OSI Model
- OSI Model
- The Open Systems Interconnect Model (the OSI Model) is a theoretical model of networking that organizes network functions in to layers and specifies the communication between layers and between network endpoints.
The OSI Model is a model, an example that explains how to design and build most any type of network. Any discussion of networking uses the OSI model as a point of reference, so you really should learn it. Engineers working on a network problem will frequently say "Well, it's a data link layer problem". The OSI Model's layers are so well known that they are referred to by number: "Well, looks like we have a layer 2 problem here". If you don't know this model, you will have great difficulties as a network engineer.
Don't worry about memorizing the OSI Model just yet, you'll run into the OSI Model of networking over and over again in all the tutorials on this site--all of which link back here whenever they use these terms, you're going to see it so often, you may end up memorizing it without trying..