Chapter 13
Chapter 13
Chapter 13
Notes for Douglas E. Comer, Computer Networks and Internets (5th Edition)
Circuit Switching
guaranteed isolation from paths used by other pairs of senders and receivers
Circuit Switching
Instead of having each circuit correspond to a physical path, multiple circuits
are multiplexed over shared media, and the result is known as a virtual circuit
three general properties define a circuit switched paradigm:
• Each packet sent across a packet network must contain the ID of the intended
recipient.
• All senders must agree on the exact details thus standards have been created by
various organizations.
The most famous: Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)
• In 1980, IEEE organized the Project 802 LAN/MAN Standards Committee to
produce standards for networking.
IEEE 802 Model and Standards
IEEE 802 divides Layer 2 of the protocol stack into two conceptual sub-layers:
Examples:
• Ethernet Bus
• Ethernet Star (hub or switch)
• Token Passing Ring
• Token Passing Bus
LAN Topologies: Bus
• Bus topology usually consists of a single cable to
which computers attach
• The ends of a bus network must be terminated to
prevent electrical signals from reflecting back
along the bus
• Any computer attached to a bus can send on the
cable and all computers receive the signal
• The computers attached to a bus network must
coordinate to prevent or manage collisions
LAN Topologies: Ring
• In a ring topology computers are connected in a
closed loop (with possible gateways to other
networks).
• Ring topologies usually have a direction
associated with the transmission (i.e, clockwise
or counterclockwise).
• In ring topologies, an acknowledgement of
successful transmission can be sent for free.
LAN Topologies: Mesh
• Mesh networks provide a direct connection
between every pair of computers.
• Main disadvantage of a mesh: Cost!
Mesh networks are not scalable.
The number of connections needed for
a mesh network grows faster than the
number of computers.
• Because connections are expensive, few
LANs employ a mesh topology
• Each computer is assigned a unique address and each packet contains the address of
the intended recipient.
• In the IEEE 802 addressing scheme, each address consists of 48 bits.
• IEEE 802 uses the term Media Access Control address (also called the MAC
address, Ethernet address or physical address).
• Each Network Interface Card (NIC) contains a unique IEEE 802 address assigned
when the device was manufactured.
• IEEE assigns a block of addresses to each vendor and allows the vendor to assign a
unique value to each device.
Unicast, Broadcast, and Multicast Addresses
The IEEE addressing supports three types of addresses that correspond to three
types of packet delivery:
• The standard specifies that a MAC broadcast address consists of 48 bits that are all 1s
(i.e., FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF).
• MAC broadcast can be viewed as a special form of multicast.
• Each multicast address corresponds to a group of computers.
• The Broadcast address corresponds to a group that includes all computers on the
network.
Unicast, Broadcast, and Multicast Addresses
Frames and Framing
Defn: Framing refers to the structure added to a sequence of bits or bytes that allows
a sender and receiver to specify and recognize the exact format of the message.
Notes:
• We say the the message is opaque because the network only examines the frame
header.
• The payload can contain an arbitrary sequence of bytes that are only meaningful
to the sender and receiver.
• Some technologies delineate each frame by sending a short prelude before the
frame and a short postlude after it.
Frames and Framing
Frames depend on the network standard to specify:
• a minimum/maximum size
• Format for the message
Defn: A hardware packet (or Layer 2 packet) is called a frame.
data communications mechanism can transfer an arbitrary 8-bit byte
mechanism is used to send packets.
Assume that a packet header consists of 6 bytes and the payload consists of an
arbitrary number of bytes.
Two special characters are used to delineate the frame :
In the ASCII character set, the Start Of Header (SOH)
the End Of Transmission (EOT)
Q: What happens when the special characters are used in the message being
transmitted?
A: We must translate the special characters into alternative form to avoid
confusion.
This is called byte stuffing.
Illustration of Frame with Byte Stuffing:
Figure (a) shows the message the sending computer wishes to transmit.
Figure (b) shows the Bytes that are actually transmitted.
PPP is a popular data link layer protocol for communication between two end-
points. It provides authentication, encryption, and compression. PPPoE (Point-to-
Point Protocol over Ethernet) is often used to provide a link from a modem to an ISP
(Internet Service Provider).
Note: Using this scheme it is not possible to make all frames the same size.
010111111011111010111111111010101
Bit-stuffed frame ready to send by Layer 2: