CCN Unit 4 Brief Notes : SVCE/ECE/Dr. Shilpa Mehta/Dr.Vijayashree R.

CCN : Computer Communication Networks.

COMPUTER COMMUNICATION NETWORKS

Subject Code : 10EC71
IA Marks : 25
No. of Lecture Hrs/Week : 04
Exam Hours : 03

Course Content:

UNIT - 1
Layered tasks, OSI Model, Layers in OSI model, TCP?IP Suite, Addressing, Telephone and cable networks for
data transmission, Telephone networks, Dial up modem, DSL, Cable TV for data transmission.
7 Hours
UNIT - 2
DATA LINK CONTROL: Framing, Flow and error control, Protocols, Noiseless channels and noisy channels,
HDLC. 6 Hours
UNIT - 3
MULTIPLE ACCESSES: Random access, Controlled access, Channelisation 6 Hours
UNIT - 4
Wired LAN, Ethernet, IEEE standards, Standard Ethernet. Changes in the standards, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit
Ethernet, Wireless LAN IEEE 802.11 7 Hours

PART – B
UNIT - 5
Connecting LANs, Backbone and Virtual LANs, Connecting devices, Back bone Networks, Virtual LANs
7 Hours
UNIT - 6
Network Layer, Logical addressing, Ipv4 addresses, Ipv6 addresses, Ipv4 and Ipv6 Transition from Ipv4 to Ipv6.
6 Hours
UNIT - 7
Delivery, Forwarding, Unicast Routing Protocols, Multicast Routing protocols. 6 Hours

UNIT - 8
Transport layer Process to process Delivery, UDP, TCP, Domain name system, Resolution. 7 Hours

1. TEXT BOOK:

1. Data Communication and Networking, B Forouzan, 4th Ed, TMH 2006.

2. REFERENCE BOOKS:
1. Computer Networks, James F. Kurose, Keith W. Ross: Pearson education, 2nd Edition, 2003.
2. Introduction to Data communication and Networking, Wayne Tomasi: Pearson education 2007.

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UNIT 4 Contents
1. Introduction: Wired and Wireless LAN Standards
2. Wired LANs: Ethernet
3 IEEE STANDARDS
4. ETHERNET GENERATIONS
5. STANDARD ETHERNET
MAC Sublayer
Frame Format
Frame Length
Addressing
Access Method: CSMAICD
Encoding and Decoding
Implementations:
Changes In Standard Ethernet for Better Speeds:
Bridged Ethernet-
Raising the Bandwidth
Separating Collision Domains
Switched Ethernet
Full-Duplex Ethernet
6. FAST ETHERNET
Fast Ethernet topology
Implementation
Encoding
7. GIGABIT ETHERNET
MAC Sublayer
Full-Duplex Mode
Half-Duplex Mode
Traditional,
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Carrier Extension
Frame Bursting.
Physical Layer
Topology
Implementation
8. Ten-Gigabit Ethernet
9. Wireless LANs: IEEE 802.11
Architecture Bss & Ess
Unsuitability Of Csma/Cd
Frame Format
Addressing

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1. Introduction: Wired and Wireless LAN Standards

IEEE Project 802 describes standards for both wired and wireless LANs. This Unit discusses
both standards specifications.

2. Wired LANs: Ethernet

In Chapter 1, we learned that a local area network (LAN) is a computer network that is designed for a
limited geographic area such as a building or a campus. Although a LAN can be used as an isolated
network to connect computers in an organization for the sole purpose of sharing resources, most
LANs today are also linked to a wide area network (WAN) or the Internet.

The LAN market has seen several technologies such as Ethernet, Token Ring, Token Bus, FDDI, and
ATM LAN. Some of these technologies survived for a while, but Ethernet is by far the dominant
technology. In this chapter, we first briefly discuss the IEEE Standard Project 802, designed to
regulate the manufacturing and interconnectivity between different LANs. We then concentrate on the
Ethernet LANs.

Although Ethernet has gone through a four-generation evolution during the last few decades, the main
concept has remained. Ethernet has changed to meet the market needs and to make use of the new
technologies.

3 IEEE STANDARDS

In 1985, the Computer Society of the IEEE started a project, called Project 802, to set standards to
enable intercommunication among equipment from a variety of manufacturers. Project 802 does not
seek to replace any part of the OSI or the Internet model. Instead, it is a way of specifying functions
of the physical layer and the data link layer of major LAN protocols. The standard was adopted by the
American National Standards Institute (ANSI). In 1987, the International Organization for
Standardization (ISO) also approved it as an international standard under the designation ISO 8802.

The relationship of the 802 Standard to the traditional OSI model is shown in Figure. The IEEE has
subdivided the data link layer into two sublayers: logical link control (LLC) and media access control
(MAC). IEEE has also created several physical layer standards for different LAN protocols.

IEEE standard for LANs

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Logical Link Control (LLC)

In Chapter II, we discussed data link control. We said that data link control handles framing,
flow control, and error control. In IEEE Project 802, flow control, error control, and part of the
framing duties are collected into one sublayer called the logical link control. Framing is handled
in both the LLC sublayer and the MAC sublayer. The LLC provides one single data link control
protocol for all IEEE LANs. In this way, the LLC is different from the media access control
sublayer, which provides different protocols for different LANs. A single LLC protocol can
provide interconnectivity between different LANs because it makes the MAC sublayer
transparent. . Figure shows one single LLC protocol serving several MAC protocols. Framing
LLC defines a protocol data unit (PDU) that is somewhat similar to that of HDLC. The header
contains a control field like the one in HDLC; this field is used for flow and error control. The
two other header fields define the upper-layer protocol at the source and destination that uses
LLC. These fields are called the destination service access point (DSAP) and the source service
access point (SSAP). The other fields defined in a typical data link control protocol such as
HDLC are moved to the MAC sublayer. In other words, a frame defined in HDLC is divided into
a PDU at the LLC sublayer and a frame at the MAC sublayer, as shown in Figure

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4. ETHERNET GENERATIONS

5. STANDARD ETHERNET

The original Ethernet was created in 1976 at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC).
Since then, it has gone through four generations: Standard Ethernet (lot Mbps), Fast
Ethernet (100 Mbps), Gigabit Ethernet (l Gbps), and Ten-Gigabit Ethernet (l0 Gbps),
as shown in Figure 13.3. We briefly discuss all these generations starting with the first,
Standard (or traditional) Ethernet.

MAC Sublayer
In Standard Ethernet, the MAC sublayer governs the operation of the access method. It
also frames data received from the upper layer and passes them to the physical layer.

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Frame Format
The Ethernet frame contains seven fields: preamble, SFD, DA, SA, length or type of
protocol data unit (PDU), upper-layer data, and the CRe. Ethernet does not provide any
mechanism for acknowledging received frames, making it what is known as an unreliable
medium. Acknowledgments must be implemented at the higher layers. The format
ofthe MAC frame is shown in Figure

D Preamble. The first field of the 802.3 frame contains 7 bytes (56 bits) of alternating
Os and Is that alerts the receiving system to the coming frame and enables it to
synchronize its input timing. The pattern provides only an alert and a timing pulse.
The 56-bit pattern allows the stations to miss some bits at the beginning of the
frame. The preamble is actually added at the physical layer and is not (formally)
part of the frame.
D Start frame delimiter (SFD). The second field (l byte: 10101011) signals the
beginning of the frame. The SFD warns the station or stations that this is the last
chance for synchronization. The last 2 bits is 11 and alerts the receiver that the next
field is the destination address.
o Destination address (DA). The DA field is 6 bytes and contains the physical
address of the destination station or stations to receive the packet. We will discuss
addressing shortly.
o Source address (SA). The SA field is also 6 bytes and contains the physical
address of the sender of the packet. We will discuss addressing shortly.
o Length or type. This field is defined as a type field or length field. The original
Ethernet used this field as the type field to define the upper-layer protocol using the
MAC frame. The IEEE standard used it as the length field to define the number of
bytes in the data field. Both uses are common today.
o Data. This field carries data encapsulated from the upper-layer protocols. It is a
minimum of 46 and a maximum of 1500 bytes, as we will see later.
o CRC. The last field contains error detection information, in this case a CRC-32

Frame Length
Ethernet has imposed restrictions on both the minimum and maximum lengths of a frame,
as shown in Figure

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Addressing
Each station on an Ethernet network (such as a PC, workstation, or printer) has its own
network interface card (NIC). The NIC fits inside the station and provides the station
with a 6-byte physical address. As shown in Figure

, the Ethernet address is 6 bytes

(48 bits), nonnally written in hexadecimal notation, with a colon between the bytes

Unicast, Multicast, and Broadcast Addresses A source address is always a unicast

address-the frame comes from only one station. The destination address, however,
can be unicast, multicast, or broadcast. Fig. shows how to distinguish a unicast
address from a multicast address. If the least significant bit of the first byte in a destination
address is 0, the address is unicast; otherwise, it is multicast.

Show how the address 47:20:1B:2E:08:EE is sent out on line.

Solution
The address is sent left-to-right, byte by byte; for each byte, it is sent right-to-Ieft, bit by bit, as
shown below:
~ 11100010 00000100 11011000 01110100 00010000 01110111

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Access Method: CSMAICD

Standard Ethernet uses I-persistent CSMAlCD

Physical Layer
The Standard Ethernet defines several physical layer implementations; four of the most
common, are shown in Figure 13.8.
Encoding and Decoding
All standard implementations use digital signaling (baseband) at 10 Mbps. At the sender,
data are converted to a digital signal using the Manchester scheme; at the receiver, the received
signal is interpreted as Manchester and decoded into data. As we saw in Chapter 4,
Manchester encoding is self-synchronous

lOBase5: Thick Ethernet

The first implementation is called 10BaseS, thick Ethernet, or Thicknet. The nickname
derives from the size of the cable, which is roughly the size of a garden hose
and too stiff to bend with your hands. lOBaseS was the first Ethernet specification to
use a bus topology with an external transceiver (transmitter/receiver) connected via a
tap to a thick coaxial cable.

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Changes In Standard Ethernet for Better Speeds:

The 10-Mbps Standard Ethernet has gone through several changes before moving to the higher
data rates. These changes actually opened the road to the evolution of the Ethernet to become
compatible with other high-data-rate LANs

Bridged Ethernet

Switched Ethernet

Full-Duplex Ethernet

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Raising the Bandwidth

In an unbridged Ethernet network, the total capacity (10 Mbps) is shared among all stations
with a frame to send; the stations share the bandwidth of the network. If only one
station has frames to send, it benefits from the total capacity (10 Mbps). But if more
than one station needs to use the network, the capacity is shared. For example, if two
stations have a lot of frames to send, they probably alternate in usage. When one station
is sending, the other one refrains from sending. We can say that, in this case, each station
on average, sends at a rate of 5 Mbps.

The bridge, as we will learn in Chapter 15, can help here. A bridge divides the network
into two or more networks. Bandwidth-wise, each network is independent. For
example, in Figure, a network with 12 stations is divided into two networks, each
with 6 stations. Now each network has a capacity of 10 Mbps. The lO-Mbps capacity in
each segment is now shared between 6 stations (actually 7 because the bridge acts as a
station in each segment), not 12 stations. In a network with a heavy load, each station
theoretically is offered 10/6 Mbps instead of 10/12 Mbps, assuming that the traffic is
not going through the bridge.
It is obvious that if we further divide the network, we can gain more bandwidth for
each segment. For example, if we use a four-port bridge, each station is now offered
10/3 Mbps, which is 4 times more than an unbridged network.

Separating Collision Domains

Another advantage of a bridge is the separation of the collision domain. Figure
shows the collision domains for an unbridged and a bridged network. You can see that
the collision domain becomes much smaller and the probability of collision is reduced
tremendously. Without bridging, 12 stations contend for access to the medium; with

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bridging only 3 stations contend for access to the medium

Switched Ethernet
The idea of a bridged LAN can be extended to a switched LAN. Instead of having two
to four networks, why not have N networks, where N is the number of stations on the
LAN? In other words, if we can have a multiple-port bridge, why not have an N-port switch? In
this way, the bandwidth is shared only between the station and the switch
(5 Mbps each). In addition, the collision domain is divided into N domains.
A layer 2 switch is an N-port bridge with additional sophistication that allows faster
handling of the packets. Evolution from a bridged Ethernet to a switched Ethernet was
a big step that opened the way to an even faster Ethernet, as we will see. Figure shows a
switched LAN.

Full Duplex Ethernet: Separate links to send/ receive:

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6. FAST ETHERNET
Fast Ethernet was designed to compete with LAN protocols such as FDDI or Fiber
Channel (or Fibre Channel, as it is sometimes spelled). IEEE created Fast Ethernet under
the name 802.3u. Fast Ethernet is backward-compatible with Standard Ethernet, but it
can transmit data 10 times faster at a rate of 100 Mbps. The goals of Fast Ethernet can be
summarized as follows:
1. Upgrade the data rate to 100 Mbps.
2. Make it compatible with Standard Ethernet.
3. Keep the same 48-bit address.
4. Keep the same frame format.
5. Keep the same minimum and maximum frame lengths.
MAC Sublayer
A main consideration in the evolution of Ethernet from 10 to 100 Mbps was to keep the
MAC sublayer untouched. However, a decision was made to drop the bus topologies
and keep only the star topology. For the star topology, there are two choices, as we saw
before: half duplex and full duplex. In the half-duplex approach, the stations are connected
via a hub; in the full-duplex approach, the connection is made via a switch with
buffers at each port.
The access method is the same (CSMAlCD) for the half-duplex approach; for fullduplex
Fast Ethernet, there is no need for CSMAlCD. However, the implementations
keep CSMA/CD for backward compatibility with Standard Ethernet.
Autonegotiation
A new feature added to Fast Ethernet is called autonegotiation. It allows a station or a
hub a range of capabilities. Autonegotiation allows two devices to negotiate the mode
or data rate of operation. It was designed particularly for the following purposes:
o To allow incompatible devices to connect to one another. For example, a device with
a maximum capacity of 10 Mbps can communicate with a device with a 100 Mbps
capacity (but can work at a lower rate).

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o To allow one device to have multiple capabilities.

o To allow a station to check a hub's capabilities.
Physical Layer
The physical layer in Fast Ethernet is more complicated than the one in Standard Ethernet.
We briefly discuss some features of this layer.
Topology
Fast Ethernet is designed to connect two or more stations together. If there are only two
stations, they can be connected point-to-point. Three or more stations need to be connected
in a star topology with a hub or a switch at the center, as shown in Figure 13.19.

Fast Ethernet topology

Implementation
Fast Ethernet implementation at the physical layer can be categorized as either two-wire
or four-wire. The two-wire implementation can be either category 5 UTP (lOOBase-TX)
or fiber-optic cable (lOOBase-FX). The four-wire implementation is designed only
for category 3 UTP (l00Base-T4). See Figure

Encoding
Manchester encoding needs a 200-Mbaud bandwidth for a data rate of 100 Mbps, which
makes it unsuitable for a medium such as twisted-pair cable. For this reason, the Fast
Ethernet designers sought some alternative encoding/decoding scheme. However, it was
found that one scheme would not perform equally well for all three implementations.

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Therefore, three different encoding schemes were chosen (see Figure 13.21).
Figure 13.21 Encoding for Fast Ethernet implementation

lOOBase-TX uses two pairs oftwisted-pair cable (either category 5 UTP or STP).
For this implementation, the MLT-3 scheme was selected since it has good bandwidth
performance (see Chapter 4). However, since MLT-3 is not a self-synchronous line coding
scheme, 4B/5B block coding is used to provide bit synchronization by preventing
the occurrence of a long sequence of Os and Is (see Chapter 4). This creates a data rate
of 125 Mbps, which is fed into MLT-3 for encoding.
lOOBase-FX uses two pairs of fiber-optic cables. Optical fiber can easily handle high
bandwidth requirements by using simple encoding schemes. The designers of 100Base-FX
selected the NRZ-I encoding scheme (see Chapter 4) for this implementation. However,
NRZ-I has a bit synchronization problem for long sequences of Os (or Is, based on the
encoding), as we saw in Chapter 4. To overcome this problem, the designers used 4B/5B
block encoding as we described for IOOBase-TX. The block encoding increases the bit rate
from 100 to 125 Mbps, which can easily be handled by fiber-optic cable.
A 1OOBase-TX network can provide a data rate of 100 Mbps, but it requires the use of
category 5 UTP or STP cable. This is not cost-efficient for buildings that have already been
wired for voice-grade twisted-pair (category 3). A new standard, called lOOBase-T4, was
designed to use category 3 or higher UTP. The implementation uses four pairs of UTP for

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transmitting 100 Mbps. Encoding/decoding in 100Base-T4 is more complicated. As this

implementation uses category 3 UTP, each twisted-pair cannot easily handle more than
25 Mbaud. In this design, one pair switches between sending and receiving. Three pairs of
UTP category 3, however, can handle only 75 Mbaud (25 Mbaud) each. We need to use an
encoding scheme that converts 100 Mbps to a 75 Mbaud signal. As we saw in Chapter 4,
8B/6T satisfies this requirement. In 8B/6T, eight data elements are encoded as six signal
elements. This means that 100 Mbps uses only (6/8) x 100 Mbps, or 75 Mbaud.
Summary
Table is a summary of the Fast Ethernet implementations.

7. GIGABIT ETHERNET
The need for an even higher data rate resulted in the design of the Gigabit Ethernet
protocol (1000 Mbps). The IEEE committee calls the Standard 802.3z. The goals of the
Gigabit Ethernet design can be summarized as follows:
1. Upgrade the data rate to 1 Gbps.
2. Make it compatible with Standard or Fast Ethernet.
3. Use the same 48-bit address.
4. Use the same frame format.
5. Keep the same minimum and maximum frame lengths.
6. To support autonegotiation as defined in Fast Ethernet.
MAC Sublayer
A main consideration in the evolution of Ethernet was to keep the MAC sublayer
untouched. However, to achieve a data rate 1 Gbps, this was no longer possible. Gigabit
Ethernet has two distinctive approaches for medium access: half-duplex and full-duplex.
Almost all implementations of Gigabit Ethernet follow the full-duplex approach. However,
we briefly discuss the half-duplex approach to show that Gigabit Ethernet can be
compatible with the previous generations.
Full-Duplex Mode
In full-duplex mode, there is a central switch connected to all computers or other
switches. In this mode, each switch has buffers for each input port in which data are
stored until they are transmitted. There is no collision in this mode, as we discussed
before. This means that CSMAlCD is not used. Lack of collision implies that the maximum
length of the cable is determined by the signal attenuation in the cable, not by the
collision detection process.
Half-Duplex Mode
Gigabit Ethernet can also be used in half-duplex mode, although it is rare. In this case,
a switch can be replaced by a hub, which acts as the common cable in which a collision

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might occur. The half-duplex approach uses CSMAlCD. However, as we saw before,
the maximum length of the network in this approach is totally dependent on the minimum
frame size. Three methods have been defined: traditional, carrier extension, and frame
bursting.
Traditional In the traditional approach, we keep the minimum length of the frame as
in traditional Ethernet (512 bits). However, because the length of a bit is 11100 shorter
in Gigabit Ethernet than in lO-Mbps Ethernet, the slot time for Gigabit Ethernet is
512 bits x 111000 JlS, which is equal to 0.512 JlS. The reduced slot time means that collision
is detected 100 times earlier. This means that the maximum length of the network is
25 m. This length may be suitable if all the stations are in one room, but it may not even
be long enough to connect the computers in one single office.
Carrier Extension To allow for a longer network, we increase the minimum frame
length. The carrier extension approach defines the minimum length of a frame as 512 bytes
(4096 bits). This means that the minimum length is 8 times longer. This method forces
a station to add extension bits (padding) to any frame that is less than 4096 bits. In this
way, the maximum length of the network can be increased 8 times to a length of 200 m.
This allows a length of 100 m from the hub to the station.
Frame Bursting Carrier extension is very inefficient if we have a series of short
frames to send; each frame carries redundant data. To improve efficiency, frame bursting
was proposed. Instead of adding an extension to each frame, multiple frames are sent.
However, to make these multiple frames look like one frame, padding is added between
the frames (the same as that used for the carrier extension method) so that the channel
is not idle. In other words, the method deceives other stations into thinking that a very
large frame has been transmitted.

Physical Layer
The physical layer in Gigabit Ethernet is more complicated than that in Standard or Fast
Ethernet. We briefly discuss some features of this layer.
Topology

Gigabit Ethernet is designed to connect two or more stations. If there are only two stations,
they can be connected point-to-point. Three or more stations need to be connected
in a star topology with a hub or a switch at the center. Another possible configuration is
to connect several star topologies or let a star topology be part of another as shown in
Figure

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Encoding schemes:

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Implementation
Gigabit Ethernet can be categorized as either a two-wire or a four-wire implementation.
The two-wire implementations use fiber-optic cable (1000Base-SX, short-wave, or
lOOOBase-LX, long-wave), or STP (1000Base-CX). The four-wire version uses category
5 twisted-pair cable (lOOOBase-T). In other words, we have four implementations,
as shown in Figure 13.23. lOOOBase-T was designed in response to those users who had already
installed this wiring for other purposes such as Fast Ethernet or telephone serVIces.

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8. Ten-Gigabit Ethernet
The IEEE committee created Ten-Gigabit Ethernet and called it Standard 802.3ae. The
goals of the Ten-Gigabit Ethernet design can be summarized as follows:
1. Upgrade the data rate to 10 Gbps.
2. Make it compatible with Standard, Fast, and Gigabit Ethernet.
3. Use the same 48-bit address.
4. Use the same frame format.
S. Keep the same minimum and maximum frame lengths.
6. Allow the interconnection of existing LANs into a metropolitan area network (MAN)
or a wide area network (WAN).
7. Make Ethernet compatible with technologies such as Frame Relay and ATM (see
Chapter 18).
MAC Sublayer
Ten-Gigabit Ethernet operates only in full duplex mode which means there is no need
for contention; CSMA/CD is not used in Ten-Gigabit Ethernet.
Physical Layer
The physical layer in Ten-Gigabit Ethernet is designed for using fiber-optic cable over long
distances. Three implementations are the most common: lOGBase-S, lOGBase-L, and
lOGBase-E. Table shows a summary of the Ten-Gigabit Ethernet implementaions.

9. Wireless LANs: IEEE 802.11

IEEE has defined the specifications for a wireless LAN, called IEEE 802.11, which
covers the physical and data link layers.
9.1 Architecture
The standard defines two kinds of services: the basic service set (BSS) and the extended
service set (ESS).
Basic Service Set
IEEE 802.11 defines the basic service set (BSS) as the building block of a wireless

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LAN. A basic service set is made of stationary or mobile wireless stations and an optional
central base station, known as the access point (AP). Figure 14.1 shows two sets in this
standard.
The BSS without anAP is a stand-alone network and cannot send data to other BSSs.
It is called an ad hoc architecture. In this architecture, stations can form a network
without the need of an AP; they can locate one another and agree to be part of a BSS. A
BSS with an AP is sometimes referred to as an infrastructure network

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9.2 Unsuitability of CSMA/CD

CSMA/CD can’t be used for WIRELESS LANS because of
1. ENERGY LOSS AND impossibility to detect collisions
2. Hidden station probles
3. Exposed station probles

802.11 uses
PCF for master
DCF for other machines
Using permissions and IFS – SIFS/ DIFS / PIFS

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FRAME FORMAT 802.11

Table 14.1 Subfields in FC field

Addressing

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