Computers communicate with each other in a networked environment by sending and receiving data. The whole process has to be governed by a set of rules. These rules constitute what is known as a protocol.
Since the US military developed ARPANET (the first true computer network) in 1969 [1], many protocols have been developed to handle computer networks. Protocols were proprietary at first, but soon open standards such as TCP/IP and the OSI seven layered model were developed. The TCP/IP protocol is based on the OSI model and is now the generally accepted protocol implemented in modern networks. It is the protocol which drives the world wide web.
All source and destination addresses are displayed in only IPv6 form
The Ethernet, Internet, Transmission Control and Hypertext Transfer protocols are each used in their respective layers in the TCP/IP protocol stack during the transmission of data from source to destination.
Ethernet is a network protocol that enables computers to share a transmission medium, such as a coaxial cable, over a LAN. It is also referred to as the IEEE 802.3 protocol in technical terms.
This is a network protocol that is used to identify the location a device or a computer running in computer network.
This is a network protocol that guides the establishing, maintaining and termination of a connection between two computers or devices that exchange data. It divides a message or file into packets that are transmitted over the internet and then reassembled when they reach their destination.
This is a network protocol facilitates the transmission of web pages in the internet.
Windows version: Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2.
Browser Protocol Major Version: 15
Browser Protocol Minor Version: 1
Wireshark is showing that I am sending a cookie.
The text describes the source of the packets flowing into the computer and the destination where the packets are heading to.
A protocol specifies the details of a communication between two computers on which two application programs run correspondingly [2]. These details range from allowed voltage levels of transmitted bits, the format of the message received by the applications and error handling procedures.
Protocols are arranged in a layered model. This means that functions are separated and arranged in a linear sequential manner. Layering protocols in this way makes the communication procedure easier to manage. It also makes it easier for developers to program since they focus on one aspect at a time [3].
A protocol’s layer communicates logically with its own equivalent layer between two computers. For example, the application layer of a receiving computer understands only the sending computer’s application layer.
The OSI Seven Layered Reference Model
This is the ISO protocol suite that was introduced in the 1970s and constitutes seven layers. An open system is a protocol suite that allows to computers or devices to communicate regardless of their hardware or software platforms [4].
The OSI model is not in itself a protocol, but a framework for designing and developing networks and protocols [5]. That is why the term ‘reference’ is part of its description. The diagram below illustrates the OSI model and its layers.
|
Application |
|
Presentation |
|
Session |
|
Transport |
|
Network |
|
Data link |
|
Physical |
Physical layer (Layer 1)- It is responsible for the simple transmission of electrical/light signals for wired networks or radio wave signals for wireless networks. It specifies voltages, cables, pin layout, signal timing and frequency of radio wave signals.
Datalink layer (Layer 2)- It is responsible for the encoding and decoding of electrical/light or radio wave signals into bits being transmitted between two communicating computers. It also performs flow control and gives the computers permission to access the transmission medium.
Network layer (layer 3) – It is responsible for forwarding of data packets, which vary in size, from the sending node to the receiving node through logical route in a network. It does so by use of addresses. Other functions include error checking and the sequencing of data packets.
Transport layer (layer 4) – It transforms data into segment for the network layer and ensures complete data transfer. It also transforms packets from the network layer into segments for the upper level layers.
Session layer (Layer 5)- It does the work of establishing, maintaining and termination communication sessions between two computers.
Presentation layer (Layer 6) – It transforms data into a format (syntax and semantics) that the application layer can accept regardless of the encryption style used to represent data at the network level.
Application layer (Layer 7) – It is the component that contains the application that interacts with the user and displays the actual message in its original form to the user. The user also uses it to create messages and to initiate the transmission process.
The TCP/IP protocol suite is based on the OSI reference model, but with a few modifications. It is the standard protocol used in the internet today [5]. It has five layers each of which corresponds to one or more of the OSI model layers and perform the same functionalities. The diagram below compares the TCP/IP protocol suite and OSI reference model.
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Application |
Application |
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Presentation |
|
|
Session |
|
|
Transport |
Transport |
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Internetwork |
Network |
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Data link |
Data link |
|
Physical |
Physical |
Several local area networks architectures exist; token ring, FDDI, ATM, Ethernet and wireless networks [2]. Of the aforementioned architectures, Ethernet is the most widely used architecture.
The American Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) have a set of standard known as “802” that deal with the various aspects of local area networks and metropolitan area networks. These standards mainly focus on the data link and physical layers of the OSI model [6].
The following table gives an overview of the various IEEE 802 standards.
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802.1 |
Higher layer LAN protocols |
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802.2 |
Logical link layer |
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802.3 |
Ethernet, CSMA/CD |
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802.3u |
100Mbps Ethernet |
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802.3z |
1Gbps Ethernet |
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802.5 |
Token ring network |
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802.11 |
Wireless LAN |
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802.11x |
Different wireless frequencies e.g 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g |
The IEEE 802 standards deal with the logical link control (LLC) and medium access control (MAC) sub layers [7]. The LLC sub layer acts as the interface to the network layer while the MAC sub layer acts as the interface to the physical layer.
The 802.3 standard, interchangeably called the Ethernet, is a type of carrier sense multiple access network with collision detection (CSMA/CD). One dominant feature of an Ethernet is that it utilizes a shared medium to which computers connect to transmit data. Collisions of data can, therefore, occur for two computers attempting to transmit at the same time[8].
The basic CSMA/CD algorithm can be summarized in a few logical steps as follows:-
Several topologies are available for the Ethernet standard. The most commonly used include the bus and star topologies [9].
All computers in a bus topology are physically connected to a single cable which they share to transmit data over the network. The basic layout is as follows:-
For the star topology, the computers are physically connected through a central point, that is, a hub or a switch. The uniqueness of the star topology is that logically, it can be a bus topology, whereby the inner operation of the hub/switch is very much similar to the bus topology operation.
Conclusion
The Information and communication industry is very dynamic. New technologies keep getting rolled out and new frontiers explored. This includes the networking discipline. With the increasing number of users connecting to the internet and other networks, new technologies have been developed in the networking world. These include Wireless LAN, WiMax and an array of other relatively new technologies. Summarily, networks are an indispensible phenomenon that has made the world a truly global village.
References
[1] Russell, Andrew L. “Histories of Networking vs. the History of the Internet.” SIGCIS Workshop. 2012.
[2] Tanenbaum, Andrew S., and David J. Wetherall. Computer networks. Pearson, 2011.
[3] Gitlin, Richard D., Jeremiah Hayes, and Stephen B. Weinstein. Data communications principles. Springer Science & Business Media, 2012.
[4] Bora, Gaurav, et al. “OSI reference model: An overview.” International Journal of Computer Trends and Technology (IJCTT 7.4 (2014).
[5] Alhamedi, Adel H., et al. “Internet of things communication reference model.” Computational Aspects of Social Networks (CASoN), 2014 6th International Conference on. IEEE, 2014.
[6] Davidson, John. An introduction to TCP/IP. Springer Science & Business Media, 2012.
[7] Goralski, Walter. The Illustrated network: How TCP/IP works in a modern network. Morgan Kaufmann, 2017.
[8] Tsukizawa, Takayuki, et al. “A fully integrated 60GHz CMOS transceiver chipset based on WiGig/IEEE802. 11ad with built-in self calibration for mobile applications.” Solid-State Circuits Conference Digest of Technical Papers (ISSCC), 2013 IEEE International. IEEE, 2013.
[9] Al-Fuqaha, Ala, et al. “Internet of things: A survey on enabling technologies, protocols, and applications.” IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials 17.4 (2015): 2347-2376.
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