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Layered Network Model and Separation of Concerns

Network functionality is split into stacked layers, each using only the service of the layer beneath it and adding one concern of its own, so that a layer can be reasoned about and replaced without disturbing the others. Which layer owns a piece of information is therefore a design decision with consequences. After this Concept a student can place a networking mechanism at the layer that owns it, and can explain why a lower layer is unaware of the abstractions built above it.