Review of

Underlying Network
Technologies
Chapter 2
 Network Communication
Internet is not a new kind of physical
network
 Method of interconnecting physical networks
 Set of conventions for using networks
Communication networks can be divided
into two basic types
 Connection-oriented (circuit-switched)
 Connectionless (packet-switched)
 Connection-Oriented
Forms a dedicated connection or circuit
between two points
Like U.S. telephone system
Guarantees capacity
 Once circuit is established, no other network
activity will decrease the circuit’s capacity
Disadvantage is cost
 Circuit costs are fixed, regardless of use
 Connectionless
Data to be transmitted is divided into
packets
 Usually only a few hundred bytes
 Carries identification information
Allows concurrent communication
 Multiple computers over shared medium
Disadv:
 As activity increases, given pair of
computers receives less of the network
capacity
 Who Wins?
Connectionless!
 Despite not being able to guarantee capacity
Wins via cost and performance
 Sharing network bandwidth means fewer
connections are required
 Performance ok since we can build high
speed network hardware
Throughout the text, network means
connectionless network
 WANs and LANs
WAN: spans large geographical distance
 Sometimes called long-haul networks
 Usually do not have any distance limit
 Slower: 1.5 Mbps to 155 Mbps
 More delay: few ms to several tenths of a second
 Usually consists of a series of packet switches
interconnected by long distance comm lines
 Extend network by new switch and comm line
 Computers added by attaching to a packet
switch
LAN: spans short geographical distance
 Fast: 10 Mbps to 2 Gbps
 Less delay: few tenths of ms to 10 ms
 Each computer usually contains a Network
Interface Card
Connects machine directly to network
Network is “dumb”; interface devices in the
computers do the work
Every computer attached to a network has
a unique address
 Sender must know recipient’s address
 Hardware technology specifies address
scheme
LAN , MAN , WAN
 Ethernet Technology
Ethernet is a packet-switched LAN
Invented by Xerox in early 1970’s
 Standardized by Xerox, Intel, and DEC in 1978
IEEE standard number 802.3
Many variants exist
Original design known as 10Base5
 Uses coaxial cable approximately ½ inch in
diameter and up to 500 meters long
 Cable is completely passive
 10 Mbps
 Original wiring scheme
Has been superseded
Thin-wire Ethernet
 Known as 10Base2
 Some original Ethernet disadvantages:
Transceiver has non-trivial cost
Transceivers located with cable
Cable difficult to install (thick shield; hard to bend)
 Thinnet cable thinner, cheaper, more flexible
 Computer has both the host interface and
connection circuitry
 Easy to connect and disconnect (no
technician)
 Less protection from interference; shorter
distances; fewer connections per network
10BASE2 cable showing the BNC
connector end.
Twisted Pair Ethernet
 Known as 10Base-T
 Popular, current technology
 Uses conventional unshielded copper wire
Cheaper and easier to install
 Each computer connects to a hub over 4 pairs of wires
Only 2 pairs of wires used
 Same communication capability as thick or thin
Ethernet; just alternate wiring scheme
Fast Ethernet
 Thick, thin, twisted pair: 10 Mbps
 Faster processors  Ethernet became
bottleneck
 Developed 100Base-T (100 Mbps)
Uses same twisted pair wires
Gigabit Ethernet
 Known as 1000Base-T (1 Gbps, copper))
 1000Base-X – uses fiber optics
Fiber is much faster
Developing 10 and 40 Gbps Ethernet technologies
10/100/1000 Ethernet
 Allows compatibility with either 10Base-T,
100Base-T, or 1000Base-T
 Can use for computer interfaces or hubs
 Computer with 10/100/1000 interface card
can attach to any of the 3 configurations
Hardware automatically detects speed
No hardware or software reconfiguration
required
Power over Ethernet
 Small amount of power
 Sent over same copper cable
 Power does not degrade data transmission
 Can power small devices with one cable
Two facts about increased capacity
 (1) Few computers can sustain 1 Gbps data
rate
 (2) New versions did not change standards
Max packet size same as for 10Base-T
 Higher-speeds not optimized for highest
possible computer-to-computer throughput
Allows more stations and more total traffic
Ethernet properties
 Shared bus that supports broadcast
All stations connect to single shared channel
All stations receive every transmission
 Uses best-effort delivery
Sender gets no information about packet delivery
 Distributed access control
No central authority to grant access to shared
channel
Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision
Detect (CSMA/CD)
Host listens before transmit; sends if idle
Maximum packet size limits transmission time
Must observe minimum idle time between sends
Collision detection and recovery
 Signals travel at approx 70% speed of light
 Stations can begin transmitting simultaneously
(or almost simultaneously)
Results in a collision
 Each station monitors cable while transmitting
If detect collision: host stops, waits, retries
Uses binary exponential backoff policy
 Sender delays random time; doubles on second
collision; quadruples on third collision; and so on
If network busy, retransmit attempts quickly
spread over a reasonably long period
Ethernet addressing and frames
 Each computer has a 48-bit address
Checked in interface hardware, not computer’s CPU
 When sending, specifies destination:
Single, broadcast, or multicast
 Addresses associated with the interface
hardware
Move/change interface; new machine physical
address
 Transmitted data viewed as a frame
Variable length; 64 octets to 1518 octets
Besides data, contains:
 Preamble, destination and source addresses

 Frame type

 Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC)