High Speed Ethernet

Dr. Sanjay P. Ahuja, Ph.D.

Professor
School of Computing, UNF
Hubs and Switches
 Hubs and Switches …

Shared Medium Hub

• The total capacity in the shared medium hub configuration (figure 15.12 b) is the same
as that of shared bus (figure 15.12 a).
• Advantages:
– Exploits standard building wiring practices in cable layout.
– Maintenance is easier.
– Uses UTP.

Switches
• Advantages:
– No change required to software or hardware of attached devices to convert a bus LAN
to a switched LAN.
– Each attached device has a dedicated capacity equal to that of the entire original LAN.
– Switch scales easily.

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LAN Protocols

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IEEE 802.3 (Ethernet) Frame Format

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 IEEE 802.3u (Fast Ethernet)
• Operates at 100 Mbps. It is compatible with the regular Ethernet which operates at 10
Mbps and uses CSMA/CD MAC protocol. This is done by reducing the maximum
distance between two stations to 250 m as opposed to 2500 m in the Ethernet. The
minimum frame size is still 64 bytes as in the Ethernet.

• Physical Layer options of Fast Ethernet:

• 100BASE-T is any of several Fast Ethernet standards for twisted pair cables, including:
• 100BASE-TX (100 Mbps over two-pair Cat5 or better cable) is the predominant form of
Fast Ethernet. The segment length for a 100BASE-T cable is limited to 100 m, the
same as in Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet. A typical cat 5 cable contains 4 pairs and
can therefore support two 100BASE-TX links.
• 100BASE-T4 (100 Mbps over four-pair Cat3 or better cable, now defunct). Data stream
was split into 3 separate data streams, each with an effective data rate = 331/3 Mbps.

• 100BASE-FX is a version of Fast Ethernet over optical fiber. It uses a 1300 nm

light wavelength transmitted via two strands of optical fiber, one for receive (RX) and
the other for transmit (TX). Maximum length is 2 kms for full-duplex over multimode
optical fiber.

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 IEEE 802.3z (Gigabit) Ethernet Configuration
Workgroup represents high-performance
workstations and servers.

The 100/1000 Mbps hub supports

workstations and servers and 100 Mbps
hubs via the 100 Mbps links and
supports 1-Gbps links for backbone
connectivity.

Gigabit Ethernet retains the CSMA/CD

MAC protocol and frame format as its
10 Mbps and 100 Mbps predecessors.

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 Gigabit Ethernet Physical Layer Options
1000BASE-LX uses long wavelength laser
(1,270–1,355 nm) and is specified to work over a
distance of up to 5 km over 10 µm single-mode
fiber. This is preferred for campus backbones and
similar applications. It can also run over all common
types of multi-mode fiber with a maximum segment
length of 550 m.

1000BASE-SX is a fiber optic gigabit Ethernet

standard for operation over multi-mode fiber using
a 770 to 860 nanometer light wavelength. The
standard specifies a distance capability between
220 m (62.5 µm fiber) and 550 m (50 µm fiber).
This standard is highly popular for intra-building
links in large office buildings.

1000BASE-T (also known as IEEE 802.3ab) is

a standard for gigabit Ethernet over copper
wiring. Each 1000BASE-T network segment
can be a maximum length of 100 m, and must
use Cat 5 cable at a minimum. Cat 5e
cable or Cat 6 cable may also be used.

1000BASE-CX is a standard for gigabit Ethernet

connections with maximum distances of 25 m
using shielded twisted pair (STP). It is used in
equipment rack room. 8
 Gigabit Ethernet
• Gigabit Ethernet supports two modes of operation: Full-duplex and half-duplex. In full-
duplex mode, a switch is used and there is no CSMA/CD. In half-duplex mode, a hub is
used, CSMA/CD is needed and collisions can occur.

• In Ethernet, the minimum frame size is 64 bytes at 2500 m and 64 bytes at 250 m for
Fast Ethernet. But in Gigabit Ethernet to retain 64 bytes minimum frame size would
require a 25 m maximum LAN length. This is too small. So IEEE 802.3z committee
added two new features:

• 1. Carrier Extension: The hardware (NIC card) adds its own padding to extend the
frame to 512 bytes. Since this padding is added by the sending hardware and removed
by hardware, the software is unaware of it and thus no changes are required to existing
MAC software. But efficiency is low: 46 bytes / 512 bytes = 9% line efficiency (46 bytes
is the payload of the minimum frame size of 64 bytes).

2. Frame bursting: Allows a sender to transmit a sequence of multiple frames in a

single transmission. If total burst < 512 bytes, then the hardware pads it again. If
enough frames are waiting for transmission, this scheme is highly efficient and
preferred over scheme 1.

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 Gigabit Ethernet Discussion
• In practice, no one is going to spend on Gigabit Ethernet cards to get high
performance and then connect the computers with a hub to simulate classic
CSMA/CD with its collisions.

• While hubs are cheaper than switches, Gigabit Ethernet cards are still
expensive. To then economize by buying a cheap hub and slash performance
of the new system is foolish. So both Carrier Extension and Frame Bursting
are moot since no one will use Gigabit Ethernet hubs. Only switches will be
used. But IEEE 803.z committee put them in for backward compatibility.

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 IEEE 802.3ae (10 Gbps) Ethernet Configuration

10 Gbps Ethernet
backbone pipes will
help relieve congestion
for workgroup switches,
where Gigabit Ethernet
uplinks can easily become
overloaded, and for
server farms, where
1-Gbps NICs are already
in widespread use.

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 10 Gbps Ethernet
• Principle driving requirement for 10 Gbps Ethernet is the increase in Internet and intranet
traffic.

Factors contributing to this growth are:

• An increase in the number of network connections

• An increase in the connection speed of each end-station (e.g. 10 Mbps users moving to 100 Mbps)
• An increase in the bandwidth-intensive apps such as high-quality video.
• An increase in Web hosting and app hosting traffic

• The 10 gigabit Ethernet standard was first published in 2002 as IEEE Std 802.3ae. It defines a
version of Ethernet with a nominal data rate of 10 Gbps, ten times as fast as gigabit Ethernet.

• 10 gigabit Ethernet supports only full duplex links which can be connected by switches. Half
duplex operation and CSMA/CD (carrier sense multiple access with collision detection) are not
supported in 10GbE.

• Initially network managers will use 1- Gbps Ethernet to provide high-speed, LAN
backbone connectivity between large capacity switches. As the demand for
bandwidth increases, 10 Gbps Ethernet will be deployed throughout the network
to include server farms, backbone, and campus wide connectivity.

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 10 Gbps Ethernet …
• The technology also allows the construction of MANs that connect geographically
dispersed LANs between campuses. Thus, Ethernet begins to compete ATM and other
WAN technologies. Where the customer requirement is data and TCP/IP transport, 10
Gbps Ethernet provides substantial value over ATM transport for both network end
users and service providers:

• No expensive, bandwidth consuming conversion between Ethernet packets and ATM

cells is required; the network is Ethernet end-to-end.
• The combination of IP(v6) and Ethernet offers QoS and traffic policing capabilities that
approach those provided by ATM.
• A wide variety of standard optical interfaces (wavelengths and link distances) have
been specified for 10-Gbps Ethernet, optimizing its operation and cost for LAN, MAN,
and WAN applications.

The goal for maximum link distances covers a range of applications: from 300 m to 40
km.

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 10 Gbps Ethernet Physical Layer Options
• 10 GBASE-S (short): For 850 nm
transmission on multi-mode fiber; distance
up to 300 m. (10GBASE-SR and 10GBASE-SW)

• 10 GBASE-L (long): For 1310 nm

transmission on a single-mode fiber; distance
up to 10 km. (10GBASE-LR and 10GBASE-LW)

• 10 GBASE-E (extended): For 1550 nm

transmission on a single-mode fiber; distance
up to 40 km. (10GBASE-ER and 10GBASE-EW)

• 10 GBASE-LX4: For 1310 nm

transmission on a single-mode or multi-mode
Fiber; distance up to 10 km. This uses WDM to
Multiplex the bit stream across 4 light waves.

Note: The first three of these have two sub-

options: “R” and “W”. The R implementations
are designed for use over dark fiber, i.e. a fiber
that is not in use and not connected to any other
equipment. The W implementations are used to
connect to SONET equipment (WANs).

10GBASE-SW, 10GBASE-LW, 10GBASE-EW are

varieties that use the WAN (W) option are designed
to interoperate with OC-192/SONETequipment using a
A SONET frame running at 9.953 Gbps.

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 IEEE P802.3ba (100 Gbps) Ethernet
• 40 Gigabit Ethernet, or 40GbE, and 100 Gigabit Ethernet, or 100GbE,
are Ethernet standards developed by IEEE P802.3ba Ethernet Task Force which was
ratified in June 2010. These standards support sending Ethernet frames at 40 and 100
gigabits per second over multiple 10 Gbps or 25 Gbps lanes. Two distinct speeds were
chosen to serve different applications (network aggregation and end-station
requirements).

• Provides a significant increase in bandwidth while maintaining maximum compatibility

with the installed base of 802.3 interfaces.

• Use either WDM in 1310 nm wavelength region with four 25 Gigabit or four 10 Gigabit
channels, or parallel optics with four or ten optical fibers per direction.

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 IEEE P802.3ba (100 Gbps) Ethernet
• Market drivers for 100 Gbps-Ethernet:

• Data Center/Internet media providers:

To support the growth of Internet multimedia content and web apps, content providers have been
expanding data centers, pushing 10-Gbps to its limits. Likely to be high-volume early adopters of 100
Gbps Ethernet.

• Metro-video/service providers:
Video on demand has been driving a new generation of 10-Gbps Ethernet MANs. Likely to be high-
volume adopters in the medium term.

• Enterprise LANs:
Continuing growth in convergence of voice/video/data is driving up network switch demands.
Adoption of 100-Gbps is likely to be slow with main reliance on 1-Gbps/10-Gbps mix.

• ISP core routing:

With the massive amount of traffic flowing through these nodes, these installations are likely to be
early adopters of 100 Gbps Ethernet.

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 100 Gbps Ethernet Configuration
Trend at large data centers, with
substantial bank of blade servers, is
the deployment of 10-Gbps ports on
individual servers to handle massive
amounts of multimedia traffic provided
by these servers. This stresses
on-site switches needed to connect
large numbers of servers. A 100 Gbps
rate provides the bandwidth to handle
the increased traffic load.

100 Gbps will be deployed in switch

uplinks inside the data center as well
as providing interbuilding, intercampus,
MAN and WAN connections for
enterprise networks.

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Media Options for 40 Gbps and 100 Gbps Ethernet
(Table 16.4)
40 Gigabit Ethernet 100 Gigabit Ethernet
PHY

40GBASE-KR4
1 m backplane

40GBASE-CR4 100GBASE-CR10
10 m over copper cable

100 m over Multimode 40GBASE-SR4 100GBASE-SR10

Fiber

10 km over Single 40GBASE-LR4 100GBASE-LR4

Mode Fiber

40 km over Single
Mode Fiber 100GBASE-ER4

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Multilane Distribution for 100 Gbps Ethernet

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