TCP/IP Model Vs OSI Model

This article is on TCP/IP model vs OSI model. It is meant to highlight the differences between the two set standards of the industry. TCP/IP model and the OSI model have been the two protocol suites on which communication industry heavily relies on.

Both, TCP/IP model and OSI model, work in very similar fashions. But they do have very subtle differences. Knowing these differences is crucial to learning computer networking. This article will try to show the comparison between TCP/IP model vs OSI model. A Background OSI reference model came into existence way before TCP/IP model was created. Advance research project agency (ARPA) created OSI reference model so that they can logically group the similarly working components of the network into various layers of the protocol. But after the advent of the Internet, there arose the need for a streamlined protocol suite, which would address the need of the ever growing Internet. So the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA), decided to create TCP/IP protocol suite. This was going to address many, if not all the issues that had arisen with OSI reference model. TCP/IP Model Layers Explained So, what does TCP/IP stand for? It is a suite of protocol which is named after its most significant pair of protocols. That is Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol. TCP/IP are are made up of layers. Each layer is responsible for a set of computer network related tasks. Every layer provides service to the the layer above it. There are in all four layers in the TCP/IP reference model.

Application Layer: This is the topmost layer of the TCP/IP suite. This is responsible for coding of the packet data. Transport layer: This layer monitors end to end path selections of the packets. It also provides service to the application layer. Internet Layer: This layer is responsible for sending packets through different networks. Link Layer: It is the closest layer to the network hardware. It provides service to Internet layer.

OSI Model Layers Explained In OSI reference model there seven layers of protocols. Again, in OSI reference model, each layer provides services to the layer above it. There are in all seven layers of in OSI. They are

Physical Layer: It is the lower most layer of the OSI reference model. It is layer which is responsible for direct interaction of OSI model with hardware. The hardware provides service to the physical layer and it provides service to the datalink layer. Datalink Layer: There may be certain errors, which may occur at physical layer. If possible, these errors are corrected by datalink layer. Datalink layer provides the way by which various entities can transfer the data to the network. Network Layer: It does not allow the quality of the service to be degraded that was requested by transport layer. It is also responsible for data transfer sequence from source to destination. Transport Layer: The reliability of the data is ensured by the transport layer. It also retransmits those data that fail to reach the destination. Session Layer: The sessions layer is responsible for creating and terminating the connection. Management of such connection is taken care of by sessions layer. Presentation Layer: This layer is responsible for decoding the context (syntax and semantics) of the higher level entities. Application Layer: Whichever software application that implements socket programming will communicate with this layer. This layer is closest to the user.

TCP/IP Model vs OSI Model Sr. No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 TCP/IP Reference Model Defined after the advent of Internet. OSI Reference Model Defined before advent of internet.

Service interface and protocols were not clearly Service interface and protocols are distinguished before clearly distinguished TCP/IP supports Internet working Loosely layered Protocol Dependant standard More Credible TCP reliably delivers packets, IP does not reliably deliver packets Internet working not supported Strict layering Protocol independent standard Less Credible All packets are reliably delivered

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Computer Networking Tutorial OSI Model Explained

The entire communication industry stands on the back bone of TCP/IP and OSI reference model. It is very vital to learn the above differences, if anyone wants to be an expert in the field of communication

Comparison between TCP/IP and OSI

This chapter gives a brief comparison between OSI and TCP/IP protocols with a special focus on the similarities and on how the protocols from both worlds map to each other. The adoption of TCP/IP does not conflict with the OSI standards because the two protocol stacks were developed concurrently. In some ways, TCP/IP contributed to OSI, and vice-versa. Several important differences do exist, though, which arise from the basic requirements of TCP/IP which are:

A common set of applications Dynamic routing Connectionless protocols at the networking level Universal connectivity Packet-switching

The main differences between the OSI architecture and that of TCP/IP relate to the layers above the transport layer (layer 4) and those at the network layer (layer 3). OSI has both, the session layer and the presentation layer, whereas TCP/IP combines both into an application layer. The requirement for a connectionless protocol also required TCP/IP to combine OSIs physical layer and data link layer into a network level.

Physical Layer
The physical layer may be either ethernet, SDH-DCC, or some timeslot of a PDH signal. Either OSI protocols and TCP/IP protocols build on the same physical layer standards, thus there is no difference between OSI and TCP/IP in this aspect.

Data Link Layer

The purpose of the data link layer is to provide error free data transmission even on noisy links. This is achieved by framing of data and retransmission of every frame until it is acknowledged from the far end, using flow control mechanisms. Error detection is done by means of error detection codes. The data link layer in the OSI world makes use of the Q.921 LapD protocol which must support an information field length of at least 512 octets according to G.784. LapD is based on HDLC framing.

In the internet world there is no real data link layer protocol, but the subnet protocol which has quite many similarities. The subnet protocol consists of the IMP-IMP protocol which aims to provide a reliable connection between neighbored IMPs. For ethernet based networks e.g. LANs (Local Area Network), the data link protocol LLC (Logical Link Control) is equally used in OSI and TCP/IP networks.

Network Layer
The network layer provides routing capabilities between source and destination system. OSI uses the CLNS (Connection Less Network Service) protocols ES-IS for communication of an end system to an intermediate system and IS-IS for communication between intermediate systems. TCP divides messages in datagrams of up to 64k length. Each datagram consists of a header and a text part. Besides some other information, the header contains the source and the destination address of the datagram. IP routes these datagrams through the network using e.g. the protocol OSPF (Open Shortest Path First) or RIP (Route Information Protocol) for path calculation purposes. The service provided by IP is not reliable. Datagrams may be received in the wrong order or they may even get lost in the network.

Transport Layer
The transport layer provides a reliable end-to-end connection between source and destination system on top of the network layer. It builds an integral part of the whole OSI layering principle and of the internet protocol. The OSI transport layer protocol (TP4) and the internet tranport protocol (TCP) have many similarities but also some remarkable differences. Both protocols are built to provide a reliable connection oriented end-to-end transport service on top of an unreliable network service. The network service may loose packets, store them, deliver them in the wrong order or even duplicate packets. Both protocols have to be able to deal with the most severe problems e.g. a subnetwork stores valid packets and sends them at a later date. TP4 and TCP have a connect, transfer and a disconnect phase. The principles of doing this are also quite similar. One difference between TP4 and TCP to be mentioned is that TP4 uses nine different TPDU (Transport Protocol Data Unit) types whereas TCP knows only one. This makes TCP simpler but every TCP header has to have all possible fields and therefore the TCP header is at least 20 bytes long whereas the TP4 header takes at least 5 bytes. Another difference is the way both protocols react in case of a call collision. TP4 opens two bidirectional connections between the TSAPs whereas TCP opens just one connection.

TP4 uses a different flow control mechanism for its messages, it also provides means for quality of service measurement.

1.The OSI model originally distinguishes between service,interval and protocols. 1.The TCP/IP model doesnt clearly distinguish between service,interval and protocol. 2.The OSI model is a reference model. 2.The TCP/IP model is an implementation of the OSI model. 3.In OSI model,the protocols came after the model was described. 3.In TCP/TP model,the protocols came first,and the model was really just a description of the existing protocols. 4.In OSI model,the protocols are better hidden. 4.In TCP/IP model ,the protocols are not hidden. 5.The OSI model has 7 layers. The TCP/IP model has only 4 layers. 6.The OSI model supports both connectionless and connection-oriented communication in the network layer,but only connection -oriented communication in transport layer. 6.The TCP/IP model supports both connectionless and connection-oriented communication in the transport layer.,giving users the choice.

These are the differences i know....if you have any other difference that I misssed...please post it... you could also check check out this post which has a great video about the OSI TCP/IP Network Layers: http://blog.dreamfetcher.com/OSI_and_TCP_IP_Network_Layer_Models Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_difference_between_OSI_model_and_TCP_model#ixzz 1PkFzYuO4