DATA AND COMPUTER NETWORKS

TOPIC 1: NETWORKS

Networking is an interconnection of communicating devices by means of transmission media

forming a network.

Types of networks

 Personal area network (PAN)

 Local area network (LAN)
 Metropolitan area network (MAN)
 Wide area network (WAN)

LOCAL AREA NETWORK (LAN)

LAN is a network that is confined to a relatively small area. LANs connect groups of computers
and voltage devices together across short distances.

Characteristics of LAN

 LANs operates at a relatively higher speed

 Low error rates
 Covers a small geographical area
 Private ownership
 Devices connected are usually few

PERSONAL AREA NETWORK (PAN)

PAN is made of wireless modem, a computer or two, phones, printers, tablets etc. and revolves
around one person in one building. These networks are typically small offices or residences and
are managed by one person or organization from single device.

METROPOLITAN AREA NETWORK

MAN is a network that interconnects in a bigger geographical span compared to LAN. It

typically covers an area of between 5 and 50 KM in diameter.
Characteristics

 Moderate data rate

 Covers a larger geographical area compared to LAN
 Error rates and delays are slightly higher than that of LANs
 Unlike LANs they may be owned and operated as a public utility
 It has moderate numbers of terminals

Examples of MAN

o Cable TV network
o Telephone networks providing high speed DSL lines

Advantages of MAN

 Less expensive than WN

 High speed than WAN
 Conversion from LAN to WAN is easy
 Higher securities than WAN

Disadvantages of MAN

 Difficult to manage i.e. it’s very difficult to manage if the size and number of LANs
network increases
 Internet speed differs
 Expensive than LAN

WIDE AREA NETWORK (WAN)

WAN is a network that extends over a large geographical area for primary purpose of computer
networking. WANs often established with leased telecommunication circuits.

Characteristics of WAN

 Have large capacity, connecting a large number of computers over a large area.
 Have low data rates
  Have higher error rates
 Always operated as public utility
 Many terminals connected in the network

Examples of WAN

 Switched and permanent telephone circuits

 Terrestrial radio systems
 Satellite systems

Advantages of WAN

 WAN covers a large geographical area; hence business offices situated at longer
distances can easily communicate.
 It allows sharing of resources and application softwares among distributed work stations
or users.
 Softwares files are shared among all the users; hence all users will have access to latest
files
 Messages can be sent quickly across the globe with the help of new applications e.g.
Facebook.

Drawbacks of WAN

 Initial investment costs are higher

 It’s difficult to maintain the network i.e. it requires skilled technicians and network
administrators.
 High error rates
 Has lower security compared to LAN and MAN

Technologies for building WAN

i) Dial up network
ii) Dedicated/private leased lines
iii) Switched digital services e.g. ISDN
iv) Packet switched networks e.g. X.25, Frame relay
INTERGRATED SERVICES DIGITAL NETWORKS (ISDN)

ISDN is a circuit switched WAN technology that involves the digitization of the telephone
network through the use of set of communication protocol. It allows the integration (Bringing
together) data, video, voice, graphic and music and transferring them over the network.

ISDN helps to promote worldwide connectivity through standardization and continuously

declining prices. It’s popular for remote connectivity, internet access and worldwide web.

ISDN CHANNELS

The transmission link between the ISDN user and central office is divided into a number of
communication channels. The transmission stream of any access link is constructed from the
following types of channels:

i) B- channels 64kbps
ii) D- channels 16/64 kbps
iii) H- channels 384 kbps

a) BEARER CHANNEL (B- CHANNEL)

This is the basic user channel. It can be used to carry data. PCM encoded digital voice or mixture
of low-rate traffic including digital data and digitized voice encoded as a fraction of 64 kbps.

b) DATA CHANNELS (D- CHANNEL)

They serve two purposes:

i) Carries signaling information to control circuits switched calls on associated B-

channels at the user interface.
ii) When no signaling information is wanted the D- channel can be used for low speed
data.
Data rate=16/64 kbps

c) HIGHER CHANNEL (H- CHANNEL)

They are provided for user information at higher rates. The data rates= 384 kbps
Examples are fast facsimile, video, high speed data, high quality audio and multiple information
streams at lower data rates.

ISDN CHANNEL STRUCTURE

The channel types are grouped into transmission structures that are offered as a package to the
user.

1. BASIC SERVICE

It is intended to meet debts of most individual users including residential and very small offices.
It allows simultaneous use of voice and several data applications.

Composition: 2B+D+synchronization and framing bit

D has 16 kbps

Data rates=192 kbps

2X64kbps+16kbps+48kbps

2. PRIMARY RATE/SERVICE

Primary access is intended for user with greater capacity requirement such as office with digital
PBXs or LANs.

Rate: The rate is 1.544/2.048 Mbps

Composition: 2.048 Mbps=30B channels @64Kbps

1D channel @64Kbps

1.544 Mbps: 23 B channel @64Kbps

1D channel @64Kbps

USER ACCESS

To aid in the understanding of the ISDN configuration of user equipment and the necessary
standard interface, functions that may exist on the user premises are grouped into:-
 i) Functional Units: These are finite arrangement of physical equipment or combined
equipment.
ii) Reference Points: Conceptional points used to separate grouping of functions.

TE1- (Terminal Equipment Type 1) It confirms to ISDN at the time of manufacture e.g. digital
telephone sets, computers etc.

TA (Terminal Adapter): Connects the TE2 equipment to the network by converting the data to
the form that can be carried over the network.

TE2 (Terminal Equipment Type 2): Predates ISDN and do not conform to it.

NT1 (Network Terminal Type 2): It performs function up to and including layer 3 i.e. switching
and routing functions in the network. E.g. Router

NT1 (Network Terminator Type 1): It performs the physical layer of the network specifying how
the network interfaces with the user equipment.

Reference Packets

T- It separates the network provider’s equipment from the user premise.

S- Separates terminal equipment from the network equipment.

R- It separates the non-ISDN equipment from the network.

 X.25 INTERFACE

X.25 protocol is an international telecommunication union standardized suit (ITU-T) for WAN
communication.

It defines how communications between users and network devices are established and
maintained across public data networks (PDNs).

The X.25 specifications defines a point to point interaction between data terminal equipment
(DTE) and data communication terminating equipment (DCE).

DTE DCE SWITCH SWITCH

DTE DCE DTE

PAD DCE SWITCH SWITCH

PACKETS ASSEMBLER AND DISASSEMBLER (PAD)

A simple DCE device such as character mode terminal may not support full X.25 functionality

In this case it is connected to a DCE through a translation device called PAD.

A PAD performs 3 primary functions i.e.

1. Buffering
2. Packet assembly
3. Packet disassembly
 It buffers data sent to and from the DTE device, Packet assembly, involves assembling outgoing
data into packets and forwarding them into the DCE device.

Other functions performed by PAD includes

 Flow control
 Error control

How the X.25 protocal maps into the OSI Model

APPLICATION OTHER
PRESENTATION SERVICES
SESSION
TRANSPORT
NETWORK PLP
DATA-LINK LAPB
PHYSICAL X.21

OSI X.25

PACKETS GFI LCI PTI USER DATA

FRAME FLAG CONTROL ADDRESS INFORMATION FCS FLAG LAPB

X.21 BIT STREAM

FIG: X.25 ENCAPSULATION

PACKET LAYER PROTOCOL (PLP)

This is the X.25 network layer protocol.

It manages packet exchanges between DTE devices across X.25 virtual circuits. A virtual circuit
is a logical connection created to ensure reliable communication between two devices.

PLP Header

i) General Format Header (GFI) Identifier

This is the 4-bit field that identifies packet parameter such as whether the packet carries the user
data or control information.

ii) Logical channel identifier (LCI)

A 12-bit field that identifies the virtual circuit between local DTE/DCE interface.

iii) Packet Type Identifier (PTI)

Identifies the type of packet as one of the 17 different php packet type.

iv) Contains encapsulated upper layer information. It’s only present in data
packets.

LINK ACCESS PROCEDURE

This is the X.25 data-link protocol. It manages communication and packet framing between DTE
and DCE devices. LAPB is a subset of HDLC and therefore has all the characteristics of HDLC.

X.21

This is the physical layer protocol used in the X.25 protocol. It defines the electrical and
mechanical procedures used in X.25. it handles the activation and deactivation of the physical
medium connecting the DTE and DCE devices. It supports point to point connection and speed is
up to 19.2 kbps.

It supports synchronous full duplex transmission over a 4-wire media. Communication across the
DTE is accomplished across a virtual circuit.

There are types of X.25 virtual circuits;

i) Switched Virtual Circuits

 ii) Permanent Virtual Circuits

I) SWITCHED VIRTUAL CIRCUITS (SVC)

They are temporarily connection used for sporadic data transfer. They require that two DTE
devices establish, maintain and terminates a session each time the devices need to communicate.

II) PERMANENT VIRTUAL CIRCUITS (PVC)

They are permanently established data connections. They are used for frequent and consistent
data transfers between DTEs. They don’t require that sessions can therefore begin transferring
data whenever necessary because the session is always active.

LAN TOPOLOGIES

Refers to the way in which the station are connected/linked together i.e. the network layout.

TOPOLOGY

MESH STAR BUS RING

a) MESH TOPOLOGY

In mesh topology every device has dedicated point to point link to every other device. The term
dedicated means that the link carries traffic only between the two devices it connects.

The number of physical links = n(n-1)

2
 STATION STATION

STATION STATION

ADVANTAGES

i) No data traffic issues as there is dedicated link between two devices which means the
link is only available for those two devices.
ii) Its reliable and robust as failure of one link doesn’t affect other links
iii) Its secure because there is a point to point link thus unauthorized access in not
possible
iv) Fault detection is easy
v) The use of dedicated links guarantees that each connection can carry its own load,
thus eliminating the traffic problems that can occur when links must be sharedby
multiple devices.

DISADVANTAGES

i) Number of I/O ports required is huge

ii) Amount of wires required to connect each system is tedious and headache.

b) STAR TOPOLOGY

In star topology each device in the network is connected to central device known as Hub. The
devices are not directly linked to one another. The controller/hub acts as an exchange. If one
device wants to send data to another device, it sends the data to the controller which relays the
data to the other connected device.
S1, S2, S3 & S4=Stations/DTEs (Data Terminal Equipment)

ADVANTAGES

i) Less expensive because each device only need I/O port and needs to be connected
with the hub with one link.
ii) Easier to install
iii) Less amount of cables required because each device needs to be connected with the
hub only.
iv) Robust, if one link fails, other links will continue working.
v) Easy fault detection and fault isolation because the fault can be easily identified.

DISADVANTAGES

i) If the hub goes down, everything fails.

Total physical link required=N

c) BUS TOPOLOGY.

In bus topology nodes are connected to the bus cable by drop lines and taps. A drop line is a
connection running between the device and the main cable. A tap is a connector that either
splices into the main cable or punctures the sheathing of cable to create a contact with metal
core. As a signal travels along the backbone some of its energy is transformed into heat.
Therefore becoming weaker and weaker as it travels further and further.
ADVANTAGES

i) Easy installation; each cable needs to be connected with backbone cable

ii) Less cables required than mesh and star topologies
iii) Redundancy is eliminated i.e. only the backbone cable stretches through the entire
facility.

DRAWBACKS

i) Difficult in fault detection

ii) Not scalable as there is limit on the number of connected the backbone.

RING TOPOLOGY

In ring topology each device has dedicated point-to-point connection with only the two devices
on either side of it. A signal is passed along the ring in one direction, from device to device until
it reaches its destination. Each device in the ring incorporates a repeater. When a device receives
a signal intended for another device, its repeater regenerates the bits and passes them along.
ADVANTAGES

i) Easy to install
ii) Managing is easier as to add or remove a device from the topology requires any two
links to be changed.

DISADVANTAGES

i) A link failure can fail the entire network

ii) No security/ privacy since all the data circulating in a ring.
iii) If a new station is to be added the entire network fails.

HYBRID TOPOLOGY

This is the combination of two or more topologies e.g. star and mesh topology.

ADVANTAGES

i) Scalable since network can be further connected with the existing ones.

DISADVANTAGES

i) Fault detection is difficult

ii) Installation is difficult
iii) Design is complex hence maintenance is high thus expensive.