1. What are the advantages of a connection-oriented service?
= It’s reliable. When information has been sent, the service makes sure that it arrives. Connectionless services don’t provide this reliability.
2. So are there any disadvantages to connection-oriented services? There is a cost, usually in the time and network traffic required to set up the connection. If the user only has a very small amount of information to send, then the set-up time and set-up traffic might be greater than the information that needs to be sent. If a user sends information irregularly, then it may be inefficient to keep a connection open permanently, but it might also be inefficient to open a connection every time information needs to be sent. So connection-oriented services at the network layer generally seem to be useful only when the user wants to send a reasonable amount of data or a constant stream of data that must arrive without error and in order, for example the transfer of a data file.
3. Why would any want to use the unreliable connectionless service?
= Networks aren’t reliable, and many applications assume this and provide their own error detection, flow control and congestion management at a higher layer in the transport layer. If the sender and receiver are going to provide their own control mechanisms, why provide it in the network layer? So in this case, the connectionless service just provides a raw service of sending packets from sender to receiver.
4. Could we build a connection-oriented service on top of a connectionless service?
= Of course! A connectionless service could provide the basic service of sending a packet from sender to receiver with no guarantees, and a higher layer connection-oriented service could provide the reliable service. A good example to illustrate this is mobile telephone services. Speed is more important than errors since the service must be fast to keep up with the speed of human conversation. Remaining in synch is a greater priority than resending corrupted or lost voice data. So although mobile services are connection oriented at the application layer, they are actually connectionless at the network layer for speed.
5. So which service did the ISO committee choose to provide in the network layer? Both. The debate over which service should be provided in the network layer was not resolved, and perhaps shouldn’t be as providing both allows network designers to choose which is most appropriate for their particular technology.
6. If Layer 4, the transport layer, is the last layer to provide an end-to-end service, why is there a connection-oriented service in Layer 3? Surely this provides an end-to-end service? Layer 4 is the last true end-to-end layer. Layer 3 may or may not provide an end-to-end service, so end-to-end communication is not guaranteed in Layer 3 whereas Layer 4 will always provide a true end-to-end connection-oriented service.
2. Data Link Layer
1. Physical Layer
Concerned with the details of bit transmission over a physical channel.
Design issues include
the definition of 0 and 1, e.g. how many volts represents a 1, and how long a bit lasts;
whether the channel is simplex or duplex;
how many pins a connector has, and what the function of each pin is
Takes the ‘raw’ transmission facility provided by the physical layer
and uses it to provide an error-free transmission service for data
Bit errors not packets which are handled at level 4
Breaks the data stream into frames
Creates and recognises frame boundaries
Deal with duplicate frames
regulates traffic flow to prevent swamping a slow receiver
has 3 goals
Enable the higher layers to be independent of the underlying network technologies
Allow transport layer to be insulated from details of the number, type and
topologies of the different physical networks that have to be crossed.
2 Types of Service
Connection oriented
reliable end-to-end connection. To communicate, user requests a connection,
uses cconnection until they’re done, and then closes the connection.
Comes with cost overhead in
network traffic and time to setup
Inefficient to keep open if not used often
Best if you want to send a reasonable amount of data or
a constant stream that must arrive without error
Connectionless
Provides a service where the user packages their information,
addresses it and sends it, and receives no confirmation that it reaches
the destination.
useful if the application provides error detection and
management, no need to use it in the NW layer
Also does congestion control
provide a uniform addressing scheme for network addresses.
provides address conversion
Take data from session layer, split it into smaller units
(as necessary), pass these units to the network layer.
also responsible for ensuring that all the pieces are
received correctly and reassembled in the correct order.
transport layer will create a distinct network layer connection for
each transport connection requested by the session layer.
However, depending on the data load and the capacity of a single session channel: multiple network
connections might be used to support a single high-bandwidth session connection; or one high-bandwidth
network connection might be used to support several session connections.
determines what type of service to provide to the
session layer and network users
IE:an error-free, point-to-point channel, guaranteeing that data is delivered in the correct order
transport of isolated messages with no guarantee of correct ordering
message broadcast to multiple destinations
Is the last true end-to-end layer, i.e. the transport protocol and those protocols
above it communicate between endpoints, but the lower layers only communicate
between the endpoints and the intermediate network nodes.
allows the establishment of sessions between
machines, allows remote logins to a multi-user
system, or perform file transfer between machines.
2 main services
Dialogue control and token management
If comms are half-duplex (communication is in one direction at a time, full duplex = both
directions at the same time) then session layer manages which entity sends at which time
Synchronisation
synchronisation service provides a means for checkpoints to be inserted into a data stream so that, after
a crash, only data sent since the last checkpoint needs to be re-transmitted.
Concerned with how data is
represented and prepared
Ensure the message is presented in a way
the recieving computer can understand
Provides a std coding technique
ASN1 = Abstract syntax notation
Is where data compression
and encryption take place
Where wide variety of Application protocols exist
Protocols for users
Provide for virtual terminal sessions, email, web browsing, file
transfer etc