Troubleshooting Problems on the Transport Layer

The Transport layer is the core of the OSI model, because it serves as a bridge between the lower and upper layers to ensure reliable data transmission. The Transport layer can encounter the following problems:

• Unreliable connection between source and destination networks

• Unprotected transmission of data packets

• Data transmission delay

• Priority of data packets to be transmitted

• Problems with error detection and correction

• Flooding the slow receiver with data packets

To overcome the above-mentioned problems, the Transport layer uses the three-way handshake protocol. In this protocol, the source host sends a connection request to the destination host. If the destination host is ready to receive data packets, it sends a connection acknowledgment signal to the source host. After receiving the connection acknowledgment signal from the destination host, the source host sends the data packet to the destination host.

In such a situation, the source host resends the data packet after a stipulated period. Using this protocol, the Transport layer provides retransmission of the lost or corrupted data packets.