Chapter 5

Link Layer

Link Layer 5-1

Link layer, LANs: outline
5.1 introduction, services 5.5 link virtualization:
5.2 error detection, MPLS
correction 5.6 data center
5.3 multiple access networking
protocols 5.7 a day in the life of a
5.4 LANs web request
 addressing, ARP
 Ethernet
 switches
 VLANS

Link Layer 5-2

MAC addresses and ARP
 32-bit IP address:
 network-layer address for interface
 used for layer 3 (network layer) forwarding
 MAC (or LAN or physical or Ethernet) address:
 function: used ‘locally” to get frame from one interface to
another physically-connected interface (same network, in IP-
addressing sense)
 48 bit MAC address (for most LANs) burned in NIC
ROM, also sometimes software settable
 e.g.: 1A-2F-BB-76-09-AD
hexadecimal (base 16) notation
(each “number” represents 4 bits)

Link Layer 5-3

 LAN addresses and ARP
each adapter on LAN has unique LAN address

1A-2F-BB-76-09-AD

LAN
(wired or adapter
wireless)
71-65-F7-2B-08-53
58-23-D7-FA-20-B0

0C-C4-11-6F-E3-98

Link Layer 5-4

LAN addresses (more)
 MAC address allocation administered by IEEE
 manufacturer buys portion of MAC address space
(to assure uniqueness)
 analogy:
 MAC address: like National ID Number
 IP address: like postal address
 MAC flat address ➜ portability
 can move LAN card from one LAN to another
 IP hierarchical address not portable
 address depends on IP subnet to which node is
attached

Link Layer 5-5

 ARP: address resolution protocol
Question: how to determine
interface’s MAC address,
knowing its IP address? ARP table: each IP node (host,
router) on LAN has table
137.196.7.78
 IP/MAC address
mappings for some LAN
1A-2F-BB-76-09-AD
nodes:
137.196.7.23
137.196.7.14 < IP address; MAC address; TTL>
 TTL (Time To Live):
LAN time after which address
71-65-F7-2B-08-53 mapping will be
forgotten (typically 20
58-23-D7-FA-20-B0

min)
0C-C4-11-6F-E3-98
137.196.7.88

Link Layer 5-6

ARP protocol: same LAN
 A wants to send datagram
to B
 B’s MAC address not in  A caches (saves) IP-to-
A’s ARP table. MAC address pair in its
 A broadcasts ARP query ARP table until
packet, containing B's IP information becomes old
address (times out)
 dest MAC address = FF-FF-  soft state: information that
FF-FF-FF-FF times out (goes away)
 all nodes on LAN receive unless refreshed
ARP query  ARP is “plug-and-play”:
 B receives ARP packet,  nodes create their ARP
replies to A with its (B's) tables without intervention
from net administrator
MAC address
 frame sent to A’s MAC
address (unicast)
Link Layer 5-7
 Addressing: routing to another LAN
walkthrough: send datagram from A to B via R
 focus on addressing – at IP (datagram) and MAC layer (frame)
 assume A knows B’s IP address
 assume A knows IP address of first hop router, R (how?)
 assume A knows R’s MAC address (how?)

A B
R
111.111.111.111
222.222.222.222
74-29-9C-E8-FF-55
49-BD-D2-C7-56-2A
222.222.222.220
1A-23-F9-CD-06-9B

111.111.111.112 111.111.111.110 222.222.222.221

CC-49-DE-D0-AB-7D E6-E9-00-17-BB-4B 88-B2-2F-54-1A-0F

Link Layer 5-8

Addressing: routing to another LAN
 A creates IP datagram with IP source A, destination B
 A creates link-layer frame with R's MAC address as dest, frame
contains A-to-B IP datagram
MAC src: 74-29-9C-E8-FF-55
MAC dest: E6-E9-00-17-BB-4B
IP src: 111.111.111.111
IP dest: 222.222.222.222

IP
Eth
Phy

A B
R
111.111.111.111
222.222.222.222
74-29-9C-E8-FF-55
49-BD-D2-C7-56-2A
222.222.222.220
1A-23-F9-CD-06-9B

111.111.111.112 111.111.111.110 222.222.222.221

CC-49-DE-D0-AB-7D E6-E9-00-17-BB-4B 88-B2-2F-54-1A-0F

Link Layer 5-9

Addressing: routing to another LAN
 frame sent from A to R
 frame received at R, datagram removed, passed up to IP

MAC src: 74-29-9C-E8-FF-55

MAC dest: E6-E9-00-17-BB-4B
IP src: 111.111.111.111
IP dest: 222.222.222.222
IP src: 111.111.111.111
IP dest: 222.222.222.222

IP IP
Eth Eth
Phy Phy

A B
R
111.111.111.111
222.222.222.222
74-29-9C-E8-FF-55
49-BD-D2-C7-56-2A
222.222.222.220
1A-23-F9-CD-06-9B

111.111.111.112 111.111.111.110 222.222.222.221

CC-49-DE-D0-AB-7D E6-E9-00-17-BB-4B 88-B2-2F-54-1A-0F

Link Layer 5-10

Addressing: routing to another LAN
 R forwards datagram with IP source A, destination B
 R creates link-layer frame with B's MAC address as dest, frame
contains A-to-B IP datagram

MAC src: 1A-23-F9-CD-06-9B

MAC dest: 49-BD-D2-C7-56-2A
IP src: 111.111.111.111
IP dest: 222.222.222.222
IP
IP Eth
Eth Phy
Phy

A B
R
111.111.111.111
222.222.222.222
74-29-9C-E8-FF-55
49-BD-D2-C7-56-2A
222.222.222.220
1A-23-F9-CD-06-9B

111.111.111.112 111.111.111.110 222.222.222.221

CC-49-DE-D0-AB-7D E6-E9-00-17-BB-4B 88-B2-2F-54-1A-0F

Link Layer 5-11

Addressing: routing to another LAN
 R forwards datagram with IP source A, destination B
 R creates link-layer frame with B's MAC address as dest, frame
contains A-to-B IP datagram

MAC src: 1A-23-F9-CD-06-9B

MAC dest: 49-BD-D2-C7-56-2A
IP src: 111.111.111.111
IP dest: 222.222.222.222
IP
IP Eth
Eth Phy
Phy

A B
R
111.111.111.111
222.222.222.222
74-29-9C-E8-FF-55
49-BD-D2-C7-56-2A
222.222.222.220
1A-23-F9-CD-06-9B

111.111.111.112 111.111.111.110 222.222.222.221

CC-49-DE-D0-AB-7D E6-E9-00-17-BB-4B 88-B2-2F-54-1A-0F

Link Layer 5-12

Addressing: routing to another LAN
 R forwards datagram with IP source A, destination B
 R creates link-layer frame with B's MAC address as dest, frame
contains A-to-B IP datagram
MAC src: 1A-23-F9-CD-06-9B
MAC dest: 49-BD-D2-C7-56-2A
IP src: 111.111.111.111
IP dest: 222.222.222.222

IP
Eth
Phy

A B
R
111.111.111.111
222.222.222.222
74-29-9C-E8-FF-55
49-BD-D2-C7-56-2A
222.222.222.220
1A-23-F9-CD-06-9B

111.111.111.112 111.111.111.110 222.222.222.221

CC-49-DE-D0-AB-7D E6-E9-00-17-BB-4B 88-B2-2F-54-1A-0F

Link Layer 5-13

Link layer, LANs: outline
5.1 introduction, services 5.5 link virtualization:
5.2 error detection, MPLS
correction 5.6 data center
5.3 multiple access networking
protocols 5.7 a day in the life of a
5.4 LANs web request
 addressing, ARP
 Ethernet
 switches
 VLANS

Link Layer 5-14

Ethernet
“dominant” wired LAN technology:
 cheap $20 for NIC
 first widely used LAN technology
 simpler, cheaper than token LANs and ATM
 kept up with speed race: 10 Mbps – 10 Gbps

Metcalfe’s Ethernet sketch

Link Layer 5-15
Ethernet: physical topology
 bus: popular through mid 90s
 all nodes in same collision domain (can collide with each
other)
 star: prevails today
 active switch in center
 each “spoke” runs a (separate) Ethernet protocol (nodes
do not collide with each other)

switch
star
bus: coaxial cable
Link Layer 5-16
Ethernet frame structure
sending adapter encapsulates IP datagram (or other
network layer protocol packet) in Ethernet frame
type
dest. source data
preamble address address (payload) CRC

preamble:
 7 bytes with pattern 10101010 followed by one
byte with pattern 10101011
 used to synchronize receiver, sender clock rates

Link Layer 5-17

Ethernet frame structure (more)
 addresses: 6 byte source, destination MAC addresses
 if adapter receives frame with matching destination
address, or with broadcast address (e.g. ARP packet), it
passes data in frame to network layer protocol
 otherwise, adapter discards frame
 type: indicates higher layer protocol (mostly IP but
others possible, e.g., Novell IPX, AppleTalk)
 CRC: cyclic redundancy check at receiver
 error detected: frame is dropped
type
dest. source data
preamble address address (payload) CRC

Link Layer 5-18

Ethernet: unreliable, connectionless
 connectionless: no handshaking between sending and
receiving NICs
 unreliable: receiving NIC doesnt send acks or nacks
to sending NIC
 data in dropped frames recovered only if initial
sender uses higher layer rdt (e.g., TCP), otherwise
dropped data lost
 Ethernet’s MAC protocol: unslotted CSMA/CD wth
binary backoff

Link Layer 5-19

802.3 Ethernet standards: link & physical layers

 many different Ethernet standards

 common MAC protocol and frame format
 different speeds: 2 Mbps, 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps, 1Gbps,
10G bps
 different physical layer media: fiber, cable

MAC protocol
application and frame format
transport
network 100BASE-TX 100BASE-T2 100BASE-FX
link 100BASE-T4 100BASE-SX 100BASE-BX
physical

copper (twister fiber physical layer

pair) physical layer
Link Layer 5-20