What is the application layer?


This is the highest layer of the Open System Interconnection (OSI) architecture. The application program's layer view is a user-oriented layer that offers the services to the end-user of a web.

A message to be transmitted across the web introduces the OSI model and then traverses down into the physical layer. This is followed by sending a line up to the physical layer of destination and then upwards up to the receiver end system's application layers.

It offers services that support customer applications, including database creation, messages, and document transfer.

There are famous application layer protocols are X.400 (Electronic Mail Protocol), X.500 (Directory Server Protocol), FTP (File Transfer Protocol), and rlogin (Remote Login Protocol).

The figure given below demonstrates the connection of the application layer to the user and the presentation layer −

Functions of application layer

The functions of application layer are explained below −

  • User Interface: It represents the user interface to low-level layers and multiple application processes.

  • Security: It is responsible for the execution of the security tests at the user entity points.

  • File Transfer: The application layer supports the file transfer access and management (FTAM). It enables customers to create files in a remote system to retrieve the documents from a remote system and to handle or control the files in a remote system.

  • E-mail: It supports a basis for email forwarding and string.

  • Database Access: It supports distributed database sources and global data about several objects and functions.

  • Addressing: It is used for the connection between user and server. There is a requirement for addressing. When a user requests the server, the request includes the server address and its address. The server responds to the user request and the request consists of the destination address, i.e., client address.

  • Directory Services: An application includes a distributed database that supports the global data about multiple objects and functions.

Updated on: 04-May-2021

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