The third layer of the OSI Model, the network layer, is where most network engineers focus their time and expertise. As Darragh commented in my post on the data link layer, Layer 2 is cool but Layer 3 ...

Getting a handle on the invisible part of your network—the protocols that are in use—can be of enormous value in helping you detect problems. So far, we've talked about the tangibles of your ...

For many in the communication industry, the open system interconnect (OSI) network model is a simply a stack. But, designers shouldn't be so quick to diminish the value that the OSI model provides to ...

The OSI model defines protocols for how a network technically handles communications at the various functional layers. Starting with electrons and photons at the physical layer (Layer 1), the model ...

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 ...

We recently advised that people in the business of planning, building and supporting computer networks should not lose sight of the mythical OSI Layer 8. We define Layer 8 as the human-to-human ...

I like to think of the transport layer as the layer of the OSI Model that enables more interesting traffic. While we network engineers may love a lot of the simpler uses of the IP protocol and ...

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 ...

Could anyone help find authoritative online sources and /or otherwise articulate on why it makes sense to go from the “top down” in the OST 7 -- layer model, instead of “bottom up”, when ...