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 ...

The application layer is at Layer 7, the top of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) communications model. It ensures that an application can communicate with other applications on different ...

A network protocol is a set of established rules that specify how to format, send and receive data so that computer network endpoints, including computers, servers, routers and virtual machines, can ...

According to the OSI Model, the session layer is where connections are established, managed, and torn down. For connection-oriented network protocols, understanding how the session layer works, and ...

Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) provides for digital transmission over ordinary telephone copper wire as well as over other media uses. In this continuation of his tip on ISDN ...

A small group of software vendors is working to change the way devices send traffic through Sonet/SDH networks. And their efforts could result in cost savings for carriers -- that is, if equipment ...

Networks function and flourish because they deliver reliable and fast communication over large distances. And while people often marvel at the speed, it's the reliability -- made possible through the ...