Lecture powerpoints from the recommended textbook are by Lami Kaya, [email protected].
Lecture powerpoints are 2009 Pearson Education Inc.
Their content has sometimes been edited by Andy Brooks.
NET0183 Networks and Communications
Lectures 15 and 16
Datagram Forwarding
TCP/IP uses the name IP datagram to refer to a packet.
8/25/2009
NET0183 Networks and Communications
by Dr Andy Brooks
datagram/gagnaskeyti
1
The recommended textbook is Computer Networks and Internets by Douglas E. Comer
http://www.coursesmart.com/0136066992/?a=1773944
www.pearson-books.com/student (for additional discounts and offers)
8/25/2009
NET0183 Networks and Communications
by Dr Andy Brooks
connectionless/sambandsfrjls
connectionless protocol
@ Wikipedia 15 February 2010
In telecommunications, connectionless describes communication
between two network end points in which a message can be sent from
one end point to another without prior arrangement. The device at one
end of the communication transmits data to the other, without first
ensuring that the recipient is available and ready to receive the data.
The device sending a message simply sends it addressed to the
intended recipient. As such there are more frequent problems with
transmission than with connection-oriented protocols and it may be
necessary to resend the data several times.
The Internet Protocol (IP) is a connectionless protocol.
8/25/2009
NET0183 Networks and Communications
by Dr Andy Brooks
connection-oriented/sambandsbundinn
connection-oriented protocol
A type of transport layer data communication service that allows a host
to send data in a continuous stream to another host. The transport
service will guarantee that all data will be delivered to the other end in
the same order as sent and without duplication. Communication
proceeds through three well-defined phases: connection
establishment, data transfer, connection release. The most common
example is Transmission Control Protocol (TCP).
The Tranmission Control Protocol (TCP) is a
connection-oriented protocol.
TCP provides a reliable connection-oriented service that
makes use of the underlying unreliable connectionless
service provided by IP.
8/25/2009
NET0183 Networks and Communications
by Dr Andy Brooks
reliable communication
Communication where messages are guaranteed to reach their
destination complete and uncorrupted and in the order they were sent.
This reliability can be built on top of an unreliable protocol by adding
sequencing information and some kind of checksum or cyclic
redundancy check to each message or packet. If the communication
fails, the sender will be notified.
8/25/2009
NET0183 Networks and Communications
by Dr Andy Brooks
IP datagram
http://windowsbootdisks.com/ip_images/ipmodelen.gif
8/25/2009
NET0183 Networks and Communications
by Dr Andy Brooks
22.3 Virtual Packets
In a connectionless service each packet travels
independently.
How does a packet pass across the Internet?
A host
creates a packet
places the destination address in the packet header
and then sends the packet to a nearby router
A router
receives a packet
uses the destination address to select the next router on the path
and then forwards the packet
Eventually, the packet reaches a router that can deliver the packet to
its final destination.
2009 Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved.
22.3 Virtual Packets
The Internet consists of heterogeneous networks.
We dont all use identical hardware and operating systems.
To overcome heterogeneity
IP defines a packet format that is independent of the hardware.
The result is a universal, virtual packet that can be transferred
across the underlying hardware intact.
The term virtual implies
The Internet packet format is not tied directly to any hardware
The underlying hardware does not understand or recognize an Internet
packet.
The term universal implies
Each host or router in the Internet contains protocol software that
recognizes Internet packets.
2009 Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved.
22.4 The IP Datagram
TCP/IP uses the name IP datagram to refer to a packet
Figure 22.1 illustrates an IP datagram format
Each datagram consists of a header followed by data area (payload)
The amount of data carried in a datagram is not fixed.
The size of a datagram is determined by the application that sends data.
A datagram can contain as little as a single octet of data or at most 64K.
Figure 22.1 The general form of an IP datagram.
An octet is exactly eight bits.
2009 Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved.
22.5 The IP Datagram Header Format
An IP datagram header contains information, such as:
the address of the source (the original sender)
the address of the destination (the ultimate recipient)
and a field that specifies the type of data being carried in the payload
Each address in the header is an IP address
MAC addresses for the sender and recipient do not appear.
Each field in an IP datagram header has a fixed size
which makes header processing efficient
Figure 22.2 shows the fields of an IP datagram header
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10
22.5 The IP Datagram Header Format
Figure 22.2 Fields in the IP version 4 datagram header.
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11
http://www.fatpipe.org/~mjb/Drawings/
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22.5 The IP Datagram Header Format
VERS
Each datagram begins with a 4-bit protocol version number
(the figure shows a version 4 header)
H.LEN
4-bit header specifies the number of 32-bit quantities in the header
If no options are present, the value is 5
SERVICE TYPE
8-bit field that carries a class of service for the datagram
(seldom used in practice)
Chapter 28 explains the DiffServ interpretation of the service type field
TOTAL LENGTH
16-bit integer that specifies the total number of bytes in the datagram
(including both the header and the data)
216-1 = 65535
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13
22.5 The IP Datagram Header Format
IDENTIFICATION
16-bit number (usually sequential) assigned to the datagram
used to gather all fragments with the same ID to reassemble the original IP
datagram
FLAGS
3-bit field with individual bits specifying whether the datagram is a
fragment
If the D-bit is set, that means dont fragment. The packet should be
transferred as a whole or not at all.
If the M-bit is set, that means more fragments to come. An unfragmented
packet is its own last fragment.
FRAGMENT OFFSET
13-bit field that specifies where in the original IP datagram the data
in this fragment belongs
the value of the field is multiplied by 8 to obtain an offset
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14
22.5 The IP Datagram Header Format
TIME TO LIVE (TTL)
8-bit integer initialized by the original sender
it is decremented by each router that processes the datagram
if the value reaches zero (0)
the datagram is discarded and an error message is sent back to the source
stops datagrams going round in circles on an internet
TYPE
8-bit field that specifies the type of the payload
HEADER CHECKSUM
16-bit ones-complement checksum of header fields
it is computed according to Algorithm 8.1
SOURCE IP ADDRESS
32-bit Internet address of the original sender
(the addresses of intermediate routers do not appear in the header)
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15
http://www.iana.org/assignments/protocol-numbers/
TYPE
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22.5 The IP Datagram Header Format
DESTINATION IP ADDRESS
The 32-bit Internet address of the ultimate destination
The addresses of intermediate routers do not appear in the header
IP OPTIONS
Optional header fields used to control routing and datagram
processing
Most datagrams do not contain any options
which means the IP OPTIONS field is omitted from the header
PADDING
If options do not end on a 32-bit boundary
zero bits of padding are added to make the header a multiple of 32 bits
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17
22.6 Forwarding an IP Datagram
The Internet uses next-hop forwarding
Each router along the path
receives the datagram
extracts the destination address from the header
uses the destination address to determine a next hop to which the
datagram should be sent
then forwards the datagram to the next hop another router or the
final destination
To make the selection of a next hop efficient, an IP router
uses a forwarding table.
A forwarding table is initialized when the router boots
and must be updated if the topology changes or hardware fails
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18
22.6 Forwarding an IP Datagram
Forwarding table contains a set of entries
each specifies a destination and the next hop used to reach that
destination
Figure 22.3 shows an example internet and the contents of a
forwarding table in one of the three routers
each router has been assigned two IP addresses
one for each interface
Router R2, which is connected 40.0.0.0/8 and 128.1.0.0/16
has been assigned addresses 40.0.0.8 and 128.1.0.8
IP does not require the suffix to be the same on all interfaces
But a network administrator can chose the same suffix for each interface to
make it easier for humans who manage the network
Each destination in the table corresponds to a network
the number of entries in a forwarding table is proportional to the
number of networks in the Internet
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19
22.6 Forwarding an IP Datagram
Figure 22.3 (a) An example internet with four networks, and (b) the forwarding table
found in router R2.
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20
22.7 Network Prefix Extraction and
Datagram Forwarding
The process of using a forwarding table to select a next hop
for a given datagram is called forwarding
The mask field in a forwarding table entry is used to extract
the network portion of an address during lookup
When a router encounters a datagram with destination IP
address D
the forwarding function must find an entry in the forwarding table that
specifies a next hop for D
The software examines each entry in the table by using the mask in
the entry to extract a prefix of address D
It compares the resulting prefix to the Destination field of the entry
If the two are equal, the datagram will be forwarded to the Next Hop
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21
22.7 Network Prefix Extraction and
Datagram Forwarding
The bit mask representation makes extraction efficient
the computation consists of a Boolean and between the mask and
destination address, D
the computation to examine the ith entry in the table can be as:
if ( (Mask[i] & D) == Destination[i] ) forward to NextHop[i]
As an example
Consider a datagram destined for address 192.4.10.3
Assume the datagram arrives at the center router, R2, in Figure 22.3
Assume the forwarding searches entries of the table in order
The first entry fails since 255.0.0.0 & 192.4.10.3 30.0.0.0
After rejecting the second and third entries in the table
The routing software eventually chooses next hop 128.1.0.9 because
255.255.255.0 & 192.4.10.3 == 192.4.10.0
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22
22.8 Longest Prefix Match
Figure 22.3 contains a trivial example
In practice, Internet forwarding tables
can be extremely large and the
forwarding algorithm is complex.
Internet forwarding tables can contain a default entry
that provides a path for all destinations that are not explicitly listed
A network manager can specify a host-specific route
it directs traffic destined to a specific host along a different path than
traffic for other hosts on the same network
An important feature of an Internet forwarding table is that
address masks can overlap.
2009 Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved.
23
22.8 Longest Prefix Match
Suppose a router's forwarding table contains entries for the
following two network prefixes:
128.10.0.0/16 and 128.10.2.0/24
What happens if a datagram arrives destined to 128.10.2.3?
Matching procedure succeeds for both of the entries
a Boolean and of a 16-bit mask will produce 128.10.0.0
a Boolean and with a 24-bit mask will produce 128.10.2.0
Which entry should be used?
To handle ambiguity that arises from overlapping address masks,
Internet forwarding uses a longest prefix match
Instead of examining the entries in arbitrary order
forwarding software arranges to examine entries with the longest prefix first
In the example above, Internet forwarding will choose the
entry that corresponds to 128.10.2.0/24
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24
22.9 Destination Address and Next-Hop
Address
What is the relationship between the destination address in
a datagram header and the address of the next hop to which
the datagram is forwarded?
The DESTINATION IP ADDRESS field in a datagram
contains the address of the ultimate destination
it does not change as the datagram passes through the Internet
When a router receives a datagram
the router uses the ultimate destination, D
to compute the address of the next router to be sent, N
The router forwards a datagram to the next hop, N
the header in the datagram retains destination address D
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25
22.10 Best-Effort Delivery
IP makes a best-effort to deliver each datagram
IP does not guarantee that it will handle all problems
The following problems can occur in IP protocol
Datagram duplication
Delayed or out-of-order delivery
Corruption of data
Datagram loss
IP is designed to run over any type of network
network equipment can experience interference from noise
Packets following one path may take longer than those following
another path
this can result in out-of-order delivery
2009 Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved.
26
22.11 IP Encapsulation
How can a datagram be transmitted across a physical
network that does not understand the datagram format?
The answer lies in a technique known as encapsulation
When an IP datagram is encapsulated in a frame
the entire datagram is placed in the payload area of a frame
The network hardware treats a frame that contains a
datagram exactly like any other frame
hardware does not examine or change the contents of the payload
Figure 22.4 (below) illustrates the concept
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27
22.11 IP Encapsulation
How does a receiver know whether the payload of an
incoming frame contains an IP datagram or other data?
Sender/receiver must agree on the value used in the frame type field
Software on the sending computer assigns the frame type field
When a frame arrives with the IP value in its type field
the receiver knows that the payload area contains an IP datagram
For example, the Ethernet specifies that the type field of a frame carrying an
IP datagram is assigned 0x0800
0x0806 indicates an ARP frame
0x86DD indicates an IPv6 frame
Encapsulation requires the sender to supply the MAC
address of the next computer to which the datagram should
be sent. (See use of ARP in later material.)
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28
22.12 Transmission Across an Internet
After the sender selects a next hop
the sender encapsulates the datagram in a frame
and transmits the result across the physical network
When the frame reaches the next hop
the receiving software examines the IP datagram
If the datagram must be forwarded across another network
a new frame is created
Figure 22.5 illustrates how a datagram is encapsulated and
unencapsulated as it travels along a path
Each network can use a different hardware technology than
the others
meaning that the frame formats and frame header sizes can differ
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29
22.12 Transmission Across an Internet
Figure 22.5 An IP datagram as it travels across the Internet.
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30
22.12 Transmission Across an Internet
Frame headers do not accumulate during a trip through the
Internet
When a datagram arrives
the datagram is removed from the incoming frame before being
encapsulated in an outgoing frame
When the datagram reaches its final destination
the frame header will be the header of the last network over which
the datagram arrived
once the header is removed, the result is the original datagram
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31
22.13 MTU and Datagram Fragmentation
Each hardware technology specifies the maximum amount
of data that a frame can carry
The limit is known as a Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU)
There is no exception to the MTU limit
Network hardware is not designed to accept or transfer frames that
carry more data than the MTU allows
A datagram must be smaller or equal to the network MTU
or it cannot be encapsulated for transmission
In an internet that contains heterogeneous networks, MTU
restrictions create a problem
A router can connect networks with different MTU values
a datagram that a router receives over one network can be too large
to send over another network
2009 Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved.
32
22.13 MTU and Datagram Fragmentation
Figure 22.6 (below) illustrates a router that interconnects
two networks with MTU values of 1500 and 1000
Host H1 attaches to a network with an MTU of 1500
and can send a datagram that is up to 1500 octets
Host H2 attaches to a network that has an MTU of 1000
which means that it cannot send/receive a datagram larger than 1000 octets
If host H1 sends a 1500-octet datagram to host H2
router R will not be able to encapsulate it for transmission across network 2
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33
22.13 MTU and Datagram Fragmentation
To solve the problem of heterogeneous MTUs a router uses
a technique known as fragmentation.
When a datagram is larger than the MTU of the network
over which it must be sent
the router divides the datagram into smaller pieces called fragments
and sends each fragment independently
A fragment has the same format as other datagrams
a bit in the FLAGS field of the header indicates whether a datagram
is a fragment or a complete datagram
Other fields in the header are assigned information for the
ultimate destination to reassemble fragments
to reproduce the original datagram
The FRAGMENT OFFSET specifies where in the original
datagram the fragment belongs
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34
22.13 MTU and Datagram Fragmentation
A router uses the network MTU and the header size to
calculate
the maximum amount of data that can be sent in each fragment
and the number of fragments that will be needed
The router then creates the fragments
It uses fields from the original header to create a fragment header
For example, the router copies the IP SOURCE and IP DESTINATION fields from
the datagram into the fragment header
It copies the appropriate data from the original datagram into the
fragment
Then it transmits the result
Figure 22.7 illustrates the division of a datagram into
fragments
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35
22.13 MTU and Datagram Fragmentation
Figure 22.7 An IP datagram divided into three fragments, with the final fragment
smaller than the others.
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36
22.14 Reassembly of a Datagram from
Fragments
Consider the configuration in Figure 22.8
if host H1 sends a 1500-octet datagram to host H2, router R1 will
divide the datagram into two fragments, which it will forward to R2
Router R2 does not reassemble the fragments
Instead R uses the destination address in a fragment to forward the
fragment as usual
The ultimate destination host, H2, collects the fragments and
reassembles them to produce the original datagram
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37
22.14 Reassembly of a Datagram from
Fragments
Requiring the ultimate destination to reassemble fragments
has two advantages:
First, it reduces the amount of state information in routers
When forwarding a datagram, a router does not need to know
whether the datagram is a fragment
Second, it allows routes to change dynamically
If an intermediate router were to reassemble fragments, all
fragments would need to reach the router
By postponing reassembly until the ultimate destination
IP is free to pass some fragments from a datagram along different
routes than other fragments
That is, the Internet can change routes at any time
(e.g., to route around a hardware failure)
2009 Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved.
38
22.15 Collecting the Fragments of a
Datagram
Fragments from multiple datagrams can arrive out-of-order
Individual fragments can be lost or arrive out-of-order
How does it reassemble fragments that arrive out-of-order?
A sender places a unique identification number in the
IDENTIFICATION field of each outgoing datagram
When a router fragments a datagram
the router copies the identification number into each fragment
A receiver uses the identification number and IP source
address in an incoming fragment
to determine the datagram to which the fragment belongs
The FRAGMENT OFFSET field tells a receiver where data
in the fragment belongs in the original datagram
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39
22.16 The Consequence of Fragment Loss
A datagram cannot be reassembled until all fragments arrive
A problem arises when one or more fragments from a
datagram arrive and other fragments are delayed or lost
The receiver must save (buffer) the fragments
that have arrived in case missing fragments are only delayed
A receiver cannot hold fragments an arbitrarily long time
because fragments occupy space in memory
IP specifies a maximum time to hold fragments
When the first fragment arrives from a given datagram
the receiver starts a reassembly timer
If all fragments of a datagram arrive before the timer expires
the receiver cancels the timer and reassembles the datagram
If the timer expires before all fragments arrive
the receiver discards the fragments that have arrived
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40
22.16 The Consequence of Fragment Loss
The result of IP's reassembly timer is all-or-nothing:
either all fragments arrive and IP reassembles the datagram,
If not then IP discards the incomplete datagram
There is no mechanism for a receiver to tell the sender
which fragments have arrived
The sender does not know about fragmentation
If a sender retransmits, the datagram routes may be
different
a retransmission would not necessarily traverse the same routers
also, there is no guarantee that a retransmitted datagram would be
fragmented in the same way as the original
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41
22.17 Fragmenting a Fragment
What happens if a fragment eventually reaches a network
that has a smaller MTU?
It is possible to fragment a fragment when needed
A router along the path divides the fragment into smaller fragments
If networks are arranged in a sequence of decreasing MTUs
each router along the path must further fragment each fragment
Designers work carefully to insure that such situations do
not occur in the Internet.
In any case, IP does not distinguish between original
fragments and subfragments.
Making all fragments the same has an advantage
a receiver can perform reassembly of the original datagram without
first reassembling subfragments.
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