CAPITULO 4: NETWORK ACCESS

4.1. Physical Layer Protocols

4.1.1. Physical Layer Connection: wired connection using a cable or a wireless connection using radio waves.

4.1.2. Network Interface Cards (NIC): connect a device to a network, wired / wireless connection.

4.1.3. Physical Layer

1. Transport the bits that make up a data link layer frame across the network media.
2. Accepts complete frame from Data Link Layer and encodes it as series of signals transmitted to the local media.
3. Encoded bits that comprise a frame are received by either an end device or an intermediate device.

4.1.3.1. Physical Layer Media

1. Electrical Signal
2. Light Pulse
3. Microwave Signal

4.1.3.2. Physical Layer Standards

1. Define what type of signal represents a “1” and what type of signal represents a “0”.
2. Long pulse might represent a 1 whereas a short pulse represents a 0, transition occurs middle of each bit period.
3. Modulation is the process by which the characteristic of one wave (the signal) modifies another wave (the carrier).

1. International Organization for Standardization (ISO)

2. Telecommunications Industry Association/Electronic Industries Association (TIA/EIA)
3. International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
4. American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
5. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

4.1.3.3. Physical Layer Functions

1. Encoding: Method of converting a stream of data bits into a predefined “code”.
2. Signalling: Method of representing the bits.

4.1.3.4. Bandwidth
1. Capacity of a medium to carry data.
2. Measures the amount of data that can flow from one place to another in a given amount of time.
3. Speed that bits travel, however this is not accurate.
4. In both 10Mb/s and 100Mb/s Ethernet, the bits are sent at the speed of electricity.
5. The difference is the number of bits that are transmitted per second.

4.1.3.5.Throughput
1. Measure of the transfer of bits across the media over a given period of time.
2. Does not match the specified bandwidth in physical layer implementations due to many factors:
1. Amount of traffic
2. Type of traffic
3. Latency created by network devices encountered between source and destination
3. GOODPUT: throughput minus traffic overhead for establishing sessions, acknowledgments, and encapsulation.
4.2. Network Media

4.2.1. Copper Cabling

1. Transmitted on copper cables as electrical pulses.
2. Attenuation: the longer the signal travels, the more it deteriorates, copper media follow strict distance limitations.
3. Electromagnetic interference (EMI) or radio frequency interference (RFI): distorts and corrupts the data signals
being carried by copper media, to counter copper cables wrapped in shielding (also crosstalk)
4. Crosstalk: disturbance caused by electric or magnetic fields of signal on one wire to the signal in an adjacent wire.

4.2.2. Copper Media

1. Unshielded Twisted-Pair Cable:
1. Terminated with RJ-45 connectors, interconnect network hosts with networking devices such as switches.
2. Four pairs of color-coded wires twisted together to help protect against signal interference from other wires..

2. Shielded Twisted-Pair (STP) Cable:

1. STP provides better noise protection than UTP, more expensive and difficult to install, RJ-45 connector.
2. Combines the techniques of shielding to counter EMI and RFI, and wire twisting to counter crosstalk.
3. Four pairs of wires, each wrapped in a foil shield, which are then wrapped in an overall metallic braid or foil.

3. Coaxial Cable
1. A copper conductor used to transmit the electronic signals.
2. Insulating material is surrounded in a woven copper braid, or metallic foil, that acts as the second wire in the
circuit and as a shield for the inner conductor.
3. UTP cable has essentially replaced coaxial cable in modern Ethernet installations but is used in
4. Wireless installations: Coaxial cables attach antennas to wireless devices.

4.2.3. Copper Media Safety

1. Copper media are susceptible to fire and electrical hazards.
2. Separation of data and electrical power cabling, Cables connected correctly
3. Equipment must be grounded correctly, installations must be inspected for damage

4.2.4. UTP Cabling

1. Four pairs of color-coded copper wires twisted together and then encased in a flexible plastic sheath.
2. UTP cable does not use shielding to counter the effects of EMI and RFI.
3. Cancellation: two wires in an electrical circuit are placed close together their magnetic fields are the exact opposite
of each other and cancel out any outside EMI and RFI signals.
Varies the number of twists per wire pair to further enhance the cancellation effect of a paired circuit.
Each colored pair is twisted a different number of times.

4.2.4.1. UTP Cabling Standards

1. UTP cabling conforms to the standards established by TIA/EIA.,TIA/EIA-568 stipulates the standards:
2. Cat 3 Cable: 1. Used for voice communication 2. Most often used for phone lines
3. Cat 5 and 5e Cable: 1. For data transmission 2. Cat5: 100 Mb/s – 1000 Mb/s (X) 3. Cat5e: 1000 Mb/s
4. Cat 6 Cable: 1. For data transmission 2. 1000 Mb/s – 10 Gb/s (X) 3. separator allow to function at higher speeds

4.2.4.2. UTP Connectors

RJ-45 connector, TIA/EIA-568 standard describes wire color codes to pin assignments (pinouts) for Ethernet cables.

4.2.4.3. Testing UTP Cables

Testing Parameters: 1. Wire map 2. Cable length 3. Signal loss due to attenuation 4. Crosstalk
4.2.2. Fiber Optic Cabling
1. Transmits data over longer distances and at higher bandwidths, bits encoded on the fiber as light pulses.
2. Transmit signals with less attenuation and is completely immune to EMI and RFI.
3. Flexible, but extremely thin, transparent strand of very pure glass, not much bigger than a human hair.
4. Fiber-optic cabling used in four types of industry:
1. Enterprise Networks
2. Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH)
3. Long-Haul Networks
4. Submarine Cable Networks

4.2.2.1. Fiber Media Cable Design

1. Jacket: protects fiber against abrasion, moisture, and other contaminants. Composition depend on cable usage.
2. Strengthening Material: Surrounds the buffer, prevents the fiber cable from being stretched when pulled.
Same material used to produce bulletproof vests.
3. Buffer: help shield the core and cladding from damage.
4. Cladding: act like mirror, reflect light back in the core of fiber. keeps light in the core as it travels down the fiber.
5. Core: light transmission at center of optical fiber. Core is silica or glass. Light pulses travel through the fiber core.

4.2.2.2 Types of Fiber Media

1. Single Mode: 1.Single straight path of light 2.Small Core 3.Less dispersion
4.Long distance 5.Laser as source
2. Multimode: 1.Multiple paths light 2.Larger Core 3.Great dispersion, loss signal
4.Shorter distance 5.Use LED as light source

4.2.2.3. Fiber-Optic Connectors

1. Light can only travel in one direction over optical fiber, two fibers are required to support the full duplex operation.
2. Straight-Tip (ST) | Subscriber Connector (SC) | Lucent Connector (LC) Simplex | Duplex Multimode LC
3. Fiber patch cords: 1. Yellow jacket is for single-mode fiber cables 2.Orange (or aqua) for multimode fiber cables.

4.2.2.4. Testing Fiber Cables.

1. Types of fiber-optic termination and splicing errors are:
1. Misalignment: fiber-optic media are not precisely aligned to one another when joined.
2. End gap: media does not completely touch at the splice or connection.
3. End finish: media ends are not well polished, or dirt is present at the termination.
2. Can be field tested by shining a bright flashlight into one end of the fiber while observing the other end.

4.2.3. Wireless Media

1. Carry electromagnetic signals that represent the binary digits of data using radio or microwave frequencies.
2. Wireless areas of concern:
1. Coverage area: Construction materials used in buildings and structures, and the local terrain limit the coverage.
2. Interference: Disrupted by devices as fluorescent lights, microwave ovens, and other wireless communications.
3. Security: Devices and users, not authorized for access to the network, can gain access to the transmission.
4. Shared medium: Only one device can send or receive at a time and wireless medium is shared by all users.

4.2.3.1. Types of Wireless Media

1. Wi-Fi: Standard IEEE 802.11
1. Uses Carrier/Sense Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA).
2. Wireless NIC must wait till channel is clear.
2. Bluetooth: Standard IEEE 802.15
1. Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN)
2. Uses a device pairing process for distances 1 to 100 meters
3. WiMAX: Standard IEEE 802.16
1. Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access
2. Wireless broadband access.

4.2.3.2. Wireless LAN

1. Wireless Access Point (AP): Concentrates the wireless signals from users and connects to the existing
copper
based network infrastructure, such as Ethernet.
2. Wireless NIC adapters: Provide wireless communication capability to each network host.
4.3. Data Link Layer Protocols

4.3.1. The Data Link Layer

1. Prepares network data for physical network, control the transfer of frames across the media

4.3.2. Data Link Sublayers

1. Data link layer is divided into two sublayers:
1. Logical Link Control (LLC)
1. Communicates with the network layer.
2. Identifies which network layer protocol is being used for the frame.
3. Allows multiple Layer 3 protocols, such as IPv4 and IPv6, to utilize the same network interface and media.
2. Media Access Control (MAC)
1. Defines the media access processes performed by the hardware.
2. Provides data link layer addressing and access to various network technologies.
3. Communicates with Ethernet to send and receive frames over copper or fiber-optic cable.
4. Communicates with wireless technologies such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

4.3.2.1. Media Access Control (MAC)

1. Packets travel over different physical networks.
2. Physical networks can consist of different types of physical media such as copper wires, optical fibers, and
wireless consisting of electromagnetic signals, radio and microwave frequencies, and satellite links.
3. Media Access Control Topologies:
1. Physical topology: Physical connections and identifies how end devices and infrastructure devices such as
routers, switches, and wireless access points are interconnected.
2. Logical Topology: Way a network transfers frames from one node to the next.
These logical signal paths are defined by data link layer protocols.

4.3.3. Provide Access to Media

1. At each hop along the path, a router:
1. Accepts a frame from a medium
2. De-encapsulates the frame
3. Re-encapsulates the packet into a new frame
4. Forwards the new frame appropriate to the medium of that segment

4.3.4. Data Link Layer Standards

1. Same 5 ones as the Physical Layer
4.4. WAN Topologies
1. Point-to-Point: Permanent link between two endpoints.
2. Hub and Spoke: Central site interconnects branch sites using point-to-point links.
3. Mesh: High availability, requires every end system be interconnected to every other system.
Administrative and physical costs can be significant.

4.4.1. Physical Point-to-Point Topology

1. Frames placed on the media by the node at one end and taken from the media by the node at the other end of the
point-to-point circuit.

4.4.2. Logical Point-to-Point Topology

1. End nodes communicating in a point-to-point network can be physically connected via a number of intermediate
devices.
2. The use of physical devices in the network does not affect the logical topology.
3. Logical connection between nodes forms what is called a virtual circuit.

4.4.3. Physical LAN Topologies

1. Star: End devices are connected to a central intermediate device. Use Ethernet switches.
2. Extended Star: Additional Ethernet switches interconnect other star topologies.
3. Bus: Used in legacy networks.
All end systems are chained to each other and terminated in some form on each end.
Switches are not required to interconnect the end devices.
Bus topologies with coax cables used in legacy Ethernet networks, it was inexpensive and easy to set up.
4. Ring: End systems are connected to their respective neighbor forming a ring.
The ring does not need to be terminated.
Ring topologies were used in legacy Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) and Token Ring networks.

4.4.4. Half and Full Duplex

1. Half-Duplex Communication
1. Both devices can transmit and receive on the media but cannot do so simultaneously.
2. Used in legacy bus topologies and with Ethernet hubs.
3. WLANs also operate in half-duplex.

2. Full-Duplex Communication
1. Both devices can transmit and receive on the media at the same time.
2. Data link layer assumes that the media is available for transmission for both nodes at any time.
3. Ethernet switches operate in full-duplex mode by default, but can operate in half-duplex if connecting to a device
such as an Ethernet hub.

4.4.5. Media Access Control Methods

1. Contention-Based Access
1. Nodes operate in half-duplex.
2. Compete for the use of the medium.
3. Only one device can send at a time.

4.4.5.1. Contention-based Access: CSMA/CD

1. Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) process is used in half-duplex Ethernet LANs.
1. If two devices transmit at the same time, a collision will occur.
2. Both devices will detect the collision on the network.
3. Data sent by both devices will be corrupted and will need to be resent.

4.4.5.2. Contention-based Access: CSMA/CA

1. Uses a method to detect if the media is clear.
2. Does not detect collisions but attempts to avoid them by waiting before transmitting.
3. Ethernet LANs using switches do not use a contention-based system because the switch and the host NIC
operate in full-duplex mode.

2. Controlled Access
1. Each node has its own time to use the medium.
2. Legacy Token Ring LANs are an example
4.4.4. Data Link Frame
1. Each frame type has three basic parts:
1. Header
2. Data
3. Trailer
2. Structure of the frame and the fields contained in the header and trailer depend on Layer 3 protocol.
3. More header and trailer fields = slower transmission rate

4.4.1. Frame Fields

1. Frame start and stop indicator flags: Identifies the beginning and end limits of the frame.
2. Addressing: Indicates the source and destination nodes.
3. Type: Identifies the Layer 3 protocol in the data field.
4. Control: Identifies special flow control services such as QoS.
5. Data: Contains the frame payload (i.e., packet header, segment header, and the data).

4.4.2. Layer 2 Addresses

1. Each data link frame contains the source data link address of the NIC card sending the frame, and the destination
data link address of the NIC card receiving the frame.

4.4.3. LAN and WAN Frames

1. Layer 2 protocol used for a topology is determined by the technology.
2. Data link layer protocols include:
1. Ethernet
2. 802.11 Wireless
3. Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP)
4. HDLC
5. Frame Relay