Module 1: Introduction to Computer Networks (20MCA13) 1

Module 1
Introduction to Computer Networks
Definition: A computer network consists of a collection of computers, printers and other
equipment that is connected so that they can communicate with each other.

Today’s computer networks are increasingly taking over the functions previously performed by
single-use networks. This chapter looks at some typical applications of computer networks and
discusses the requirements that a network designer who wishes to support such applications must
be aware of.

This chapter does four things. First, it explores the requirements that different applications and
different communities of people place on the network. Second, it introduces the idea of a network
architecture, which lays the foundation for the rest of the book. Third, it introduces some of the
key elements in the implementation of computer networks. Finally, it identifies the key metrics
that are used to evaluate the performance of computer networks.

1.1 APPLICATIONS OF COMPUTER NETWORKS

Applications of Most people know the Internet through its applications: the
Computer Networks
World Wide Web, email, online social networking, streaming
audio and video, instant messaging, file-sharing, to name just
Business Applications Home Applications a few examples. The Applications of computer networks are
classified into business applications and home applications.

i. Business Applications:
i. Resource sharing. The goal is to make all programs, equipment and especially data
available to anyone on the network without regard to the physical location of the resource
or the user.

ii. VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) may be used to join the individual networks at different
sites into one extended network. In larger ones, the computers and employees may be
scattered over dozens of offices and plants in many countries. Nevertheless, a sales person
in New York might sometimes need access to a product inventory database in Singapore.

iii. The client-server model, the data are stored on powerful computers called servers. Often
these are centrally housed and maintained by a system administrator. In contrast, the
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employees have simpler machines,

called clients, on their desks, with
which they access remote data. The
client and server machines are
connected by a network, as illustrated
in Fig. 1-1. The client-server model is
applicable when the client and server are both in the same building.

iv. The most popular realization is that of a Web application, in which the server generates
Web pages based on its database in response to client requests. If we look at the client-
server model in detail, we see that two processes (i.e., running programs) are involved, one
on the client machine and one on the server machine. Communication takes the form of the
client process sending a message over the network to the server process. The client process
then waits for a reply message. When the server process gets the request, it performs the
requested work or looks up the requested data and sends back a reply.

v. A computer network can provide a powerful communication medium among employees.

Virtually every company that has two or more computers now has email (electronic mail),
which employees generally use for a great deal of daily communication.

vi. Telephone calls between employees may be carried by the computer network instead of by
the phone company. This technology is called IP telephony or Voice over IP (VoIP) when
internet technology is used. The microphone and speaker at each end may belong to a VoIP-
enabled phone or the employee’s computer. Companies find this a wonderful way to save
on their telephone bills.

vii. Videoconference can be one of the important business applications so that employees at
distant locations can see and hear each other as they hold a meeting. This technique is a
powerful tool for eliminating the cost and time previously devoted to travel. Desktop
sharing lets remote workers see and interact with a graphical computer screen.
Module 1: Introduction to Computer Networks 3

viii. A third goal for many companies is doing business electronically, especially with
customers and suppliers. This new model is called e-commerce (electronic commerce)
and it has grown rapidly in recent years. Airlines, bookstores and other retailers have
discovered that many customers like the convenience of shopping from home.

B. Home Applications

i. Internet access provides home users with connectivity to remote computers. As with
companies, home users can access information, communicate with other people and buy
products and services with e-commerce. Access to remote information comes in many
forms. It can be surfing the World Wide Web for information or just for fun. Information
available includes the arts, business, cooking, government, health, history, hobbies,
recreation, science, sports, travel, and many others.

ii. Many newspapers have gone online and can be personalized. The next step beyond
newspapers (plus magazines and scientific journals) is the online digital library. Many
professional organizations, such as the ACM (www.acm.org) and the IEEE Computer
Society (www.computer.org), already have all their journals and conference proceedings
online. Electronic book readers and online libraries may make printed books obsolete.

iii. peer-to-peer communication. In this form, individuals who form a loose group can
communicate with others in the
group, as shown in Fig. 1-3. Every
person can, in principle,
communicate with one or more
other people; there is no fixed
division into clients and servers.

Many peer-to-peer systems, such BitTorrent, do not have any central database of content.
Instead, each user maintains his own database locally and provides a list of other nearby
people who are members of the system. A new user can then go to any existing member to
see what he has and get the names of other members to inspect for more content and more
names. This lookup process can be repeated indefinitely to build up a large local database
of what is out there. Peer-to-peer communication is often used to share music and videos.
 Module 1: Introduction to Computer Networks 4

iv. Our fourth category is entertainment. This has made huge strides in the home in recent
years, with the distribution of music, radio and television programs, and movies over the
Internet beginning to rival that of traditional mechanisms. Users can find, buy, and
download MP3 songs and DVD-quality movies and add them to their personal collection.
TV shows now reach many homes via IPTV (IP TeleVision) systems that are based on IP
technology instead of cable TV or radio transmissions. Another form of entertainment is
game playing. Already we have multi person real-time simulation games, like hide-and-
seek in a virtual dungeon and flight simulators with the players on one team trying to shoot
down the players on the opposing team.

v. Our last category is ubiquitous computing, in which computing is embedded into

everyday life. Many homes are already wired with security systems that include door and
window sensors and there are many more sensors that can be folded in to a smart home
monitor, such as energy consumption. The IoT applications on electricity, gas and water
meters could also report usage over the network. A technology called RFID (Radio
Frequency IDentification) will push this idea even further in the future. RFID tags are
passive (i.e., have no battery) chips the size of stamps and they can already be affixed to
books, passports, pets, credit cards, and other items in the home and out. This lets RFID
readers locate and communicate with the items over a distance of up to several meters,
depending on the kind of RFID.

1.2 REQUIREMENTS

To understand how to build a computer network from the ground up. Our approach to
accomplishing this goal will be to start from first principles and then ask the kinds of questions we
would naturally ask if building an actual network. It is important to recognize the underlying
concepts because networks are constantly changing as the technology evolves and new applications
are invented. The following are the essential factors required to build a computer network.

 Perspectives of Network  Support for Common Services

 Scalable Connectivity  Manageability
 Cost-Effective Resource Sharing

1.2.1 Design Perspectives of Computer Networks

As we noted above, ours focused on the perspective of someone who would design networking
equipment and protocols. We continue to focus on this perspective. we also want to cover the
 Module 1: Introduction to Computer Networks 5

perspectives of two additional groups that are of increasing importance: those who develop
networked applications and those who manage or operate networks. Let’s consider how these three
groups might list their requirements for a network:
i. An application programmer would list the services that his or her application needs—for
example, a guarantee that each message the application sends will be delivered without
error within a certain amount of time or the ability to switch gracefully among different
connections to the network as the user moves around.
ii. A network operator would list the characteristics of a system that is easy to administer and
manage—for example, in which faults can be easily isolated, new devices can be added to
the network and configured correctly, and it is easy to account for usage.
iii. A network designer would list the properties of a cost-effective design—for example, that
network resources are efficiently utilized and fairly allocated to different users. Issues of
performance are also likely to be important.
This section attempts to distill these different perspectives into a high-level introduction to the
major considerations that drive network design.

1.2.2 Scalable Connectivity

A network must provide connectivity among a set of computers. Sometimes it is enough to build a
limited network that connects only a few select machines. In contrast, other networks are designed
to grow in a way that allows them the potential to connect all the computers in the world. A system
that is designed to support growth to an arbitrarily large size is said to scale.

To understand the requirements of connectivity more fully, we need to take a closer look at how
computers are connected in a network. Connectivity occurs at many different levels. At the lowest
level, a network can consist of two or more computers directly connected by some physical
medium, such as a coaxial cable or an optical fiber. We call such a physical medium a link, and
we often refer to the computers it connects as
nodes. Sometimes a node is a more
specialized piece of hardware rather than a
computer. As illustrated in Figure 1.4,
physical links are sometimes limited to a pair
of nodes such a link is said to be point-to-
point, while in other cases more than two Figure 1.4: Direct Links (a) Point-to Point (b) Multi-access

nodes may share a single physical link such a link is said to be multiple-access. Wireless links,
such as those provided by cellular networks and Wi-Fi networks, are an increasingly important
Module 1: Introduction to Computer Networks 6

class of multiple-access links. It is often the case that multiple-access links are limited in size, in
terms of both the geographical distance they can cover and the number of nodes they can connect.

Fortunately, connectivity between two nodes does not

necessarily imply a direct physical connection between
them—indirect connectivity may be achieved among a set of
cooperating nodes. Consider the following two examples of
how a collection of computers can be indirectly connected.
Figure 1.5 shows a set of nodes, each of which is attached to oneFigure
or more point-to-point
1.5: Switched Networks

links. Those nodes that are attached to at least two links run software that forwards data
received on one link out on another. If organized in a systematic way, these forwarding
nodes form a switched network. There are numerous types of switched networks, of which
the two most common are circuit switched and packet switched.

The circuit switched networks are most notably employed by the telephone system, while
the packet switched networks are used for most computer networks. Circuit switching is, however,
making a bit of a comeback in the optical networking realm, which turns out to be important as
demand for network capacity constantly grows.
The important feature of packet-switched networks is that the nodes in such a network send discrete
blocks of data to each other. Think of these blocks of data as corresponding to some piece of
application data such as a file, a piece of email, or an image. We call each block of data either a
packet or a message. Packet-switched networks typically use a strategy called store-and-forward.
Each node in a store-and-forward network first receives a complete packet over some link, stores
the packet in its internal memory, and then forwards the complete packet to next node. In contrast,
a circuit-switched network first establishes a dedicated circuit across a sequence of links and then
allows the source node to send a stream of bits across this circuit to a destination node. The major
reason for using packet switching rather than circuit switching in a computer network is efficiency.

The cloud in Figure 1.5 distinguishes between the nodes on the inside that implement the network
they are commonly called switches, and their primary function is to store and forward packets and
the nodes on the outside of the cloud that use the network, they are commonly called hosts, and
they support users and run application programs. In general, we use a cloud to denote any type of
network, whether it is a single point-to-point link, a multiple-access link, or a switched network.
 Module 1: Introduction to Computer Networks 7

A second way in which a set of computers can be indirectly connected is shown in Figure 1.6. In
this situation, a set of independent networks (clouds) are interconnected to form an internetwork,
or internet for short.
A node that is connected to two or more networks is commonly
called a router or gateway, and it plays much the same role as a
switch—it forwards messages from one network to another. Note
that an internet can itself be viewed as another kind of network,
which means that an internet can be built from an interconnection
of internets. Thus, we can recursively build arbitrarily large Figure 1.6: Interconnection of Networks
networks by interconnecting clouds to form larger clouds.

Just because a set of hosts are directly or indirectly connected to each other does not mean that we
have succeeded in providing host-to-host connectivity. The final requirement is that each node
must be able to say which of the other nodes on the network it wants to communicate with. This is
done by assigning an address to each node. An address is a byte string that identifies a node; that
is, the network can use a node’s address to distinguish it from the other nodes connected to the
network. When a source node wants the network to deliver a message to a certain destination node,
it specifies the address of the destination node. If the sending and receiving nodes are not directly
connected, then the switches and routers of the network use this address to decide how to forward
the message toward the destination. The process of determining systematically how to forward
messages toward the destination node based on its address is called routing.

While routing a packet, if a source node wants to send a message to a single destination node, it is
called unicast. While this is the most common scenario, it is also possible that the source node
might want to broadcast a message to all the nodes on the network. Or, a source node might want
to send a message to some subset of the other nodes but not all of them, a situation called multicast.

1.2.3 Cost-Effective Resource Sharing

This section explains the key requirement of computer networks (packet-switched networks)—
efficiency—that leads us to packet switching as the strategy of choice. Given a collection of nodes
indirectly connected by a nesting of networks, it is possible for any pair of hosts to send messages
to each other across a sequence of links and nodes.

To understand how hosts share a network, we need to introduce a fundamental concept,

multiplexing, which means that a system resource is shared among multiple users. Multiplexing
(or muxing) is a way of sending multiple signals or streams of information over a communications
Module 1: Introduction to Computer Networks 8

link at the same time in the form of a single, complex signal; the receiver recovers the separate
signals, a process called demultiplexing (or demuxing).
To see how this might work, consider the simple
network illustrated in Figure 1.7, where the three
hosts on the left side of the network (senders S1–
S3) are sending data to the three hosts on the right
(receivers R1–R3) by sharing a switched network
that contains only one physical link. (For
Figure 1.7: Multiplexing and Demultiplexing simplicity, assume that host S1 is sending data to
host R1, and so on.). In this situation, three flows of data—corresponding to the three pairs of
hosts—are multiplexed onto a single physical link by switch 1 and then demultiplexed back into
separate flows by switch 2.
There are several different
methods for multiplexing
multiple flows onto one
physical link. One common
method is synchronous
time-division multiplexing
(STDM). The idea of STDM
is to divide time into equal-
Figure 1.8: Synchronous Time Division Multiplexing
sized quanta and, in a round-
robin fashion, give each flow a chance to send data over the physical link.
a. In synchronous TDM, each device is given same time slot to transmit the data over the link,
irrespective of the fact that the device has any data to transmit or not. Hence the name
Synchronous TDM. Synchronous TDM requires that the total speed of various input lines should
not exceed the capacity of path.

b. Each device places its data onto the link when its time slot arrives i.e. each device is given the
possession of line turn by turn.

c. If any device does not have data to send then its time slot remains empty.
d. The various time slots are organized into time frames and each time frame consists of one or
more time slots dedicated to each sending device.

e. If there are n sending devices, there will be n slots in a time frame A i.e. one slot for each device.
Module 1: Introduction to Computer Networks 9

Disadvantages of Synchronous TDM

i. The channel capacity cannot be fully utilized. Some of the slots go empty in certain time frame.
ii. The capacity of single communication line that is used to carry the various transmission should
be greater than the total speed of input lines.

Another method is frequency-division multiplexing (FDM). The idea of FDM is to transmit each
flow over the physical link at a different frequency, much the same way that the signals for different
TV stations are transmitted at a different frequency over the airwaves or on a coaxial cable TV
link.

Although, simple to understand, both

Figure 1.9:STDM and
Frequency FDMMultiplexing
Division are limited in two ways. First, if one
of the flows (host pairs) does not have any data to send, its share of the physical link—that
is, its time quantum or its frequency—remains idle, even if one of the other flows has data
to transmit.
Statistical multiplexing
dynamically allocates time slot to
each channel on an as-needed basis.
This is in contrast to time-division
multiplexing (TDM) techniques, in
which quiet devices use up a portion
of the multiplexed data stream,
filling it with empty packets.

Statistical multiplexing allocates

bandwidth only to channels that are
currently transmitting. It packages
the data from the active channels Figure 1.10: STDM Vs Statistical Multiplexing
into packets and dynamically feeds them into the output channel.

Statistical multiplexing is facilitated through packet mode or packet-

oriented communication, which among others is utilized in packet switched computer
 Module 1: Introduction to Computer Networks 10

networks. Each stream is divided into packets that normally are delivered asynchronously in a first-
come first-served fashion. In alternative fashion, the packets may be delivered according to
some scheduling discipline for fair queuing or differentiated and/or guaranteed quality of service.

1.2.4 Support for common services

The next requirement of a computer network is that the application programs running on the hosts
connected to the network must be able to communicate in a meaningful way. From the application
developer’s perspective, the network needs to make his or her life easier. The challenge for a
network designer is to identify the right set of common services. The goal is to hide the complexity
of the network from the application without overly constraining the application designer.

Intuitively, we view the network as

providing logical channels over which
application-level processes can
communicate with each other; each channel
provides the set of services required by that
application. In other words, just as we use a
cloud to abstractly represent connectivity
among a set of computers, we now think of
a channel as connecting one process to
Figure 1.11:
another. Figure 1.11 shows a pair of application-level Processes communicating
processes communicating over an abstract
over channel
a logical
channel that is, in turn, implemented on top of a cloud that connects a set of hosts. We can think
of the channel as being like a pipe connecting two applications, so that a sending application can
put data in one end and expect that data to be delivered by the network to the application at the
other end of the pipe.

1.2.5 Manageability
Managing a network includes making changes as the network grows to carry more traffic or reach
more users, and troubleshooting the network when things go wrong, or performance isn’t as
desired. This requirement is partly related to the issue of scalability discussed above in section
1.2.2 —as the Internet has scaled up to support billions of users and at least hundreds of millions
of hosts, the challenges of keeping the whole thing running correctly and correctly configuring
new devices as they are added have become increasingly problematic.
 Module 1: Introduction to Computer Networks 11

1.3 Classification of computer networks

One way to characterize networks is according to their size.
 Networks are frequently classified according to the geographical boundaries spanned by
the network itself.

 PAN, LAN, WAN, MAN and SAN are the basic types of classification, of which LAN and
WAN are frequently used.

1.3.1 PAN (Personal Area Network)

 PAN devices communicate over the range of a person.

 Used for data transmission among devices such as computers, telephones and personal
digital assistants.

 The data cable is an example of PAN.

 This is also a Personal Area Network because that connection is for the user’s personal use.
PAN is used for personal use only.

 A wireless personal area network (WPAN) is a personal area network — a network for
interconnecting devices centered on an individual person's workspace — in which the
connections are wireless.

 Example1 Bluetooth uses short-range radio waves over distances up to approximately 10

meters. For example, Bluetooth devices such as a keyboard, pointing devices, audio head sets,
and printers may connect to personal digital assistants (PDAs), cell phones, or computers
wirelessly.

 Example2 Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is the wireless use of electromagnetic

fields to transfer data, for the purposes of automatically identifying and tracking tags attached
to objects.

1.3.2 LAN (Local Area Network)

 LAN is a network that connects computers and devices in a limited geographical area.
 Example: Home, school computer laboratory, office building or closely positioned group
of buildings.
 The simplest form of LAN is to connect two computers together.
 Module 1: Introduction to Computer Networks 12

 LANs are inexpensive to

install and also provide higher
speeds.
 A network which consists of
less than 500 interconnected
devices across several
buildings, is still recognized
as a LAN.
Figure 1.12: Local Area Network
Advantages of LAN:

 Easy to share devices such as printers, scanners etc.,

 Easy to share data such as pictures
 Cost of LAN setup is low.

Disadvantages of LAN:

 Power-a good LAN is required to be all the times.

 Security-each computer and device become another point of entry for undesirables
 Area covered is limited.
Example: IEEE 802.3 popularly called Ethernet.

1.3.3 MAN (Metropolitan Area Network)

 It is a high speed network that connects local area networks in a metropolitan area.

 Example: city or town handles the bulk of

communication activity across that region.

 Is larger than a LAN, but smaller than a

WAN

 Is also used to mean the interconnection of

several LANs by bridging them together.
This sort of network is also referred to as a
Figure 1.13: Metropolitan Area Network
campus network.

Advantages:

 Efficiency and shared access.

 All the computer-owing residents of the area have equal abiolity to go online.
 Module 1: Introduction to Computer Networks 13

 MAN can cover a wider area than a LAN.

Disadvantages:

 It can be costly.
 Security problem.
 As the network consists of many computers over the span of a city, the connection
can lag or become quite slow.
Example: WiMAX, Cable TV

1.3.4 WAN (Wide area network):

 WAN is a network that covers a larger geographic area (such as a city, country, or world)
using a communications channel that combines many types of media such as telephone lines,
cables and radio waves.

 Also called “enterprise networks” if they are privately owned by a large company.

 To cover great distances, WANs may transmit data over leased high speed phone lines or
wireless links such as satellites.

Types of WAN:

 Enterprise private network (EPN)

 Virtual private network (VPN)

An enterprise private network is a network build by an enterprise to interconnect
carious company sites, eg: production sites, head offices, remote offices, and shops in
order to share computer resources.

A virtual private network is a computer network in which some of the links between
nodes are carried by open connections or virtual circuits in some larger network instead
of by physical wires.

Advantages: Disadvantages:

 Increased efficiency  Security problems.

 Ease of communication  Training costs

 Lowered costs.  Maintenance problems.

Example: Internet
 Module 1: Introduction to Computer Networks 14

1.3.5 Storage Area Network

A storage area network (SAN) is a
dedicated high-speed network or subnetwork
that interconnects and presents shared pools
of storage devices to multiple servers. A
SAN moves storage resources off the
common user network and reorganizes them
into an independent, high-
Figure 1.14: Storage Area Network performance network.

1.4 NETWORK ARCHITECTURE

To help deal with the complexity, network designers have developed general blueprints—
usually called network architectures—that guide the design and implementation of networks. It
also introduces two of the most widely referenced architectures—the OSI (or 7-layer)
architecture and the Internet architecture.

1.4.1 The 7-Layer

Model
This model group
communication functions
into seven logical layers.
Control is passed from one
layer to the next, starting at
the application layer in one
station, and proceeding to
the bottom layer, over the
channel to the next station
and back up the hierarchy.

1. Physical Layer: Figure 1.15: 7-Layer OSI Model

o Deals with the transmission of 0s and 1s over the physical media.
o Translation of bits into signal and Encode bits into signals
o Carry data from the higher layers
Module 1: Introduction to Computer Networks 15

o It helps to transmit bits over a medium.

o Physical examples include Ethernet, FDDI, B8ZS, V.35, V.24, RJ45.
o The unit of communication at the physical layer is a bit.
2. Data link Layer
o To organize bits into frames and helps in providing hop-to-hop delivery.
o Create and detect frame boundaries.
o Handle errors by implementing an acknowledgement and retransmission scheme.
o Implement flow control.
o Supports points-to-point as well as broadcast communication.
o Supports simplex, half-duplex or full-duplex communication.
o The unit of communication at the data link layer is a frame.
3. Network Layer
o To move packets from source to destination to provide internetworking.
o Defines the most optimum path the packet should take from the source to the destination
o Defines logical addressing so that any endpoint can be identified.
o Handles congestion in the network.
o The network layer also defines how to fragment a packet into smaller packets to
accommodate different media.
o The unit of communication at the network layer is a datagram
4. Transport Layer
o To provide reliable process-to-process message delivery and error recovery.
o Purpose of this layer is to provide a reliable mechanism for the exchange of data between
two processes in different computers.
o Ensures that the data units are delivered error free, data units are delivered in sequence, no
loss or duplication of data units. Provides connectionless or connection-oriented service.
o The unit of communication at the transport layer is a segment, user datagram, or a packet,
depending on the specific protocol used in this layer.

5. Session Layer
o To establish, manage and terminate sessions.

o Session layer provides mechanism for controlling the dialogue between the two end
systems. It defines how to start, control and end conversations (called sessions) between
applications.
o This layer requests for a logical connection to be established on an end-user’s request.

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 Module 1: Introduction to Computer Networks 16
Type your text
o Session layer is also responsible for terminating the connection.
6. Presentation Layer
o To translate, encrypt and compress data.
o Presentation layer defines the format in which the data is to be exchanged between the two
communicating entities.
o Also handles data compression and data encryption (cryptography).
7. Application Layer
o To allow access to network resources.
o Application layer interacts with application programs and is the highest level of OSI model.
o Application layer contains management functions to support distributed applications.
o Examples of application layer are applications such as file transfer, electronic mail, remote
login etc.
o The unit of communication at the application layer is a message.

1.4.3 Drawbacks of OSI model

o OSI was too loosely defined and proprietary standards were too entrenched.
o It's not even tangible.
o The OSI model doesn't do any functions in the networking process.

1.4.4 Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)

Figure 1.16: Internet (TCP/IP) Model

 It is the basic communication language or protocol of the Internet. TCP/IP provides end-to-
end connectivity specifying how data should be formatted, addressed, transmitted, routed and
received at the destination. Protocols exist for a variety of different types of communication
services between computers.
 Module 1: Introduction to Computer Networks 17

 The Transmission Control Protocol/Internetworking Protocol (TCP/IP) is a set of

protocols, or protocol suite that defines how all the transmissions are exchanged across the
Internet.

 At the transport layer TCP/IP defines two protocols: TCP and User Datagram Protocol (UDP).

 At the network layer the main protocol defined by TCP/IP is the Internetworking Protocol (IP).

 At the physical and data link layers, TCP/IP does not define any specific protocol. It supports
all the standard and proprietary protocols.
 TCP or UDP creates a data unit that is called either a segment or a user datagram.

 The IP layer creates a data unit called a datagram.

 The movement of the datagram across the Internet is the responsibility of the TCP/IP protocol.

1.4.5 Function of each layer of Internet Model (TCP/IP)

Table 1.1 Function of each layer in Internet Model (TCP/IP)
Layer Primary function Examples
Application Do useful work with various network application HTTP, SMTP,
programs. POP, Ping, FTP
Transport Control the flow of information between the application TCP (reliable),
program running on the client and the application UDP
program running on the server (unreliable)
Internetwork Layer (IP) Route packets between networks (inter-network) IP
Subnetwork Layer Move data within a local area network Ethernet
(Network access Layer)
Define the physical characteristics of the communication radio, twisted
hardware and medium pair, fiber

The application layer is where real work gets done. Users typically interact with application
programs to retrieve Web pages, transfer files, log on to remote systems, send and read e-mail,
conduct teleconferences, etc. In other cases, the "user" might be a computer -- for example, a search
engine "spider" automatically downloading pages to index.

Transport layer programs do what the name suggest -- they transport information between the
application program on the client and the application program on the server. There are two major
transport layer protocols.

1. Transmission control protocol (TCP) is for applications that require

a reliable connection between the client and server. TCP establishes a temporary
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connection between the client and server and controls the transmission of information. It
checks for transmission errors, lost packets, and packets arriving out of order, and tries to
automatically correct these without "bothering" the application program. It also does flow
control slowing transmission if it is too fast for the receiver.
2. The user datagram protocol (UDP), is an unreliable transport protocol with no sessions
and no flow control. Error checking is optional. UDP is faster than TCP, and is suitable
for isochronous applications like voice over IP (VoIP) or streaming video where nothing
can be done if an error is detected.

The Internetwork layer(IP) is responsible for routing packets between networks. The network
layer protocol is called Internet protocol or IP for short. Again, as the name "inter-net" implies,
IP moves information between networks. Since routing efficiency is critical, IP is simple and fast.
The complexity of message integrity is left to TCP.

The Subnetwork Layer is used for moving information between two hosts within a local area
network. The Subnetwork Layer Standards at this layer spell out the physical characteristics of
the medium, for example radio, optical fiber or twisted pairs of copper wire, and the physical
definition of "one" and "zero" bits (the modulation method).

Finally, note that nearly all operating systems today -- Windows, Mac, Linux and other versions
of UNIX -- include programs for the TCP and IP protocols. They also come with common
application programs like Web, FTP, Ping, Telnet, Traceroute, POP and SMTP clients.

1.4.6 Three features of Internet Architecture

First, as best illustrated by Figure 1.15, the Internet architecture does not imply strict layering.
The application is free to bypass the defined transport layers and to directly use IP or one of the
underlying networks. In fact, programmers are free to define new channel abstractions or
applications that run on top of any of the existing protocols.

Second, if you look closely at the protocol graph in Figure 1.16, we will notice an hourglass
shape—wide at the top, narrow in the middle, and wide at the bottom. This shape actually reflects
the central philosophy of the architecture. That is, IP serves as the focal point for the architecture—
it defines a common method for exchanging packets among a wide collection of networks. Above
IP there can be arbitrarily many transport protocols, each offering a different channel abstraction
to application programs. Thus, the issue of delivering messages from host to host is completely
separated from the issue of providing a useful process-to-process communication service. Below

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 Module 1: Introduction to Computer Networks 19

IP, the architecture allows for arbitrarily many different network technologies, ranging from
Ethernet to wireless to single point-to-point links.

A final attribute of the Internet architecture (or more accurately, of the IETF culture) is that in
order for a new protocol to be officially included in the architecture, there must be both a protocol
specification and at least one (and preferably two) representative implementations of the
specification. The existence of working implementations is required for standards to be adopted by
the IETF. This cultural assumption of the design community helps to ensure that the architecture’s
protocols can be efficiently implemented.

1.4.7 A Comparison of the OSI and TCP/IP Reference Models

Similarities: The OSI and TCP/IP reference models have much in common. Both are based on the
concept of a stack of independent protocols. Also, the functionality of the layers is roughly similar.
In both models the layers up through and including the transport layer are there to provide an end-
to-end, network-independent transport service to processes wishing to communicate. These layers
form the transport provider. Again in both models, the layers above transport are application-
oriented users of the transport service.
Table 1.2 Difference between OSI & TCP/IP
OSI Model TCP / IP
1) It has 7 layers 1) Has 4 layers
2) Transport layer guarantees delivery 2) Transport layer does not guarantees delivery
of packets of packets
3) Separate presentation layer, 3) No session layer, 4) No presentation layer,
4) Separate session layer. characteristics are provided by appln layer
5) Network layer provides both 5) Network layer provides only connection less
connectionless and oriented services. services
6) It defines the services, interfaces and 6) No clear distinguishes between service
protocols very clearly and makes a interface and protocols
clear distinction between them.
7) The protocol is better hidden and 7) It is not easy to replace the protocols
can be easily replaced as the 8) TCP/IP cannot be used for any other
technology changes. application
8) OSI truly is a general model. 9) The model does not fit any protocol stack.
9) It has a problem of protocol filtering
into a model
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1.5 IMPLEMENTING NETWORK SOFTWARE

This section introduces some of the issues involved in implementing a network application on top
of the Internet architecture. Typically, such programs are simultaneously an application (i.e.,
designed to interact with users) and a protocol (i.e., communicates with peers across the network).

1.5.1 Application Programing Interface

The place to start when implementing a network application is the interface exported by the
network. Since most network protocols are implemented in software (especially those high in the
protocol stack), and nearly all computer systems implement their network protocols as part of the
operating system, This interface is often called the network application programming interface
(API). Although each operating system is free to define its own network API, over time certain of
these APIs have become widely supported; This is called the socket interface originally provided
by the Berkeley distribution of Unix, which is now supported in virtually all popular operating
systems. The first step is to create a socket, which is done with the following operation:
int socket(int domain, int type, int protocol)
This operation takes three arguments is that the
socket interface was designed to be general
enough to support any underlying protocol
suite. Specifically, the domain argument
specifies the protocol family that is going to be
used: PF_INET denotes the Internet family,
PF_UNIX denotes the Unix pipe facility, and
PF_PACKET denotes direct access to the
network interface (i.e., it bypasses the TCP/IP
protocol stack). The type argument indicates the
semantics of the communication.
SOCK_STREAM is used to denote a byte stream.
SOCK_DGRAM is an alternative that denotes a
message-oriented service, such as that provided
by UDP. The protocol argument identifies the
specific protocol that is going to be used. In our Figure 1.17: Implementing Network Software using Sockets
case, the combination of PF_INET and SOCK_STREAM implies TCP. Finally, the return value from
socket is a handle for the newly created socket—that is, an identifier by which we can refer to the
socket in the future.
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On a server machine, the application process performs a passive open—the server says that it is
prepared to accept connections, but it does not actually establish a connection. The server does this
by invoking the following three operations:
int bind(int socket, struct sockaddr *address, int addr len)
int listen(int socket, int backlog)
int accept(int socket, struct sockaddr *address, int *addr len)

The bind operation, as its name suggests, binds the newly created socket to the specified address.
This is the network address of the local participant—the server. Note that, when used with the
Internet protocols, address is a data structure that includes both the IP address of the server
and a TCP port number. The port number is usually some well-known number specific to the
service being offered; for example, web servers commonly accept connections on port 80.

The listen operation then defines how many connections can be pending on the specified socket.
Finally, the accept operation carries out the passive open. It is a blocking operation that does not
return until a remote participant has established a connection, and when it does complete it returns
a new socket that corresponds to this just-established connection, and the address argument
contains the remote participant’s address. Note that when accept returns, the original socket that
was given as an argument still exists and still corresponds to the passive open; it is used in future
invocations of accept.

On the client machine, the application process performs an active open; that is, it says who it wants
to communicate with by invoking the following single operation:
int connect(int socket, struct sockaddr *address, int addr len)

This operation does not return until TCP has successfully established a connection, at which time
the application is free to begin sending data. In this case, address contains the remote participant’s
address.

Once a connection is established, the application processes invoke the following two operations to
send and receive data:
int send(int socket, char *message, int msg len, int flags)
int recv(int socket, char *buffer, int buf len, int flags)

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The first operation sends the given message over the specified socket, while the second operation
receives a message from the specified socket into the given buffer. Both operations take a set of
flags that control certain details of the operation.

Using TCP/IP sockets, write a client-server program to make the client send the file name and to make
the server send back the contents of the requested file if present.

Algorithm (Server Side)

1. Start.
2. Create a socket using socket() system call.
3. Bind the socket to an address using bind() system call.
4. Listen to the connection using listen() system call.
5. accept connection using accept()
6. Receive filename and transfer contents of file with client.
7. Stop.
Algorithm (Client Side)
1. Start.
2. Create a socket using socket() system call.
3. Connect the socket to the address of the server using connect() system call.
4. Send the filename of required file using send() system call.
5. Read the contents of the file sent by server by recv() system call.
6. Stop.

#include <stdio.h> /*Server.c*/

#include <arpa/inet.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <unistd.h>
int main()
{
int welcome, new_soc, fd, n;
char buffer[1024], fname[50];
struct sockaddr_in addr;

welcome = socket(PF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0);

addr.sin_family = AF_INET;
addr.sin_port = htons(7891);
addr.sin_addr.s_addr = inet_addr("127.0.0.1");

bind(welcome, (struct sockaddr *) &addr, sizeof(addr));

printf("\nServer is Online");

listen(welcome, 5); /* listen for connections from the socket */

new_soc = accept(welcome, NULL, NULL);

recv(new_soc, fname, 50, 0); /* receive the filename */

printf("\nRequesting for file: %s\n", fname);

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fd = open(fname, O_RDONLY); // open the file and send its contents

if (fd < 0)
send(new_soc, "\nFile not found\n", 15, 0);
else
while ((n = read(fd, buffer, sizeof(buffer))) > 0)
send(new_soc, buffer, n, 0);

printf("\nResponse sent\n");
close(fd);
return 0;
}

#include <stdio.h> /*Client.c*/

#include <arpa/inet.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <unistd.h>
int main()
{
int soc, n;
char buffer[1024], fname[50];
struct sockaddr_in addr;

soc = socket(PF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0);

addr.sin_family = AF_INET;
addr.sin_port = htons(7891);
addr.sin_addr.s_addr = inet_addr("127.0.0.1");

while(connect(soc, (struct sockaddr *) &addr, sizeof(addr))) ;

printf("\nClient is connected to Server");
printf("\nEnter file name: ");
scanf("%s", fname);

send(soc, fname, sizeof(fname), 0);

printf("\nRecieved response\n");

while ((n = recv(soc, buffer, sizeof(buffer), 0)) > 0)

printf("%s", buffer);
return 0;
}

1.6 PERFORMANCE

Up to this point, we have focused primarily on the functional aspects of network. Like any
computer system, however, computer networks are also expected to perform well. This is because
the effectiveness of computations distributed over the network often depends directly on the
efficiency with which the network delivers the computation’s data.
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Network performance refers to measures of service quality of a network as seen by the customer.
There are many different ways to measure the performance of a network, as each network is
different in nature and design.

The following measures are often considered important:

 Bandwidth commonly measured in bits/second is the maximum rate that information can
be transferred
 Throughput is the actual rate that information is transferred
 Latency the delay between the sender and the receiver decoding it, this is mainly a function
of the signals travel time, and processing time at any nodes the information traverses
 Jitter variation in packet delay at the receiver of the information
 Error rate the number of corrupted bits expressed as a percentage or fraction of the total
sent
1.6.1 Bandwidth and Latency

Network performance is measured in two fundamental ways: bandwidth (also called throughput)
and latency (also called delay). The bandwidth of a network is given by the number of bits that can
be transmitted over the network in a certain period of time. For example, a network might have a
bandwidth of 10 million bits/second (Mbps), meaning that it is able to deliver 10 million bits every
second. The maximum data rate that is available on the link is called Bandwidth and the throughput
to refer to the measured performance of a system. For example, because of inefficiencies of
implementation, a pair of nodes connected by a link with a bandwidth of 10 Mbps might achieve
a throughput of only 2 Mbps.

The second performance metric, latency, corresponds to how long it takes a message to travel from
one end of a network to the other. Latency is measured strictly in terms of time. For example, a
transcontinental network might have a latency of 24 milliseconds (ms); that is, it takes a message
24 ms to travel from one coast of North America to the other. round-trip time (RTT) of the network
is the time to send a message from one end of a network to the other and back, rather than the one-
way latency.

We often think of latency as having three components. First, there is the speed-of-light propagation
delay. This delay occurs because nothing, including a bit on a wire, can travel faster than the speed
of light. If you know the distance between two points, you can calculate the speed-of light latency,
although you have to be careful because light travels across different media at different speeds: It
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25

travels at 3.0×108 m/s in a vacuum, 2.3×108 m/s in a copper cable, and 2.0×108 m/s in an optical
fiber. Second, there is the amount of time it takes to transmit a unit of data. This is a function of
the network bandwidth and the size of the packet in which the data is carried. Third, there may be
queuing delays inside the network, since packet switches generally need to store packets for some
time before forwarding them on an outbound link.

Latency = Propagation+Transmit+Queue

Propagation = Distance/SpeedOfLight

Transmit = Size/Bandwidth

1.6.2 Numerical Problems