EE 122: Ethernet

Ion Stoica TAs: Junda Liu, DK Moon, David Zats

http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~ee122/
(Materials with thanks to Vern Paxson, Jennifer Rexford, and colleagues at UC Berkeley)
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Goals of Todays Lecture

MAC (Media Access Control) protocols, esp.

CSMA/CD

Carrier Sense Multiple Access / Collision Detection

Ethernet: single segment

Frame structure Length/timing constraints due to Collision Detection Repeaters and hubs Bridges and switches Self-learning (plug-and-play) Spanning trees (time permitting)

Ethernet: spanning multiple segments

Three Ways to Share the Media

Channel partitioning MAC protocols (TDMA, FDMA):

Share channel efficiently and fairly at high load Inefficient at low load (where load = # senders):

1/N bandwidth allocated even if only 1 active node!

Taking turns protocols (discussed in Section)

Eliminates empty slots without causing collisions Overhead in acquiring the token Vulnerable to failures (e.g., failed node or lost token) Efficient at low load: single node can fully utilize channel High load: collision overhead

Random access MAC protocols

Key Ideas of Random Access

Carrier sense

Listen before speaking, and dont interrupt Checking if someone else is already sending data and waiting till the other node is done

Collision detection

If someone else starts talking at the same time, stop Realizing when two nodes are transmitting at once by detecting that the data on the wire is garbled
Dont start talking again right away Waiting for a random time before trying again

Randomness

CSMA Collisions
Collisions can still occur:
propagation delay means two nodes may not hear each others transmission in time. At time t1, D still hasnt heard Bs signal sent at the earlier time t0, so D goes ahead and transmits: failure of carrier sense.

Collision:
entire packet transmission time wasted
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CSMA/CD (Collision Detection)

CSMA/CD: carrier sensing, deferral as in CSMA

Collisions detected within short time Colliding transmissions aborted, reducing wastage

Collision detection

Easy in wired LANs: measure signal strengths, compare transmitted, received signals Difficult in wireless LANs

Reception shut off while transmitting Even if on, might not be able to hear the other sender, even though the receiver can Leads to use of collision avoidance instead

CSMA/CD Collision Detection

Both B and D can tell that collision occurred. This lets them (1) know that they need to resend the frame, and (2) recognize that theres contention and adopt a strategy for dealing with it. Note: for this to work, we need restrictions on minimum frame size and maximum distance

Ethernet: CSMA/CD Protocol

Carrier sense: wait for link to be idle Collision detection: listen while transmitting

No collision: transmission is complete

Collision: abort transmission & send jam signal

Random access: exponential back-off

After collision, wait a random time before trying again

After mth collision, choose K randomly from {0, , 2m1}

and wait for K*512 bit times before trying again

Hugely successful: 3/10/100/1000/10000 Mbps

The wired LAN technology

Minimum Packet Size

Why enforce a minimum packet size? Give a host enough time to detect collisions In Ethernet, minimum packet size = 64 bytes (two 6-byte addresses, 2-byte type, 4-byte CRC, and 46 bytes of data) If host has less than 46 bytes to send, the adaptor pads (adds) bytes to make it 46 bytes What is the relationship between minimum packet size and the length of the LAN?
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Minimum Packet Size (more)

Host 1 Host 2 propagation delay (d)

a) Time = t; Host 1 starts to send frame

Host 1

Host 2 propagation delay (d)

b) Time = t + d; Host 2 starts to send a frame, just before it hears from host 1s frame c) Time = t + 2*d; Host 1 hears Host 2s frame detects collision
Host 1

Host 2 propagation delay (d)

LAN length = (min_frame_size)*(light_speed)/(2*bandwidth) = = (8*64b)*(2.5*108mps)/(2*107 bps) = 6400m approx

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What about 100 mbps? 1 gbps? 10 gbps?

Limits on CSMA/CD Network Length

A latency d B

Latency depends on physical length of link

Time to propagate a packet from one end to the other And B sees an idle line at a time just before t+d so B happily starts transmitting a packet But A cant see collision until t+2d

Suppose A sends a packet at time t

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B detects a collision, and sends jamming signal

Limits on CSMA/CD Network Length

A latency d B

A needs to wait for time 2d to detect collision

So, A should keep transmitting during this period and keep an eye out for a possible collision Maximum length of the wire: 2,500 meters Minimum length of a frame: 512 bits (64 bytes)

Imposes restrictions. E.g., for 10 Mbps Ethernet:

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512 bits = 51.2 sec (at 10 Mbit/sec) For light in vacuum, 51.2 sec 15,000 meters vs. 5,000 meters round trip to wait for collision

Ethernet Frame Structure

Sending adapter encapsulates packet in frame

Preamble: synchronization

Seven bytes with pattern 10101010, followed by one byte with pattern 10101011 Used to synchronize receiver & sender Usually IP (but also Novell IPX, AppleTalk, )

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Type: indicates the higher layer protocol

CRC: cyclic redundancy check

Receiver checks & simply drops frames with errors

Ethernet Frame Structure (Continued)

Addresses: 48-bit source and destination MAC addresses

Receivers adaptor passes frame to network-level protocol

If destination address matches the adaptors Or the destination address is the broadcast address (ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff) Or the destination address is a multicast group receiver belongs to Or the adaptor is in promiscuous mode Assigned by NIC vendors (top three octets specify vendor) During any given week, > 500 vendor codes seen at LBNL

Addresses are globally unique

Data:

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Maximum: 1,500 bytes Minimum: 46 bytes (+14 bytes header + 4 byte trailer = 512 bits)

Ethernet, cont

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Connectionless No handshaking between sending and receiving adapter Unreliable Receiving adapter doesnt send ACKs or NACKs Packets passed to network layer can have gaps Gaps will be filled if application is using TCP Otherwise, application will see the gaps 2,700 page IEEE 802.3 standardization http://standards.ieee.org/getieee802/802.3.html Note, classical Ethernet has no length field instead, sender pauses 9.2 sec when done 802.3 shoehorns in a length field

Benefits of Ethernet

Easy to administer and maintain Inexpensive Increasingly higher speed Evolved from shared media to switches

And from electrical signaling to also optical Changes everything except the frame format A good general lesson for evolving the Internet:

The right interface (service model) can often accommodate unanticipated changes

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Shuttling Data at Different Layers

Different devices switch different things

Physical layer: electrical signals (repeaters and hubs) Link layer: frames (bridges and switches) Network layer: packets (routers)
Application gateway
Transport gateway Router Bridge, switch Repeater, hub Frame header Packet header TCP header User data

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Physical Layer: Repeaters

Distance limitation in local-area networks

Electrical signal becomes weaker as it travels Imposes a limit on the length of a LAN

In addition to limit imposed by collision detection

Repeaters join LANs together

Analog electronic device Continuously monitors electrical signals on each LAN Transmits an amplified copy

Repeater
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Physical Layer: Hubs

Joins multiple input lines electrically

Do not necessarily amplify the signal Also operates at the physical layer
hub

Very similar to repeaters

hub

hub

hub

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Limitations of Repeaters and Hubs

One large collision domain

Every bit is sent everywhere So, aggregate throughput is limited E.g., three departments each get 10 Mbps independently and then if connect via a hub must share 10 Mbps Repeaters/hubs do not buffer or interpret frames So, cant interconnect between different rates or formats E.g., no mixing 10 Mbps Ethernet & 100 Mbps Ethernet

Cannot support multiple LAN technologies

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5 Minute Break
Questions Before We Proceed?

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Link Layer: Switches / Bridges

Connect two or more LANs at the link layer

Extracts destination address from the frame Looks up the destination in a table Forwards the frame to the appropriate LAN segment

Or point-to-point link, for higher-speed Ethernet

Each segment is its own collision domain

switch/bridge collision domain hub

collision domain

collision domain

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Switches & Concurrent Comunication

Host A can talk to C, while B talks to D

B

A
switch

If host has (dedicated) point-to-point link to switch:

Full duplex: each connection can send in both directions o At the same time (otherwise, half duplex) Completely avoids collisions o No need for carrier sense, collision detection, and so on

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Advantages Over Hubs & Repeaters

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Only forwards frames as needed Filters frames to avoid unnecessary load on segments Sends frames only to segments that need to see them Extends the geographic span of the network Separate collision domains allow longer distances Improves privacy by limiting scope of frames Hosts can snoop the traffic traversing their segment but not all the rest of the traffic If needed, applies carrier sense & collision detection Does not transmit when the link is busy Applies exponential back-off after a collision Joins segments using different technologies

Disadvantages Over Hubs & Repeaters

Higher cost

More complicated devices that cost more money Bridge/switch must receive and parse the frame and perform a look-up to decide where to forward Introduces store-and-forward delay

Delay in forwarding frames

Can ameliorate using cut-through switching

Start forwarding after only header received

Need to learn where to forward frames

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Bridge/switch needs to construct a forwarding table Ideally, without intervention from network administrators Solution: self-learning

Motivation For Self Learning

Large benefit if switch/bridge forward frames only on segments that need them

Allows concurrent use of other links Maps destination MAC address to outgoing interface Goal: construct the switch table automatically
B

Switch table

A
switch
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Self Learning: Building the Table

When a frame arrives

Inspect source MAC address Associate address with the incoming interface Store mapping in the switch table Use time-to-live field to eventually forget the mapping

Soft state
B

Switch just learned how to reach A. A

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Self Learning: Handling Misses

When frame arrives with unfamiliar destination

Forward the frame out all of the interfaces (flooding)

except for the one where the frame arrived

Hopefully, this case wont happen very often When destination replies, switch learns that node, too
B

When in doubt, shout! A C

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Switch Filtering / Forwarding

When switch receives a frame: index the switch table using MAC dest address if entry found for destination { if dest on segment from which frame arrived then drop frame else forward frame on interface indicated } else flood

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Problems?

forward on all but the interface on which the frame arrived

Flooding Can Lead to Loops

Switches sometimes need to broadcast frames

Upon receiving a frame with an unfamiliar destination Upon receiving a frame sent to the broadcast address Implemented by flooding

Flooding can lead to forwarding loops

E.g., if the network contains a cycle of switches

Either accidentally, or by design for higher reliability

Broadcast storm

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Solution: Spanning Trees

Ensure the forwarding topology has no loops Avoid using some of the links when flooding to prevent loop from forming Spanning tree (K&R pp. 406-408) Sub-graph that covers all vertices but contains no cycles Links not in the spanning tree do not forward frames

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Constructing a Spanning Tree

Need a distributed algorithm Switches cooperate to build the spanning tree and adapt automatically when failures occur Key ingredients of the algorithm Switches need to elect a root The switch w/ smallest identifier (MAC addr) Each switch determines if its interface is on the shortest path from the root Excludes it from the tree if not Messages (Y, d, X) One hop From node X Proposing Y as the root And the distance is d 32

root

Three hops

Steps in Spanning Tree Algorithm

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Initially, each switch proposes itself as the root Switch sends a message out every interface proposing itself as the root with distance 0 Example: switch X announces (X, 0, X) Switches update their view of the root Upon receiving message (Y, d, Z) from Z, check Ys id If new id smaller, start viewing that switch as root Switches compute their distance from the root Add 1 to the distance received from a neighbor Identify interfaces not on shortest path to the root and exclude them from the spanning tree If root or shortest distance to it changed, flood updated message (Y, d+1, X)

Example From Switch #4s Viewpoint

Switch #4 thinks it is the root Sends (4, 0, 4) message to 2 and 7 Then, switch #4 hears from #2 Receives (2, 0, 2) message from 2 and thinks that #2 is the root And realizes it is just one hop away Then, switch #4 hears from #7 Receives (2, 1, 7) from 7 And realizes this is a longer path So, prefers its own one-hop path And removes 4-7 link from the tree

3
2 4 7

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Example From Switch #4s Viewpoint

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Switch #2 hears about switch #1 Switch 2 hears (1, 1, 3) from 3 Switch 2 starts treating 1 as root And sends (1, 2, 2) to neighbors Switch #4 hears from switch #2 Switch 4 starts treating 1 as root And sends (1, 3, 4) to neighbors Switch #4 hears from switch #7 Switch 4 receives (1, 3, 7) from 7 And realizes this is a longer path So, prefers its own three-hop path And removes 4-7 Iink from the tree

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2 4 7

Robust Spanning Tree Algorithm

Algorithm must react to failures

Failure of the root node

Need to elect a new root, with the next lowest identifier

Need to recompute the spanning tree

Failure of other switches and links

Root switch continues sending messages

Periodically reannouncing itself as the root (1, 0, 1) Other switches continue forwarding messages Switch waits to hear from others Eventually times out and claims to be the root

Detecting failures through timeout (soft state)

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Moving From Switches to Routers

Advantages of switches over routers

Plug-and-play Fast filtering and forwarding of frames

Disadvantages of switches over routers

Topology restricted to a spanning tree Large networks require large ARP tables Broadcast storms can cause the network to collapse Cant accommodate non-Ethernet segments (why not?)

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Comparing Hubs, Switches & Routers

hubs traffic isolation plug & play optimized routing cut-through no yes no yes switches yes yes no yes* routers yes no yes no*
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Summary

Ethernet as an exemplar of link-layer technology Simplest form, single segment:

Carrier sense, collision detection, and random access

Extended to span multiple segments:

Hubs & repeaters: physical-layer interconnects Bridges / switches: link-layer interconnects Self learning of the switch table Spanning trees

Key ideas in switches

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