Computer Network Basics

An overview of computer networking which introduces many key concepts and terminology. Sets the stage for future topics.

Components of any Computer

Computer Processor Memory (active) (passive) Control (brain) (where programs, Datapath data live (brawn) when running) Devices Input

Keyboard, Mouse Disk, Network

Display, Printer

Output

Communication Devices
Synchronous communication uses a clock

signal separate from the data signalcommunication can only happen during the tick of the timing cycle Asynchronous communication does not use a clock signal- rather, it employs a start and stop bit to begin and end the irregular transmission of data

Connecting to Networks (and Other I/O)

Bus - shared medium of communication that

can connect to many devices Hierarchy of Buses in a PC

Operating systems
Developer or manufacturer Apple Computers Inc. AT&T Bell Laboratories Be Inc. Berkeley University Carnegie-Mellon University Cisco Systems Inc. HP IBM Linus Thorvald Microsoft Novell Siemens Silicon Graphics Sun Microsystems Operating system Mac OS 8/9/X Unix beOS BSD, FreeBSD Mach 3.0 IOS HP-UX AIX and OS/2 Linux Windows XP, Vista NetWare SINIX IRIX Solaris, SunOS, JavaOS

Santa Cruz Operation Inc. (SCO) SCO XENIX, SCO UNIX, SCO MPX

Operating Systems Developed for Portable Devices

Developer or manufacturer Microsoft Microsoft Palm Symbian RIM (Research In Motion Limited) Operating system Windows CE Windows Mobile 6.0 PalmOS Symbian OS RIM

A closer look at network structure:

network edge:

applications and hosts network core: routers network of networks

General Architecture of Computer Networks

External nodes (or stations) Cloud

Internal nodes (swithing devices)

The Network Core

mesh of interconnected

routers the fundamental question: how is data transferred through net? circuit switching: dedicated circuit per call: telephone net packet-switching: data sent thru net in discrete chunks

Connection of Networks

router or gateway

networks or subnetworks node (host, station)

Network Topology
a) bus, b) star, c) ring, d) tree structure

a)

b)

c)

d)

Classification of the networks according to the connection establishing

Line switched network

Packet switched network

Radiating/data disseminating systems

Point-to-point connected networks

Wired media
Telephone line Thin Coax Thick Coax Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) Shielded Twisted Pair (STP) Fibre

(Data) Reliability
A network service is (data) reliable

if the sender application can rely on the error-free and ordered delivery of the data to the destination In the Internet the reliability can obtained mainly by acknowledgements and retransmission In such a way the losses in the underlying layers can be retrieved

Flow-control and Congestion Prevention

Flow-control: to protect the

receiver against the overload

I.e.: the sender (source) sends more data than the receiver can process it is mainly necessary in link and transport level

Congestion

the intermediate nodes against the overload

prevention: to prevent

it is mainly necessary in network level

Overload and Congestion

Overload: Too many packets occur in a

subnetwork in the same time, which prevent each other and in such a way the throughput decreases Congestion: the queues in the routers are too long, the buffers are full.

As a consequence some packages are dropped if the buffers of the routers are overloaded

In extreme case:

grid-lock, lock-up

Deadlock

congestion, the routers wait for each other Direct store and forward deadlock: the buffers of two neighbouring routers are full with the packets to be sent to the other router Indirect store and forward deadlock: the deadlock occurred not between two neighbouring routers but in a subnetwork, where any of the routers has not free buffer space for accepting packets

Deadlock: the most serious situation of the

 Network: physical connection that allows two computers to

Review: Networking Definitions

communicate Packet: unit of transfer, bits carried over the network

Network

Protocol: agreement between two parties as to how

carries packets from on CPU to another Destination gets interrupt when packet arrives

information is to be transmitted Broadcast Network: Shared Communication Medium Delivery: How does a receiver know who packet is for?
Put

Arbitration: Act of negotiating use of shared medium Point-to-point network: a network in which every physical

header on front of packet: [ Destination | Packet ] Everyone gets packet, discards if not the target

wire is connected to only two computers Switch: a bridge that transforms a shared-bus (broadcast) configuration into a point-to-point network Router: a device that acts as a junction between two networks to transfer data packets among them

The Need for a Protocol Architecture

Procedures to exchange data between

devices can be complex High degree of cooperation required between communicating systems
destination

addressing, path readiness to receive file formats, structure of data how commands are sent/received and acknowledged etc.

Layered Protocol Architecture

Modules arranged in a vertical stack

Each layer in stack: Performs related functions Relies on lower layer for more primitive functions Provides services to next higher layer Communicates with corresponding peer layer of neighboring system using a protocol

 Layering: building complex services from simpler ones

Network Layering

The physical/link layer is pretty limited

Each layer provides services needed by higher layers by utilizing services provided by lower layers

Our goal in the following is to show how to construct a secure, ordered,

Packets are of limited size (called the Maximum Transfer Unit or MTU: often 200-1500 bytes in size) Routing is limited to within a physical link (wire) or perhaps through a switch

message service routed to anywhere: Physical Reality: Packets Limited Size Unordered (sometimes) Unreliable Machine-to-machine Only on local area net Asynchronous

Abstraction: Messages Arbitrary Size Ordered Reliable Process-to-process Routed anywhere Synchronous

Key Features of a Protocol

Set of rules or conventions to exchange

blocks of formatted data Syntax: data format Semantics: control information (coordination, error handling) Timing: speed matching, sequencing Actions: what happens when an event occurs

Operation of Protocols
Host (n-1). layer protocol entity Host (n-1). layer protocol entity

n. layer protocol entity

n. layer protocol entity

(n+1). layer protocol entity

(n+1). layer protocol entity

... Physical connection (interlayer) protocol

...

layerprotocol

The OSI Model

Physical Layer

(Data) Link Layer

Network Layer Transport Layer Session Layer Presentation Layer Application Layer

Physical Layer
Transmission of energy onto the

medium

Collection of energy from the medium This layer is concerned with the physical transmission of raw bits This bits are transmitted through mechanical, electrical, and procedural interfaces which include
interface card standard modem standards certain portions of the ISDN and LAN MAN standards

(Data) Link Layer

Transmission of frames over one link or network

Often subdivided into the MAC and LLC

It receives bits from the physical layer, converting bits

to frames

frame boundaries

Using protocols (e.g. HDLC), this layer corrects errors

that might have occurred during transmission across a link In addition this layer provides an error-free transmission channel to the next layer known as the network layer: error control

ARQ duplicates

Flow control

Network Layer I
The previous two layers were concerned with getting error-free data across a link The network layer establishes connections between nodes, routes data packets through the network, and accounts for them
End-to-end transmission of packets (possibly over multiple

links) Controls the operation of the subnet Routing

Congestion control At this stage, there may be congestion due to many packets waiting to be routed Some packets may be lost during congestion

static dynamic

Network Layer II
Accounting packets bytes etc.

Internetworking

Broadcast subnets: thin network layer

segmentation addressing sequencing accounting

This layer is also concerned with internetworking where there is talking between technologies, such as the traditional Internet connected to ATM

Transport Layer I
This

End-to-end delivery of a complete message

layer presumes the ability to pass through a network and provides additional services to end-users, such as and-to-and packet reliability

(end-to-end communication path, usually reliable) Isolation from hardware Multiplexing/demultiplexing Divide message into packets Reassemble (possibly out of order packets) into the original message of the distant end

Transport Layer II
End-to-end flow control Acknowledgments Types of service

error-free, point-to-point, in sequence, flow controlled no correctness guarantees no sequencing

Establishing/terminating connections naming/addressing intra-host addressing (process, ports)

Session Layer
This layer enables users to establish sessions across a network between machines In addition, it offers session management services
Set up and management of end-to-end conversation Establish and terminate sessions superset of connections Assignment of logical ports Dialogue control Token management for critical operations Synchronization checkpoints/restarts

Presentation Layer
This layer is concerned with the syntax and semantics of messages, code conversions between machines, and other data conversion services Some of these services are data compression and data encryption
Interface between lower layers and application Formatting Syntax & semantics of messages

Data encoding (e.g.: ASCII to EBCDIC)

Compression Encryption/Decryption

Authentication

Application Layer

This layer provides support for the user's network applications

e.g.:

Some application layer services have been standardized,

File Transfer and Management (FTAM) Message Handling Services for electronic mail (X.400) Directory Services (X.500) Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)

Program youre running,applications file transfer, access & management e-mail virtual terminals WWW

The OSI Protocol Stack

Endsystem Application layer entity Presentation layer entity

Intermediate

Intermediate

Endsystem Application layer entity Presentation layer entity Session layer entity Transport layer entity

Operation of the model

Session layer entity Transport layer entity Network layer entity Datalink layer entity Physical layer entity Network layer entity Datalink layer entity Physical layer entity Network layer entity Datalink layer entity Physical layer entity

Network layer entity Datalink layer entity Physical layer entity

Physical medium Virtual transmission Real data transmission

Names of the Nodes, Connections and Data Units

Layer name Application layer Presentation layer Session layer Transport layer Network layer (Data)link layer Physical layer Node application host host host host, router station switch Connection network service session transport connection network path line (physical) channel physical transmission medium Data unit e.g. file (ADU) data structure (PPDU) message (SPDU) message (TPDU) (data)packet (NPDU) (data)frame (LLC PDU) bit

Communication among the layers

Connection

oriented network service (virtual circuits, eg. ATM)

Reliable transport service Unreliable transport service

Connectionless

network service (datagram service, eg. IP)

Reliable transport service (eg. TCP) Unreliable transport service (eg. UDP)

Network Tools
Repeater: connects network segments

logically to one network Hub: multiport repeater Bridge: datalink level connection of two networks Switch: multiport bridge Router: connects networks that are compatible in transport level

Gateway

subnetworks are connected to the interfaces of the repeater

two individual network. The Way Out

(proxy server): router between

Physical Layer Devices

Repeater Hub dumb level-1 hub multi-port repeater

Data Link Layer Devices

Bridge

Cascaded vs. Backbone Single Multiple

Switch (switched hub)

Routers
Provide link between networks

Accommodate network differences: Addressing schemes Maximum packet sizes Hardware and software interfaces Network reliability

Congestion/Traffic Management

Devices of the Network Connection

Application layer Presentation layer Session layer Transport layer Network layer Datalink layer Physical layer Gateway or Proxy server Router or Gateway Bridge or Switch Repeater or Hub Application layer Presentation layer Session layer Transport layer Network layer Datalink layer Physical layer

Architectural Implementation of the LANs

Ethernet FDDI Gigabit

(IEEE 802.3)

Ethernet Token Bus (IEEE 802.4) Token Ring (IEEE 802.5)

Characteristics of High-Speed LANs

Fast Ethernet Data Rate Transmission Mode 100 Mbps UTP,STP, Optical Fiber CSMA/CD Gigabit Ethernet 1 Gbps, 10 Gbps UTP, shielded cable, optical fiber CSMA/CD Fibre Channel 100 Mbps 3.2 Gbps Optical fiber, coaxial cable, STP Switched Wireless LAN 1 Mbps 2 Gbps 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz Microwave CSMA/CA Polling

Access Method

Supporting Standard

IEEE 802.3

IEEE 802.3

Fibre Channel Association

IEEE 802.11

Wide Area Network Connections

Solutions for connecting LANs to the

Internet

Ethernet (ring or star topology) Managed Leased Line Network (MLLN) ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) Switched line ISDN line

Soft and Hard States

State: the data collection, which are necessary for Hard state

keeping the connection between two protocol entities

If the connection is established once, it is never timed out, even if it is not in usage To cancel the connection one of the participants of the connection must explicitly close it The history of the state is stored To keep the connection the participants must send occasionally keep-alive messages, since without keep-alive message the state information is timed out after a certain period The state is called as soft since in the ordinary operation the state can change easily The history of the state is not stored

Soft state

Packet switching versus circuit switching

Is packet switching best in every case?
Great for bursty data

resource sharing no call setup (less start-up delay)

However Packets can experience delays, so not for real-time applications excessive congestion leads to packet delay and loss protocols (like TCP) are needed for reliable data transfer, and congestion control

 Before continue, need some performance metrics Overhead: CPU time to put packet on wire Throughput: Maximum number of bytes per second
Latency:

Performance Considerations

Depends on wire speed, but also limited by slowest router (routing delay) or by congestion at routers Raw transfer time + overhead at each routing hop

time until first bit of packet arrives at receiver

Router LW1 LR1 LW2

Router LR2 Lw3

Contributions to Latency Wire latency: depends on speed of light on wire

Router

about 11.5 ns/foot

Could be < 1 ms (for a good router)

latency: depends on internals of router

Delay in packet-switched networks

packets experience delay on end-to-end path four sources of delay at each hop
Nodal processing: check bit errors determine output link

A B

transmission

Queueing: time waiting at output link for transmission depends on congestion level of router

propagation

nodal processing

queueing

Delay in packet-switched networks

Transmission delay: R=link bandwidth (bps) L=packet length (bits) time to send bits into link = L/R Propagation delay: d = length of physical link s = propagation speed in medium (~2x108 m/sec) propagation delay = d/s

A B

transmission propagation

nodal processing

queueing

Queueing delay (revisited)

R=link bandwidth (bps)

L=packet length (bits)

a=average packet

arrival rate

traffic intensity = La/R

La/R ~ 0: average queueing delay small La/R -> 1: delays become large

La/R > 1: more work arriving than can be

serviced, average delay infinite!

Internet protocol stack

Application: supporting network

applications

ftp, smtp, http

tcp, udp

Transport: host-host data transfer

Network: routing of datagrams from

source to destination

ip, routing protocols

Network access: data transfer between

neighboring network elements

ppp, ethernet

Physical: bits on the wire

Layering: logical communication

E.g.: transport
take data from app add addressing,

reliability check info to form datagram send datagram to peer wait for peer to ack receipt analogy: post office

data application transport transport network link physical application transport network link physical ack data network link physical data application transport transport network link physical

application transport network link physical

Layering: physical communication

data application transport network link physical

application transport network link physical

network link physical data application transport network link physical

application transport network link physical

Protocol layering and data

Each layer takes data from above adds header information to create new data unit passes new data unit to layer below source
M

destination application Ht transport Hn Ht network Hl Hn Ht link physical

M M M M message segment datagram frame

Ht M Hn Ht M Hl Hn Ht M

application transport network link physical

IP over ATM
ATM Adaptation

Layer (AAL): interface to upper layers

ATM Layer: cell

end-system segmentation/rea ssembly

application TCP/UDP IP AAL5 ATM physical application TCP/UDP IP AAL5 ATM physical ATM physical application TCP/UDP IP AAL5 ATM physical application TCP/UDP IP AAL5 ATM physical

switching Physical

The Internet Protocol Stack

Application
Application Sockets Presentation

Session
UDP Transport Network Data Link Physical

TCP IP

Network Access

Network Protocols
Protocol: Agreement between two parties as to how

information is to be transmitted
Example:

system calls are the protocol between the operating system and application Networking examples: many levels

Protocols on todays Internet:

Physical level: mechanical and electrical network (e.g. how are 0 and 1 represented) Link level: packet formats/error control (for instance, the CSMA/CD protocol) Network level: network routing, addressing Transport Level: reliable message delivery

NFS

RPC

WWW

e-mail

ssh

Transport
Network Physical/Link

UDP
IP Ethernet ATM

TCP
Packet radio

 Process to process communication Basic routing gets packets from machinemachine What we really want is routing from processprocess
Several

Building a messaging service

IP protocols include notion of a port, which is a 16-bit identifiers used in addition to IP addresses

Example: ssh, email, ftp, web browsing

A communication channel (connection) defined by 5 items: [source address, source port, dest address, dest port, protocol]

UDP: The User Datagram Protocol UDP layered on top of basic IP (IP Protocol 17)
Unreliable, unordered, user-to-user communication
IP Header (20 bytes) 16-bit source port 16-bit UDP length 16-bit destination port 16-bit UDP checksum

UDP Data

 UDP: The Unreliable Datagram Protocol Datagram: an unreliable, unordered, packet sent from source user dest user (Call it UDP/IP) Important aspect: low overhead!

Building a messaging service (cont)

But we need ordered messages Create ordered messages on top of unordered ones
How

Often used for high-bandwidth video streams Many uses of UDP considered anti-social none of the wellbehaved aspects of (say) TCP/IP

IP can reorder packets! P0,P1 might arrive as P1,P0

Sequence

0,1,2,3,4.. If packets arrive out of order, reorder before delivering to user application For instance, hold onto #3 until #2 arrives, etc.

to fix this? Assign sequence numbers to packets

numbers are specific to particular connection

 Application sends message

TCP breaks into 64KB

TCP/IP packet, Ethernet frame

Ethernet Hdr IP Header

segments, adds 20B header

TCP Header
EHIP Data TCP data Message Ethernet Hdr

to network If Ethernet, broken into 1500B frames with headers, trailers (24B) All Headers, trailers have length field, destination, ...

IP adds 20B header, sends