Networking Models

A friend of mine who worked recently in an IT-based company was assigned to a task related to networking. He was enumerating all these stuffs they were working on. Apparently, I did not understand a thing or two. All I can remember of what he narrated to me is this, everything in networking, no matter how complex, always falls to the core of networking, the OSI Model and TCP/ IP Model.

As of this date, I am taking Data Communications and Networking subject. And because of this subject, everything my friend has talked about are starting to make sense. Now what are these OSI and TCP/IP Models? Models are framework that is used to understand how information travels throughout a network. It explains how packets travel through the various layers to another device on a network. In layman’s term, these models could be compared to the process of sending a package from one country to another through courier services. These models are composed of layers which are all essential in establishing a network.

The two models have difference, right? But each layer in TCP/IP model has a corresponding one or more layer in OSI. Now each layer has a set of standards. Designer of devices need to follow protocols imposed by layers. Protocols by definition are formal description of a set of rules and conventions that govern a particular aspect of how devices on a network communicate. Protocols determine the format, timing, sequencing, and error control in data communication. Without protocols, the computer cannot make or rebuild the stream of incoming bits from another computer into the original format.