In The Osi Model What Is The Primary Function Of The Network Layer?
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In The OSI Model, What Is The Primary Function Of The Network layer?
The network layer is the third layer of the OSI model. The main role of the network layer is, it can control all the operations of the subnet. It establishes a route to send the packets from the sources to the destination address. The network layer selects the shortest path while selecting the route from the source to the destination address. It selects the shortest path between the source and the destination in order to transmit the data packets from the number of available routers.
We normally select the router that can transmit the data from the source to the destination within the shortest path. In the network layer, the sender and the receiver place their IP address at the header, this IP header is placed at the network layer. The IP address is nothing but the router address, it tells where the packet is going to send. The network layer is implemented by the network devices such as routers. Now, let us know some of the functions of the network layer. They are
• routing
• logical addressing
• path determination
Let us discuss each of these in detail. The network works for the transmission of the received data segments from one computer location to another. The data unit that is present in the network layer is called packets. As we discussed earlier, the main function of the network layer is routing, logical addressing, and the path determination.
The IP address that is performed in the network layer is called the logical addressing. Every computer in a network has a unique IP address. The network layer assigns the sender and the receiver IP address to each segment in order to form an IP packet. The IP address is assigned to ensure that each data packet can reach the right destination.
The routing is a type of method for moving the data packet from the source to the destination address and it is based on the logical address of the IPv4 and the IPv6. Let us take an example to understand the concept in detail. suppose computer A is connected to network 1 and computer B is connected to network 2, if we request to access an account from computer B, now there will be a reply from the server to computer B in the form of a packet. The server consists of the IP address of the both source and the destination. Based on the IP address format, the received data packet will move first to the network side of computer B and then to the computer. Based on the IP address and the mask, the routing decisions are made in a computer network.
Now let us know, how the path determination works. A computer can connect to the internet server in a different number of ways by choosing the best possible path for the data delivery from the source to the destination. This is called path determination. It uses protocols like OSPF, BGP, IS-IS.