Chapter 2 - Network protocols and network systems

Abstract

This chapter reviews the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference model and related protocol stacks. It defines the functionality and terminology of network systems. It introduces the basic architecture of network systems, including adapters, establishing their need and suitability for advanced computer architecture techniques. The abstract nature of the OSI reference model is the motivation for using it as a basis in the presentation of systems in this book, although the Internet era has established the dominance of the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)/Internet Protocol (IP) reference model. The OSI reference model is not oriented to a certain protocol set, which makes it more generic. The TCP/IP reference model became a de facto model after its protocols had been introduced. Interestingly, the TCP/IP reference model has embraced the paradigm of the OSI model, using almost direct analogies for the four lower layers and the highest layer of the OSI model and discarding the other ones. Thus, it can be considered as a special case of the OSI reference model.