serve more relevant content to you. For more information please visit our Privacy Policy or Cookie Policy. The OSI model characterizes computing functions into a universal set of rules and requirements in order to support interoperability between different products and software.

In the OSI reference model, the communications between a computing system are split into seven different abstraction layers: Physical, Data Link, Network, Transport, Session, Presentation, and Application.

Though it does not always map directly to specific systems, the OSI Model is still used today as a means to describe Network Architecture. The lowest layer of the OSI Model is concerned with electrically or optically transmitting raw unstructured data bits across the network from the physical layer of the sending device to the physical layer of the receiving device.

It can include specifications such as voltages, pin layout, cabling, and radio frequencies. At the data link layer, directly connected nodes are used to perform node-to-node data transfer where data is packaged into frames.

The data link layer also corrects errors that may have occurred at the physical layer. The data link layer encompasses two sub-layers of its own. The first, media access control MAC , provides flow control and multiplexing for device transmissions over a network. The second, the logical link control LLC , provides flow and error control over the physical medium as well as identifies line protocols.

The network layer is responsible for receiving frames from the data link layer, and delivering them to their intended destinations among based on the addresses contained inside the frame. See how Imperva Web Application Firewall can help you with application security.

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For example, different software packages applications may use the same transport, network and link layers but have their own application layer. The way the program encodes the message changes - the rest of communication method remains the same.

Similarly, the move from IPv4 addressing to IPv6 affects only the network layer - the other layers remain unaffected. This allows improvements to be made without having to redefine whole communication methods.