Layer 7: Application

This is the layer the user is interacting with (software). This can be skype, chrome etc.
Layer 6: Presentation
This is the OS.
Layer 5: Session
This layer deals with communication between two devices. For example: when the user goes to a
website, the users computer must open a session between itself and server hosting the website,
thus allowing the user to receive the website in the first place. The same goes for any sort of
communication, ie VOIP etc.
Layer 4: Transport
This layer deals how much information is sent back and forth in a session. Using the website
example it handles the information the user sends in a request, and then the information the
server has to retrieve and send back in order for you to see the website.
Layer 3: Network
This is where routers operate. Anything regarding the TCP/IP protocol happens here. Think IPs,
subnet masks, default gateways etc.
Layer 2: Data Link
This is where switches operate.
Layer 1: Physical
This is the physical stuff connecting computers together (cables, switches, routers, modems etc
etc).
APPLICATION Web
Browser
A web browser such as Internet Explorer or Netscape provides the means for your computer to
contact a web server and download several files that go together to produce a single web page.
You can request a web page by typing in a web address (a URL) or by clicking a link in an open
web page. The web browser is an APPLICATION. The web browser application gives you the
means to select a web server, contact the server and request a web page. The web browser
handles the process of finding the web server (the remote computer that has the web page you
want stored on it) , requesting the desired web page and displaying all the files contained within
the web page.
PRESENTATION HTTP
The web browser handles PRESENTATION of the web page to the user by converting the files
stored at the web server into formats used to display them on your computer.
Your web browser supports varous text formats (UNICODE and ASCII), image file formats
(JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP), audio file formats (WAV, MP3, AIFF) as well as Hypertext Markup

Language (HTML) and one or more scripting languages (JavaScript, JScript, VBScript).
Conversion of data from one format to another is the job of the PRESENTATION layer. A web
browser can convert these file formats into the local formats used on the local computer for
displaying images, playing sounds and displaying text; if it cannot, it often can launch an
application which does understand the format. Much of the PRESENTATION layer conversions
are handled in the program you're running.
SESSION
When you request a web page, a the web browser opens a TCP connection to the web server. The
web server sends back the web page and closes the connection. Your web browser then parses the
HTML of the web page. Within the web page are instructions written in HTML tags which tell
the browser where to find additional files to be displayed within the web page such as style
sheets, sound files, images, movies, Flash files and applets. Your web browser automatically
opens additional TCP connections to the web server. Each TCP connection is a SESSION.
TRANSPORT TCP
To communicate with a web server your computer must open a TCP connection to the web
server and request a web page. The TCP connection breaks up theweb page into managable
chunks, lables them with numbers so they can be reassembled in the correct order and
TRANSPORTS the pieces across the correct SESSION.
NETWORK IP ARP
Internet Protocol (IP) is a NETWORK layer protocol that uses unique addresses for the web
server and for your computer. IP provides the means for your computer to determine whether the
web server is a local computer or a computer located somewhere on the Internet. To reach a web
server on the Internet, IP protocol also allows your computer to figure out how to reach the
Internet web server via your default gateway. Your computer creates a message addressed to the
web server with your computer's return IP address. Your computer uses ARP to figure out the
physical MAC address of the default gateway and then passes the data to the NETWORK layer.
DATA LINK ETHERNET LLC
Once the request from your web browser has been created it is sent to the network card. Once it
reaches your network card it must be converted into a message that is sent from your computer to
the default gateway which will forward the message to the Internet. At the DATA LINK layer,
the web request is inserted inside a network request to the default gateway.
MAC
PHYSICAL CSMA/CD
The physical layer provides the means to transmit the web page request to the default gateway.
Illustration with Images

Text

Application Layer: Provides network services to user applications.

It is responsible for exchanging information between programs
running on the machine, such as an e-mail program, and other
services running on a network, such as a print server or another
computers' application.
Presentation Layer: Concerned with how data is converted and
formatted for data transfer. Examples of format conversions include
ASCII text for documents and .gif and JPG for images. This layer
performs code conversion, data translation, compression and
encryption.
Session Layer: Determines how two devices establish, maintain
and manage a connection - how they talk to each other. These
connections are called sessions.
Transport Layer: Responsible for breaking the data into segments,
establishing an end-to-end logical connection between machines,
and providing for error handling.
Network Layer: Responsible for determining addressing on the
network, determining the routes that information will take on its
journey, and managing network traffic congestion. Data at this level
is packaged into packets.
Data Link Layer: Provides the link for how data, packaged into
frames is communicated through hardware to be transported across
a medium. It communicates with network cards, manages physical
layer communications between connecting systems and handles
error notification.
Physical Layer: Specifies how data is processed into bits and
physically transferred over medium, such as cables. It's responsible
for activating and maintaining the physical link between systems.