Thursday, January 24, 2008

DATACOM

What is Arpanet?
(Advance Research Program Networking)

The precursor to the
Internet, ARPANET was a large wide-area network created by the United States Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA). Established in 1969, ARPANET served as a testbed for new networking technologies, linking many universities and research centers. The first two nodes that formed the ARPANET were UCLA and the Stanford Research Institute, followed shortly thereafter by the University of Utah.





What is IEEE?
(Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)

A non-profit organization, IEEE is the world's leading professional association for the advancement of technology.
The IEEE name was originally an acronym for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Today, the organization's scope of interest has expanded into so many related fields, that it is simply referred to by the letters I-E-E-E (pronounced Eye-triple-E).






What is OSI?
(Open System Interconnection)

(pronounced as separate letters) Short for Open System Interconnection, an ISO standard for worldwide communications that defines a networking framework for implementing protocols in seven layers. Control is passed from one layer to the next, starting at the application layer in one station, proceeding to the bottom layer, over the channel to the next station and back up the hierarchy.
At one time, most vendors agreed to support OSI in one form or another, but OSI was too loosely defined and proprietary standards were too entrenched. Except for the OSI-compliant
X.400 and X.500 e-mail and directory standards, which are widely used, what was once thought to become the universal communications standard now serves as the teaching model for all other protocols.
Most of the functionality in the OSI model exists in all communications systems, although two or three OSI layers may be incorporated into one.


The 7 Layers of the OSI Model

Upper layers -
7. application
6. presentation
5. session
Lower layers -
4. transport
3. network
2. data link
Upper Layers of the OSI ModelOSI
designates the application, presentation, and session stages of the stack as the upper layers. Generally speaking, software in these layers performs application-specific functions like data formatting, encryption, and connection management.
Examples of upper layer technologies in the OSI model are HTTP, SSL and NFS.
Lower Layers of the OSI Model
The remaining lower layers of the OSI model provide more primitive network-specific functions like routing, addressing, and flow control.
Examples of lower layer technologies in the OSI model are TCP, IP, and Ethernet.

Application(Layer 7)
This layer supports
application and end-user processes. Communication partners are identified, quality of service is identified, user authentication and privacy are considered, and any constraints on data syntax are identified. Everything at this layer is application-specific. This layer provides application services for file transfers, e-mail, and other network software services. Telnet and FTP are applications that exist entirely in the application level. Tiered application architectures are part of this layer.



Presentation(Layer 6)
This layer provides independence from differences in data representation (e.g.,
encryption) by translating from application to network format, and vice versa. The presentation layer works to transform data into the form that the application layer can accept. This layer formats and encrypts data to be sent across a network, providing freedom from compatibility problems. It is sometimes called the syntax layer.


Session(Layer 5)
This layer establishes, manages and terminates connections between applications. The session layer sets up, coordinates, and terminates conversations, exchanges, and dialogues between the applications at each end. It deals with session and connection coordination.


Transport(Layer 4)
This layer provides
transparent transfer of data between end systems, or hosts, and is responsible for end-to-end error recovery and flow control. It ensures complete data transfer.
Network(Layer 3)
This layer provides
switching and routing technologies, creating logical paths, known as virtual circuits, for transmitting data from node to node. Routing and forwarding are functions of this layer, as well as addressing, internetworking, error handling, congestion control and packet sequencing.


Data Link(Layer 2)
At this layer, data packets are encoded and decoded into
bits. It furnishes transmission protocol knowledge and management and handles errors in the physical layer, flow control and frame synchronization. The data link layer is divided into two sublayers: The Media Access Control (MAC) layer and the Logical Link Control (LLC) layer. The MAC sublayer controls how a computer on the network gains access to the data and permission to transmit it. The LLC layer controls frame synchronization, flow control and error checking.


Physical(Layer 1)
This layer conveys the
bit stream - electrical impulse, light or radio signal -- through the network at the electrical and mechanical level. It provides the hardware means of sending and receiving data on a carrier, including defining cables, cards and physical aspects. Fast Ethernet, RS232, and ATM are protocols with physical layer components.

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