OSI Model, a brief overview.
2 min readMar 18, 2023
The OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) model is a conceptual framework that describes how communication between different systems should be structured. It is a seven-layer model, with each layer representing a different aspect of communication.
Here is a brief overview of each layer:
- Physical Layer: The physical layer is responsible for the transmission of raw data over the network. This includes things like the electrical or optical signals that represent the data, as well as the physical hardware that transmits and receives these signals, such as cables, hubs, and repeaters.
- Data Link Layer: The data link layer is responsible for the transmission of data frames between devices on the same physical network. It handles things like addressing, error detection and correction, and flow control, to ensure that data is transmitted reliably and efficiently.
- Network Layer: The network layer is responsible for the transmission of data packets between devices on different networks. It handles things like routing, traffic management, and addressing, to ensure that data is transmitted to the correct destination.
- Transport Layer: The transport layer is responsible for ensuring that data is transmitted reliably and efficiently between applications on different devices. It handles things like segmenting and reassembling data, error detection and correction and flow control, to ensure that data is transmitted in a way that is optimal for the application.
- Session Layer: The session layer is responsible for establishing, maintaining, and terminating communication sessions between applications on different devices. It handles things like authentication, authorization, and session management, to ensure that communication between applications is secure and reliable.
- Presentation Layer: The presentation layer is responsible for transforming data into a format that can be understood by the application. It handles things like data encryption, data compression, and data conversion, to ensure that data is transmitted in a format that is optimal for the application.
- Application Layer: The application layer is responsible for providing services to the user, such as email, file transfer, or web browsing. It handles things like protocol selection, data exchange, and user interfaces, to ensure that applications can communicate effectively and efficiently with other applications.
Overall, the OSI model provides a standard framework for understanding how communication between different systems should be structured. Breaking down the communication process into different layers, allows developers and engineers to design and implement more efficient and effective communication systems.