According to the OSI Model, the session layer is where connections are established, managed, and torn down. For connection-oriented network protocols, understanding how the session layer works, and ...

A couple posts ago, we talked about Layer 1 of the OSI Model — the Physical Layer. Today, we’ll start our climb up the Model with a visit to Layer 2, the Data Link Layer. The Data Link Layer is one of ...

Other tips in this series have examined the seven-layer OSI model from the perspective of security. Although security was not the No. 1 goal of the designers of the OSI model, the idea behind these ...

Getting started on designing a network is a task of formidable proportions, but all the more so if you are looking to build a secure IT network. Often, IT system administrators are not fully familiar ...

A reference model is a virtual model which defines how communication should take place. It logically divides the processes which are required for the communication into layers. This concept is known ...

Most IT users will be familiar by now with the idea of `the software-defined something or other’. Indeed, there vendors that already talked about software-defined everything, which really should cover ...

Network protocols are formal standards and policies consisting of rules, procedures, and formats that define how data is exchanged over networks. They ensure that devices can communicate effectively, ...

Properly speaking, Ethernet only defines the physical layer—cables, connectors and firmware that enables communication over the media—but there is also the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) stack.