The OSI model defines protocols for how a network technically handles communications at the various functional layers. Starting with electrons and photons at the physical layer (Layer 1), the model ...

I like to think of the transport layer as the layer of the OSI Model that enables more interesting traffic. While we network engineers may love a lot of the simpler uses of the IP protocol and ...

First off, howdy and welcome to the inaugural post of the EtherGeek blog. My name is Josh Stephens and I’m Head Geek and VP of Technology at SolarWinds, an IT management software company in Austin.

Getting a handle on the invisible part of your network—the protocols that are in use—can be of enormous value in helping you detect problems. So far, we've talked about the tangibles of your ...

Morey Haber, Chief Security Advisor at BeyondTrust, is an identity and technical evangelist with over 25 years of IT industry experience. Recently, I was reminiscing with a colleague about unique ...

We recently advised that people in the business of planning, building and supporting computer networks should not lose sight of the mythical OSI Layer 8. We define Layer 8 as the human-to-human ...

Explains the three layers critical to network design: Access, Distribution, and Core Anyone involved in networking and/or telecommunications should be somewhat familiar with the use of layers. Many ...

The reason it makes sense NOT to jump into deep packet inspection (or, as you ask, starting at L1), is that starting at an app layer you have a holistic view of *every* possible link in the chain. If ...

A reference model is a virtual model which defines how communication should take place. It logically divides the processes which are required for the communication into layers. This concept is known ...