The Open System Interconection Seven Layers

Intro
The Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference model has significantly influenced the development of internet protocol we use today. Created in the 1980’s by the International Standards Organization (ISO), a multinational body dedicated to worldwide agreement on international standards, this reference model has defined the entire network communication process into seven structured layers. In ascending order these layers are the physical, data link, network, transport, session, presentation, and application layers. The purpose of this model was, and still is, to simplify and set a standard for the design of communication and networking products that can communicate with each other, regardless of system differences.
Layer Functions
The Open Systems Interconnection model breaks down host-to-host transmissions into seven different layers where each one performs a specific function. At the same time each layer has the ability to also communicate with adjacent layers in either direction. In essence each layer interacts directly with the layer below it and at the same time also provides support to the layer above it.
1. Physical Layer
The first layer in the OSI model is the physical layer, which deals primarily with all of the hardware aspects of communication, essentially defining the standards for signaling and wiring. The main purpose of this layer is to handle the translation of binary bits in each frame into signals. And then transmit these signals one at a time over some physical medium connecting other network entities. On the receiving end, the physical layer will retrieve these individual signals and restore them to their bit representations before passing them up to the Data Link layer as a complete frame. Methods of ...

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...er applications may use, for example HTTP for web browsers or SMPT for e-mail. This layer is essentially responsible for integrating network functionality and providing network services to the user’s system, it is not involve any actual applications. Other standards set by the application layer include file transfer protocol (FTP), which is used to transfer files from one system to another. And domain name service (DNS) which is a network service that translates domain names to their IP addresses.

Works Cited

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/osi-model-for-cisco-networking.html http://support.microsoft.com/kb/103884 http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/network-basics-the-seven-layers-of-the-osi-referen.html
OSI Model Explained http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_rsqVtaloI http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSI_model http://www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/OSI_Layers.asp