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Network architecture is the design of acomputer network. It is a framework for the specification of a network's physical components and their functional organization and configuration, its operational principles and procedures, as well ascommunication protocols used.
Intelecommunications, the specification of a network architecture may also include a detailed description of products and services delivered via a communications network, as well as detailed rate and billing structures under which services are compensated.
The network architecture of theInternet is predominantly expressed by its use of theInternet protocol suite, rather than a specific model for interconnecting networks or nodes in the network, or the usage of specific types of hardware links.
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TheOpen Systems Interconnection model (OSI model) defines and codifies the concept of layered network architecture.Abstraction layers are used to subdivide acommunications system further into smaller manageable parts. A layer is a collection of similar functions that provide services to the layer above it and receives services from the layer below it. On each layer, an instance provides services to the instances at the layer above and requests services from the layer below.[2]
Indistributed computing, thenetwork architecture often describes the structure and classification of a distributed application architecture, as the participating nodes in a distributed application are often referred to as anetwork.[3] For example, theapplications architecture of thepublic switched telephone network (PSTN) has been termed theIntelligent Network. There are a number of specific classifications but all lie on a continuum between thedumb network (e.g. theInternet) and the intelligent network (e.g. the PSTN).
A popular example of such usage of the term in distributed applications, as well aspermanent virtual circuits, is the organization of nodes inpeer-to-peer (P2P) services and networks. P2P networks usually implementoverlay networks running over an underlying physical or logical network. These overlay networks may implement certain organizational structures of the nodes according to several distinct models, the network architecture of the system.[citation needed]
This article incorporatespublic domain material fromFederal Standard 1037C.General Services Administration. Archived fromthe original on 2022-01-22. (in support ofMIL-STD-188).
