TCP/IP MODEL

Network Layer
Network Layer
• The 3rd layer of the TCP/IP model suit.
• When the Former layer (Transport Layer) passes TCP segment and
UDP datagram to the network layer, the network layer adds logical or
IP addresses to the segment or the datagram to form IP packet.
• After the formation of the IP packets the network layer uses router to
send the IP packet to other networks, and also it determines the best
path for data delivery.
Cont.
•TCP network layer also known as internetworking layer or Ip layer, it
is due to the ability to connect multiple individual networks to form a
larger interconnected network like the internet. This is achieved through
the use of specific protocols designed for routing and addressing across
network boundaries.
•Every computer in a network has unique Ip addresses, the network
layer assign sender and receivers IP address to each segment or
datagram to form an Ip packet. Ip addresses are assigned to ensure that
each Ip packet can reach the correct destination present in different
networks.
Cont.
•Routing is a method of moving an IP packet from source to destination
present in the different networks. Routing is not needed if the source
and destination computers are present in the same network, for
communication within a network the task is simple.
•when the devices within the same network share the same network
prefix in their Ip addresses. This means that they can directly
communicate with each other using mac addresses. For example,
computers connected to the same Wi-Fi router are typically in the same
network.
Cont.
• And devices within different network have different network prefixes
in their IP addresses. They can’t directly communicate with each other
using MAC addresses. Packets need to be routed through one or more
routers to reach the destination network. For example, sending an
email from your home network to a server on the internet involves
routing through multiple networks.
Functions of network layer
• As a conclusion to the contexts above network layer or
Internetworking layer has these main functions.

 Logical addressing
 Routing
 Path determination
 The unit of communication at the network layer is a Datagram.
Protocols of the Network Layer
• In this layer there are Four main Protocols being used. These are:
IP (Internet Protocol)
ARP (Address Resolution Protocol)
ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol)
IGMP (Internet Group Management Protocol)
IP
• IP stands for Internet Protocol.
• it is the most significant part, not only for the network layer, but also
for the entire TCP/IP suite.
– IP is the transmission mechanism used by the TCP/IP protocols.
– It is an unreliable and connectionless protocol and best-effort
delivery service.
• The term best-effort means that IP provides no error checking
or tracking.
Cont.
– IP transports data in packets called datagrams, which can travel
along different routes and arrive out of sequence or be duplicated.
– IP does not keep track of routes and has no facility for reordering
datagrams once they arrive at their destination.
– It is host-to-host protocol.
Cont.
• Communication at the network layer is end to end while the
communication at other two layers are node to node.
– Datagram started at computer A is the one that reaches B.
– Network layers of routers can inspect the source and destination of
the packet for find the best route. but are not allowed to change the
packet contents.
Versions of IP
• The first major version of IP, Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4), is the dominant
protocol of the Internet.
• Its successor is Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6), which has been in
increasing deployment on the public Internet since around 2006
• One of the differences between IPv4 and IPv6 is the appearance of the IP
addresses. IPv4 uses four 1 byte decimal numbers, separated by a dot
(i.e. 192.168.1.1), while IPv6 uses hexadecimal numbers that are separated by
colons (i.e. fe80::d4a8:6435:d2d8:d9f3b11).
 ICMP
• ICMP stands for Internet Control Message Protocol.
• It is a mechanism used by the hosts or routers to send notifications
regarding datagram problems back to the sender.
• A datagram travels from router-to-router until it reaches its destination.
If a router is unable to route the data because of some unusual
conditions such as disabled links, a device is on fire or network
congestion, then the ICMP protocol is used to inform the sender that the
datagram is undeliverable.
Cont.
• The core responsibility of the ICMP protocol is to report the problems,
not correct them. The responsibility of the correction lies with the
sender.
• ICMP can send the messages only to the source, but not to the
intermediate routers because the IP datagram carries the addresses of
the source and destination but not of the router that it is passed to.
ARP
• ARP stands for Address Resolution Protocol.
• The Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) is used to associate a logical
address with a physical address.
• ARP is used to find the physical address of the node when its Internet
address is known.
• It is responsible to find the hardware address also known as the
Media Access Control (MAC) of a host from its known IP address.
Important terms in ARP
•Reverse ARP
o Reverse Address Resolution Protocol is a protocol that is used in local area
networks (LAN) by client machines for requesting IP Address (IPv4) from
Router’s ARP Table.
•Proxy ARP
o Proxy Address Resolution Protocol work to enable devices that are separated
into network segments connected through the router in the same IP to resolve
IP Address to MAC Address.
•Inverse ARP
o Inverse Address Resolution Protocol uses MAC Address to find the IP Address,
it can be simply illustrated as Inverse ARP is just the inverse of ARP.
How ARP works?
IGMP
• IGMP stands for Internet Group Management Protocol.
• It is a protocol that allows several devices to share one IP address so
they can all receive the same data.
• IGMP is a network layer protocol used to set up multicasting on
networks that use the Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4).
• Multicasting is when a group of devices all receive the same
messages or packets.
Version of IGMP
• IGMPv1 : The version of IGMP allows all the supporting hosts to join the
multicast groups using membership request and include some basic features. But,
host cannot leave the group on their own and have to wait for a timeout to leave
the group.
• IGMPv2 : IGMPv2 is the revised version of IGMPv1 communication protocol.
It has added functionality of leaving the multicast group using group
membership.
• IGMPv3 : IGMPv2 was revised to IGMPv3 and added source-specific multicast
and membership report aggregation. These reports are sent to 224.0.0.22.
 Conclusion
• The Network/Internet Layer is a layer in the Internet Protocol (IP)
suite, which is the set of protocols that define the Internet. The Internet
Layer is responsible for routing packets of data from one device to
another across a network. It does this by assigning each device a
unique IP address, which is used to identify the device and determine
the route that packets should take to reach it.