TITLE OF THE PROJECT :

“LAN, WAN TECHNOLOGY AND

ROUTING PROTOCOL”

Name of the Student : Riazuddin.S.Khan

Project Guide : Prof. Ajay Mody

Name and Address : Oriental Institute

of the Institute of Management,
Plot – 149, Sector – 12,
Vashi, Navi Mumbai.

Date of Submission : _________________

Declaration
I, Riazuddin.S.Khan of Oriental Institute of Management of MMS (Semester –
IV, Systems Specialisation) hereby declare that I have completed this project on
“LAN, WAN Techonology and Routing Protocol”. During the academic year
2010-2011, the information submitted by me is true to the best of my knowledge.

–––––––––––––––
Date : _____________ Signature

Place : ________________

Acknowledgement
It is my pleasure to be indebted to various people, who directly or indirectly
contributed in the development of this project and who influenced my thinking,
behavior, and acts during the course of final project.

I express my sincere gratitude to our worthy Director General Dr.

M. G. Shrihatti for providing me an opportunity to undertake my final project.

I am very much thankful to Vagish Dwivedi, for his valuable

guidance, support, co-operation, and motivation provided to me during the
training.

Last but not the least; I would like to thank all my friends who have helped
me to make my project a success.

INDEX
Sr. No. Topic Page No.
1. Introduction
2. Computer Networking History
3. Ethernet Technology
4. CSMA/CD
 5. Network Design Methodology
6. Lan technology
7. Topology
8. Lan Implementation technique
9. Methodology
10. Ethernet Lan Security
11. Wan Technology
12. Set Up Of Wireless Router
13. Routing protocol
14. Border Gateway Protocol
15. Routing Information Protocol
16. Interior Gateway Routing Protocol
17 Open Shortest Path First Protocol
Bibliography
 Introduction
We are in an era of information technology where communication is the necessity
of our socio-economic structure in every sense. The 20th century was the era of
computers and its various applications .With the advent of 21st century the
communication became the spinal cord of human society. Then with the urge of
communicating and transferring data over computers and development of
technology such as satellites, optical fibers, etc came the term called COMPUTER
NETWORKING.

Computer networking is an engineering disciple concerned with the

interconnection of computers with the help of wire cables or wireless equipments
to share, transfer & communicate data over different level of distances and
systems.

COMPUTER NETWORKING
HISTORY.
The story begins in late 1950s.At the height of cold war, the DoD(Department of
Defence) America wanted a command and control network that could help
channelize the information to long distances that too with high security and
reliability.
ARPANET
The ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) created by ARPA
of the United States Department of Defense during the Cold War, was the world's
first operational packet switching network, and the predecessor of the global
Internet.
Packet switching, now the dominant basis for both data and voice
communication worldwide, was a new and important concept in data
communications. Previously, data communication was based on the idea of
circuit switching, as in the old typical telephone circuit, where a dedicated circuit
is tied up for the duration of the call and communication is only possible with the
single party on the
other end of the circuit. With packet switching, a system could use one
communication link to communicate with more than one machine by
disassembling data into data grams, then gather these as packets. Not only could
the link be shared (much as a single post box can be used to post letters to
different destinations), but each packet could be routed in dependently of other
packets.

IMPORTANT DATES AND EVENTS IN HISTORY OF

NETWORKING:
In 1962 ARPANET project started. In 1968 the first physical network was setup
under ARPA. On October 29, 1969. the first message ever sent over the
ARPANET (sent over the first host-to-host connection) occurred at 10:30 PM .The
first permanent ARPANET link was established on November 21, 1969,
E-mail: In 1971, Ray Tomlinson of BBN sent the first network email
File transfer: By 1973, the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) specification had been
defined and implemented, enabling file transfers over the ARPANET.
In 1983, the U.S. military portion of the ARPANET was broken off as a separate
network, the MILNET. MILNET subsequently became the unclassified but military
only NIPRNET, in parallel with the SECRET level SIPRNET and JWICS for TOP
SECRET and above.
NIPRNET does have controlled security gateways to the public Internet. This
initially restricted connections to military sites and universities.
During the 1980s, the connections expanded to more educational institutions,
and even to a growing number of companies such as Digital Equipment.
Corporation and Hewlett-Packard, which were
participating in research projects or providing services to those who were.
Several other branches of the U.S. government, the National Aeronautics and
Space Agency (NASA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the
Department of Energy (DOE) became heavily involved in Internet research and
started development of a
successor to ARPANET. Transition towards the Internet. The term "internet" was
adopted in the first RFC published on the TCP protocol ( Internet Transmission
Control Program, December 1974) as an abbreviation of the term internetworking
and the two terms were used interchangeably. In general, an internet was any
network
using TCP/IP. It was around the time when ARPANET was interlinked with NSFNet
in the late 1980s, that the term was used as the name of the network, Internet,
being a large and global TCP/IP network.
Search engines
Even before the World Wide Web, there were search engines that attempted to
organize the Internet. The first of these was the Archie search engine from McGill
University in 1990, followed in 1991 by WAIS and Gopher. All three of those
systems predated the invention of the World Wide Web but all continued to index
the Web and the rest of the Internet for several years after the Web appeared.
There are still Gopher servers as of 2006, although there are a great many more
web servers. As the Web grew, search engines and Web directories were created
to track pages on the Web and allow people to find things. The first full-text Web
search
engine was WebCrawler in 1994. Before WebCrawler, only Web page titles were
searched. Another early search engine, Lycos, was created in 1993 as a
university project, and was the first to achieve commercial success. During the
late 1990s, both Web directories and Web search engines were popular—Yahoo!
(founded 1995)
and Altavista (founded 1995) were the respective industry leaders.
By August 2001, the directory model had begun to give way to search engines,
tracking the rise of Google (founded 1998), which had developed new approaches
to relevancy ranking. Directory features, while still commonly available, became
after-thoughts to search engines.

Ethernet
Ethernet is the most widely-installed local area network ( LAN) technology.
Specified in a standard, IEEE 802.3, Ethernet was originally developed by Xerox
from an earlier specification called Aloha net (for the Palo Alto Research Center
Aloha network) and then developed further by Xerox, DEC, and Intel.
An Ethernet LAN typically uses coaxial cable or special grades of twisted wires.
Ethernet is also used in wireless LANs. The most commonly installed Ethernet
systems are called 10BASE-T and provide transmission speeds up to 10 Mbps.
Devices are connected to the cable and compete for access using a Carrier Sense
Multiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) protocol.
Fast Ethernet or 100BASE-T provides transmission speeds up to 100 megabits
per second and is typically used for LAN backbone systems, supporting
workstations with 10BASE-T cards.
Gigabit Ethernet provides an even higher level of backbone support at 1000
megabits per second (1 gigabit or 1 billion bits per second). 10-Gigabit
Ethernet provides up to 10 billion bits per second.

Ethernet was named by Robert Metcalfe, one of its developers, for the passive
substance called "luminiferous (light-transmitting) ether" that was once thought
to pervade the universe, carrying light throughout. Ethernet was so- named to
describe the way that cabling, also a passive medium, could similarly carry data
everywhere throughout the network

Making the case for a Gigabit Ethernet upgrade

Improved performance is the most obvious argument for migrating from Fast
Ethernet to Gigabit Ethernet, but the upgrade can also impact manageability,
quality (Q o S) and security.
GbE switches have the latest generation of network management features,
allowing network administrators to assign Q o S and security policies to specific
applications.. As private cloud services and IT service management become more
common throughout enterprises, these advanced management features will help
network administrators guarantee service level agreements and enhance
security. While vendors offer Fast Ethernet switches with similar management
and security functionality, they charge a premium for them that narrow the price
gap with GbE.

As 802.11n-based wireless LAN technology matures, the throughput capabilities

of many wireless networks will exceed the bandwidth of a backhaul network
based on Fast Ethernet.

 “Bringing 802.11n access points in the enterprise will absolutely require Gigabit
Ethernet,” said Rohit Mehra, director of enterprise communications infrastructure
for IDC. The 802.11n standard has a theoretical throughput of 300Mbps and
higher. A LAN with 100 Mbps edge will be a bottleneck for an 802.11n wireless
LAN overlay.
Additionally, many wireless access points and other IP devices like video
cameras and conference room switches now have power requirements that
exceed the 12.94 watts produced by the original Power over Ethernet (PoE)
standard. The new enhanced PoE+ standard, 802.3at, delivers 30 watts of power.
PoE+ is available on the latest GbE switches from major networking vendors, but
vendors are not updating their existing Fast Ethernet switches with the new
power standard. If an enterprise deploys devices that require PoE+ for power,
upgrading the edge to Gigabit might be more efficient than installing individual
power injectors on a legacy Fast Ethernet network.

Finally, while delivering more bandwidth and more robust management, GbE
switches are also more energy efficient than the previous generation of switches,
Mehra said. This offers enterprises the opportunity to lower their power
consumption on the network edge.

Sharing Ethernet
Ethernet requires multiple computers to share access to the ether. A sender
transmits a signal, which propagates towards both ends of the cable.

7: Ethernet sharing

The sending computer has exclusive use of the cable during the transmission of
the frame. Multiple frames cannot be sent at the same time, all other computers
must wait.
 Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision
Detection (CSMA/CD)
All computers attached to the Ethernet use CSMA/CD to co-ordinate their
activities. A computer wishing to transmit checks for electrical activity on the
cable, informally called acarrier. If there is no carrier, the computer can transmit.
If a carrier is present, the computer waits for the sender to finish before
proceeding.

However, it is possible for two or more computers to detect the lack of carrier and
start transmission simultaneously. The signals travel at approximately 70% of the
speed of light and interfere with one another. This interference is called
a collision. A sending computer monitors the signal on the cable and if it differs
from the signal it is sending, then a collision has occurred and the computer
stops transmitting.

Following a collision, a computer waits for the cable to become idle before
retransmitting. However, if the computers start transmitting as soon as the cable
becomes free, another collision will occur. Ethernet requires each computer to
delay after a collision. The standard specifies a maximum delay, d, and requires
each computer to choose a random delay less than d. In this case, the computer
choosing the shortest delay will transmit first.

If subsequent collisions still occur, the computers double the maximum delay
(2d, 4d, ...) until the range is large enough for one computer to choose a short
delay and transmit without a collision. This technique is called binary exponential
backoff.
 Network Design Methodology
Gathering and analyzing requirements
For a LAN to be effective and serve the needs of its users, it should be designed
and implemented according to a planned series of systematic steps, which
include the following:

 Gathering the users' requirements and expectations

 Analyzing requirements
 Designing the Layer 1, 2, and 3 LAN structure (that is, topology)
 Documenting the logical and physical network implementation

The first step in designing a network should be to gather data about the
organizational structure. This information includes the organization's history and
current status, projected growth, operating policies and management procedures,
office systems and procedures, and the viewpoints of the people who will be
using the LAN. You need to answer the following questions: Who are the people
who will be using the network? What is their level of skill, and what are their
attitudes toward computers and computer applications?
Answering these and similar questions will help determine how much training will
be required and how many people will be needed to support the LAN.
Ideally, the information gathering process helps clarify and identify the problems.
You also need to determine whether there are documented policies in place. Has
some data been declared mission critical? Have some operations been declared
mission critical? (Mission-critical data and operations are those that are
considered key to businesses, and access to them is critical to the business
running on a daily basis.) What protocols are allowed on the network? Are only
certain desktop hosts supported?
Next, you should determine who in the organization has authority over
addressing, naming, topology design, and configuration. Some companies have a
central Management Information Systems (MIS) department that controls
everything. Some companies have very small MIS departments and, therefore,
must delegate authority to departments. Focus on identifying the resources and
constraints of the organization. Organization resources that can affect the
implementation of a new LAN system fall into two general categories:
computer hardware/software and human resources. An organization's existing
computer hardware and software must be documented, and projected hardware
and software needs dentified. How are these resources currently linked and
shared? What financial resources does the organization have available?
Documenting these types of things helps you estimate costs and develop a
budget for the LAN. You should make sure you understand performance issues
of any existing network.

Factors that affect network availability

Availability measures the usefulness of the network. Many things affect
availability, including the following:
 Throughput
 Response time
 Access to resources

 Every customer has a different definition of availability. For example, there

may be a need to transport voice and video over the network. However, these
services require more bandwidth than is available on the network or backbone.
You can increase availability by adding more resources, but resources drive up
cost. Network design seeks to provide the greatest availability for the least cost.

 After considering availability, the next step in designing a network is to

analyze the requirements of the network and its users that were gathered in the
last step. Network user needs constantly change. For example, as more voice-
and video-based network applications become available, the pressure to increase
network bandwidth will become intense.
 LAN Technology
A local area network (LAN) is a group of computers and associated devices that
share a common communications line or wireless link. Typically, connected
devices share the resources of a single processor or server within a small
geographic area (for example, within an office building). Usually, the server has
applications and data storage that are shared in common by multiple computer
users. A local area network may serve as few as two or three users (for example,
in a home network) or as many as thousands of users (for example, in an FDDI
network).

Point-to-point Communication
The first computer communication systems had each communication channel,
e.g. a leased circuit, connecting exactly two computers. This is known as point-
to-point communication and has three useful properties.

 Each connection is independent of the others and can use appropriate

hardware.
 The two end points have exclusive access and can decide how to send
data across the connection.
 Since only two computers have access to the channel, it is easy to enforce
security and privacy.

However, point-to-point communications also have disadvantages. The main

disadvantage is the proliferation of connections

1:Poin
t-to-point connections
  In (a), two computers require one connection.
 While in (b), three computers require three connections.
 In (c), four computers requires six connections. The number of
connections for N computers is proportional to the square of N, namely
N(N-1)/2.
 In practice, the cost is high because many connections follow the same
physical path. Example, the situation with five computers located in two
locations.

2: Different locations

There are six connections between the two locations, more than the total number
of computers being connected. Another computer added to location 1 increases
the number of connections between the two locations to nine.

Apart from the fact that point-to-point communication does not scale, as the
physical distance between computers increases, the cost of installing the point-
to-point connections becomes prohibitively expensive.
 LAN Topologies
In the late 1960s and the early 1970s researchers developed a form of computer
communication known as Local Area Networks (LANs). These are different from
long-distance communications because they rely on sharing the network. Each
LAN consists of a single shared medium, usually a cable, to which many
computers are attached. The computers co-ordinate and take turns using the
medium to send packets.

Unfortunately, this mechanism does not scale. Co-ordination requires

communication, and the time to communicate depends on distance - large
geographic separation between computers introduces longer delays. Therefore,
shared networks with long delays are inefficient. In addition, providing high
bandwidth communication channels over long distances is very expensive.

There are a number of different LAN technologies. Each technology is classified

into a category according to its topology, or general shape. The first of these is
a star topology.

3: Star topology

The hub accepts data from a sender and delivers it to the receiver. In practice, a
star network seldom has a symmetric shape; the hub often resides in a separate
location from the computers attached to it. A network using a ring
topology arranges the computers in a circle - the first computer is cabled to the
second. Another cable connects the second computer to the third, and so on,
until a cable connects the final computer back to the first.
 4: Ring topology

Once again, the ring, like the star topology, refers to logical connections, not
physical orientation.

A network that uses a bus topology consists of a number of computers all

connected to a single, long cable. Any computer attached to the bus can send a
signal down the cable, and all computers receive the signal.

5: Bus topology
The computers attached to a bus network must co-ordinate to ensure that only
one computer sends a signal at any time. In addition, the ends of a bus network
must be terminated to prevent electrical signals from reflecting back along the
bus.
 Wireless LANs
Instead of transmitting signals across a cable, wireless LANs use antennas to
broadcast RF signals through the air. All the computers using a wireless LAN
share the same radio frequency, so they must take turns to transmit. Wireless
LAN transmitters use low power, so the signal only propagates a short distance.
In addition, metallic obstructions can block the signal.

This lack of full communication means that wireless LANs cannot use the
CSMA/CD mechanism used by Ethernet.

8: Wireless topology
Given a maximum transmission distance d, computer 2 will receive all
transmissions, but computers 1 and 3 will not receive transmissions from each
other. Wireless LANs use Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Ad
voidance (CSMA/CA) to share the air waves. Suppose that computer 1 wants to
send a frame to computer 2. It first sends a short Request To Send (RTS) control
message. Computer 2 receives the RTS and responds with a short Clear To
Send (CTS) control message. Now computer 1 can transmit its frame.

In Figure 8, computer 3 will not receive the RTS from computer 1, but it will
receive the CTS from computer 2 - so it knows that it must wait. In the event of
computers 1 and 3 both sending a control message to computer 2 at the same
time, they apply random back off before resending. Since control messages are
much shorter than data frames, the probability of a second collision is much
lower than with conventional Ethernet.
 LAN implementation techniques
Local area networks (LANs) can be implemented in several ways. They can be divided into
several subgroups based on e.g. physical implementation or standardized technologies.
Choosing the right kind of LAN solution for a particular purpose always depends on
several issues, e.g. size of the network, location of the terminals, and usually also on the cost
issues. This essay offers a brief overview on some of the most common LAN
implementation techniques.

Physical implementation
LANs can be divided into two quite different types: wired LANs and wireless
LANs. As their names imply, wired LANs require fixed wiring whereas wireless
LANs utilize radio or light waves as the transmission media. Wired LANs are
much more common and usually less costly when used to e.g. interconnect all
office equipment to provide shared use of printers and other resources. But if the
layout of the interconnected computers is due to change often, a wireless
network is worth considering, as also in the case of interconnecting handheld
terminals and portable computers. There is also other physical division criteria

2.1 Topology

Naturally wired and wireless LANs use different topologies. The four topologies
in common use for wired LANs are bus, ring, hub and star. Bus is a linear
connection between the data terminals. A single network cable is routed through
those locations that have terminals, and a physical connection (tap) is made to
the cable for each terminal. Bus networks are often extended into an
interconnected set of buses with special bus extenders. Ring topology is similar
to bus topology except that in ring topology the two ends of the bus are
connected to form a ring. Hub topology is a variation of bus and ring. In this case
wiring from terminal always goes through hub first before going to another
terminal. Hub consists of a set of repeaters that retransmit all the received
signals to all terminals in that direction. Star topology means that the terminals
are connected through a server or a router, which takes care of routing the
signals into the right direction. Wireless LANs have two common topologies,
namely fixed-wire replacement and ad hoc networks. The former is simply a LAN
using wireless connection in a place where normally would be a wired LAN, but
due to a high cost of installing wiring or often changing network layout. The latter
is a real wireless LAN with possibly nothing else than portable-to-portable
connections.
2.2 Transmission media

Wired LANs use mostly three types of transmission medium, namely twisted pair,
coaxial cable and optical fiber. Twisted pair consists simply of two wires twisted
tightly together. Twisted pair is the cheapest to manufacture of the three
mentioned. As it is also the cheapest and easiest to install, no wonder it is very
widely used in LANs. With new cable manufacturing and copper refining
technology and also improvements in the data transfer technology the engineers
have been able to reduce the level of distortion and attenuation and increase the
transferred data rate greatly, so twisted pair is still very substantial transmission
medium. There are mainly two types of coaxial cable in use, namely thin wire and
thick wire. Thin wire comes with 0,25" diameter and thick wire with 0,5" diameter.
The advantage gained by the thicker cable is more than doubled functioning
range. Optical Fiber is made of glass or plastic and can operate at data rates well
in excess of those with twisted pair or coaxial cable. Thus it is also the most
expensive of the three. Optical fiber also has a low level of distortion owing to its
immunity to electromagnetic interference.
 LAN Methodology: Local Area Network Design
and Implementation Steps
The first steps in designing a LAN (Local Area Network) are to established and
document the goals of the design
The design should aim at addressing the following goals:-

Functionality:
Must allow users to meet their job requirements, it must provide user
to user and user to application connectivity, with reasonable speed
and reliability.
Scalability
The network must be able to grow, that is the initial design should
grow without any major changes to the overall design.
Adaptability
The network must be design with an eye towards future technology and
should include no elements that would limit implementation of new
technology as they become available.
Manageability
The network should be design to facilitate network monitoring and
management to ensure ongoing stability of operation
In order for a LAN to be effective and serve the need for its users, it should
be implemented according to systematic series of planned steps.
SYSTEMATIC STEPS
1. Gather information about the organization, the information should
include:-
• Organization history and current status
• Projected growth
• The operating policies and management procedure
• Office system and procedures
• Views of the people who will be using LAN and there skills level
• Size and layout of the Organization
• Financial resources and constraints of the Organization
• Hardware and software resources that the Organization has
2. Make a detailed analysis and assessment of the current and projected
requirements of the people who will be using the network.
3. Identify the resources and constrains of the Organization

The Question you ask should includes

• What financial resources does the organization have
• How are these resources currently linked and shared
• How many people will be using the network
• What are the computer skills levels of the network users
• What are there attitude towards computers and computer application?
The Organization resources that can affect the implementation of a new
LAN system follows into two main categories that is computer hardware
and software resources and human resources.
You must document an organization's existing computer hardware and
software and identify and define its projected hardware and software
means
4. Physical cabling under the Wide Area Network (WAN)
• Includes the type of a cable to be used i.e. twisted pair, coaxial cable,
fiber optic cable • How far each WAN must travel before being transmitted
• Maximum distant for UTP should be 90 metres
• In an existing local area network, cable audit is performed to determine
where upgrading and or replacement of bad cables is needed
Following these steps, and documenting the information in the network of a
formal report will help you estimate and develop a budget in implementing
a WAN (Wide Area Network)
 General Network Design Process (GNDP) include

 Designer - Includes technicians who implement the project from the

Site Survey to network setup.

 Client - the owner of the project can includes individuals,

Organization, Business etc

 Users- Involve in using and sharing the network resources e.g.

employees

 Brainstorming - Is a process through which ideas are generated

for the designers and involves employees, stakeholders and
technicians. 

 Specification development-: Are usually numbers which will

measure how well the design work

 Building and Testing: - To meet clients objectives and satisfied

certain standard.

One of the methods you can use in the process of creating a design is the
Problem Solving Circle (PSC). This is a process that you sue repeatedly
until you finished a design problem

Listed below are the steps to be followed in the Dartmouth Problem

Solving Cycle (PSC)
a) Original problem statement
b) Redefine the problem
c) Develop general specifications
d) Brainstorming alternative
e) Select most variable solution
f) Check the problem definition
g) Redefine and add specification
h) Brainstorm again if necessary
i) Continue until the problem is appropriately solved.
The following list includes some of the documentation that you should
create as you design a network.
• Engineering journal
• Logical topology
• Physical topology
• Cut Sheets
• Problem Solving Matrices
• Label outlets
• Labeled cable runs
• Summary of outlets and cable runs
• Summary of devices, MAC addresses and IP addresses
 Ethernet LAN Security
As we know that every technology which serves   the people with such a great
networking but at the same time it has lot of weaknesses. Ethernet LAN has also
faced some major security problems which effect its networking badly. It has to
faced and overcome many security challenges to become a popular source of
networking among the technologies of present era. Security weaknesses of
Ethernet also destroy the Ethernet networking externally as well as internally.
There are so many security problems which Ethernet has to faced and reduce
them by using some precautionary measures, some major problems are as
follows

1. The major security problem of Ethernet is due to its feature that it is a

broadcast system. Any information sent form one computer to another
through Ethernet LAN, as we know that Ethernet LAN has different
segments so, when the data is transferred it moves almost from all parts of
cable and then moves towards the receiving computer. While moving from
host towards receiver some sniffing programs used by the hackers can
watch out your data and also use your networking password.

2. As peer to peer technology has been adopted to reduce the expense on

coaxial cables in Ethernet LAN but at the same time it provides an
unsecured networking because it is based on sharing so when you share
something with other computer in a workgroup different computer see your
data and used it in a group. Etc

 
Solutions:
Other then these two problems Ethernet LAN security has too many problems but
scientists also develop some solutions or precautionary measures to overcome
the Ethernet LAN security problems. There are two major types of solutions
which are used to prevent such security problems are hardware solutions and
software solutions.

Hardware Solutions:
There hardware solutions which are used to stop or overcome the Ethernet LAN
security problems basically of three types which are

1. By using a switched network because by using a switch network is divided

into different segments and through this we can prevent snooping or
sniffing.
2. By using different kinds of filters which are electronic in nature such as
Bridges or Routers.
 3. Ethernet LAN can also be protected by using LAN security Architecture
(LSA), it prevents your incoming messages.

 
Software Solutions:
Ethernet LAN security is also carried out by using some software solutions.
These softwares can protect your data from hackers

1. Data Encryption (this software encrypts the data and provides privacy to
it).
2. Authentication process: using user name or password to authenticate.
3. Some technologies are also being into used which are the combination of
above two technologies.
 WAN Technologies
Wide Area Network are used to interconnect networks that are not physically
close to each other, might be physically separated across the cities, across
regions, or even across geography. Currently there are many WAN
technologies available. Primary different between WAN technology and LAN
technology is about the distance that separates the interconnected networks.
WANs use different transmission media, hardware, and protocols. Data transfer
rates are typically much lower for WAN communication when compared to LAN
rates. WAN Communication WAN technologies rely on other party such as Telco
carries company which provides long distance connectivity.

Unlike LAN where the data are transmitted from one digital device / computer to
another computer through direct physical line connection, WAN technology uses
combination of analog signal and digital signal in transmitting the data.

The Way of a WAN

To at least some extent, WANs are defined by their methods of transmitting data
packets. True, the means of communication must be in place. True, too, the
networks making up the WAN must be up and running. And the administrators of
the network must be able to monitor traffic, plan for growth, and alleviate
bottlenecks. But in the end, part of what makes a WAN a WAN is its ability to ship
packets of data from one place to another, over whatever infrastructure is in
place. It is up to the WAN to move those packets quickly and without error,
delivering them and the data they contain in exactly the same condition they left
the sender, even if they must pass through numerous intervening networks to
reach their destination.
Picture, for a moment, a large network with many subnetworks, each of which has
many individual users. To the users, this large network is (or should
be)transparent—so smoothly functioning that it is invisible. After all, they neither
know nor care whether the information they need is on server A or server B,
whether the person with whom they want to communicate is in city X or city Y, or
whether the underlying network runs this protocol or that one. They know only
that they want the network to work, and that they want their information needs
satisfied accurately, efficiently, and as quickly as possible.
Now picture the same situation from the network's point of view. It "sees"
hundreds, thousands, and possibly even tens of thousands of network
computers or terminals and myriad servers of all kinds—print, file, mail, and even
servers offering Internet access—not to mention different types of computers,
gateways, routers, and communications devices. In theory, any one of these
devices could communicate with, or transmit information through, any other
device. Any PC, for instance, could decide to access any of the servers on the
network, no matter whether that server is in the same building or in an office in
another country. To complicate matters even more, two PCs might try to access
the same server, and even the same resource, at the same time. And of course,
the chance that only one node anywhere on the network is active at any given
time is minuscule, even in the coldest, darkest hours of the night.
So, in both theory and practice, this widespread network ends up interconnecting
thousands or hundreds of thousands of individual network "dots," connecting
them temporarily but on demand. How can it go about the business of shuffling
data ranging from quick e-mails to large (in terms of bytes) documents and even
larger graphic images, sound files, and so on, when the possible
interconnections between and among nodes would make a bowl of spaghetti look
well organized by comparison? The solution is in the routing, which involves
several different switching technologies.
Switching of any type involves moving something through a series of
intermediate steps, or segments, rather than moving it directly from start point to
end point. Trains, for example, can be switched from track to track, rather than
run on a single, uninterrupted piece of track, and still reach their intended
destination. Switching in networks works in somewhat the same way: Instead of
relying on a permanent connection between source and destination, network
switching relies on series of temporary connections that relay messages from
station to station. Switching serves the same purpose as the direct connection,
but it uses transmission resources more efficiently.
WANs (and LANs, including Ethernet and Token Ring) rely primarily on packet
switching, but they also make use of circuit switching, message switching, and
the relatively recent, high-speed packet-switching technology known as cell relay.

Circuit Switching
Circuit switching involves creating a direct physical connection between sender
and receiver, a connection that lasts as long as the two parties need to
communicate. In order for this to happen, of course, the connection must be set
up before any communication can occur. Once the connection is made, however,
the sender and receiver can count on "owning" the bandwidth allotted to them for
as long as they remain connected.
Although both the sender and receiver must abide by the same data transfer
speed, circuit switching does allow for a fixed (and rapid) rate of transmission.
The primary drawback to circuit switching is the fact that any unused bandwidth
remains exactly that: unused. Because the connection is reserved only for the
two communicating parties, that unused bandwidth cannot be "borrowed" for any
other transmission.
The most common form of circuit switching happens in that most familiar of
networks, the telephone system, but circuit switching is also used in some
networks. Currently available ISDN lines, also known as narrowband ISDN, and
the form of T1 known as switched T1 are both examples of circuit-switched
communications technologies.
Message Switching
Unlike circuit switching, message switching does not involve a direct physical
connection between sender and receiver. When a network relies on message
switching, the sender can fire off a transmission—after addressing it
appropriately—whenever it wants. That message is then routed through
intermediate stations or, possibly, to a central network computer. Along the way,
each intermediary accepts the entire message, scrutinizes the address, and then
forwards the message to the next party, which can be another intermediary or the
destination node.
What's especially notable about message-switching networks, and indeed
happens to be one of their defining features, is that the intermediaries aren't
required to forward messages immediately. Instead, they can hold messages
before sending them on to their next destination. This is one of the advantages of
message switching. Because the intermediate stations can wait for an
opportunity to transmit, the network can avoid, or at least reduce, heavy traffic
periods, and it has some control over the efficient use of communication lines.

Packet Switching
Packet switching, although it is also involved in routing data within and between
LANs such as Ethernet and Token Ring, is also the backbone of WAN routing. It's
not the highway on which the data packets travel, but it is the dispatching system
and to some extent the cargo containers that carry the data from place to place.
In a sense, packet switching is the Federal Express or United Parcel Service of a
WAN.
In packet switching, all transmissions are broken into units called packets, each
of which contains addressing information that identifies both the source and
destination nodes. These packets are then routed through various intermediaries,
known as Packet Switching Exchanges (PSEs), until they reach their destination.
At each stop along the way, the intermediary inspects the packet's destination
address, consults a routing table, and forwards the packet at the highest possible
speed to the next link in the chain leading to the recipient.
As they travel from link to link, packets are often carried on what are known
as virtual circuits—temporary allocations of bandwidth over which the sending
and receiving stations communicate after agreeing on certain "ground rules,"
including packet size, flow control, and error control. Thus, unlike circuit
switching, packet switching typically does not tie up a line indefinitely for the
benefit of sender and receiver. Transmissions require only the bandwidth needed
for forwarding any given packet, and because packet switching is also based on
multiplexing messages, many transmissions can be interleaved on the same
networking medium at the same time.

Connectionless and Connection-Oriented Services

So packet-switched networks transfer data over variable routes in little bundles
called packets. But how do these networks actually make the connection between
the sender and the recipient? The sender can't just assume that a transmitted
packet will eventually find its way to the correct destination. There has to be
some kind of connection—some kind of link between the sender and the
recipient. That link can be based on either connectionless or connection-
oriented services, depending on the type of packet-switching network involved.
 In a (so to speak) connectionless "connection," an actual communications
link isn't established between sender and recipient before packets can be
transmitted. Each transmitted packet is considered an independent unit,
unrelated to any other. As a result, the packets making up a complete
message can be routed over different paths to reach their destination.
In a connection-oriented service, the communications link is made before
any packets are transmitted. Because the link is established before
transmission begins, the packets comprising a message all follow the
same route to their destination. In establishing the link between sender and
recipient, a connection-oriented service can make use of either switched
virtual circuits (SVCs) or permanent virtual circuits (PVCs):
 Using a switched virtual circuit is comparable to calling someone on
the telephone. The caller connects to the called computer, they exchange
information, and then they terminate the connection.
 Using a permanent virtual circuit, on the other hand, is more like
relying on a leased line. The line remains available for use at all times,
even when no transmissions are passing through it.

Types of Packet-Switching Networks

As you've seen, packet-based data transfer is what defines a packet-switching
network. But—to confuse the issue a bit—referring to a packet-switching network
is a little like referring to tail-wagging canines as dogs. Sure, they're dogs. But
any given dog can also be a collie or a German shepherd or a poodle. Similarly, a
packet-switching network might be, for example, an X.25 network, a frame relay
network, an ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) network, an SMDS (Switched
Multimegabit Data Service), and so on.
X.25 packet-switching networks
Originating in the 1970s, X.25 is a connection-oriented, packet-switching
protocol, originally based on the use of ordinary analog telephone lines, that has
remained a standard in networking for about twenty years. Computers on an X.25
network carry on full-duplex communication, which begins when one computer
contacts the other and the called computer responds by accepting the call.
Although X.25 is a packet-switching protocol, its concern is not with the way
packets are routed from switch to switch between networks, but with defining the
means by which sending and receiving computers (known as DTEs) interface
with the communications devices (DCEs) through which the transmissions
actually flow. X.25 has no control over the actual path taken by the packets
making up any particular transmission, and as a result the packets exchanged
between X.25 networks are often shown as entering a cloud at the beginning of
the route and exiting the cloud at the end.

A recommendation of the ITU (formerly the CCITT), X.25 relates to the lowest
three network layers—physical, data link, and network— in the ISO reference
model:
 At the lowest (physical) layer, X.25 specifies the means—electrical,
mechanical, and so on—by which communication takes place over the
physical media. At this level, X.25 covers standards such as RS-232, the
ITU's V.24 specification for international connections, and the ITU's V.35
recommendation for high-speed modem signaling over multiple telephone
circuits.
 At the next (data link) level, X.25 covers the link access protocol, known as
LAPB (Link Access Protocol, Balanced), that defines how packets are
framed. The LAPB ensures that two communicating devices can establish
an error-free connection.
 At the highest level (in terms of X.25), the network layer, the X.25 protocol
covers packet formats and the routing and multiplexing of transmissions
between the communicating devices.
On an X.25 network, transmissions are typically broken into 128-byte packets.
They can, however, be as small as 64 bytes or as large as 4096 bytes.
DTEs and DCEs As already mentioned, the sending and receiving computers on
an X.25 network are not known as computers, hosts, gateways, or nodes. They
are DTEs. In X.25 parlance, DTEs are devices that pass packets to DCEs, for
forwarding through the links that make up a WAN. DTEs thus sit at the two ends
of a network connection; in contrast, DCEs sit at the two ends of a
communications circuit

PADs So far so good. But since packets are as important to a packet-switching

network as atoms are to matter, what about the devices that create and
reassemble the packets themselves? In some cases, such as an X.25 gateway
computer (the DTE) that sits between a LAN and the WAN, the gateway takes care
of packetizing. In other cases, as with an ordinary PC (another type of DTE), the
job is handled by a device known as a packet assembler and disassembler,
or PAD. In this case, the PAD sits between the computer and the network,
packetizing data before transmission and, when all packets have been received,
reconstituting the original message by putting the packets back together in the
correct order.
Is this work difficult? Well, to a human it might be, because packets are sent
along the best possible route available at the time they are forwarded. Thus, it's
quite possible for the packets representing a single message to travel over
different links and to arrive at their destination out of order. Considering the
amount of traffic flowing over a WAN, and considering the possible number of
transmitting and receiving nodes, it would seem that the job of reconstructing
any given message represents a Herculean task. Well, to people, it probably does.
To a PAD, it does not. Putting Humpty Dumpty back together again is all in a
day's work for the PAD. It does such work over and over again.
Frame relay
Frame relay is a newer, faster, and less cumbersome form of packet switching
than X.25. Often referred to as a fast packet switching technology, frame relay
transfers variable-length packets up to 4 KB in size at 56 Kbps or T1 (1.544 or 2
Mbps) speeds over permanent virtual circuits.
Operating only at the data link layer, frame relay outpaces the X.25 protocol by
stripping away much of the "accounting" overhead, such as error correction and
network flow control, that is needed in an X.25 environment. Why is this?
Because frame relay, unlike X.25 with its early reliance on often unreliable
telephone connections, was designed to take advantage of newer digital
transmission capabilities, such as fiberoptic cable and ISDN. These offer
reliability and lowered error rates and thus make the types of checking and
monitoring mechanisms in X.25 unnecessary.
For example, frame relay does include a means of detecting corrupted
transmissions through a cyclic redundancy check, or CRC, which can detect
whether any bits in the transmission have changed between the source and
destination. But it does not include any facilities for error correction. Similarly,
because it can depend on other, higher-layer protocols to worry about ensuring
that the sender does not overwhelm the recipient with too much data too soon,
frame relay is content to simply include a means of responding to "too much
traffic right now" messages from the network.
In addition, because frame relay operates over permanent virtual circuits (PVCs),
transmissions follow a known path and there is no need for the transmitting
devices to figure out which route is best to use at a particular time. They don't
really have a choice, because the routes used in frame relay are based on PVCs
known as Data Link Connection Identifiers, or DLCIs. Although a frame relay
network can include a number of DLCIs, each must be associated permanently
with a particular route to a particular destination.
Also adding to the speed equation is the fact that the devices on a frame relay
network do not have to worry about the possibility of having to repackage and/or
reassemble frames as they travel. In essence, frame relay provides end-to-end
service over a known—and fast—digital communications route, and it relies
heavily on the reliability afforded by the digital technologies on which it depends.
Like X.25, however, frame relay is based on the transmission of variable length
packets, and it defines the interface between DTEs and DCEs. It is also based on
multiplexing a number of (virtual) circuits on a single communications line.
So how, exactly, does frame relay work? Like X.25, frame relay switches rely on
addressing information in each frame header to determine where packets are to
be sent. The network transfers these packets at a predetermined rate that it
assumes allows for free flow of information during normal operations.
Although frame relay networks do not themselves take on the task of controlling
the flow of frames through the network, they do rely on special bits in the frame
headers that enable them to address congestion. The first response to
congestion is to request the sending application to "cool it" a little and slow its
transmission speed; the second involves discarding frames flagged as lower-
priority deliveries, and thus essentially reducing congestion by throwing away
some of the cargo.
Frame relay networks connecting LANs to a WAN rely, of course, on routers and
switching equipment capable of providing appropriate frame-relay interfaces.

ATM
You're focused on networks when ATM no longer translates as "Automated Teller
Machine" but instead makes you immediately think "Asynchronous Transfer
Mode." All right. So what is Asynchronous Transfer Mode, and what is it good
for?
To begin with, ATM is a transport method capable of delivering not only data but
also voice and video simultaneously, and over the same communications lines.
Generally considered the wave of the immediate future in terms of increasing
both LAN and WAN capabilities, ATM is a connection-oriented networking
technology, closely tied to the ITU's recommendation on broadband
ISDN (BISDN) released in 1988.
What ATM is good for is high-speed LAN and WAN networking over a range of
media types from the traditional coaxial cable, twisted pair, and fiberoptic to
communications services of the future, including Fiber Channel, FDDI, and
SONET (described in later sections of this chapter).
Although ATM sounds like a dream, it's not. It's here, at least in large part.
 Wireless router
A wireless router is a device that performs the functions of a router but also
includes the functions of a wireless access point and a network switch. They are
commonly used to allow access to the Internet or a computer network without the
need for a cabled connection. It can function in a wired LAN (local area network),
a wireless only LAN (WLAN), or a mixed wired/wireless network. Most current
wireless routers have the following characteristics:

 LAN ports, which function in the same manner as the ports of a network
switch
 A WAN port, to connect to a wide area network, typically one with Internet
access. External destinations are accessed using this port. If it is not used,
many functions of the router will be bypassed.
 Wireless antennae. These allow connections from other wireless devices
(NICs (network interface cards), wireless repeaters, wireless access points,
and wireless bridges, for example), usually using the Wi-Fi standard.
Some wireless routers also include a DSL or cable modem in addition to their
other components.
 5 steps: How to set up your home wireless network
You can use a wireless network (WLAN) to share Internet access, files, printers, game
consoles, and other devices among all the computers in your home. After you’ve
completed the initial wireless router setup and added your computers and devices to the
network, you can use your home network to surf the web or to play online games—
whether you're sitting in your living room or relaxing in your backyard. It's easier than
ever to set up a wireless network.

1. Connect to the Internet

Make sure that your Internet connection and your DSL or cable modem are
working. Your wireless network depends on this connection.
2. Connect your wireless router
These are the steps for connecting a stand-alone wireless router to your DSL
modem or cable modem. If you have a modem router, follow your ISP’s
instructions for connecting your network.

Since you'll be temporarily disconnected from the Internet, print these

instructions before you go any further.

First, locate your cable modem or DSL modem and unplug it to turn it off.

Next, connect your wireless router to your modem. Your modem should stay
connected directly to the Internet. Later, after you've hooked everything up, your
computer will wirelessly connect to your router, and the router will send
communications through your modem to the Internet.
 Next, connect your router to your modem:

 If you currently have your computer connected directly to your

modem:Unplug the network cable from the back of your computer, and plug it
into the port labeled Internet, WAN, or WLAN on the back of your router.
 If you do not currently have a computer connected to the Internet: Plug one
end of a network cable (included with your router) into your modem, and plug
the other end of the network cable into the Internet, WAN, or WLAN port on
your wireless router.
 If you currently have your computer connected to a router: Unplug the
network cable connected to the Internet, WAN, or WLAN port from your current
router, and plug this end of the cable into the Internet, WAN, or WLAN port on
your wireless router. Then, unplug any other network cables, and plug them
into the available ports on your wireless router. You no longer need your
original router, because your new wireless router replaces it.

Next, plug in and turn on your cable or DSL modem. Wait a few minutes to give it
time to connect to the Internet, and then plug in and turn on your wireless router.
After a minute, the Internet, WAN, or WLAN light on your wireless router should
light up, indicating that it has successfully connected to your modem.

3. Configure your wireless router

Using the network cable that came with your wireless router, you should
temporarily connect your computer to one of the open network ports on your
wireless router (any port that isn't labeled Internet, WAN, or WLAN). If you need
to, turn your computer on. It should automatically connect to your router.

Next, open Internet Explorer and type in the URL or address to configure your
router.

NOTE: Do this on the computer that you are using to set up your wireless
network. The computer automatically links you to the router’s page. If you type
the router’s URL on a different computer, typing the address in the navigation bar
will not take you to your router’s configuration page.

On the router configuration page, you might be prompted for a password. The
address and password you use varies depending on what type of router you
have, so refer to the instructions included with your router or on the
manufacturer’s website.

For quick reference, this table shows the default addresses, user names, and
passwords for some common router manufacturers. If the address is not listed
here, you can read the documentation that came with your router or go to the
manufacturer's webpage to find it. There may be multiple website addresses you
can use.

Router Address Username Password

 3Com http://192.168.1.1 admin admin

D-Link http://192.168.0.1 admin admin

Linksys http://192.168.1.1 admin Admin

Microsoft Broadband http://192.168.2.1 admin admin

Netgear http://192.168.0.1 admin password

Actiontec http://192.168.0.1 username password

Internet Explorer shows your router's configuration page, along with the modem
IP address and other information. Most of the default settings should be fine, but
you need to configure three things:

 Your wireless network name, known as the SSID. This name identifies your

network, and it appears in a list of available wireless networks. You should
change the default SSID that your ISP provided and give your network a unique
name that none of your neighbors are using. This helps you identify your
network, and it can help keep your wireless network secure by preventing it
from overlapping with other wireless networks that might be using the default
SSID.
 Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA or WPA2), which can help protect your
wireless network. It’s important to help secure your wireless network by setting
up a network security key, which turns on encryption. With encryption, people
can't connect to your network without the security key, and all information sent
across your network is encrypted so that only computers with the key to
decrypt the information can read it. This can help prevent attempts to access
your network and files without your permission. Wi Fi Protected Access (WPA
or WPA2) is the recommended wireless network encryption method. Wireless
encryption (WEP) is not as secure. Windows 7, Windows Vista Service Pack 2,
and Windows XP Service Pack 3 support WPA2.

When you set up most routers (stand-alone routers and modem routers), you
are asked to provide a pass phrase that the router uses to generate several
keys. Make sure that your pass phrase is unique and long (you don't need to
memorize it). Some routers and modem routers now come with a function
called Quick Security Setup (or QSS) that automatically issues you a key when
you press a button on the router.
 Be sure to keep a hard copy and a digital copy of your network security key and
pass phrase, in case you lose or misplace them. You can recover a lost network
key or reset it on your router, but these are complicated processes that are
different for every router and they sometimes entail setting up your network
again.
 Your administrative password, which controls your wireless network. Just
like any other password, it should not be a word that you can find in the
dictionary, and it should be a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols. Be
sure to save a hard copy and a digital copy of this password, too, because
you'll need it if you ever have to change your router's settings.
The exact steps you follow to configure these settings will vary depending on the
type of router you have. After each configuration setting, be sure to click Save
Settings, Apply, or OK to save your changes.

Now, before connecting your computers and devices to the network, you should
disconnect the wireless network cable from your computer.

4. Connect your computers, printers, and other devices to the

wireless network
You can connect multiple computers, printers, and many other peripheral
devices, such as an Xbox, Xbox 360, TV, cell phone, iTouch, or iPad, to your
network. Before you connect them to your network, make sure that the computer
or device you want to add has built-in wireless networking or a network adapter.
Many newer devices have built-in wireless capability. If the computer or device
you want to add does not have built-in wireless network support, plug the
network adapter into your USB port and place the antenna on top of your
computer (in the case of a desktop computer) or insert the network adapter into
an empty PC card slot (in the case of a laptop). Windows automatically detects
the new adapter and may prompt you to insert the CD that came with your
adapter. The on-screen instructions guide you through the configuration process.

Use the following links to find step-by-step instructions for adding your specific
computer or device to your network using your operating system. There are
instructions for each operating system, and they show you how to automatically
or manually add wired (Ethernet) or wireless computers and how to add
computers running Windows 7, Windows Vista, or Windows XP. There are also
instructions for adding printers and both wired and wireless devices.
5. Share files, printers, and more
Now that your computers and devices are connected, you can begin sharing files,
printers, games, and much more. One of the top reasons for setting up a home
network is to share a printer. Another is to share files.

Routing Protocols
A routing protocol is the implementation of a routing algorithm in software or
hardware.
A routing protocol uses metrics to determine which path to utilize to transmit a
packet across an internetwork.
The metrics used by routing protocols include:
 Number of network layer devices along the path (hop count)
 Bandwidth
 Delay
 Load

Interior vs. Exterior Routing Protocols

Some routing protocols are designed for use within an organization, while other
routing protocols are designed for use
between organizations.
The current lead Interior Gateway
Protocol (IGP) is OSPF. Other Interior
Gateway Protocols include IS-IS, RIP,
and EIGRP.
The current lead Exterior Gateway
Protocol is BGP. The current revision of
BGP is BGP4. There are no other
Exterior Gateway Routing protocols in current competition with BGP4.

Distance Vector vs. Link State Routing Protocols

Routing protocols such as RIP and EIGRP are Distance Vector routing protocols.
These are called Distance Vector protocols because they base routing decisions
on the "distance" of the remote destination in terms of the number of network
layer hops which the packet will have to traverse.
OSPF and IS-IS are Link State routing protocols. They are called Link State
protocols because they base routing decisions on messages received from other
routers in the internetwork which give information about state of the links
connected to them.

Routing involves two basic activities: determination of optimal routing paths and
the transport of information groups (typically called packets) through an
internetwork. The transport of packets through an internetwork is relatively
straightforward. Path determination, on the other hand, can be very complex. One
protocol that addresses the task of path determination in today’s networks is the
Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). This chapter summarizes the basic operations of
BGP and provides a description of its protocol components. BGP performs
interdomain routing in Transmission-Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
networks. BGP is an exterior gateway protocol (EGP), which means that it
performs routing between multiple autonomous systems or domains and
exchanges routing and reachability information with other BGP systems. BGP
was developed to replace its predecessor, the now obsolete Exterior Gateway
Protocol (EGP), as the standard exterior gateway-routing protocol used in the
global Internet. BGP solves serious problems with EGP and scales to Internet
growth more efficiently

BGP Operation
BGP performs three types of routing: interautonomous system routing, intra-
autonomous system routing, and pass-through autonomous system routing.
Interautonomous system routing occurs between two or more BGP routers in
different autonomous systems. Peer routers in these systems use BGP to
maintain a consistent view of the internetwork topology. BGP neighbors
communicating between autonomous systems must reside on the same physical
network. The Internet serves as an example of an entity that uses this type of
routing because it is comprised of autonomous systems or administrative
domains. Many of these domains represent the various institutions, corporations,
and entities that make up the Internet. BGP is frequently used to provide path
determination to provide optimal routing within the Internet. Intra-autonomous
system routing occurs between two or more BGP routers located within the same
autonomous system. Peer routers within the same autonomous system use BGP
to maintain a consistent view of the system topology. BGP also is used to
determine which router will serve as the connection point for specific external
autonomous systems. Once again, the Internet provides an example of
interautonomous system routing. An organization, such as a university, could
make use of BGP to provide optimal routing within its own administrative domain
or autonomous system. The BGP protocol can provide both inter- and intra-
autonomous system routing services. Pass-through autonomous system routing
occurs between two or more BGP peer routers that exchange traffic across an
autonomous system that does not run BGP. In a pass-through autonomous
system environment, the BGP traffic did not originate within the autonomous
system in question and is not destined for a node in the autonomous system.
BGP must interact with whatever intra-autonomous system routing protocol is
being used to successfully transport BGP traffic through that autonomous
system.

BGP Routing
As with any routing protocol, BGP maintains routing tables, transmits routing
updates, and bases routing decisions on routing metrics. The primary function of
a BGP system is to exchange network-reach ability information, including
information about the list of autonomous system paths, with other BGP systems.
This information can be used to construct a graph of autonomous system
connectivity from which routing loops can be pruned and with which autonomous
system-level policy decisions can be enforced. Each BGP router maintains a
routing table that lists all feasible paths to a particular network. The router does
not refresh the routing table, however. Instead, routing information received from
peer routers is retained until an incremental update is received. BGP devices
exchange routing information upon initial data exchange and after incremental
updates. When a router first connects to the network, BGP routers exchange their
entire BGP routing tables. Similarly, when the routing table changes, routers send
the portion of their routing table that has changed. BGP routers do not send
regularly scheduled routing updates, and BGP routing updates advertise only the
optimal path to a network. BGP uses a single routing metric to determine the best
path to a given network. This metric consists of an arbitrary unit number that
specifies the degree of preference of a particular link. The BGP metric typically is
assigned to each link by the network administrator. The value assigned to a link
can be based on any number of criteria, including the number of autonomous
systems through which the path passes, stability, speed, delay, or cost.

BGP Message Types

Four BGP message types are specified in RFC 1771, A Border Gateway Protocol 4
(BGP-4): open message, update message, notification message, and keep-alive
message. The open message opens a BGP communications session between
peers and is the first message sent by each side after a transport-protocol
connection is established. Open messages are confirmed using a keep-alive
message sent by the peer device and must be confirmed before updates,
notifications, and keep-a lives can be exchanged. An update message is used to
provide routing updates to other BGP systems, allowing routers to construct a
consistent view of the network topology. Updates are sent using the
Transmission-Control Protocol (TCP) to ensure reliable delivery. Update
messages can withdraw one or more unfeasible routes from the routing table and
simultaneously can advertise a route while withdrawing others. The notification
message is sent when an error condition is detected. Notifications are used to
close an active session and to inform any connected routers of why the session
is being closed. The keep-alive message notifies BGP peers that a device is
active. Keep-alives are sent often enough to keep the sessions from expiring.

Routing Information Protocol (RIP)

RIP is a dynamic, distance vector routing protocol based around the
Berkely BSDapplication routed and was developed for
smaller IP based networks. RIP uses UDPport 520 for route updates. RIP
calculates the best route based on hop count. Like alldistance
vector routing protocols, RIP takes some time to converge. While RIP requires
less CPU power and RAM than some other routing protocols, RIP does have
some limitations:
Metric: Hop Count
Since RIP calculates the best route to a destination based solely on how
many hops it is to the destination network, RIP tends to be inefficient
in network using more than one LAN protocol, such as Fast
Ethernet and serial or Token Ring. This is because RIP prefers paths with
the shortest hop count. The path with the shortest hop count might be over
the slowest link in the network.

Hop Count Limit

RIP cannot handle more than 15 hops. Anything more than 15 hops away is
considered unreachable by RIP. This fact is used by RIP to
prevent routing loops.
Classful Routing Only
RIP is a classful routing protocol. RIP cannot handle classless routing. RIP
v1 advertises all networks it knows as classful networks, so it is impossible
to subnet a network properly via VLSM if you are running RIP v1, which

However, it must be pointed out that RIP is the only routing protocol that

all routing devices and software support, so in a mixed equipment environment,
RIP may be your only option for dynamic routing. This is changing with the
widespread use of OSPF.

METRIC - Metric measures how 'good' a route is. RIP uses the number of hops as
the metric. The route with the fewest number of hops is preferred.

RIP ROUTING UPDATES

Routers running IP RIP broadcast the full list of all the routes they know every 30
seconds. When a router running RIP hears a broadcast it runs the distance vector
algorithm to create a list of best routes.
RIP TIMERS
TIMER DEFAULT CONTROLS

Update 30 sec. Interval between route update advertisements

Hold- Period a route is withdrawn from the table to prevent a

90 sec.
Down routing loop.

Interval a route should stay 'live' in the routing table. This

Timeout 180 sec. counter is reset every time the router hears an update for this
route.

Flush 120 sec. How long to wait to delete a route after it has timed out.

The routing-update timer controls the time between routing updates. Default is

usually 30 seconds, plus a small random delay to prevent all RIP routers from
sending updates simultaneously.
The route-timeout timer controls when a route is no longer available. The default
is usually 180 seconds. If a router has not seen the route in an update during this
specified interval, it is dropped from the router's announcements. The route is
maintained long enough for the router to advertise the route as down (hop count
of 16).
The route-flush timer controls how long before a route is completely flushed from
the routing table. The default setting is usually 120 seconds.

CISCO ROUTERS - Configuring RIP

Configuring a Cisco router for RIP requires a series of configuration steps. First
you must turn on the RIP routing protocol, then you must identify
the network that will be advertised and which interfaces will advertise it with
the network statement.

BASIC RIP CONFIGURATION (Cisco).

According to the recollection of InetDaemon, configuring a Cisco router for a
basic RIP configuration would look something like this:
router> enable

Password:
 router# conf t

router(config)#interface ethernet 0

router(config-if)# ip address 192.168.42.1

router(config-if)# interface ethernet 1

router(config-if)# ip address 192.168.43.1

router(config-if)# exit

router(config)# router rip

router(config-router)# network 192.168.42.0

router(config-router)# network 192.168.43.0

router(config-router)# exit

router(config-router)# ^z

router#

The example above assumes that the interfaces that will be running RIP
have IPaddresses on them that fall within the 204.191.42.0, and 204.191.43.0 class
C ranges.
 

IGRP (Interior Gateway Routing Protocol)

The Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (IGRP) is a Cisco proprietary protocol.
Like RIP, IGRP is a distance-vector interior routing protocol. However, unlike RIP,
IGRP can be used in larger autonomous systems due to its large maximum hop-
count limit of 255, compared to RIP's maximum hop count of 16.
IGRP uses bandwidth and delay of the line by default as metric for determining
the best route to an internetwork. This is called a composite metric. Reliability,
load and maximum transmission unit (MTU) can also be used, although they are
not used by default.

To control performance IGRP uses different kind of timers:

Update Timers specifies how frequently IGRP routing messages will be sent. The
default is 90 seconds.

Invalid Timer specifies how long a router should wait in the absence of a routing-
update message of a specific route before declaring it invalid. The default is three
times the Update timer, 270 seconds.

Holddown Timer specifies the holddown period. The default is three times the
update timer plus 10 seconds, 280 seconds.

Flush Timer indicates how much time should pass before an IGRP route is
flushed from the routing table. The default is seven times the routing update
period, 630 seconds.

IGRP Configurations

Configuring IGRP is similar to configuring RIP in that after the router command
you must specify only directly connected (system routes) networks. The only
difference is in the command to enable the routing protocol. You must specify an
AS number when enabling IGRP. The AS number parameter specifies the
autonomous system number that is supported by this IGRP process and allows
multiple IGRP processes to run on a single router. The AS number can be
between 1 and 65,655.

For example:
RTR(config)# router igrp 10
RTR(config-router)# network 200.40.0.0
RTR(config-router)# network 200.30.0.0

Monitoring and Verifying IGRP

Command Description
Show ip protocols Shows routing protocol parameters and current
timer values
Debug ip igrp Issues log messages with details of the IGRP
transactions updates.
Debug ip igrp events Issues log messages for each igrp updates
Ping Sends and receive ICMP echo messages to verify
connectivity
Trace Sends a series of ICMP echoes with increasing
TTL value
Show ip route Shows routing protocol parameters and current
timer values

Configuration

A very simple configuration of IGRP can be:

Router A

RouterA# conf t

RouterA(config)# interface eth0

RouterA(config-if)# ip address 70.0.0.1 255.0.0.0

RouterA(config-if)# exit

RouterA(config)# interface serial0

RouterA(config-if)# ip address 20.30.40.2 255.255.255.252

RouterA(config-if)# exit

RouterA(config)# router igrp 1

RouterA(config-router)# redistribute connected

RouterA(config-router)# network 20.0.0.0

RouterA(config-router)# network 70.0.0.0

 RouterA(config-router)# network 71.0.0.0

Router B

RouterB# conf t

RouterB(config)# interface eth0

RouterB(config-if)# ip address 71.0.0.1 255.0.0.0

RouterB(config-if)# exit

RouterB(config)# interface serial0

RouterA(config-if)# ip address 20.30.40.1 255.255.255.252

RouterA(config-if)# exit

RouterA(config)# router igrp 1

RouterA(config-router)# redistribute connected

RouterA(config-router)# network 20.0.0.0

RouterA(config-router)# network 70.0.0.0

RouterA(config-router)# network 71.0.0.0

A few other commands might come in useful. variance 2 can be used to configure

IGRP to load balance between equal cost paths. The command passive-interface
eth0disables IGRP from sending updates out of eth0.

Testing

router# debug ip igrp events

Only shows the sending or receiving of IGRP packets and the number of routes in
each update. It does show the routes that are advertised!

router# debug ip igrp transactions

Sames as debug ip igrp events but also shows the routes that are advertised.

router# show ip route

As with debugging any routing problem, look at the routing table. Is there a static
route that takes precendece?

router# show ip interface brief

This command is always useful to quickly verify which links are and which aren't.

OSPF
Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) routing protocol is a Link State protocol
based on cost rather than hops or ticks (i.e. it is not a vector based routing
protocol). As with RIPv2 different sized subnet masks can be used within the
same network thereby allowing more efficient utilisation of available address
space. Also, OSPF supports unnumbered point to point links and equal cost
multipath (or load balancing for up to 6 paths; meaning balancing the distribution
of IP datagrams down parallel routes to the same destination router using a
round robin or a direct addressing option).

Link State Advertisements

Because only link state advertisements are exchanged rather than complete
network information (as in RIP), OSPF networks converge far more quickly than
RIP networks. In addition, Link State Advertisements are triggered by network
changes (like the triggered updates in RIP). The Dijkstra's algorithm used to
calculate the SPF tree is CPU intensive, therefore it is advisable to run it (the
Soloist) on a router slot that either has a slow speed network attached or none at
all.

The OSPF Process

The Link State Database (LSDB) contains the link state advertisements sent
around the 'Area' and each router holds an identical copy of this LSDB. The
router then creates a Shortest Path First (SPF) tree using Dijkstra's algorithm on
the LSDB and a routing table can be derived from the SPF tree which now
contains the best route to each router.

OSPF Networks
Within OSPF there can be Point-to-Point networks or Multi-Access networks. The
Multi-Access networks could be one of the following:

 Broadcast Network: A single message can be sent to all routers

 Non-Broadcast Multi-Access (NBMA) Network: Has no broadcast
ability, ISDN, ATM, Frame Relay and X.25 are examples of NBMA networks.
 Point to Multipoint Network: Used in group mode Frame Relay
networks.

Forming Adjacencies
Each router within an Area maintains an identical LSDB by maintaining
communications with other routers by way of adjacencies. The formation of an
adjacency occurs between two routers A and B that are in the initial Down state
as follows:
1. Init state: Hello packets are exchanged between routers A and B, in order to
form a Neighbour Relationship. Then based on these packets they decide
whether or not to become adjacent. The Hello packet contains the router ID and
the hello and dead intervals and is sent to the multicast address 224.0.0.5. In
multi-access networks the hellos are sent every 10 seconds. The Dead Interval is
normally 4 times the Hello interval and is the time waited before the router
declares the neighbour to be down. The Hello packet also contains the router ID
is 32 bits and is normally the highest IP on the interface of the router or the
loopback address if that is configured. Bi-directional communication is confirmed
when the routers see each other in each other's hello packet. The Router
Priority and the DR/BDR addresses are also included and the routers have to
agree the Stub Area Flag and the Authentication Password.

2. Two-way state: The routers add each other to their Neighbour (Adjacencies)

database and they become neighbours.

3. DR and BDR Election:Initially, on forming an adjacency, the router with

the highest Router Priority (information held within the 'hello' packet) becomes
the DR, or the router with the highest router ID (highest IP address or the
loopback interface address). The router with the next highest ID becomes the
BDR. The BDR just receives the same information as the DR but only performs
the task of a DR when the DR fails. The BDR still maintains adjacencies with all
routers. In a hub and spoke environment it is necessary to set all the spoke router
priorities to '0' so that they never can become the DR or BDR and therefore
become isolated from the other routers.
If a router with a higher priority is added to the network later on it does NOT take
over the DR and no re-election takes place. It is possible for a router to be a DR in
one network and a normal router in another at the same time.
4. After election the routers are in the Exstart state as the DR and BDR create an
adjacency with each other and the router with the highest priority acts as the
master and they begin creating their link-state databases using Database
Description Packets.

5. The process of discovering routes by exchanging Database Description

Packets (DBD) is known as Exchange. These packets contain details such as the
link-state type, the address of the advertising router, the cost of the link and the
sequence number that identifies how recent the link information is. Unicasts are
used to compare LSDBs to see which Link State Advertisements (LSAs) are
missing or out of date.
6. Link State ACK: Once a DBD has been received a Link State ACK is sent
containing the link-state entry sequence number. The slave router compares the
information and if it is newer it sends a request to update.
7. Link State Request: In order to update its LSDB the slave router sends a Link
State Request. This is known as the Loading state.
8. Link State Update: A Link State Update is sent in response to a Link State
Request and it contains the requested LSAs.
9. Link State ACK: Once a Link State Update has been received a Link State ACK
is sent again and the adjacency has been formed. At this point the databases are
considered to be synchronous.
10. Full: In the Full state the routers can route traffic and the routers continue
sending each other hello packets in order to maintain the adjacency and the
routing information.

Maintaining the Routing Tables

Point-to-Point and Point-to-Multipoint links do not require a Designated Router
(DR) or a Backup Designated Router (BDR) because adjacencies have to form
with each other anyway. On a Point-to-Point and Point-to-Multipoint networks
adjacencies are always formed between the two routers so there is no
requirement for a DR or BDR, whilst on a multi-access network a router will form
an adjacency with the Designated Router (DR) and the Backup Designated Router
(BDR). In a broadcast or NBMA network it is not feasible for every router to form a
full mesh of adjacencies with all the other routers. The Designated Router forms
adjacencies with each of the other routers and performs the link-state information
exchange thereby minimising the traffic load and making sure that the
information is consistent across the network.
On detection of a link state, the OSPF router sends a Link State Update (LSU) to
the multicast address 224.0.0.6 which is all the OSPF DR/BDRs. The LSU contains
several LSAs. After acknowledging the LSU the DR Floods link-state information
to all the OSPF routers on the OSPF multicast address 224.0.0.5. Each LSA is
acknowledged separately with a LSAck if the LSA is new and therefore added to
the Link State Database, otherwise the LSA is ignored. Rather than each router
having to form an adjacency with each other router this significantly cuts down
on the amount of traffic. DRs in other networks that are connected also receive
the LSUs. On receipt of the new LSA the routers recalculate their routing tables.
The LSA has a 30 minute timer that causes the router to send an LSU to everyone
on the network once it ages out. This verifies that the link is still valid. If a router
receives an LSA with old information then it will send a LSU to the sender to
update the sender with the newer information.
Important Parameters
The Retransmit Interval is the number of seconds between LSAs across an
adjacency. The following settings are often recommended:

Broadcast network 5 seconds

Point-to-Point network 10 seconds

NBMA network 10 seconds

Point-to Multipoint network 10 seconds

The Hello Interval must be the same on each end of the adjacency otherwise the
adjacency will not form. In a Point-to-Point network this value is 10 seconds
whereas in a Non Broadcast Multiaccess Network (NBMA) the Hello Interval is 30
seconds.
The Dead Interval is 40 seconds in a Point-to-Point network and 120 seconds in a
Non Broadcast Multiaccess Network (NBMA).
The Metric Cost can be related to line speed by using the formula 108 / line speed
(bps)

The following table gives some guidelines for costs:

Network Type Cost

FDDI/Fast Ethernet 1
 Token Ring (16Mbps) 6

Ethernet 10

E1 48

T1 64

64 kb/s 1562

56 kb/s 1785

These costs are used to calculate the metric for a line and thus determine the
best route for traffic. The lowest cost to a destination is calculated usingDijkstras
Algorithm. The lowest cost link is used unless there are multiple equally low cost
links in which case load balancing takes place between up to 6 route entries.
RFC 2328 describes Dijkstras Algorithm (also called the Shortest Path First
(SPF) algorithm.
OSPF has a 5 second damper in case a link flaps. A link change will cause an
update to be sent only after 5 seconds has elapsed so preventing routers locking
up due to continually running the SPF algorithm and never allowing OSPF to
converge. There is also a timer that determines the minimum time between SPF
calculations, the default for this is often 10 seconds.
A Password can be enabled on a per Area basis so providing some form of
security and consistency in route information.

Types of Multi-access networks

As mentioned earlier these are typically Frame Relay, ATM or X.25 networks that
have no broadcast capability but have many routers connected. There are three
types:
  Hub and Spoke - a central router has links to other routers in a star
arrangement. A spoke can only talk to other spokes via the hub.
 Full Mesh - each router has a link to every other router providing full
resilience.
 Partial Mesh - not all routers have links to the central site.

Point-to-Point and Multipoint-to-Point networks have no need for DR/BDRs and

form adjacencies with their neighbours automatically and quickly without the
need for static neighbours being configured.
In a hub-spoke network operating in Broadcast mode the DR really needs to be
the hub router in order for it to maintain contact with all the routers. It is therefore
important to make sure that none of the other routers can become the DR by
setting their interface priorities to 0 or raising the hub router's interface priority to
be the highest.
The Non-Broadcast Multi-Access (NBMA) network has all the router interfaces in
the same subnet, in addition the neighbours have to be statically defined because
there is no facility for broadcasts. You can also configure sub-interfaces to allow
separate subnets and therefore separate NBMA networks to exist.
Rather than use a NBMA network where you have to statically configure the
neighbours you can configure a Point-to-Multipoint network for Partial Mesh
networks. In this case there is no DR and each link is treated as a separate Point-
to-Point. A Point-to-Multipoint network can exist in one subnet.
There are some Point-to-Multipoint networks such as Classic IP over ATM that do
not support broadcasts. For these networks you can configure aPoint-to-
Multipoint Non-broadcast mode that requires the configuration of static
neighbours since they cannot be discovered dynamically.

OSPF Packet Types

Within the OSPF header the packet type is indicated by way of a type code as
follows:
 Type Code Packet Type

1 Hello

2 Database Description

3 Link State Request

4 Link State Update

5 Link State Acknowledgment

OSPF Areas
Within a network multiple Areas can be created to help ease CPU use in SPF
calculations, memory use and the number of LSAs being transmitted. 60-80
routers are considered to be the maximum to have in one area. The Areas are
defined on the routers and then interfaces are assigned to the areas. The default
area is 0.0.0.0 and should exist even if there is only one area in the whole network
(which is the default situation). As more areas are added, 0.0.0.0 becomes the
'backbone area'. In fact, if you have one area on its own then it could be
configured with a different area number than 0 and OSPF will still operate
correctly, but this should really be a temporary arrangement. You may for
instance, want to set up separate areas initially that are to be joined at a later
date. Separate LSDBs are maintained one per area and networks outside of an
area are advertised into that area, routers internal to an area have less work to do
as only topology changes within an area affect a modification of the SPF specific
to that area. Another benefit of implementing areas is that networks within an
area can be advertised as a summary so reducing the size of the routing table
and the processing on routers external to this area. Creating summaries is made
easier if addresses within an area are contiguous.

In a multiple area environment there are four types of router:

 Internal router: All its directly connected networks are within the same area
as itself. It is only concerned with the LSDB for that area.
 Area Border Router: This has interfaces in multiple areas and so has to
maintain multiple LSDBs as well as be connected to the backbone. It sends
 and receives Summary Links Advertisements from the backbone area and
they describe one network or a range of networks within the area.
 Backbone Router: This has an interface connected to the backbone.
 AS Boundary Routers: This has an interface connected to a non-OSPF
network which is considered to be outside it's Autonomous System (AS).
The router holds AS external routes which are advertised throughout the
OSPF network and each router within the OSPF network knows the path to
each ASBR.

A RIP network will look at any IP address within an OSPF network as only one
hop away.
When configuring an area, authentication can be configured with a password
which must be the same on a given network but (as in RIPv2) can be different for
different interfaces on the same router.

There are seven types of Link State Advertisements (LSAs):

 Type 1: Router Links Advertisements are passed within an area by all OSPF
routers and describe the router links to the network. These are only flooded
within a particular area.
 Type 2: Network Links Advertisements are flooded within an area by the DR
and describes a multi-access network, i.e. the routers attached to particular
networks.
 Type 3: Summary Link Advertisements are passed between areas by ABRs
and describes networks within an area.
 Type 4: AS (Autonomous System) Summary Link Advertisements are
passed between areas and describe the path to the AS Boundary Router
(ASBR). These do not get flooded into Totally Stubby Areas.
 Type 5: AS External Link Advertisements are passed between and flooded
into areas by ASBRs and describe external destinations outside the
Autonomous System. The areas that do not receive these are Stub, Totally
 Stubby and Not So Stubby areas. There are two types of External Link
Advertisements, Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 packets add the external cost to
the internal cost of each link passed. This is useful when there are multiple
ASBRs advertising the same route into an area as you can decide a
preferred route. Type 2 packets only have an external cost assigned so is
fine for a single ASBR advertising an external route.
 Type 6: Multicast OSPF routers flood this Group Membership Link Entry.
 Type 7: NSSA AS external routes flooded by the ASBR. The ABR converts
these into Type 5 LSAs before flooding them into the Backbone. The
difference between Type 7 and Type 5 LSAs is that Type 5s are flooded into
multiple areas whereas Type 7s are only flooded into NSSAs.