Computer Networks

UNIT - III
3.0 Introduction

The purpose of this chapter is to help us understand the basic concepts of Local Area Network (LAN), IEEE LAN Standards, and Transmission Media. Further this chapter includes the various routing algorithms, congestion control and transport protocols.

3.1

Objective

The objective of this Chapter is to understand the fundamentals of Local Area Network (LAN) and the various Components, Topologies and Transmission Media used in the Local Area Network. The main function of the Network Layer is routing packets from the source machine to the destination machine and this layer that is responsible for network addressing. The transport service is implemented by a transport protocol used between the two transport entities and it provides error control, flow control and segmentation and reassembly. At the end of this chapter you learn the various Routing and Congestion control algorithms.

3.2

Content

3.2.1 What is a LAN? A Local Area Network is a system of interlinked personal computers, sharing common resources like disks, printers, etc. Processing on a local area network is performed at the individual PC workstation. A LAN works on the principle of Load Sharing because the program to be executed is downloaded into the personal computers memory. Local area network links a number of computers (workstations) together to allow many people to use the same computer programs and share information. Each user accesses the network from an individual personal computer workstation. LANs are characterized by communication rates. The useful characteristic of LANs is the presence of a Network Operating System (NOS), which ties all the components together and makes operations transparent to the user. This turns a group of isolated personal computers into a functional system with transparent resource sharing. 3.2.2 Characteristics of LAN A LAN is characterized by the following: A common communication medium over which all user devices can share information, programmes, and equipment without regard to the physical location of the user or the resource. A high transmission rate intended to accommodate the needs of both Page 61

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people and equipment. The system normally is able to support transmission between workstations at the maximum speed at which they can communicate, a limited geographic range: generally defined as less than 10 miles or 16 kilometers. To minimize the error rate, a built-in method of detecting and compensating for system errors is implied. Resource Sharing LAN eliminates the possibility of overspending by allowing workstations to share peripherals like printers, plotters, digitizers, tape drives and hard disks. This lowers the overall cost of data processing. Provides for efficient and flexible communication. By providing a facility through which, a wise variety of computer equipment can be shared by many people, the local area network presents a cost-effective solution. In a LAN the shared resources need not be just hardware, software and information also may be shared. As a resource-sharing tool, a LAN can: Permit sharing of expensive hardware. Facilitate sharing of complex programs and the information that they generate and manage.

Aid in the integration of all aspects of information processing, particularly transforming a group of individual, not very powerful microcomputers into a powerful distributed processing system. Productivity Productivity depends on ensuring that people have timely access to the equipment and information required to perform their job. LAN increases productivity because key individuals in the organization will be able to get access to and share databases, documents and expensive peripherals. As a productivity tool a LAN can: Enable wider distribution of information and the technologies needed to deal with it Improve information retrieval, processing, storage and dissemination through a distributed database. Minimize or even if possible, eliminate redundant and repetitive tasks. Improve efficiency by facilitating the unification of systems and procedures. Provide graphic capabilities and other specialized application that are not costeffective on stand-alone micros.

Communication LAN facilitates communication through its powerful Electronic Mail system (EMS) among authorized network users across time boundaries and distance. Network provides fast responses and transmits urgent notes, messages and circulars. As a communication resource, a LAN can:

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Facilitate communication within the organization by supplying an additional channel for coordinating the work of various groups, exchanging data, sending messages and sharing information. Provide in-house, computer-to-computer communication at high speed. Provide a method of accessing remote resources, thereby facilitating communication with the world outside the immediate organization.

Management As a management tool the LAN can: Increased system performance through the distribution of tasks and equipments; improve the availability of computer resources. Tasks can be assigned to several machines; increase system reliability. Crucial processes can be duplicated and/or divided so that, on the failure of one machine, other machines can quickly take up the load. Minimize the adverse effects of loss of any one system. Help regain administrative control of equipment, LAN improves the efficiency with more information accessible at workstation which can be used for taking better and timely decisions. LAN can have dramatic impact on efficiency where the data is dynamic. The LAN server concept allows efficient centralization of information by allowing control over who uses the network and for what purpose. A LAN has extensive security system. A LAN has configuration flexibility. PCs and other resources can be added as and when needed. The advantages of local area networks can be enumerated: 1. Local area networks are the best means to provide a cost-effective multiuser computer environment. 2. A LAN can fit any site requirements. 3. It can be tailored to suit any type of application. 4. Any number of users can be accommodated. 5. It is obsolescence-proof. 6. It is flexible and growth-oriented. 7. It offers existing single users a familiar Disk Operating System (DOS) environment. 8. It can use existing software if the original language supports multi-user environment. 9. It offers electronic mail as an in-built facility, 10. It allows sharing of mass central storage and printers. 11. Data transfer rates are above 10 Mbps. 12. It allows file/record locking. 13. It provides foolproof security system against illegal access to data. 14. It provides data integrity.

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Figure 3.1: Types of Local Area Networks 3.2.3 Components of a LAN Local Area network has several distinct components like file-server, workstation, active hub, passive hub, network interface card, LAN cables etc. Workstation As most common component, a workstation is an individual, single-user microcomputer with communications capabilities added. The term includes the microcomputer itself as well as all its attached bits and pieces-memory cards, CRT, floppy disk drives, hard disks and printers. A workstation is distinguished from a personal computer by the network operating system software that controls what the workstations can and cannot do and by a network interface unit that supplies the communications capabilities. Every workstation will run memory resident software, called Workstation Shell, which is the software interface between file server and workstation. This will filter local and network requests/commands. A workstation can send or receive messages to or from other workstation or file server. For some LANs, the connection to a workstation can be made with a serial port. In that case, the LAN interface unit is not a plug-in board internal to the computer but an external component. Workstations may have one to several floppy-disk drives and hard disk drives. Workstations may be divided into two classes: users and servers, User Work stations are Page 64

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microcomputers on the network which have a primary responsibility to an individual user. Server workstations perform a service to other workstation on the network. All workstations on the network communicate and cooperate with one another. The primary difference between server and user workstations is directly attached resources and programs which they run. User workstations normally do not, and cannot fulfill request from other workstations. Resources attached to a user workstation, such as floppy disk drives, can only be accessed by the user of that workstation. More than one server may be attached to a network, with each server providing a different function, or one server fulfilling several roles. Server workstations may be one of two kinds: 1. Dedicated: The microcomputer is restricted to network function and often incorporates more powerful capabilities than user workstations do. It is unavailable for running user application supports more features such as electronic mail service or multiple hard disks and provides faster system response. Larger networks usually require dedicated servers. 2. Non-dedicated: The microcomputer can act as an individual workstation even while it controls the network. Additional memory is required for all but the simplest tasks. Under light load, performance of a non-dedicated server may be slightly less than that of a workstation; under heavy processing demand, the individual user of the server may find work impossible. Some network servers are capable of operating in both dedicated and nondedicated mode depending on the users selection. File Server The file server is a powerful computer, which runs special software to act as a file server. As the name suggests, it serves the files to networked computers, which share and use these files. The files can be programs, text or data. The file server is a completely enclosed logical structure, which is secure against accidental or malicious abuse as it can be accessed only through Network Operating System (NOS). The activity of each file server can be monitored from the file servers screen. The system supervisor monitors and control operation of each individual network through the file server and uses it to control the print spooling, send/broadcast messages and perform many other system functions. The file server has a large volume of memory which is used for caching directories, files and directory hashing. File servers also support backup facilities, print serving and so on. Novell NetWare, for example, requires users on a workstation to log on to a file server to enter the LAN. Under Novell NetWare, specifically designed machines are converted to file servers. Under the PC Network Program, any workstation can perform the function of file serving on any files that have been designated as public.

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A file server is a resource that should be available to all workstation function. If the file server is forced to operate as a workstation at the same time, it then must divide its processing time and memory between two tasks, with the performance of both suffering. Gateway This component is used to connect two different LANs which are having dissimilar components. The gateway assists in transferring bits from one LAN to the other. A workstation is dedicated to act as the gateway. Network adapter cards for both types of LANs are inserted in the machine, and a special set of Novell program transfers the bits from one LAN to the other. Similarly a LAN can also be connected to another mainframe computer by a gateway. Network Interface Unit The network interface unit is a microprocessor-based device containing hardware and software, which supply the intelligence to control access and communication across the network and to perform all communication processing. It is the means by which the workstations are connected functionally and physically to the network. On most microcomputer networks, the network interface is a printed circuit board installed in the microcomputer. On some networks, the network interface may be implemented as a stand-alone box, termed a wiring center, or hub, attached between the main network cable and the workstation. Network interface functions are realized through chips on the interface unit: Network bus drivers, communication controller chips, specialized microprocessors, RAM buffers and ROM code that is executed by the workstation itself. For most LANs, the network interface unit for all user workstations is identical. Server interface units may include additional ROM code to implement additional functions. Physical connection to the network is provided through a standard communication or input/output interface. Through the network interface, data on the medium is available to all attached workstations and peripherals. System users never need to know what it takes to get from one point to another; they simply indicate the desired destination. The network interface unit provides transmission and data control, formats the data into manageable units, translates the data rate and protocols of the attached workstation to the network communication medium and vice versa, and supplies address recognition capabilities. Details of network operation are hidden from users of the attached workstations. Network Interface can be classified into the communication interface, containing network-oriented functions, and the host interface, containing computer specific functions. The communication interface is the unit which logically interfaces to the network. It performs all transmission related functions. It accepts data from the attached workstation, buffers the data until the communication channel is available, and then

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transmits the data. The communications interface also monitors the channel for messages addressed to its workstation, stores the data and transfers the data to the device. The host interface supplies the connection between a specific workstations internal circuitry and the communication interface unit. It fits into the input/output structure of a particular computer, and governs all data exchange between the workstation and the communication-oriented portion of the network interface. Active Hub An active hub is a powered distribution point with active devices which drive distant nodes up to 1 kilometer away. Active hubs can be cascaded to connect 8 connections to which passive hubs, file servers or another active hubs can be connected. The maximum distance covered by an active hub is about 2000 ft. Passive Hub It is a passive distribution point which does not use power or active devices in a network to connect up to 4 nodes within a very short distance. Maximum distance covered by a passive hub is about 300 ft. LAN Cable LAN uses coaxial cable RG-62. This is a relatively superior cable that allows for base band transmission. The cable is capable of transferring up to 10 Mbps. Special end connectors are used to interface with network interface card or hubs. The advantages of the coaxial cable are: 1. 2. 3. 4. Wider band width. Interference resistance. High conductivity without distortion. Longer distance covered.

3.2.4 IEEE Standard 802 for LAN The collective standards for LANs include CSMA/CD, token bus and token ring known as IEEE 802. The various standards differ at the physical and the MAC layer but are compatible with the data link layer. The standards are divided in parts. The 802.1 standard gives an introduction to the set of standards and defines the interface primitives. The 802.2 standard describes the upper part of the data link layer, which uses the LLC (Logical Link Control) protocol. Ports 802.3 through 802.5 describe the three LAN standards, the CSMA/CD, token bus, and token ring standards respectively. Each standard covers the physical layer and MAC sub layer protocol. IEEE Standard 802.3 and Ethernet The IEEE 802.3 standard is for a 1-persistent CSMA/CD LAN. A 2.94 Mbps CSMA/CD system was built by Xerox to connect 100 personal workstation on a 1 km

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cable. This system was called Ethernet after the luminoferous ether, through which electromagnetic radiation propagated. Two types of coaxial cables are commonly used, thick ethernet and thin ethernet. Thick ethernet had markings for 2.5 meters to show where the taps to go, like a yellow garden hose. Thin ethernet use industry standard BNC connectors to form T-Junctions and are cheaper and flexible, run only for short distances. Both of them are compatible. A technique called Time Domain Reflectometry is used to detect cable breaks, bad taps or loose connectors. A pulse of known shape when injected into a cable, may hit an obstacle or end of the cable and the echo will be generated. The origin of the echo can be measured accurately by timing the interval between the sending pulse and the receiving echo. Ethernet used Manchester encoding scheme, in which the cable can be in one of 3 states namely, transmitting a 0 bit, 1 bit or idle.

Figure 3.2: (a) Transceiver and interface positions (b) Connecting two cable segments with a repeater A transceiver is clamped onto the cable and inner core is contacted by the tap. The transceiver has the electronics to detect and handle collisions. The transceiver contains the electronics that handle carrier detection and collision detections. When a collision is detected, the transceiver also puts a special invalid signal on the cable to ensure that all other transceivers also realize that a collision has occurred. A transceiver cable connects the interface board and the transceiver, usually 50m long and contains 5 individually shielded twisted pairs for data in, data out, control signal in, control signal out and to power the transceiver electronics. The transceiver cable terminates on an interface board inside the computer. The interface board contains a controller chip that transmits frames to and receives frames from the transceiver. The controller is responsible for assembling the data into the proper frame format, computing checksums on outgoing frames and verifying them in incoming frames. Buffer Management, DMA transfers are also done by some controller.

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A repeater is a physical layer device to extend the cable to a larger distance (Maximum by 802.3 is 500 m). It receives, amplifies and retransmits the signals in both the directions. An alternative way to organize a cable network is a collection of separate segments connected by bridges also called selective repeaters. Bridges examine each frame and only forward those that need to reach the other segment. The different ways of wiring a building are shown in figure 3.3.

Figure 3.3: Cable Topologies (a) Linear (b) Spine (c) Tree (d) Segmented A single cable is snaked from room to room with tapping to its nearest point (3.3 a). The horizontal cables on each floor are connected to a vertical spine (3.3 b). The tree is the most popular as it prevents interference between the 2 signals (3.3 c). A collection of separate segments connected by bridges in which the frames pass only with other segments (3.3 d). The 802.3 MAC Sublayer Protocol The structure is shown in figure 3.4 Bytes 7 Preamble 1 2 or 6 Destination address 2 or 6 Source address Length of data field Figure 3.4: The 802.3 frame format Each frame starts with a preamble of 7 bytes, each containing the bit pattern 10101010. The Manchester encoding of this pattern synchronizes the sender with the receiver clock. The bit patters 10101011 indicate the start of the frame. The frame contains 2-byte and 6-byte addresses, but 10 Mbps base band use only 6-byte. High order bit is 0 for ordinary addresses and 1 for group addresses. Sending to a group of stations is called Multicast and sending to all stations on the network is called Broadcast. 2 0-1500 Data 0-46 Pad 4 Checksum

Start of frame delimiter

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The use of bit 46 distinguishes local addresses from the global addresses. There are 7 x 1013 global addresses available to uniquely address any station. The length field determines the bytes present in the data field from 0 to 1500. The valid frames must be 64 bytes long to distinguish the valid frames from the garbled ones. The pad fields are used for adding the bytes to the data field if it is not of a minimum size. The checksum field is effectively a 32-bit hash code of the data to detect the error. CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) is one of the algorithms used. A Binary exponential backoff algorithm was used to prevent the consecutive occurrence of collisions. By having the randomizing interval to grow exponentially as more collisions occur, it ensures a low delay when few stations collide and also ensures the collision is resolved when many collides. 802.3 Performance When each station transmits during a slot with probability p, the probability A that some station acquires the ether during the slot is A = kp ( 1 p) k-1 A is maximum when p = 1/k . The probability that the contention interval has exactly J slots is A (1-A)J-1 the mean number of slots per contention is JA (1-A) J-1 = 1/A J=0 Each slot has a duration 2T. The channel efficiency when the mean frame takes P sec to transmit is, P P + 2T/A The longer the cable, the longer the contention period. In terms of frame length F, the network bandwidth B, the cable length L and the speed of signal prorogation C, the channel efficiency is, 1 Substituting P + 2B Le/cF F p= B

The efficiency will be low when the second term in the denominator is large.

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Figure 3.5: Efficiency of 802.3 at 10 Mbps with 512-bit slot times IEEE Standard 802.4 Token Bus The token bus is a linear or tree-shaped cable to which the stations are attached and are organized into a ring with each station knowing the address of the neighbour. A special control frame called token is propagated around the logical ring with only the token holder is allowed to transmit. Whenever the ring is initialized, the highest numbered station may send the frame and then the token is propagated. No collisions occur since only one station holds the token.

Figure 3.6: A Token Bus The physical order in the ring is not important for stations to transmit. The token bus uses the 75-ohm Broadband co-axial cable. Both single and dual cable settings are used with or without headends. The different analog modulation schemes are, Phase continuous frequency shift keying, Phase coherent frequency shift keying, Multilevel duo binary amplitude modulated phase shift keying. The Token Bus MAC Sublayer Protocol The token bus defines 4 priority classes, 0, 2, 4 and 6 for traffic with 0 the lowest and 6 the highest. When the token comes into the cable, the token is passed to the priority 6, then to 4, then to 2 and 0. This is repeated until the timer expires.

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Bytes 1 1 1 2 or 6 Destination address Frame control Start delimiter delimiter Preamble Figure 3.7: The 802.4 frame format The preamble is used to synchronize the receiver clock and it is 1 byte. Starting and ending delimiter fields mark the frame boundaries. The frame control field is used to distinguish data frames from control frames. The frames priority is specified for data frames and the frame type is specified for control frames. The destination and source addresses are the same as in 802-3. The Data field may be 8182 long for 2-byte addresses and 8174 bytes long for 6 byte addresses. The checksum is used to detect the errors. Logical Ring Maintenance The stations may be powered on or off to join the ring or to leave the ring. Once the ring is established, the station contains the addresses of the predecessor and successor stations. The Token Bus Control Frames Frame Control Field 0000 0000 0000 0001 0000 0010 0000 0011 0000 0100 0000 1000 0000 1100 Name Claim-token Solicit-Successor-1 Solicit-Successor-2 Who-follows Resolve-Contention Token Set-Successor Page 72 Meaning Claim token during ring initialization All no stations to enter the ring All no stations to enter the ring Recover from lost token Used when multiple stations enter Pass the token All no stations to leave the End 2 or 6 Source address 0-8182 Data 4 Checksum 1

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ring

The token holder asks the stations which are not in the ring to join by sending of the SOLICIT-SUCCESSOR frames. If no response, then the token holder continues with its work. The RESOLVE-CONTENTION frame is started to avoid collusion between two stations. A station can leave the ring by appropriately setting the successors and predecessors by SET-SUCCESSOR frame. When the ring is initialized, the station sends a CLAIM-TOKEN with initializing itself. Afterwards, the station bids to enter the ring. A station transmits a WHO-FOLLOWS frame specifying its successors address so that the failed station can be found out. IEEE Standard 802.5 Token Ring The important feature of Ring networks is that its a collection of point-to-point links to form a ring, can run on twisted pair, co axial cable or fiber optics. A Ring consists of a collection of ring interfaces connected by point-to-point lines. The bit coming to the interface is copied into the 1-bit buffer where it can be modified and then copied to the ring which introduces a 1-bit delay at the interface.

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Figure 3.8: (a) Ring Network (b) Listen Mode (c) Transmit Mode In the token ring, a special bit pattern called token is circulated which must be seized by stations before transmission. The Ring must have a sufficient delay to contain a complete token. The delay has two components, the signal propagation delay and the 1bit delay by each station. Ring Interface has 2 operating modes, listen and transmit. In the former, the bits are copied from input to output with a 1-bit delay. In transmit mode, the token must be captured, the interface breaks the connection between the input and output, entering the data onto the ring. When the traffic is light, the token will be idle most of the time. But when the traffic is heavy, a queue will be formed at each station and as soon as it finishes transmission, the next will seize the token for transmission. The network efficiency can approach 100 percent under conditions of heavy load. At the physical layer 802.5 uses the shielded twisted pairs and signals are encoded using differential Manchester encoding. The major problem with ring networks is that if the cable breaks, the ring goes down. This is solved by the use of wire center in which there will be 2 twisted pairs cable are connected, one for data to and one for data from the station. The wire center has bypass relays, which are released by the loss of the drive current whenever ring dies.

Figure 3.9: Four stations connected via a wire center The Token Ring MAC Sublayer Protocol When there is no traffic on the ring, a 3-byte token circulates so that it is seized for transmission. This is done by setting a specific 0-bit in the second byte to 1. (Figure 3.10(a)) 1 (a) SD 1 AC 1 ED

Figure 3.10: (a) Token format Page 74

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1 (b)

2 or 6 Destination address Frame control

2 or 6 Source address

No limit Data

SD AC FC

Checksum ED FS

Ending delimiter Access control Frame status Starting delimiter Figure 3.10: (b) Data frames format The starting and the ending delimiter mark the beginning and the end of the frame. The Access control contains the token bit, priority bit and reservation bits. The frame control distinguishes data from control frames. The Destination address, source address and the checksum fields are the same as with others. The Frame status byte contains the A and C bits. The 3 combinations are: Destination not present or not powered up Destination present but frame not accepted Destination present and frame copied. This provides an automatic acknowledgement for each frame. The ending delimiter contains an E bit which is set if any interface detects an error. Ring Maintenance Each token ring has a monitor station to see the ring. A contention protocol selects another monitors station, whenever the current on fails. When there is no monitor, the station can transmit a CLAIM TOKEN control frame which when circulated successfully becomes the monitors. The Responsibilities of a monitor are taking care that token is not lost, taking care when the ring breaks, cleaning the ring when frames are destroyed, watching out for orphan frames. A timer is set by the monitor to find the loss of the token. The monitors may insert extra bits when the length of the ring less than the token. A BEACON control frame is used to locate the breaks in the ring. The Bypass relay in the wire center is used to find out the stations that are deleted and that are dead. Token Ring Control Frames Frame Control Field Name Meaning

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0000 0000 0000 0010 0000 0011 0000 0100 0000 0101 0000 0110 Duplicate Address Test Beacon Claim Token Purge Active monitor present Stand By monitor present. Test if two stations have same address Used to locate breaks in the ring Attempt to become monitors Reinitialize the ring Issued periodically by the monitors Announces the presence of potential monitors.

A centralized monitor made handling lost tokens, orphan frames and garbled frames easier.

Slotted Rings

Figure 3.11: A Slotted Ring A slotted ring is so called because it is slotted into a fixed number of frames. The Artificial delays can be introduced by putting shift registers in the ring interfaces whenever the delay is not sufficient to hold several frames. When a station wants to transmit, it waits for the empty frame and marks it as full and the puts the data into the frame. Frames cannot be of arbitrarily large size. Register Insertion Rings The Ring Interface has two registers, shift register and output buffer. For transmission, the frames are loaded into the output buffer. The input pointer in the shift register points to the rightmost bit position which is empty and to the left of it is also empty. The bit, which comes from the ring, is placed where the input pointer is pointing to, and then moved 1-bit to the left. The interface determines whether the frame is addressed to it or not, so that is passes to the next station.

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Figure 3.12: Interface of a register insertion ring The important property of this is, it prevents a station from monopolizing the ring. 3.2.5 LAN Topologies Topology is the layout of the connections formed between computers. To some extent, the reliability of the network is determined by its topology. Hence goal of the topology is to find the most economical and efficient way to connect all users to the network resources while providing adequate capacity to handle user demands, maintain system reliability and minimize transmission delay. But rapid changes in user demands, complicate the topological problem.

Selection of a Topology There are a number of factors to be considered when selecting a topology, the most important of which are set out in the following table Feature Reliability Complexity Flexibility Expandability Cost BUS * High Mod * High * High * Low Topology Comparison Ring Dual Ring Low Mod Low Mod Mod Mod Mod Mod Mod High Star Log * Low Low Low M-High

Cost: Whatever transmission medium is chosen for a LAN, it has to be physically installed in the building. This may be a lengthy process involving the installation of cable ducts and raceways. Ideally, it is carried out before the building is occupied and should be able to accommodate foreseen growth requirements. For a network to be cost effective, one would strive to minimize installation cost. This may be achieved by using well-understood media and also, to a lesser extent by minimizing the distances involved. Flexibility: One of the main benefits of a LAN is the ability to have the data processing and peripheral nodes distributed around a given area. This means that computing power and equipment can be located close to the ultimate user. Because of the arrangement of furniture, wall etc in offices is often subject to change, the topology should allow for easy reconfiguration of the network. This involves moving existing nodes and adding new ones. Page 77

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Reliability: Failure in a LAN can take two forms. Firstly, an individual node can malfunction. This is not nearly a serious one but if the network itself fails to operate, the situation is serious. In the second case, although the individual nodes can function, any software making use of the facilities of the LAN will be rendered useless. The topology chosen for the network can help by detecting the location of the fault and providing some means of isolating it. Star or Radial Topology

Figure 3.13: Star Topology In this configuration each workstation is connected to a central server through a dedicated point-to-point channel. Messages are passed from a workstation to the server. Control of the network may be allowed in one of three ways: 1. Control resides in the central server which performs all routing of messages. Data received by the central workstation may either be processed internally or forwarded for processing. In this case, the server normally provides the main computing power. An outlying workstation rather than the central device may exercise control. The server operates as a switch, establishing connections between workstations.

2.

3. Control may be distributed equally to all workstations. The server is used to route messages to their destinations and to resolve conflicting requests for connection between workstation. In all these cases, the central server is the critical node. If it fails, the whole network stops. The size and capacity of the network is decided by the capacity of the central workstation. This topology eliminates the need for each workstation on the network to make routing decisions. All message routing is localized in the central server. Compound Star Networks are those in which a workstation on one network may act as server and/or controller for a secondary network. The term snowflake is also used to refer to a compound star. Advantages: -

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1. Ease of service: The star topology has a number of concentration points i.e. at the central node or at intermediate wiring closets. These provide easy access for service or reconfiguration of the network. 2. One device per connection: Connection points in any network are inherently prone to failure. In the star topology, failure of a single connection typically involves disconnecting one node from an otherwise fully functional network. 3. Centralized control / Problem diagnosis: The fact that the central node is connected directly to every other node in the network means that faults are easily detected and isolated. It is a simple matter to disconnect failing nodes from the system. 4. Simple access protocols: Any given connection in a star network involves only the central node and one peripheral node. In this situation, contention for who has control of the medium for transmission purposes is easily solved. Thus in a star network, access protocols are simple. Disadvantages: 1. Long cable length: Because each node is directly connected to the center, the star topology necessitates a large quantity of cable. While the cost of the cable is often small, congestion in cable ducts, maintenance and installation problems can increase costs considerably. 2. Difficult to expand: The addition of a new node to a star network involves a connection to the central node. Providing large number of redundant cables during the initial wiring usually creates expansion. However, the problems can arise if a lengthy cable is needed or an unanticipated concentration of nodes is required. 3. Central node dependency: If the central node in a star network fails, the entire network is rendered inoperable. That introduces heavy reliability and redundancy constraints on this node. The star topology has found extensive application in areas where intelligence in the network is concentrated at the center node. Star Evaluation Factors Application: Presently, a star network is the best way to integrate voice and data services. A star-based network using the newer digital PBXs often can be justified by the savings and features for voice-based telephone services alone. Complexity: The star can be quite complex: workstations attached to the central workstation may in turn act as the central server for other workstations or may be connected to communication links. Performance: Good for moderate load. However, the size and capacity of the network, and hence the performance, is a direct function of the power of the center node. System overhead: Network overhead is high: the server usually cannot be used for any other purpose while acting as network server. The number of separate lines is also high. Vulnerability: System reliability id depends on the central server. If the server fails, all the activity on the network ceases. Failure of an individual workstation

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does not affect the system. In either case identification of problems and repair is simplified by centralized control. Expandability: Expandability may be severely restricted. Most servers can support a limited number of network interfaces. Bandwidth and data are limitations often imposed on each user. The limits are necessary to protect the central processing functions from overload and to keep the cost of each port on the central server low. Bus Topology This consists of a single length of the transmission medium. This topology is used in traditional data communication networks where the host at one end of the bus communicates with several terminals attached along its length. This configuration is known as a multidrop line. It is also the topology used in the Ethernet LAN.

Figure 3.14: The Bus Topology In a bus topology, all workstations are connected to a single shared communication link through interface units and cable taps as shown in figure 3.14 Messages are broadcast along the whole bus. In order to receive a transmission, the workstations must be able to recognize their own address. Devices attached to a bus therefore must possess a high degree of intelligence or have the required intelligence provided by the bus interface unit. When long distance workstations are there, the signal strength may be reduced as the signals has to go over a long distance. Having amplifiers or repeaters in specific locations can solve this. Advantages: 1. Short cable length and simple wiring layout: Because there is a single common data path connecting all the nodes, the bus topology allows a very short cable length to be used. This decreases the installation cost, and also leads to a simple, easy to maintain layout. 2. Resilient Architecture: The bus architecture has an inherent simplicity that makes it very reliable from hardware point of view. There is a single cable through which all data passes and to which all nodes are connected. 3. Easy to extend: Additional nodes can be connected to an existing bus network at any point along its length. More extensive additions can be achieved by adding extra segments connected by a type of signal amplifier known as a repeater. Page 80

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Disadvantages: 1. Fault diagnosis is difficult: Although the topology looks simple, fault detection is a tedious matter. In most LANs, control of the network is not centralized in any particular node. This means that detection of a fault may have to be performed from many points in the network. 2. Fault isolation is difficult: If a node is faulty on a bus, it must be rectified at the point where the node is connected to the network. Once the fault has been located, the node can simply be removed. In case, where the fault is in the network medium itself, an entire segment must be disconnected. 3. Repeater configuration: When a bus-type network has its backbone extended using repeater, reconfiguration may be necessary. This may involve tailoring cable lengths, adjusting terminators etc. 4. Nodes must be intelligent: Each node on the network is directly connected to the central bus. This means that some way of deciding who can use the network at any given time must be performed in each node. It tends to increase the cost of the nodes irrespective of whether this is performed in hardware or software. Bus Evaluation Factor Application: Bus networks are a good choice for small networks and networks with low traffic. Complexity: Bus networks tend to be relatively uncomplex. Performance: Excellent under light load, may degrade rapidly as load increases. System overhead: Comparatively low, particularly because much of the hardware is fully developed and readily available. Some redundancy of communications channel is advisable to reduce the vulnerability to channel outrage. Vulnerability: Failure of one workstation on a bus network does not usually affect the network. Bus networks are vulnerable to damage due to the main link and other problems affecting the bus. Problems on the bus are hard to locate. Once located, problems are easy to repair. Expandability: Expansion and reconfiguration of a bus network are easy. A new or relocated device may be co-connected to the nearest convenient network access point with little disruption to the network. Interconnecting microcomputers and equipment from different manufactures is difficult because all connected devices must be able to accept the same forms of address and data. Ring Topology In this topology each node is connected to only two neighbouring nodes in a circular fashion as shown in figure 3.15. Data is accepted from one of the neighbouring node to node around the ring. At any time only one pair of nodes can communicate.

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Figure 3.15: The Ring Topology The communication is initiated by a workstation by catching a control message called Token, which is flowing around the network. The workstation, which is having this token, can send message to any other node. Once the communication is over the token should be released in order to make use of it by another node. Hence this topology is sometimes called the Token-Ring Topology. Ring network consists of an unbroken circle of point-to-point connections of adjacent workstations. Messages travel from workstation to workstation in a round robin fashion. Workstations are connected to a repeater, which in turn, retransmits messages addressed to other workstations. In order to receive messages, each workstation must be capable of recognizing its own address. The transmission of data on a ring goes through every connected node on the ring before returning to the sender. If node fails to pass data through itself, the entire network has failed and no traffic can flow until the defective one is removed form the ring. Advantages: 1. Short cable length: The amount of cabling involved in a ring topology is relatively small. This means that fewer connections will be needed, which will in turn increase network reliability. 2. No wiring closet space required: Since there is only cable connecting each node to its immediate neighbour, it is not necessary to allocate space in the building for wiring closets. 3. Suitable for optical fibers: Optical fibers offer the possibility of very high-speed transmission. Because the traffic on a ring travels in one direction, it is easy to use optical fibers as a medium of transmission. Disadvantage: 1. Node failure causes network failure: The transmission of data on a ring goes through every connected node on the ring, before returning to the sender. If one node fails to pass data, the entire network fails and no traffic can flow until the defective nodes are removed from the ring. 2. Difficult to diagnose faults: The fact that failure of one node will affect all others has serious implications for fault diagnosis. It may be necessary to examine a series of adjacent nodes to determine the faulty one. This operation may also require diagnostic facilities to be built into each node.

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3. Network reconfiguration is difficult: The all or nothing nature of the ring topology can cause problems when one decides to extend or modify the geographical scope of the network. It is not possible to shutdown a small section of the ring while keeping the majority of it working normally. 4. Topology affects the access protocol: Each node on a ring has a responsibility to pass on data that it receives. This means that the access protocol must take this into account. Before a node can transmit its own data, it must ensure that the medium is available for use. Ring Evaluation Factors Application: A ring is good in situations where capacity must be allocated equally or where a small number of workstations operating high speeds over short distances are to be connected. Complexity: A ring requires relatively complex hardware to implement. Message routing is simple. Since only one message path is possible, the sending workstation needs to know an address for the destination workstation. Routing information is not necessary. Performance: Performance under heavy traffic remains stable with less delay and degradation of service than other networks. Average transmission delays are long, even under light traffic. Actual performance is dependent on the control protocols implemented. System Overhead: Duplication of resources or a method of bypassing failure points is needed if the ring is to keep functioning when equipment fails. Vulnerability: Failure in a single workstation or in the channel can cause system failure because of the interdependence of workstations. Locating a failed repeater is particularly difficult in a system with wide geographical distribution and it may not be possible to repair it immediately. Expandability: It is moderately easy to add or delete workstations on a ring network without making numerous connections for each change. Therefore system modifications costs are relatively low. Expansion does disrupt the whole system, even though it may be only briefly disturb it. Hybrid Topology Modifying or combining some of the characteristics of the network topologies may obtain a more useful result. These combinations are called hybrid topologies. Tree Topology This topology is a variant of the bus. The shape of the network is that of an inverted tree with the central root branching to the extremities of the network as shown in

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figure 3.16. It is normally implemented using coaxial cable as the transmission medium and broadband transmission techniques.

Figure 3.16: The Tree Topology Technically, a tree is a bus network comprised of a main cable, which connects floors in a building, and branches, which connect individual workstations in a more limited area. In effect, the network is divided into different segments. This topology is sometimes called a rooted tree. Advantages: 1. Easy to extend: Because the tree is, of its very own nature, divided into subunits, it is easier to add new nodes or branches to it. 2. Fault isolation: It is possible to disconnect whole branches of the network from the main structure. This makes it easier to isolate a defective node. Disadvantage: 1. Dependent on the root: If the headend device fails to operate, the entire network is rendered inoperable. In this respect, the tree suffers from reliability problem. Star-Ring Topology This configuration consists of a number of concentration points connected together in a ring. These concentration points would consist of wiring closets located on each floor of a building. From each floor, nodes are connected in a star configuration. Here the physical wiring is arranged as a series of interconnected starts. Because of this, this topology is sometimes called the Star-shaped ring. Advantages: 1. Fault, diagnosis and isolation: The presence of concentration points in the network greatly eases the fault diagnosis. If a fault is detected on the network, the initial problem is to find out which concentration point in the ring is to blame. The Page 84

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offending concentration point can be isolated easily, leaving the network in a fully functional state while further fault diagnosis is carried out. 2. Ease of expansion: The modular construction of a star-ring network means that, new sections may be easily added. When designing the network originally, each concentration can have extra, unused lobes, which can be called upon later if needed. The next growth step involves adding a new concentration point and wiring it into the ring. 3. Easy cabling: The concentrations points in a star-ring are connected via a single cable. This simplifies wiring between areas in an installation and cuts down the congestion of cable ducts. Disadvantages: 1. Intelligent concentration points required: Depending on the implementation used, the concentration points may need to have built-in intelligence/processing ability. This will be necessary if it is to assist in network fault diagnosis, node isolation or conversion from one form of transmission medium to another. 2. Redundant cabling: The intercloset cabling in a star-ring is critical to its operation. This means that redundant cabling in the form of one or more back up rings are necessary to meet the reliability requirements. Choosing a Topology In choosing a topology for a LAN, many factors are to be considered. It must be easy to install both in existing buildings and those that are being prewired. Once installed, it must be able to cope with growth requirements. It should be possible to carry extensive changes to the network without completely depriving current users of service. Breakdowns in LAN are to be expected. It is desirable to have a system where faults can be detected quickly and subsequently isolated, leaving the main section of the network operating normally. The choice of topology can affect the range of possible media and the access method used to share it. Both of these can in turn affect the complexity and speed of operation of the individual nodes. 3.2.6 Transmission Media Transmissions lines are the backbone to a network. It is available in two basic varieties: base band and broadband. Twisted pair wires are Base band communication links whereas coaxial and fiber optic cables are broadband links. Twisted Pair Wire It is familiarly used in telephone system. Pairs of wires are spiraled about each other. The size of the base wire varies, with the number of twists per foot. The twisting standardizes the electrical properties throughout the length of the cable and minimizes the Page 85

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interference created by adjacent wires in multipair cable. Normally copper wires are used. The media is light and relatively easy to install.

Figure 3.17: Twisted Pair Wire Base Band Coaxial Cable It has been used for many years in the telephone network in applications with requirements similar to those of a LAN. Both base band and broadband coaxial cable are available. Although their structure is same, their installation and applications differ.

Figure 3.18: Base Band Coaxial Cable In base band coaxial cable, a central carrier wire is surrounded by a fine woven mesh of copper which forms an outer shell. The space between the wire and the outer shell is insulated to separate the two conductors and to maintain the electrical properties. The entire cable is covered by protective insulation to minimize electrical emissions. The cable is usually approximately 3/8 inch in diameter. Broad Band Coaxial Cable This comes in several different diameters with varying amounts of insulation. The cable may have the same construction as base band coaxial. An aluminium sleeve may surround the central carrier. The space between the core and the shell is filled with insulation and the whole is enclosed in a protective coat of insulation. Broadband coaxial cable can carry 50 to 100 television channels or thousands of voice and low speed data channels at the rates of 9.2 to 50 Kbps.

Figure 3.19: Broad Band Coaxial Cable Fiber Optic Cable Page 86

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In this light signals are transmitted through a cable/wave guide composed of a bundle of glass or plastic fibers. Each individual brand has a center core of plastic or glass with a high refractive index, surrounded by a cladding layer, which isolates the fibers, prevents interference between adjacent strands, as well as provides some physical protection for the core. Additional protective outer layers usually enclose the whole. At one end, data is transmitted as light signals from an angle, which will take total internal reflection and reach the other end successfully without any amount of refraction and distortion. At the other end, there must be proper light detecting source, which can recognize successive light signals and convert it into data bits.

Figure 3.20: Fiber Optic Cable Three basic types of cables are available 1. Single Mode Fibers: These have an extremely thin core diameter. While the thinness provides high performance, it makes connection to light transmitters and other cable segments extremely difficult. 2. Steeped Index Fibers: These contain a core of high resolution within a shell of lower resolution. The boundary between core and cladding is abrupt. Here the connections are comparatively easier. 3. Graded Index Fibers: These vary in density from the core outward. The gradation moderates the dispersion of signals. Graded index fiber is most commonly available, because it is preferred for telecommunications. It has the highest transmission rate of the three types of cable. Cable segments must be aligned precisely for the signal to continue from one segment to the next, because light tends to travel in a wave-like motion rather than a straight line. The greater the fluctuations in the light wave, the more rapidly the performance degrades and the greater the dispersion of the signal. The thinner the optic and narrower the light source, the straighter the wave is forced to travel and therefore, the more efficient is the network as a whole. 3.2.7 Routing The real function of the network layer is routing packets from the source machine to the destination machine. Routing Algorithm: This is Network layer software, which takes care of deciding the path the packets must take during data transmission. Page 87

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Session Routing: In virtual circuits, the routing details are made during setup and all subsequent packets follow the pre-established paths. Routing Algorithm

Adaptive Centralized Isolated Distributed Few requirements for Routing Algorithm:

Non-adaptive

Routing algorithm must be able to cope up with the changes in topology and traffic without any halt in host application. Stability is yet another requirement.

Fairness and Optimality: All IMPs must be treated equally and efficiently. They are contradictory goals. The goals are satisfied by minimizing packet delay and maximizing throughout. 3.2.8 Routing Algorithms Routing algorithms can be classified into two major classes 1. Non-adaptive Algorithms 2. Adaptive Algorithms

Non-adaptive algorithms do not base their routing decisions on measurements or estimates of the current traffic and topology. The choice of the route to use to get from i to j is computed in advance, off-line, and downloaded to the IMPs when the network is booted. This is also called static routing. Adaptive algorithms attempt to change their routing decisions to reflect changes in topology and the current traffic. Three different families of adaptive algorithms exist, differing in the information they use. The global algorithms use information collected from the entire subnet in an attempt to make optimal decisions. This approach is called Centralized Routing. The local algorithms run separately in each IMP and only use information available there such as queue lengths. These are known a Isolated Routing. The third class of algorithms uses a mixture of global and local information. They are called distributed algorithms. A few of the routing algorithms are discussed below: 1. Shortest path routing 3. Centralized routing 5. Flooding 7. Optimal routing 9. Broadcasting 2. Multipath routing 4. Isolated routing 6. Distributed routing 8. Flow-based routing 10. Hierarchical routing Page 88

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Shortest Path Routing The weightage of each path between the nodes are measured either in terms of hops, geographic distance, cost of transmission, etc. The aim is to use the path in minimum weightage. One of the commonly used algorithm is the Dijkstra Algorithm. Dijkstra Algorithm: (i) Set of all IMPs and routes are drawn with weightage of each route mentioned over them. (ii) Start from the source node and assume a cost of 0 for it. Move to the adjacent nodes. Mark the sum cost of edges there. Repeat this action until all the nodes are covered.

(iii) If two routes lead to the same node, then the route costs being subtracted at each node. (iv) From the destination traverse back with the route costs being subtracted at each node. (v) Select all the nodes whose weightage in the onward and backward traversal are the same.

(vi) This is the shortest route. Example 1: Find the shortest path for:

Figure 3.21: 1-4-5-9 is the path A procedure to compute the shortest path through a graph is given below: [Find the shortest path from the source to the sink of a given graph] const n = {number of nodes} infinity = {a number large than any possible path length}

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type node = 0 n; nodelist = array [1 n] of node; matrix = array [1..n, 1.. n] of integer; procedure ShortestPath(a:matrix; s, t: node; var path:nodelist); {Find the shortest path from s to r in the matrix a, and return it in path} type lab = (perm, tent); {is label tentative or permanent?} NodeLable = record predecessor: node; length: integer; labl: lab end; GraphState = array [1..n] of NodeLabel; Varstate: GraphState; I,k: node; min:integer; begin {initialize} for i := 1 to n do with sate [I] do begin predecessor := 0; length := infinity; labl := tent end; state[t].length := 0; state[t].labl := perm; k := t; repeat {is there a better path from k?} for I := 1 to n do if (a[k,I] <>0) and (state[I],labl = tent) then {l is adjacent & tent} if state[k]length + 1[kl,1] <state length then begin state(i).predecessor := k; state(i).length := state[k].length + a[k,I] end; (Find the tentatively labeled node with the smallest label} min := infinity, k := 0; for I := 1 to n do if (state [1]labl = tent) and (state[1]length <min) then begin min := state[I] length; k := I {unless superseded, k will be next working node} end; state[k]labl := perm until k = s; {repeat until one reaches the source} {Copy the path into the output array} k := s; i := 0; repeat i := i + 1; path[i] := k k := state[k].predecessor; until k = 0 end; {shortestpath} Multipath Routing (Bifurcated Routing)

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A routing in which more than one path is used between two nodes is called Multipath Routing. Multipath routing is applicable both to datagram subnets and virtual circuit subnets. For datagram subnets, when a packet arrives at an IMP for forwarding, a choice is made among the various alternatives for that packet, independent of the choices made for other packets to that same destination is the past. For virtual circuit subnets, whenever a virtual circuit is set up, a route is chosen, but different virtual circuits are routed independently. Multipath routing can be implemented as follows: Each IMP maintains a table with one row for each possible destination IMP. A row gives the best, the second best, the third best etc, outgoing line for that destination, together with a relative weight. Before forwarding a packet, an IMP generates a random number and then chooses among the alternatives, using the weights as probabilities. The tables are worked out manually by the network operators, loaded into the IMPs before the network is brought up, and not changed thereafter. As an example, consider the subnet in the following figure 3.22.

Figure 3.22: An example subnet If J receives a packet whose destination is A, it uses the row labeled A. Here three choices are presented. The line to A is the first choice, followed by the lines to I and H respectively. To decide, J generates a random number between 0.00 and 0.99. If the number is below 0.63, line A is used. If the number is between 0.63 and 0.83, I is used otherwise H is used. The three weights are therefore the respective probabilities that A, I or H will be used. IMP Js routing table is given below. The advantage of multipath routing over shortest path routing is the possibility of sending different classes of traffic over different routes.

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Figure 3.23: Routing table for Node J How are different disjoint paths determined? First a shortest path from source to destination is determined. The set of edges and nodes occurring here are removed and with the remaining nodes and edges, a new path is again computed. Centralized Routing When centralized routing is used, somewhere within the network there is an RCC (Routing Control Center). Periodically, each IMP sends status information to the RCC, like a list of its neighbours that are up, current queue lengths, amount of traffic processed per line since the last report. The RCC collects all this information, and then, based upon its global knowledge of the entire network, computes the optimal routes from every IMP to every other IMP using the shortest path algorithm. From this information it can build new routing tables and distribute them to all the IMPs. Although centralized routing is attractive, it has few drawbacks. If the subnet is to adapt to changing traffic, the routing calculation will have to be performed fairly often. For a large network, the calculation will take many seconds, even on a substantial CPU. One serious problem is the vulnerability of the RCC. If it goes down or becomes isolated by line failures, the subnet is suddenly in trouble. One solution is to have a second machine available as a backup, but this amounts to wasting a large computer. Yet another problem with centralized routing concerns distributing the routing tables to the IMPs. The IMPs that are close to the RCC will get their new tables first and will switch over to the new routes before the distant IMPs have received their tables. Inconsistencies may arise here and the packets may be delayed. Among the packets delayed will be the new routing tables for the distant IMPs, so the problem feeds upon itself. If the RCC computes the optimal route for each pair of IMPs and no alternates, the loss of even a single line or IMP will probably cut some IMPs off from the RCC, with

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disastrous consequences. If the RCC does use alternate routing, the argument in favor of having an RCC in the first place, namely that it can find the optimal routes, is weakened. A final problem with centralized routing is the heavy concentration of routing traffic on the lines leading into the RCC. As an example of how centralized routing works, consider TYMNET, a commercial packet-switching network with over 1000 nodes. TYMNET is primarily used to allow terminals to log into remote computers, so the subnet offers connection-oriented service and uses virtual circuit to implement this service. The TYMNET IMPs periodically send the RCC information about their status like lines that are up or down, queue lengths, and other statistics. The RCC maintains tables keeping track of all this incoming information. When a new user logs in and specifies which host one wants to connect to, a packet is sent to the RCC informing it of the login. The RCC then computes the best route, using all the information at its disposal. It then sends a needle packet back to the IMP to which the user is connected. The needle packet contains the route chosen by the RCC. This packet then threads its way through the subnet, making entries in the IMPs tables as it goes and thus setting up the virtual circuit. When the user logs out, a similar process is used to release the virtual circuit. Advantages: (i) With the information on the RCC, a perfect routing decision can be made. (ii) IMPs are relieved of the route computation work. Disadvantages: (i) In a network of rapidly changing traffic RCC must calculate the paths very often. (ii) Time for calculation is quite high (many seconds). (iii) If the RCC goes down, the consequences are severe and a substitute RCC must be maintained. (iv) A heavy traffic exists on the lines leading to the RCC (from all IMPs). Needle Packets: Packet, which is sent from RCC to the IMPs, which contains the route chosen. This packet then threads through the subnet making entries in the IMP table. Isolated Routing IMPs make routing based on the information they themselves have collected. They do not share the information with other IMPs. This is Isolated routing. Two examples of this Isolated Routing are discussed below. (a) Hot Potato Algorithm:

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When a packet comes in, the IMP tries to get rid of it as fast as it can, by putting it on the shortest output queue. In other words, when a packet arrives, the IMP counts the number of packets queued up for transmission on each of the output lines. It then attaches the new packet to the end of the shortest output queue, without regard to where that line leads.

Figure 3.24: Queuing within IMP In figure 3.24 there are four output queues, corresponding to the four output lines. Packets are queued up on each line waiting for transmission. In this example, queue I is the shortest with only one packet queued up. The hot potato algorithm would therefore put the newly arrived packet on this queue. A variation of this idea to combine static routing with the hot potato algorithm. When a packet arrives, the routing algorithm takes into account, both the static weights of the lines and the queue lengths. One possibility is to use the best static choice, unless its queue exceeds a certain threshold. Another possibility is to use the shortest queue, unless its static weight is too low. Yet another way is to rank the lines in terms of their static weights, and again in terms of their queue lengths, taking the line for which the sum of the two ranks is lowest. Whatever algorithm is chosen should have the property that under light load the line with the highest static weight is usually chosen, but as the queue for this line builds up, some of the traffic is diverted to less busy lines. (b) Backward Learning: This is an indirect route cost estimation process. Each packet contains a counter, which is incremented at every hop (IMP). When a packet arrives at an IMP B from some IMP A with counter set to 4, then B will understand that A is 4 hops from B. And within a short time, with this sort of repeated process, all IMPs will come to know about all other IMPs. Disadvantage: Since IMPs only record changes for the better, if a line goes down or becomes overloaded, there is no mechanism for recording the fact. So if an IMP goes down the whole process must be repeated again in all IMPs. Delta Routing: This is a hybrid technique of centralized and isolated routing. Each IMP measures the cost of the line and sends a packet to RCC giving it, the values. Flooding

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Flooding is a technique in which a packet is sent out to all IMPs, except the one from which it arrived on. A large number of duplicate packets are generated. Each packet contains a counter, representing the number of hops in shortest path to the destination. On encountering a hop it reduces the counter. Once when the counter reaches 0, the destination is supposed to have been reached. All other packets, whose address does not match with the destination are discarded. Though not practical, flooding has some uses. In military applications, where large number of IMPs may be blown to bits at any instant, the tremendous robustness of flooding is highly desirable. In distributed data base applications, it is necessary sometimes to update all the databases concurrently, in which case flooding can be useful. A third possible use of flooding is as a metric against which other routing algorithms can be compared. Flooding always chooses the shortest path, because it chooses every possible path in parallel. Consequently, no other algorithm can produce a shorter delay if the overhead generated by the flooding process is ignored. Selective Flooding: A variation of flooding, where the packet is given to the lines going approximately in the right direction. Random Walk: A line is chosen at random in approximately the right direction and the packet is forwarded. Distributed Routing In this type of routing, each IMP exchanges routing information with neighbouring IMPs. IMPs maintain a routing table containing details about all IMPs. They contain two parts. (a) (b) Preferred outgoing line for a destination Total cost or weight and time or distance to reach that destination

If the metrics is in delay, it is measured using echo packets to that destination. As an example, assume that delay is used as a metric and that the IMP knows the delay to each of its neighbours. Once every T millisecond each IMP sends to each neighbour a list of its estimated delays to each destination. It also receives a similar list from each neighbour. Imagine that one of these tables has just come in from the neighbour X, with Xi beings Xs estimate of how long it takes to get to IMP i. If the IMP knows that the delay to X is m millisecond, it also knows that it can reach IMP I via X in Xi + m millisecond via X. By performing this calculation for each neighbour, an IMP can find out which estimate seems the best, and use that estimate and the corresponding line in its new routing table. The old routing table is not used in the calculation. Optimal Routing If an IMP J lies on the optimal path from IMP I to IMP K, then the optimal path from J to K is a subset of the same route. Call the part of the route from I to J r 1 and the rest of the route r2. If a route better than r2 existed from J to K, it could be concatenated with r1 to improve the route from I to K.

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Figure 3.25: A Subnet Sink Tree: Set of optimal paths from all sources to a destination form a tree with destination as the root node. This is known as a sink tree. The sink tree does not contain any loops, so each packet will be delivered within a finite and bounded number of loops. If traffic from IMP X passes through IMP Y as it flows along the sink tree to the destination, X is said to be upstream from Y and Y is said to be downstream from X. A B D C E A B D C E

G (a)

G (b)

Figure 3.26: (a) A Subnet (b) Sink tree for H Flow Based Routing In some networks, the data flow between each pair of nodes is relatively stable and predictable. For example, in a corporate network for a retail store chain, each store might send orders, sales reports, inventory updates, and other well defined types of messages to known sites in a pre-defined pattern, so that the total volume of traffic varied little from day to day. Under conditions in which the average traffic from I to j is known in advance and to a reasonable approximation constant in time, it is possible to analyze the flows mathematically to optimize the routing. The basic idea behind the analysis is that for a given line, if the capacity and average flow are known, it is possible to compute the mean packet delay on that line from queuing theory. From the mean delay on all the lines, it is straightforward to calculate a flow-weighted average to get the mean packet delay for the whole network. The routing problem then reduces, finding the routing algorithm that produces the minimum average delay for the network.

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To use this technique, certain information must be known in advance. First the network topology must be known. Second, the traffic matrix, Fij, must be given. Third the line capacity matrix Cij, specifying the capacity of each line in bps must be available. Finally a routing algorithm must be chosen. The time delay for a line is computed using the capacity and average flow. The total time delay for the whole network is calculated. Then a routing algorithm is chosen to minimize the time delay for the network. Time delay is computed using the queuing theory formula: 1 T C- T Time delay C Capacity in bps. Hierarchical Routing Hierarchical routing is based on a simple divide and rule policy. If the number of IMPs is high, maintaining a static table is tougher. So, the IMPs are grouped in regions. Each region has an IMP, which has details about the IMPs within its region, but no knowledge about IMPs in other regions. By this method a large number of IMPs can be managed. - Mean packet size in bits. - Mean flow in packets/sec.

Figure 3.27: Hierarchical Routing Broadcast Routing Sending packets to all destinations simultaneously is called Broadcasting. One of the methods is by sending distinct packet to all destinations. This requires a high bandwidth and a list of all destinations. Flooding may also be used, but it has high bandwidth requirement. It also generates too many packets. A third algorithm is multi-destination routing. In this method each packet contains either a list of destinations or a bitmap indicating the desired destinations. When a packet arrives at an IMP, the IMP checks all the destinations to determine the set of output lines Page 97

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that will be needed. The IMP generates a new copy of the packet for each output line to be used and includes in each packet only those destinations that are to use the line. In effect, the destination set is partitioned among the output lines. After a sufficient number of hops, each packet will carry only one destination and can be treated as a normal packet. Multidestination routing is like separately addressed packets, except that when several packets must follow the same route, one of them pays full fare and the rest ride free. A fourth algorithm makes explicit use of the sink tree for the IMP initiating the broadcast, or any other convenient spanning tree for that matter. Spanning Trees is a subset of the subnet that contains all IMPs but no loops. If each IMP knows which of its lines belong to the spanning tree, it can copy an incoming broadcast packet onto all the spanning tree lines except the one it arrived on. The method makes excellent use of bandwidth, generating the absolute minimum number of packets necessary to do the job. The only problem is that each IMP must have knowledge of some spanning tree for it to be applicable. Our last broadcast routing technique is a enhancement of previous one. When a broadcast packet arrives at an IMP, the IMP checks to see if the packet arrived on the line that is normally used for sending the packets to the source of the broadcast. If so, there is an excellent chance that the broadcast packet itself followed the best route from the IMP and is therefore the first copy to arrive at the IMP. This being the case, the IMP forwards copies of it onto all lines except the one it arrived. If the broadcast packet arrived on a line other than the preferred one for reaching the source, the packet is discarded as a likely duplicate. As an example consider the reverse path forwarding shown in figure 3.28.

Figure 3.28: Reverse path forwarding Part (a) shows the subnet, part (b) shows a sink tree for IMP I of that subnet and part (c) shows how the reverse path algorithm works. On the first hop, I send packets to F, H, J and N as indicated by the second row of the tree. Each of these packets arrives on the preferred path to I and is so indicated by a circle around the letter. On the second hop, eight packets are generated, two by each of the IMPs that received a packet on the first hop. As it turns out, all eight of these arrive at previously unvisited IMPs, and all but one arrives along the preferred line. Of the nine packets generated on the third hop, only two arrive on the preferred path (at C and L), and so only these generate further packets. After five hops and 24 packets, the broadcasting terminates, compared with four hops and 14 packets has the sink tree been followed exactly.

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The principle advantage of the reverse path forwarding is that it is both reasonably efficient and easy to implement. It does not require IMPs to know about spanning trees, nor does it have the overhead of a destination list or bit map in each broadcast packet as does multidestination addressing. Nor does it require any special mechanism to stop the process, as flooding does. 3.2.9 Congestion When there are too many packets in a network beyond the network capacity, the performance of the network degrades. This is called congestion.

Figure 3.29: When too much traffic is offered, congestion sets in, and performance degrades Reasons for Congestions: IMPs too slow or IMPs too fast with slow responding IMPs. Congestion tends to feed upon itself and become worse. Consider that a sender sends a packet to a receiver, which has no buffers free, as a consequence, the sender repeatedly sends the packet until an acknowledgement is released. Thus the sender cannot free its own buffer (queue), which at some time becomes saturated and thus congestion arises. 3.2.10 Congestion Control Algorithms There are five strategies for congestion control: (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) Preallocating resources Packet discarding Restricting number of packets is a network Flow control Checking off input, if the subnet is overhead.

These strategies involve allocating resources in advance, allowing packets to be discarded when they cannot be processed, restricting the number of packets in the subnet, using flow control to avoid congestion and chocking off input, when the subnet is overloaded. Preallocation of Buffers

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By permanently allocating buffers to each virtual circuit in each IMP, there will always be a place to store any incoming packet until it can be forwarded. First consider the case of a stop-and-wait IMP-IMP protocol. One buffer per virtual circuit per IMP is sufficient for simplex circuits, and one for each direction is sufficient for full-duplex circuits. When a packet arrives, the acknowledgement is not sent back to the sending IMP until the packet has been forwarded. In effect an acknowledgement means that the receiver not only received the packet correctly, but also has a free buffer and is willing to accept another one. If the IMP-IMP protocol allows multiple outstanding packets, each IMP will have to dedicate a full windows worth of buffers to each virtual circuit to completely eliminate the possibility of congestion. Because dedicating a complete set of buffers to an idle virtual circuit is expensive, some subnets may use it only where low delay and high bandwidth are essential, for example on virtual circuits carrying digitized speech. Packet Discarding The packets are discarded at will by IMPs to control congestion. The source IMPs will have to keep sending the packets until it is accepted or make a time out and start every thing again. One buffer is always reserved in the IMPs to check to acknowledgement packets. If there is some number of input lines, S number of output lines and K number of buffers, then for a good performance, the max queue length of buffers for each line must be m = k s i.e. If there are say 7 free buffers and three output lines, then it is not desirable to use all buffers for a single output line, because if they are all used up (waiting in the queue) then the packets for other output lines must be discarded.

Figure 3.30 So, a maximum limit for the number of buffers for an output line is set using the formula (see above) and the other buffers are set free.

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Figure 3.31 It has a drawback that it needs extra bandwidth for duplicates. Isarithmic Congestion Control The algorithm is called Isarithmic because the total no. of packets in the network is kept constant by issuing permits, which circulate in the subnet. To transfer data, an IMP must capture a permit, destroy it and transfer the data to the destination IMP and destination IMP on reception of the data regenerates the permit. By this method the congestion can never arise, in the subnet as a whole. However it has a few drawbacks, (a) It does not guarantee that a given IMP will never be flooded with packets. (b) Some IMPs must uniformly distribute permits to prevent long delays. It is preferred to have them centralized. (c) If a permit is destroyed for some reason, they are lost forever and the network capacity is reduced. Flow Control Transport layer to prevent one IMP from flooding another IMP with packets uses this. Flow control can be applied between pairs of (a) User processes (e.g. one outstanding message per virtual circuit). (b) Hosts, irrespective of the number of virtual circuits open. (c) Source and destination IMPs, without regard to hosts. Choke Packets Each IMP monitors the percentage utilization of lines. Associated with this is a real variable u, whose value lies between 0,0 and 1.0. u is periodically updated using. unew =auold + (1 a) f f Instance of line utilization. (0 or 1) a constant which determines how fast the IMP forgets recent history.

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As u crosses a threshold, the output line enters a warning state. Then a Choke Packet is sent to the source host. When the source host receives the choke packet it is required to reduce the traffic to the destination by X percent. Since some packets have already been sent, the successive choke packets are ignored for some time. Even after that, if choke packets arrive, then the traffic is still reduced. Two threshold levels can be used. Above the first level the packets are sent and above the second level the packets are discarded. Queue length can also be monitored instead of line utilization. Deadlocks An ultimate congestion is called Deadlock (Also called Lock up). First IMP cannot proceed until second IMP does something and second IMP cannot proceed because it waits for first IMP to do something. Both IMPs have ground to a complete halt and will stay that way forever. The simplest lockup can happen with two IMPs. Suppose that IMP A has five buffers, all of which are queued for output to IMP B. Similarly, IMP B has five buffers, all of which are occupied by packets needing to go to IMP A. Neither IMP can accept any incoming packets from the other. They are both stuck. This situation is called direct store-and-forward lockup. The same thing can happen on a larger scale. Each IMP is trying to send to a neighbour, but nobody has any buffers available to receive incoming packets. This situation is called indirect store-and-forward lockup. When an IMP is locked up, all its lines are effectively blocked, including those not involved in the lockup.

Figure 3.32: Store-and-forward lockup (a) Direct (b) Indirect Solution for Dead Lock: A directed graph is constructed with being the nodes of the graph. Arcs connect pairs of buffers (in the same IMP or on adjacent IMPs). The graph is designed in such a way that if packets move from buffer to buffer along the arc, then there is no deadlock. 3.2.11 Transport Protocols Page 102

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The transport service is implemented by a transport protocol used between two transport entities. Transport protocols resemble data link protocols in error control, sequencing and flow control. They differ in the following. Two IMPs communicate directly via a physical channel in the data link layer, whereas the physical channel is replaced by subnet in the transport layer. Explicit addressing of destinations is not required in data link layer where as it is essential in transport layer. In the data link layer, the packet may get lost but will not come again after some time. In transport layer, this occurs and is disastrous. The buffering and flow control in data link layer has a different approach than with the transport layer.

Figure 3.33: (a) Environment of data link layer (b) Environment of transport layer The network services are grouped into three categories for studying transport protocols. Types of Services offered by the Network Layer Network Type Description A Flawless, error-free service with no N-RESETS B C Perfect packet delivery, but with N-RESETS Unreliable service with lost and duplicated packets and possibly N-RESETS

Type (A): Flawless, Error-free Service with no N-RESETS

The first category consists of service that is essentially perfect. The fraction of packets lost, duplicated, or garbled is negligible. N-RESETS are so rare that they can be ignored. This is similar to the way in which 2 IMPs communicate in the data link layer. The transport protocols needed to operate over type (A) are straightforward. They are scarce. Type (B): Perfect Packet Delivery, but with N-RESETS

A more common situation for WANs is type (B) service. Individual packets are rarely lost, but from time to time the network layer issues N-RESETs,, either due to internal congestion, hardware problems or software bugs. It is then up to the transport protocol to pick up the pieces, establish a new network connection, synchronize and

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continue so that the N-RESET is completely hidden from the transport user. Most public X.25 networks are of this type. Transport protocols are more complex than type (A). Type (C): Unreliable Service with lost and duplicated packets with N-RESETS.

WANs offering Packet Radio Networks, connectionless service belongs to this class. Transport protocols are more complex .The worse the network service, the more complex the transport protocol. OSI has devised a transport protocol with five variant, Transport Protocol Classes Protocol Class 0 1 2 3 4 N/W Type A B A B C Name Simple class Basic error recovery class Multiplexing class Error Recovery and Multiplexing class Error detection and recovery class

Class O is the simplest. A network connection is setup for each transport connection and assumes the network connection does not make errors. The transport protocol does no sequencing, flow control but provides mechanisms for establishing and releasing transport connections. Class 1 is like class 0 except, it is able to recover from N-RESETS. The sequence number is kept for resynchronization of transport entities whenever it is subjects to an NRESET. Class 1 does not provide any error control or flow control. Class 2 is like class 0 except that 2 or more transport connections may be sent over the network configuration. To reduce networking costs, the transport connection goes over one or a few network connections. Class 3 combines class 1 and class 2. It allows multiplexing and recovery from NRESETS. It also uses explicit flow control. Class 4 is designed for type-C service and is more complex. It must handle lost, duplicate or garbled frames, N-RESETS. The choice of which will be used on any given connection is determined by the transport entities at the time the connection is established. Elements of Transport Protocols

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The features provided by transport protocols may depend on the environment in which it operates and the type of service it must provide. The following table gives a list of basic elements common to many transport protocols.

Elements of transport protocols and their relationship to the five OSI connection-oriented transport protocol classes
Protocol Element Connection establishment Connection refusal Assignment to network connection Splitting long messages into TPDUs Association of TPDUs with connection TPDU transfer Normal release Treatment of protocol errors Concatenation of TPDU to the user Error release TPDU numbering Expedited data transfer Transport layer flow control Resynchronization after a RESET Retention of TPDUs until ack Reassignment after network disconnect Frozen references Multiplexing Use of multiple network connections Retransmission upon timeout Resequencing of TPDUs Inactivity timer Transport layer checksum 0 X X X X X X X X X X 1 X X X X X X X X X 2 X X X X X X X X X X X O O O O X X X X X 3 X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 4 X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X O

The term TPDU (Transport Protocol Data Unit) refers to the transport packet. The information passed by the transport user to transport provider is a message or TSDU (Transport Service Unit). The various elements of transport protocols are, All the connection-oriented protocols must protocols must provide a mechanism for establishing connections as well as the called party must be able to accept or refuse a requested connection. The transport entitles establish a network connection to move bits across the network. A connectionless network protocol can also be used, provided it is class 4. The message may be of any length and so, the transport layer must split them into TPDUs for transport. Each TPDU can be split as well if the size is still large. The transport entities will have to assign a number of each connection and in each TDPU when multiple connections are open on a machine. Normal release of a connection is found in all protocols, it works differently in class 0 with transport connection is released implicitly by releasing the underlying network connection. All the others does

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by exchange of TPDUS. All protocols must deal with protocol errors with rules specifying whether to ignore or to release some or all connections. The concatenation of TPDUS allows the transport entity to collect TPDUS and send them together as a single packet, except in class 0. Error release refers to the fact that for protocol classes 0 and 2, and N-RESET or N-DISCONNECT terminates the transport connections. TPDU numbering is used to keep track of the TPDUs. Explicit acknowledgements and flow control are possible. Class 0 do not use sequence numbers. Expedited data transfer is not available in class 0. Transport layer flow control consists of having an explicit part of protocol dealing with how many TPDUS may be sent at any instant. Resynchronization after an N-RESET is done in classes 1, 3 and 4 to allow each side to discover which of the TPDUS it sent has arrived. Reassignment after a network disconnects deals with the problems of error release, recovery. Frozen references can store packets for non-negligible time. The TPDU is not given an identification that is identical to that of an older TPDU that is still in existence. Multiplexing and multiple network connections have to do with several transport connections on one network connection or vice versa. Retransmission upon timeout is only needed in class 4. Resequencing of TPDUS is essential when TPDUS are lost. The inactivity timer is used to detect a dead network configuration. TPDUS can be checksummed in software to guard against networks whose own lower layer checksum is inadequate.

3.3

Revision Points

Local Area Network A LAN is a collection of networked computers within a distance of approximately one kilometer. Major parameters are considered in Local Area Networks are the topology, the transmission media and the speed of transmission. Common topologies such as star, bus and ring are used. Gateway A gateway is a computer system or other device that acts as a translator between two systems that do not use the same communication protocols, data formatting structures, languages, and architecture. A gateway repackages information or changes its syntax to match the destination system. Ethernet Ethernet is a type of cabling and signaling specification and it uses cable sharing process called CSMA/CD. Ethernet is called a contention based topology because workstations are in competition for channel bandwidth.

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Token Ring Token ring is the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE 802.5) standard for a token-passing ring network that can be configured in a star topology. While the network physically appears as a star configuration, internally, signals travel around the network from one station to the next in a ring. A token passing ring LAN is a group of computers connected in a loop. The group uses a token passing access mechanism. A computer wishing to send data should first receive permission. When it gets control of the network it may transmit a frame. Each frame transmitted on the ring is transmitted from one computer to the next, until it ultimately returns to the initiator of the transmission. Twisted Pair One of the oldest and still most common transmission media is twisted pair. A twisted pair consists of two insulated copper wires, typically about 1 mm thick. The most common application of the twisted pair is the telephone system. Coaxial Cable Coaxial cable consists of a solid copper core surrounded by an insulator, a combination shield and ground wire, and an outer protective jacket. In the early days of LANs, coaxial cable was used for its high bit rates, but those same rates or higher rates can be achieved with twisted-pair cable. Fiber Optic Cable Fiber-optic cable employs photons for the transmission of digital signals. This cable consists of a center glass core through which light waves propagate. A glass cladding that basically reflects the inner light of the core back into the core surrounds this core. A thick plastic outer jacket surrounds this assembly, along with special fibers to add strength. Congestion Network congestion is due to excess traffic on a network. When congestion occurs, packets may be lost or dropped. Recovering from these losses and retransmitting data causes even more congestion. Transport Protocol In the OSI protocol stack, transport protocols occupy layer 4, which is just above the network layer. The transport layer is the most important because it provides network applications with reliable data delivery services.

3.4

Intext Questions
1. Discuss the characteristics and components of a LAN. 2. Describe the operation and frame format of IEEE 802.3 LAN standard. 3. Explain the frame format, operation and ring maintenance feature of IEEE 802.5 protocol.

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4. Write Short notes on: a. Selective flooding b. Choke packets c. Broadcast routing 5. Write a brief note on Hierarchical routing algorithm.

3.5

Summary
A Local Area Network is a system of interlinked personal computers, sharing common resources like disks, printers etc. Processing on a local area network is performed at the individual PC workstation. Few characteristics of LAN are resource sharing, productivity, and communication. LAN is composed of components like workstation, file server, gateway, network interface unit, active hub, and passive hub and LAN cables. The collective standards for LANs include CSMA/CD, token bus and token ring known as IEEE 802. The various standards differ at the physical and the MAC layer but are compatible with the data link layer. The standards are divided in parts. The 802.1 standard gives and introduction to the set of standards and defines the interface primitives. The 802.2 standard describes the upper part of the data link layer, which uses the LLC protocol. Parts 802.3 through 802.5 describe the three LAN standards, the CSMA/CA, token bus and token ring standards respectively. Each layer covers the physical layer and MAC sublayer protocol. Network Topology or Network Structure is the layout of the connections formed between computers. The reliability and efficiency of a network is determined by its structure. The four main network structures are Bus network, Star network, Ring network, and Hybrid network. The real function of the network layer is routing packets from the source machine to the destination machine. Routing algorithm is network layer software which takes care of deciding the path the packets must take during data transmission. When there are too many packets in network beyond the network capacity, the performance of the network degrades. This is called congestion.

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The transport service is implemented by a transport protocol used between two entities. Transport protocols resemble data link protocols in an error control, sequencing and flow control.

3.6

Terminal Exercises
1. ______________ uses a physical star topology. 2. ______________ cable consists of an inner copper core and a second conducting outer sheath. 3. Another term for CSMA/CD and the IEEE 802.3 standard is _____________ 4. The shortest path in routing can refer to _______________ 5. Which routing algorithm requires more traffic between routers for setup and updating?

3.7

Supplementary Materials
1. Andrew S.Tannenbaum, Computer Networks, 4th Edition, Pearson Education. 2. Behrouz A.Forouzan, Data Communication and Networking, Tata McGraw Hill Edition. 3. William Stallings, Data and Computer Communications, Pearson Education. 4. Douglas C.Comer, Computer Networks and Internet, Pearson Education.

3.8

Assignments
1. Assume six devices are arranged in a mesh topology. How many cables are needed? How many ports are needed for each device? 2. What is the smallest size of an Ethernet frame? What is the largest size of an Ethernet frame? 3. What are the five transport classes defined by the OSI model?

3.9

Suggested Reading/Reference Books/Set Books

1. http://www.iphase.com/Public/Products/Technology/WP/LAN.html 2. http://www.comsoc.org.

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3. http://www.ieee.org 4. http://www.cisco.com 5. http://www.data.com/Tutorials

3.10 Learning Activities

1. Write a white paper on Routing algorithms. 2. Collect information on available Transport protocols in the Internet and in the Networking Journals.

3.11 Keywords
Local Area Network (LAN) Hub Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) Token Bus (IEEE 802.4) Token Ring (IEEE 802.5) Twisted Pair Coaxial Cable Fiber Optic Cable Routing Link state Routing

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