A network operating system (NOS) is a specialized
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...
for a network device such as a
router,
switch
In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type o ...
or firewall.
Historically operating systems with networking capabilities were described as network operating systems, because they allowed personal computers (PCs) to participate in
computer network
A computer network is a collection of communicating computers and other devices, such as printers and smart phones. In order to communicate, the computers and devices must be connected by wired media like copper cables, optical fibers, or b ...
s and
shared file and printer access within a local area network (LAN). This description of operating systems is now largely historical, as common operating systems include a
network stack to support a client–server model.
Key Functions
Network Operating Systems (NOS) are responsible for managing various network activities. Key functions include creating and managing user accounts, controlling access to resources such as files and printers, and facilitating communication between devices. NOS also monitors network performance, addresses issues, and manages resources to ensure efficient and secure operation of the network.
History
Packet switching
In telecommunications, packet switching is a method of grouping Data (computing), data into short messages in fixed format, i.e. ''network packet, packets,'' that are transmitted over a digital Telecommunications network, network. Packets consi ...
networks were developed to share hardware resources, such as a
mainframe computer
A mainframe computer, informally called a mainframe or big iron, is a computer used primarily by large organizations for critical applications like bulk data processing for tasks such as censuses, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise ...
, a
printer or a large and expensive
hard disk
A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating hard disk drive platter, pla ...
.
Historically, a network operating system was an
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...
for a computer which implemented network capabilities. Operating systems with a
network stack allowed
personal computer
A personal computer, commonly referred to as PC or computer, is a computer designed for individual use. It is typically used for tasks such as Word processor, word processing, web browser, internet browsing, email, multimedia playback, and PC ...
s to participate in a
client-server architecture in which a
server enables multiple clients to share resources, such as
printers
Printer may refer to:
Technology
* Printer (publishing), a person
* Printer (computing), a hardware device
* Optical printer for motion picture films
People
* Nariman Printer (fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist
* James Printer (1 ...
.
These limited client/server networks were gradually replaced by
Peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the network, forming a peer-to-peer network of Node ...
networks, which used networking capabilities to share resources and files located on a variety of computers of all sizes. A peer-to-peer network sets all connected computers equal; they all share the same abilities to use resources available on the network.
Today,
distributed computing
Distributed computing is a field of computer science that studies distributed systems, defined as computer systems whose inter-communicating components are located on different networked computers.
The components of a distributed system commu ...
and
groupware applications have become the norm. Computer operating systems include a networking stack as a matter of course.
During the 1980s the need to integrate dissimilar computers with network capabilities grew and the number of networked devices grew rapidly. Partly because it allowed for multi-vendor
interoperability
Interoperability is a characteristic of a product or system to work with other products or systems. While the term was initially defined for information technology or systems engineering services to allow for information exchange, a broader de ...
, and could route packets globally rather than being restricted to a single building, the Internet protocol suite became almost universally adopted in network architectures. Thereafter, computer operating systems and the
firmware
In computing
Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computer, computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and the development of both computer hardware, h ...
of network devices tended to support Internet protocols.
Network device operating systems
Network operating systems can be embedded in a
router or
hardware firewall that operates the functions in the
network layer
In the seven-layer OSI model of computer networking, the network layer is layer 3. The network layer is responsible for packet forwarding including routing through intermediate Router (computing), routers.
Functions
The network layer provides t ...
(
layer 3).
Notable network operating systems include:
Proprietary network operating systems
*
Cisco IOS, a family of network operating systems used on
Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. (using the trademark Cisco) is an American multinational corporation, multinational digital communications technology conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, m ...
routers and
network switch
A network switch (also called switching hub, bridging hub, Ethernet switch, and, by the IEEE, MAC bridge) is networking hardware that connects devices on a computer network by using packet switching to receive and forward data to the destinat ...
es. (Earlier switches ran the Catalyst operating system, or
CatOS)
*
RouterOS by
MikroTik
*
ZyNOS, used in network devices made by
ZyXEL
FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, and Linux-based operating systems
*
Cisco NX-OS,
IOS XE, and
IOS XR; families of network operating systems used across various Cisco Systems device including the
Cisco Nexus and
Cisco ASR platforms
*
Junos OS; a network operating system that runs on
Juniper Networks
Juniper Networks, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. The company develops and markets networking products, including Router (computing), routers, Network switch, switches, network management so ...
platforms
*
Cumulus Linux distribution, which uses the full
TCP/IP
The Internet protocol suite, commonly known as TCP/IP, is a framework for organizing the communication protocols used in the Internet and similar computer networks according to functional criteria. The foundational protocols in the suite are ...
stack of Linux
*
DD-WRT, a Linux kernel-based firmware for wireless routers and access points as well as low-cost networking device platforms such as the
Linksys WRT54G
*
Dell Networking Operating System; DNOS9 is
NetBSD
NetBSD is a free and open-source Unix-like operating system based on the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD). It was the first open-source BSD descendant officially released after 386BSD was fork (software development), forked. It continues to ...
based, while OS10 uses the
Linux kernel
The Linux kernel is a Free and open-source software, free and open source Unix-like kernel (operating system), kernel that is used in many computer systems worldwide. The kernel was created by Linus Torvalds in 1991 and was soon adopted as the k ...
*
Extensible Operating System runs on switches from
Arista and uses an unmodified Linux kernel
*
ExtremeXOS (EXOS), used in network devices made by
Extreme Networks
*
FTOS (Force10 Operating System), the
firmware
In computing
Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computer, computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and the development of both computer hardware, h ...
family used on
Force10 Ethernet switches
*
ONOS, an open source
SDN operating system (hosted by
Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation (LF) is a non-profit organization established in 2000 to support Linux development and open-source software projects.
Background
The Linux Foundation started as Open Source Development Labs in 2000 to standardize and prom ...
) for communications service providers that is designed for scalability, high performance and high availability.
*
OpenBSD
OpenBSD is a security-focused operating system, security-focused, free software, Unix-like operating system based on the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD). Theo de Raadt created OpenBSD in 1995 by fork (software development), forking NetBSD ...
, an open source operating system which includes its own implementations of
BGP
Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is a standardized exterior gateway protocol designed to exchange routing and reachability information among autonomous system (Internet), autonomous systems (AS) on the Internet. BGP is classified as a path-vect ...
,
RPKI,
OSPF,
MPLS,
VXLAN
Virtual eXtensible LAN (VXLAN) is a network virtualization technology that uses a VLAN-like encapsulation technique to encapsulate OSI model, OSI layer 2 Ethernet frames within layer 4 User Datagram Protocol, UDP datagrams, using 4789 as the defau ...
, and other
IETF
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is a standards organization for the Internet standard, Internet and is responsible for the technical standards that make up the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP). It has no formal membership roster ...
standardized networking protocols, as well as firewall (
PF) and
load-balancing functionality.
*
OpenWrt
OpenWrt (from ''open wireless router'') is an open-source project for embedded operating systems based on Linux kernel, Linux, primarily used on Embedded system, embedded devices to Router (computing), route network traffic. The main components ...
used to route
IP packets on
embedded devices
*
pfSense
pfSense is a firewall/ router computer software distribution based on FreeBSD. The open source pfSense Community Edition (CE) and pfSense Plus is installed on a physical computer or a virtual machine
In computing, a virtual machine (VM) is ...
, a fork of
M0n0wall
m0n0wall was an embedded firewall (networking), firewall distribution of FreeBSD, one of the Berkeley Software Distribution, BSD operating system descendants. It provided a small image which could be put on flash memory, Compact Flash cards as w ...
, which uses
PF
*
OPNsense, a fork of pfSense
*
SONiC, a Linux-based network operating system developed by
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
*
VyOS, an open source fork of the Vyatta routing package
See also
*
Distributed operating system
*
FRRouting
*
Interruptible operating system
*
Network Computer Operating System
*
Network functions virtualization
*
Operating System Projects
*
SONiC (operating system)
References
{{Authority control
Internet Protocol based network software
Operating systems