Computer Networks1

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COMPUTER
NETWORKS
COMPUTER NETWORKS
Computer network
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bold text
For the scientific and engineering discipline studying computer networks, see Computer
networking.
Blue RJ-45 patchcord of the type commonly used to connect network devices.
A “Computer Network” is two or more computers connected together using a
telecommunication system for the purpose of communicating and sharing
resources.
Experts in the field of networking debate whether two computers that are connected
together using some form of communications medium constitute a network. Therefore,
some works state that a network requires three connected computers. For example,
"Telecommunications: Glossary of Telecommunication Terms" states that a computer
network is "A network of data processing nodes that are interconnected for the purpose
of data communication", the term "network" being defined in the same document as "An
interconnection of three or more communicating entities". A computer connected to a
non-computing device (e.g., networked to a printer via an Ethernet link) may also
represent a computer network, although this article does not address this configuration.
This article uses the definition which requires two or more computers to be connected
together to form a network. The same basic functions are generally present in this case
as with larger numbers of connected computers.
Contents
• 1 Basic Computer Network Building Blocks

o 1.1 Computers
o 1.2 Printers
o 1.3 Dumb Terminals
o 1.4 Other Devices
• 2 Building a Computer Network
o 2.1 A Simple Network
o 2.2 Practical Networks
• 3 Types of Networks:
o 3.1 Local Area Network (LAN):
o 3.2 Campus Area Network (CAN):
o 3.3 Metropolitan Area Network (MAN):
o 3.4 Wide Area Networks (WAN):
o 3.5 Internetwork:
o 3.6 Intranet:
o 3.7 Extranet:
• 4 Classification of computer networks
o 4.1 By network layer
o 4.2 By scale
o 4.3 By connection method
o 4.4 By functional relationship
o 4.5 By network topology
o 4.6 By services provided
o 4.7 By protocol
• 5 References
• 6 External links
Basic Computer Network Building Blocks
Computers
Many of the components of an average network are individual computers, which

are generally either workstations (including personal computers) or servers.
Types of Workstations
There are many types of workstations that may be incorporated into a particular
network, some of which have high-end displays, multiple CPUs, large amounts of
RAM, large amounts of hard drive storage space, or other enhancements required
for special data processing tasks, graphics, or other resource intensive
applications. (See also network computer).
Types of Servers
The following lists some common types of servers and their purpose.
File Server
Stores various types of files and distributes them to other clients on the network.
Print Server
Controls and manages one or more printers and accepts print jobs from other
network clients, spooling the print jobs, and performing most or all of the other
functions that a workstation would perform to accomplish a printing task if the
printer were connected directly to the workstation's printer port.
Mail Server
Stores, sends, receives, routes, and performs other email related operations for
other clients on the network.
Fax Server
Stores, sends, receives, routes, and performs other functions necessary for the
proper transmission, reception, and distribution of faxes.
Telephony Server
Performs telephony related functions such as answering calls automatically,
performing the functions of an interactive voice response system, storing and
serving voice mail, routing calls between the Public Switched Telephone Network
(PSTN) and the network or the Internet (e.g., voice over IP (VoIP) gateway), etc.
Proxy Server
Performs some type of function on behalf of other clients on the network to
increase the performance of certain operations (e.g., prefetching and caching
documents or other data that are requested very frequently) or as a security
precaution to isolate network clients from external threats.
Remote Access Server (RAS)
Monitors modem lines or other network communications channels for requests to
connect to the network from a remote location, answers the incoming telephone
call or acknowledges the network request, and performs the necessary security
checks and other procedures necessary to log a user onto the network.
Application Server
Performs the data processing or business logic portion of a client application,
accepting instructions for operations to perform from a workstation and serving
the results back to the workstation, while the workstation performs the user
interface or GUI portion of the processing (i.e., the presentation logic) that is
required for the application to work properly.
Web Server
Stores HTML documents, images, text files, scripts, and other Web related data
(collectively known as content), and distributes this content to other clients on the
network on request.
Backup Server
Has network backup software installed and has large amounts of hard drive
storage or other forms of storage (tape, etc.) available to it to be used for the
purpose of ensuring that data loss does not occur in the network.
[edit] Printers
Many printers are capable of acting as part of a computer network without any
other device, such as a print server, to act as an intermediary between the printer
and the device that is requesting a print job to be completed.
[edit] Dumb Terminals
Many networks use dumb terminals instead of workstations either for data entry
and display purposes or in some cases where the application runs entirely on the
server.
[edit] Other Devices
There are many other types of devices that may be used to build a network, many
of which require an understanding of more advanced computer networking
concepts before they are able to be easily understood (e.g., hubs, routers,
bridges, switches, hardware firewalls, etc.). On home and mobile networks,
connecting consumer electronics devices such as video game consoles is becoming
increasingly common.
[edit] Building a Computer Network
[edit] A Simple Network
A simple computer network may be constructed from two computers by adding a

network adapter (Network Interface Controller (NIC)) to each computer and then
connecting them together with a special cable called a crossover cable. This type
of network is useful for transferring information between two computers that are
not normally connected to each other by a permanent network connection or for
basic home networking applications. Alternatively, a network between two
computers can be established without dedicated extra hardware by using a
standard connection such as the RS-232 serial port on both computers, connecting
them to each other via a special crosslinked nullmodem cable.
[edit] Practical Networks

Practical networks generally consist of more than two interconnected computers
and generally require special devices in addition to the Network Interface
Controller that each computer needs to be equipped with. Examples of some of
these special devices are listed above under Basic Computer Network Building
Blocks / Other devices.
[edit] Types of Networks:
Below is a list of the most common types of computer networks.
[edit] Local Area Network (LAN):
A network that is limited to a relatively small spatial area such as a room, a single
building, a ship, or an aircraft. Local area networks are sometimes called a single
location network.
Note: For administrative purposes, large LANs are generally divided into smaller
logical segments called workgroups. A workgroup is a group of computers that
share a common set of resources within a LAN.
[edit] Campus Area Network (CAN):
A network that connects two or more LANs but that is limited to a specific
(possibly private) geographical area such as a college campus, industrial complex,
or a military base.
Note: A CAN is generally limited to an area that is smaller than a Metropolitan
Area Network
[edit] Metropolitan Area Network (MAN):
A network that connects two or more LANs or CANs together but does not extend
beyond the boundaries of the immediate town, city, or metropolitan area. Multiple
routers, switches & hubs are connected to create a MAN.
[edit] Wide Area Networks (WAN):
A WAN is a data communications network that covers a relatively broad

geographic area and that often uses transmission facilities provided by common
carriers, such as telephone companies. WAN technologies generally function at the
lower three layers of the OSI reference model: the physical layer, the data link
layer, and the network layer.
Types of WANs:
Centralized:
A centralized WAN consists of a central computer that is connected to dumb
terminals and / or other types of terminal devices.
Distributed:
A distributed WAN consists of two or more computers in different locations and
may also include connections to dumb terminals and other types of terminal
devices.
[edit] Internetwork:
Two or more networks or network segments connected using devices that operate
at layer 3 (the 'network' layer) of the OSI Basic Reference Model, such as a router.
Note: Any interconnection among or between public, private, commercial,
industrial, or governmental networks may also be defined as an internetwork.
Internet, The:
A specific internetwork, consisting of a worldwide interconnection of governmental,
academic, public, and private networks based upon the Advanced Research
Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) developed by ARPA of the U.S. Department of
Defense – also home to the World Wide Web (WWW) and referred to as the
'Internet' with a capital 'I' to distinguish it from other generic internetworks.
[edit] Intranet:
A network or internetwork that is limited in scope to a single organization or entity

or, also, a network or internetwork that is limited in scope to a single organization
or entity and which uses the TCP/IP protocol suite, HTTP, FTP, and other network
protocols and software commonly used on the Internet.
Note: Intranets may also be categorized as a LAN, CAN, MAN, WAN, or other type
of network.
[edit] Extranet:
A network or internetwork that is limited in scope to a single organization or entity

but which also has limited connections to the networks of one or more other
usually, but not necessarily, trusted organizations or entities (e.g., a company's
customers may be provided access to some part of its intranet thusly creating an
extranet while at the same time the customers may not be considered 'trusted'
from a security standpoint).
Note: Technically, an extranet may also be categorized as a CAN, MAN, WAN, or
other type of network, although, by definition, an extranet cannot consist of a
single LAN, because an extranet must have at least one connection with an outside
network.
Intranets and extranets may or may not have connections to the Internet. If
connected to the Internet, the intranet or extranet is normally protected from
being accessed from the Internet without proper authorization. The Internet itself
is not considered to be a part of the intranet or extranet, although the Internet
may serve as a portal for access to portions of an extranet.
[edit] Classification of computer networks
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[edit] By network layer
Computer networks may be classified according to the network layer at which they
operate according to some basic reference models that are considered to be standards in
the industry such as the seven layer OSI reference model and the five layer TCP/IP
model.
[edit] By scale
Computer networks may be classified according to the scale or extent of reach of the
network, for example as a Personal area network (PAN), Local area network (LAN),
Campus area network (CAN), Metropolitan area network (MAN), or Wide area network
(WAN).
[edit] By connection method
Computer networks may be classified according to the technology that is used to

connect the individual devices in the network such as HomePNA, Power line
communication, Ethernet, or Wireless LAN.
[edit] By functional relationship
Computer networks may be classified according to the functional relationships which

exist between the elements of the network, for example Active Networking, Client-server
and Peer-to-peer (workgroup) architectures. Also, computer networks are used to send
data from one to another by the hardrive
[edit] By network topology
Computer networks may be classified according to the network topology upon which the
network is based, such as Bus network, Star network, Ring network, Token Ring
network, Mesh network, Star-bus network, Tree or Hierarchical topology network, etc.
Topology can be arranged in a Geometric Arragement
[edit] By services provided
Computer networks may be classified according to the services which they provide, such
as Storage area networks, Server farms, Process control networks, Value-added
network, SOHO network, Wireless community network, XML appliance, Jungle Networks,
khadar network, etc.
[edit] By protocol
Computer networks may be classified according to the communications protocol that is

being used on the network. See the articles on List of network protocol stacks and List of
network protocols for more information.
Network diagram
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This article has been tagged since October 2006.
This article is about computer network diagrams. For project management network
diagrams, see Network diagram (project management).
A sample network diagram

A network diagram depicts the nodes and connections amongst nodes in a computer
network or, more generally, any telecommunications network.
[edit] Symbolization
Readily identifiable icons are used to depict common network appliances e.g. Router,
and the style of lines between them indicate the type of connection. Clouds are used to
represent networks external to the one pictured for the purposes of depicting
connections between internal and external devices, without indicating the specifics of the
outside network. For example, in the hypothetical local area network pictured to the
right, three personal computers and a server are connected to a switch; the server is
further connected to a printer and a gateway router, which is connected via a WAN link
to the Internet.
Depending on whether the diagram is intended for formal or informal use, certain details
may be lacking and must be determined from context. For example, the sample diagram
does not indicate the physical type of connection between the PCs and the switch, but
since a modern LAN is depicted, ethernet port may be assumed. If the same style of line
was used in a WAN(wide area network) diagram, however, it may indicate a different
physical connection.
At different scales, diagrams may represent various levels of network granularity. At the
LAN level, individual nodes may represent individual physical devices, such as hubs or
file servers, while at the WAN level, individual nodes may represent entire cities. In
addition, when the scope of a diagram crosses the common LAN/MAN/WAN boundaries,
representative hypothetical devices may be depicted instead of showing all actually
existing nodes. For example, if a network appliance is intended to be connected through
the Internet to many end-user mobile devices, only a single such device may be
depicted for the purposes of showing the general relationship between the appliance and
any such device.
[edit] Cisco Symbolization
Cisco uses its own brand of networking symbols. Since Cisco has a large Internet
presence and designs a broad variety of network devices, its list of symbols is
exhaustive. As of November 28, 2006 this list is located can be found at
http://www.cisco.com/web/about/ac50/ac47/2.html.
[edit] Topology
Main article: Network topology

The physical network topology can be directly represented in a network diagram, as it is
simply the physical graph (mathematics) represented by the diagrams, with network
nodes as vertices and connections as undirected or direct edges (depending on the type
of connection). The logical network topology can be inferred from the network diagram if
details of the network protocols in use are also given.
Network topology

For other uses of "topology", see topology (disambiguation).
Diagram of different network topologies.

Network topology is the study of the arrangement or mapping of the elements (links,
nodes, etc.) of a network, especially the physical (real) and logical (virtual)
interconnections between nodes [1] [2] [3].
A local area network (LAN) is one example of a network that exhibits both a physical and
a logical topology. Any given node in the LAN will have one or more links to one or more
other nodes in the network and the mapping of these links and nodes onto a graph
results in a geometrical shape that determines the physical topology of the network.
Likewise, the mapping of the flow of data between the nodes in the network determines
the logical topology of the network. It is important to note that the physical and logical
topologies might be identical in any particular network but they also may be different.
Any particular network topology is determined only by the graphical mapping of the
configuration of physical and/or logical connections between nodes - Network Topology
is, therefore, technically a part of graph theory. Distances between nodes, physical
interconnections, transmission rates, and/or signal types may differ in two networks and
yet their topologies may be identical[2].
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Basic Types of Topologies

• 2 Classification of Network Topologies
o 2.1 Physical Topologies
§ 2.1.1 Classification of Physical Topologies:
§ 2.1.1.1 Bus:
§ 2.1.1.2 Star:
§ 2.1.1.3 Ring:
§ 2.1.1.4 Mesh:
§ 2.1.1.5 Tree (also known as Hierarchical):
§ 2.1.2 Hybrid Network Topologies
o 2.2 Signal Topology
o 2.3 Logical Topology
§ 2.3.1 Classification of Logical Topologies
• 3 Daisy chains
• 4 Centralization
• 5 Decentralization
• 6 Hybrids
• 7 See also
• 8 References
[edit] Basic Types of Topologies
The arrangement or mapping of the elements of a network gives rise to certain basic
topologies which may then be combined to form more complex topologies (hybrid
topologies). The most common of these basic types of topologies are (refer to the
illustration at the top right of this page):
• Bus (Linear, Linear Bus)

• star
• Ring
• Mesh
partially connected mesh (or simply 'mesh')

fully connected mesh (or simply fully connected)
• Tree
[edit] Classification of Network Topologies
There are also three basic categories of network topologies:
• physical topologies
• signal topologies
• logical topologies
The terms signal topology and logical topology are often used interchangeably even
though there is a subtle difference between the two and the distinction is not often made
between the two.
[edit] Physical Topologies

The mapping of the nodes of a network and the physical connections between them –
i.e., the layout of wiring, cables, the locations of nodes, and the interconnections
between the nodes and the cabling or wiring system[1][3].
[edit] Classification of Physical Topologies:
[edit] Bus:
Linear Bus:
The type of network topology in which all of the nodes of the network are
connected to a common transmission medium which has exactly two endpoints
(this is the 'bus', which is also commonly referred to as the backbone, or trunk) –
all data that is transmitted between nodes in the network is transmitted over this
common transmission medium and is able to be received by all nodes in the
network virtually simultaneously (disregarding propagation delays)[1][3].
Note: The two endpoints of the common transmission medium are normally
terminated with a device called a terminator that exhibits the characteristic
impedance of the transmission medium and which dissipates or absorbs the
energy that remains in the signal to prevent the signal from being reflected or
propagated back onto the transmission medium in the opposite direction, which
would cause interference with and degradation of the signals on the transmission
medium (See Electrical termination).
Distributed Bus:
The type of network topology in which all of the nodes of the network are
connected to a common transmission medium which has more than two endpoints
that are created by adding branches to the main section of the transmission
medium – the physical distributed bus topology functions in exactly the same
fashion as the physical linear bus topology (i.e., all nodes share a common
transmission medium).
Notes:
1.) All of the endpoints of the common transmission medium are normally
terminated with a device called a 'terminator' (see the note under linear bus).
2.) The physical linear bus topology is sometimes considered to be a special case
of the physical distributed bus topology – i.e., a distributed bus with no branching
segments.
3.) The physical distributed bus topology is sometimes incorrectly referred to as a
physical tree topology – however, although the physical distributed bus topology
resembles the physical tree topology, it differs from the physical tree topology in
that there is no central node to which any other nodes are connected, since this
hierarchical functionality is replaced by the common bus.
[edit] Star:
The type of network topology in which each of the nodes of the network is
connected to a central node with a point-to-point link in a 'hub' and 'spoke'
fashion, the central node being the 'hub' and the nodes that are attached to the
central node being the 'spokes' (e.g., a collection of point-to-point links from the
peripheral nodes that converge at a central node) – all data that is transmitted
between nodes in the network is transmitted to this central node, which is usually
some type of device that then retransmits the data to some or all of the other
nodes in the network, although the central node may also be a simple common
connection point (such as a 'punch-down' block) without any active device to
repeat the signals[1][3].
Notes:
1.) A point-to-point link is sometimes categorized as a special instance of the
physical star topology – therefore, the simplest type of network that is based upon
the physical star topology would consist of one node with a single point-to-point
link to a second node, the choice of which node is the 'hub' and which node is the
'spoke' being arbitrary[1].
2.) After the special case of the point-to-point link, as in note 1.) above, the next
simplest type of network that is based upon the physical star topology would
consist of one central node – the 'hub' – with two separate point-to-point links to
two peripheral nodes – the 'spokes'.
3.) Although most networks that are based upon the physical star topology are
commonly implemented using a special device such as a hub or switch as the
central node (i.e., the 'hub' of the star), it is also possible to implement a network
that is based upon the physical star topology using a computer or even a simple
common connection point as the 'hub' or central node – however, since many
illustrations of the physical star network topology depict the central node as one of
these special devices, some confusion is possible, since this practice may lead to
the misconception that a physical star network requires the central node to be one
of these special devices, which is not true because a simple network consisting of
three computers connected as in note 2.) above also has the topology of the
physical star.
Extended Star:
A type of network topology in which a network that is based upon the physical star
topology has one or more repeaters between the central node (the 'hub' of the
star) and the peripheral or 'spoke' nodes, the repeaters being used to extend the
maximum transmission distance of the point-to-point links between the central
node and the peripheral nodes beyond that which is supported by the transmitter
power of the central node or beyond that which is supported by the standard upon
which the physical layer of the physical star network is based.
Note: If the repeaters in a network that is based upon the physical extended star
topology are replaced with hubs or switches, then a hybrid network topology is
created that is referred to as a physical hierarchical star topology, although some
texts make no distinction between the two topologies.
Distributed Star:
A type of network topology that is composed of individual networks that are based
upon the physical star topology connected together in a linear fashion – i.e.,
'daisy-chained' – with no central or top level connection point (e.g., two or more
'stacked' hubs, along with their associated star connected nodes or 'spokes').
[edit] Ring:
connected to two other nodes in the network and with the first and last nodes
being connected to each other, forming a ring – all data that is transmitted
between nodes in the network travels from one node to the next node in a circular
manner and the data generally flows in a single direction only.
Dual-ring:
connected to two other nodes in the network, with two connections to each of
these nodes, and with the first and last nodes being connected to each other with
two connections, forming a double ring – the data flows in opposite directions
around the two rings, although, generally, only one of the rings carries data during
normal operation, and the two rings are independent unless there is a failure or
break in one of the rings, at which time the two rings are joined (by the stations
on either side of the fault) to enable the flow of data to continue using a segment
of the second ring to bypass the fault in the primary ring.
[edit] Mesh:
Full:
Fully Connected:
connected to each of the other nodes in the network with a point-to-point link –
this makes it possible for data to be simultaneously transmitted from any single
node to all of the other nodes.
Note: The physical fully connected mesh topology is generally too costly and
complex for practical networks, although the topology is used when there are only
a small number of nodes to be interconnected[3].
Partial:
Partially Connected:
The type of network topology in which some of the nodes of the network are
connected to more than one other node in the network with a point-to-point link –
this makes it possible to take advantage of some of the redundancy that is
provided by a physical fully connected mesh topology without the expense and
complexity required for a connection between every node in the network.
Note: In most practical networks that are based upon the physical partially
connected mesh topology, all of the data that is transmitted between nodes in the
network takes the shortest path between nodes, except in the case of a failure or
break in one of the links, in which case the data takes an alternate path to the
destination – this implies that the nodes of the network possess some type of
logical 'routing' algorithm to determine the correct path to use at any particular
time.
[edit] Tree (also known as Hierarchical):
The type of network topology in which a central 'root' node (the top level of the
hierarchy) is connected to one or more other nodes that are one level lower in the
hierarchy (i.e., the second level) with a point-to-point link between each of the
second level nodes and the top level central 'root' node, while each of the second
level nodes that are connected to the top level central 'root' node will also have
one or more other nodes that are one level lower in the hierarchy (i.e., the third
level) connected to it, also with a point-to-point link, the top level central 'root'
node being the only node that has no other node above it in the hierarchy – the
hierarchy of the tree is symmetrical, each node in the network having a specific
fixed number, f, of nodes connected to it at the next lower level in the hierarchy,
the number, f, being referred to as the 'branching factor' of the hierarchical tree.
Notes:
1.) A network that is based upon the physical hierarchical topology must have at
least three levels in the hierarchy of the tree, since a network with a central 'root'
node and only one hierarchical level below it would exhibit the physical topology of
a star.
2.) A network that is based upon the physical hierarchical topology and with a
branching factor of 1 would be classified as a physical linear topology.
3.) The branching factor, f, is independent of the total number of nodes in the
network and, therefore, if the nodes in the network require ports for connection to
other nodes the total number of ports per node may be kept low even though the
total number of nodes is large – this makes the effect of the cost of adding ports
to each node totally dependent upon the branching factor and may therefore be
kept as low as required without any effect upon the total number of nodes that are
possible.
4.) The total number of point-to-point links in a network that is based upon the
physical hierarchical topology will be one less that the total number of nodes in the
network.
5.) If the nodes in a network that is based upon the physical hierarchical topology
are required to perform any processing upon the data that is transmitted between
nodes in the network, the nodes that are at higher levels in the hierarchy will be
required to perform more processing operations on behalf of other nodes than the
nodes that are lower in the hierarchy.
[edit] Hybrid Network Topologies
The hybrid topology is a type of network topology that is composed of one or more
interconnections of two or more networks that are based upon different physical
topologies or a type of network topology that is composed of one or more
interconnections of two or more networks that are based upon the same physical
topology, but where the physical topology of the network resulting from such an
interconnection does not meet the definition of the original physical topology of the
interconnected networks (e.g., the physical topology of a network that would result from
an interconnection of two or more networks that are based upon the physical star
topology might create a hybrid topology which resembles a mixture of the physical star
and physical bus topologies or a mixture of the physical star and the physical tree
topologies, depending upon how the individual networks are interconnected, while the
physical topology of a network that would result from an interconnection of two or more
networks that are based upon the physical distributed bus network retains the topology
of a physical distributed bus network).
Star-Bus:
A type of network topology in which the central nodes of one or more individual
networks that are based upon the physical star topology are connected together
using a common 'bus' network whose physical topology is based upon the physical
linear bus topology, the endpoints of the common 'bus' being terminated with the
characteristic impedance of the transmission medium where required – e.g., two
or more hubs connected to a common backbone with drop cables through the port
on the hub that is provided for that purpose (e.g., a properly configured 'uplink'
port) would comprise the physical bus portion of the physical star-bus topology,
while each of the individual hubs, combined with the individual nodes which are
connected to them, would comprise the physical star portion of the physical star-
bus topology.
Star-of_Stars:
Hierarchical Star:
A type of network topology that is composed of an interconnection of individual
networks that are based upon the physical star topology connected together in a
hierarchical fashion to form a more complex network – e.g., a top level central
node which is the 'hub' of the top level physical star topology and to which other
second level central nodes are attached as the 'spoke' nodes, each of which, in
turn, may also become the central nodes of a third level physical star topology.
Notes:
1.) The physical hierarchical star topology is not a combination of the physical
linear bus and the physical star topologies, as cited in some texts, as there is no
common linear bus within the topology, although the top level 'hub' which is the
beginning of the physical hierarchical star topology may be connected to the
backbone of another network, such as a common carrier, which is, topologically,
not considered to be a part of the local network – if the top level central node is
connected to a backbone that is considered to be a part of the local network, then
the resulting network topology would be considered to be a hybrid topology that is
a mixture of the topology of the backbone network and the physical hierarchical
star topology.
2.) The physical hierarchical star topology is also sometimes incorrectly referred to
as a physical tree topology, since its physical topology is hierarchical, however, the
physical hierarchical star topology does not have a structure that is determined by
a branching factor, as is the case with the physical tree topology and, therefore,
nodes may be added to, or removed from, any node that is the 'hub' of one of the
individual physical star topology networks within a network that is based upon the
physical hierarchical star topology.
3.) The physical hierarchical star topology is commonly used in 'outside plant'
(OSP) cabling to connect various buildings to a central connection facility, which
may also house the 'demarcation point' for the connection to the data transmission
facilities of a common carrier, and in 'inside plant' (ISP) cabling to connect
multiple wiring closets within a building to a common wiring closet within the same
building, which is also generally where the main backbone or trunk that connects
to a larger network, if any, enters the building.
Star-wired Ring:
A type of hybrid physical network topology that is a combination of the physical
star topology and the physical ring topology, the physical star portion of the
topology consisting of a network in which each of the nodes of which the network
is composed are connected to a central node with a point-to-point link in a 'hub'
and 'spoke' fashion, the central node being the 'hub' and the nodes that are
attached to the central node being the 'spokes' (e.g., a collection of point-to-point
links from the peripheral nodes that converge at a central node) in a fashion that
is identical to the physical star topology, while the physical ring portion of the
topology consists of circuitry within the central node which routes the signals on
the network to each of the connected nodes sequentially, in a circular fashion.
Note: In an 802.5 Token Ring network the central node is called a Multistation
Access Unit (MAU).
Hybrid Mesh:
A type of hybrid physical network topology that is a combination of the physical
partially connected topology and one or more other physical topologies the mesh
portion of the topology consisting of redundant or alternate connections between
some of the nodes in the network – the physical hybrid mesh topology is
commonly used in networks which require a high degree of availability.
[edit] Signal Topology
The mapping of the actual connections between the nodes of a network, as evidenced by
the path that the signals take when propagating between the nodes.
Note: The term 'signal topology' is often used synonymously with the term 'logical
topology', however, some confusion may result from this practice in certain
situations since, by definition, the term 'logical topology' refers to the apparent
path that the data takes between nodes in a network while the term 'signal
topology' generally refers to the actual path that the signals (e.g., optical,
electrical, electromagnetic, etc.) take when propagating between nodes.
Example:
In an 802.4 Token Bus network, the physical topology may be a physical bus, a
physical star, or a hybrid physical topology, while the signal topology is a bus (i.e.,
the electrical signal propagates to all nodes simultaneously [ignoring propagation
delays and network latency] ), and the logical topology is a ring (i.e., the data
flows from one node to the next in a circular manner according to the protocol).[4]
[edit] Logical Topology
The mapping of the apparent connections between the nodes of a network, as evidenced
by the path that data appears to take when traveling between the nodes.
[edit] Classification of Logical Topologies
The logical classification of network topologies generally follows the same classifications
as those in the physical classifications of network topologies, the path that the data
takes between nodes being used to determine the topology as opposed to the actual
physical connections being used to determine the topology.
Notes:
1.) Logical topologies are often closely associated with media access control (MAC)
methods and protocols.
2.) The logical topologies are generally determined by network protocols as
opposed to being determined by the physical layout of cables, wires, and network
devices or by the flow of the electrical signals, although in many cases the paths
that the electrical signals take between nodes may closely match the logical flow
of data, hence the convention of using the terms 'logical topology' and 'signal
topology' interchangeably.
3.) Logical topologies are able to be dynamically reconfigured by special types of
equipment such as routers and switches.
[edit] Daisy chains
Except for star-based networks, the easiest way to add more computers into a network
is by daisy-chaining, or connecting each computer in series to the next. If a message is
intended for a computer partway down the line, each system bounces it along in
sequence until it reaches the destination. A daisy-chained network can take two basic
forms: linear and ring.
• A linear topology puts a two-way link between one computer and the next.
However, this was expensive in the early days of computing, since each computer
(except for the ones at each end) required two receivers and two transmitters.
• By connecting the computers at each end, a ring topology can be formed. An
advantage of the ring is that the number of transmitters and receivers can be cut
in half, since a message will eventually loop all of the way around. When a node
sends a message, the message is processed by each computer in the ring. If a
computer is not the destination node, it will pass the message to the next node,
until the message arrives at its destination. If the message is not accepted by any
node on the network, it will travel around the entire ring and return to the sender.
This potentially results in a doubling of travel time for data, but since it is traveling
at a significant fraction of the speed of light, the loss is usually negligible.
[edit] Centralization
The star topology reduces the probability of a network failure by connecting all of the
peripheral nodes (computers, etc.) to a central node. When the physical star topology is
applied to a logical bus network such as Ethernet, this central node (usually a hub)
rebroadcasts all transmissions received from any peripheral node to all peripheral nodes
on the network, sometimes including the originating node. All peripheral nodes may thus
communicate with all others by transmitting to, and receiving from, the central node
only. The failure of a transmission line linking any peripheral node to the central node
will result in the isolation of that peripheral node from all others, but the remaining
peripheral nodes will be unaffected. However, the disadvantage is that the failure of the
central node will cause the failure of all of the peripheral nodes also.
If the central node is passive, the originating node must be able to tolerate the reception
of an echo of its own transmission, delayed by the two-way transmission time (i.e. to
and from the central node) plus any delay generated in the central node. An active star
network has an active central node that usually has the means to prevent echo-related
problems.
A tree topology (a.k.a. hierarchical topology) can be viewed as a collection of star
networks arranged in a hierarchy. This tree has individual peripheral nodes (i.e. leaves)
which are required to transmit to and receive from one other node only and are not
required to act as repeaters or regenerators. Unlike the star network, the functionality of
the central node may be distributed.
As in the conventional star network, individual nodes may thus still be isolated from the
network by a single-point failure of a transmission path to the node. If a link connecting
a leaf fails, that leaf is isolated; if a connection to a non-leaf node fails, an entire section
of the network becomes isolated from the rest.
In order to alleviate the amount of network traffic that comes from broadcasting all
signals to all nodes, more advanced central nodes were developed that are able to keep
track of the identities of the nodes that are connected to the network. These network
switches will "learn" the layout of the network by first broadcasting data packets to all
nodes, then observing where response packets come from and entering the addresses of
these nodes into an internal table for future routing purposes.
[edit] Decentralization
In a mesh topology (i.e., a partially connected mesh topology), there are at least two
nodes with two or more paths between them to provide redundant paths to be used in
case the link providing one of the paths fails. This decentralization is often used to
advantage to compensate for the single-point-failure disadvantage that is present when
using a single device as a central node (e.g., in star and tree networks). A special kind
of mesh, limiting the number of hops between two nodes, is a hypercube. The number of
arbitrary forks in mesh networks makes them more difficult to design and implement,
but their decentralized nature makes them very useful. This is similar in some ways to a
grid network, where a linear or ring topology is used to connect systems in multiple
directions. A multi-dimensional ring has a toroidal topology, for instance.
A fully connected network, complete topology or full mesh topology is a network
topology in which there is a direct link between all pairs of nodes. In a fully connected
network with n nodes, there are n(n-1)/2 direct links. Networks designed with this
topology are usually very expensive to set up, but provide a high degree of reliability
due to the multiple paths for data that are provided by the large number of redundant
links between nodes. This topology is mostly seen in military applications. However, it
can also be seen in the file sharing protocol BitTorrent in which users connect to other
users in the "swarm" by allowing each user sharing the file to connect to other users
also involved. Often in actual usage of BitTorrent any given individual node is rarely
connected to every single other node as in a true fully connected network but the
protocol does allow for the possibility for any one node to connect to any other node
when sharing files.
[edit] Hybrids
Hybrid networks use a combination of any two or more topologies in such a way that the
resulting network does not exhibit one of the standard topologies (e.g., bus, star, ring,
etc.). For example, a tree network connected to a tree network is still a tree network,
but two star networks connected together exhibit a hybrid network topology. A hybrid
topology is always produced when two different basic network topologies are connected.
Two common examples for Hybrid network are: star ring network and star bus network
• A Star ring network consists of two or more star topologies connected using a
multistation access unit (MAU) as a centralized hub.
• A Star Bus network consists of two or more star topologies connected using a bus
trunk (the bus trunk serves as the network's backbone).
While grid networks have found popularity in high-performance computing applications,

some systems have used genetic algorithms to design custom networks that have the
fewest possible hops in between different nodes. Some of the resulting layouts are
nearly incomprehensible, although they do function quite well.
Bus network
Image showing bus network layout

A bus network is a network architecture in which a set of clients are connected via a
shared communications line, called a bus. There are several common instances of the
bus architecture, including one in the motherboard of most computers, and those in
some versions of Ethernet networks.
Bus networks are the simplest way to connect multiple clients, but often have problems
when two clients want to transmit at the same time on the same bus. Thus systems
which use bus network architectures normally have some scheme of collision handling or
collision avoidance for communication on the bus, quite often using Carrier Sense
Multiple Access or the presence of a bus master which controls access to the shared bus
resource.
A true bus network is passive – the computers on the bus simply listen for a signal; they
are not responsible for moving the signal along. However, many active architectures can
also be described as a "bus", as they provide the same logical functions as a passive
bus; for example, switched Ethernet can still be regarded as a logical bus network, if not
a physical one. Indeed, the hardware may be abstracted away completely in the case of
a software bus.
With the dominance of switched Ethernet over passive Ethernet, passive bus networks
are uncommon in wired networks. However, almost all current wireless networks can be
viewed as examples of passive bus networks, with radio propagation serving as the
shared passive medium.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Advantages and Disadvantages of a Bus Network

o 1.1 Advantages
o 1.2 Disadvantages
• 2 See also
o 2.1 Other Topologies
[edit] Advantages and Disadvantages of a Bus Network
[edit] Advantages
• Easy to implement and extend

• Requires less cable length than a star topology
• Well suited for temporary or small networks not requiring high speeds(quick
setup)
• Initially less expensive than other topologies
• Cheap
[edit] Disadvantages
• Difficult to administer/troubleshoot.
• Limited cable length and number of stations.
• If there is a problem with the cable, the entire network goes down.
• Maintenance costs may be higher in the long run.
• Performance degrades as additional computers are added or on heavy traffic.
• Low security (all computers on the bus can see all data transmissions).
• Proper termination is required.(loop must be in closed path).
• If one node fails, the whole network will shut down.
• If many computers are attached, the amount of data flowing causes the network
to slow down.
Mesh networking
(Redirected from Mesh network)

Image showing mesh network layout

Mesh networking is a way to route data, voice and instructions between nodes. It
allows for continuous connections and reconfiguration around broken or blocked paths
by "hopping" from node to node until the destination is reached. A mesh network whose
nodes are all connected to each other is a fully connected network. Mesh networks differ
from other networks in that the component parts can all connect to each other via
multiple hops, and they generally are not mobile. Mobile ad-hoc networking (MANET),
featured in many consumer devices, is a subsection of mesh networking.
Mesh networks are self-healing: the network can still operate even when a node breaks
down or a connection goes bad. As a result, a very reliable network is formed. This
concept is applicable to wireless networks, wired networks, and software interaction.
There are three distinct generations of wireless mesh architectures. In the first
generation one radio provides both backhaul (packet relaying) and client services
(access to a laptop). In the second generation, one radio relayed packets over multiple
hops while another provided client access. This significantly improved backhaul
bandwidth and latency. Third generation wireless mesh products use two or more radios
for the backhaul for higher bandwidth and low latency. Third generation mesh products
are needed as more demanding applications like voice and video need to be relayed
wirelessly over many hops of the mesh network.
An MIT project developing Children's Machines for under-privileged schools in developing
nations plans to use mesh networking to create a robust and inexpensive infrastructure
for the students who will receive the laptops. The instantaneous connections made by
the laptops are claimed by the project to reduce the need for an external infrastructure
such as the internet to reach all areas, because a connected node could share the
connection with nodes nearby. A technology similar to the one used in the Children's
Machines is available for use on netgear/x86/Meraki nodes. See roofnet.
In Cambridge, UK, on the 3rd June 2006, mesh networking was used at the "Strawberry
Fair" to run mobile live television, radio and internet services to an estimated 80,000
people.
The Champaign-Urbana Community Wireless Network (CUWiN) project is developing
mesh networking software based on open source implementations of the Hazy-Sighted
Link State Routing Protocol and Expected Transmission Count metric.
Star network

Star network layout

Star networks are one of the most common computer network topologies. In its
simplest form, a star network consists of one central switch, hub or computer which acts
as a router to transmit messages. If the central node is passive, the originating node
must be able to tolerate the reception of an echo of its own transmission, delayed by the
two-way transmission time (i.e. to and from the central node) plus any delay generated
in the central node. An active star network has an active central node that usually has
the means to prevent echo-related problems.
The star topology reduces the chance of network failure by connecting all of the systems
to a central node. When applied to a bus-based network, this central hub rebroadcasts
all transmissions received from any peripheral node to all peripheral nodes on the
network, sometimes including the originating node. All peripheral nodes may thus
communicate with all others by transmitting to, and receiving from, the central node
only. The failure of a transmission line linking any peripheral node to the central node
will result in the isolation of that peripheral node from all others, but the rest of the
systems will be unaffected.
Strictly speaking only networks that use switches have a true star topology. If the
network uses a hub, the network topology has the physical appearance of a star, but is
actually a bus.
[edit] Advantages
• Good performance.
• Easy to set up and to expand.
• Any non-centralised failure will have very little effect on the network, whereas on
a ring network it would all fail with one fault.
• Easy to detect faults
• Data Packets are sent quickly as they do not have to travel through any
unnecessary nodes.
[edit] Disadvantages
• Expensive to install
• Extra hardware required
• If the host computer fails the entire system is affected.
Tree and hypertree networks

involved!)
This article has been tagged since December 2006.
A hypertree is an acyclic hypergraph.
Tree and hypertree networks are important special cases of star network topologies.
A Tree Network consists of star-configured nodes connected to switches/concentrators,
each connected to a linear bus backbone. Each hub/concentrator rebroadcasts all
transmissions received from any peripheral node to all peripheral nodes on the network,
sometimes including the originating node. All peripheral nodes may thus communicate
with all others by transmitting to, and receiving from, the central node only. The failure
of a transmission line linking any peripheral node to the central node will result in the
isolation of that peripheral node from all others, but the rest of the systems will be
unaffected.
Switched mesh

(Also known as ‘high performance’ mesh) A 'switched mesh' is a wireless mesh network
that uses multiple radios to communicate via dedicated mesh backhaul links to each
neighboring node in the mesh. Here all of the available bandwidth of each separate radio
channel is dedicated to the link to the neighboring node. The total available bandwidth is
the sum of the bandwidth of each of the links. Each dedicated mesh link is on a separate
channel, ensuring that forwarded traffic does not use any bandwidth from any other link
in the mesh. As a result, a switched mesh is capable of much higher capacities and
transmission rates than a shared mesh and grows in capacity as nodes are added to the
mesh.
A switched mesh node uses separate access and multiple mesh backhaul radios.
Local area network

"LAN" redirects here. For other uses, see LAN (disambiguation).
Local area network scheme

A local area network is a computer network covering a small geographic area, like a
home, office, or group of buildings.[1] Current LANs are most likely to be based on
switched IEEE 802.3 Ethernet technology, running at 10, 100 or 1,000 Mbit/s, or on
IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi technology. Each node or computer in the LAN has its own computing
power but it can also access other devices on the LAN subject to the permissions it has
been allowed. These could include data, processing power, and the ability to
communicate or chat with other users in the network.[2]
The defining characteristics of LANs, in contrast to WANs (wide area networks), include
their much higher data transfer rates, smaller geographic range, and lack of a need for
leased telecommunication lines.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Technical aspects
• 2 Home networks
• 3 History
• 4 See also
• 5 References
[edit] Technical aspects
Although switched Ethernet is now the most common data link layer protocol (OSI 7-
Layer Model), and IP as a network layer protocol, many different options have been used
(see below), and some continue to be popular in niche areas. Smaller LANs consist of a
few switches typically connected to each other and with one connected to a router, cable
modem, or DSL modem. A traditional model of access, distribution, and core switches
was popularized by Cisco Systems and has been in use for many years.
Larger LANs are characterized by distributing Ethernet traffic roles within the network.
Each layer aggregates traffic of the layer below it and will typically maintain redundant
links with switches capable of quality of service and spanning tree protocol to prevent
loops and the recovery of failed uplinks.
Used for basic data or program sharing functionality, the humble LAN has served as a
catalyst for the indispensable role the intranet has come to play in modern government
departments and businesses. The LAN-based intranet has been a large contributor to the
productivity increases in western economies during the early part of the 21st century.
Initial implementations of LANs tended to revolve around the type of computers and
devices attached to the LAN, and to the permissions they would be granted. Modern
considerations include a carefully planned intranet strategy - to comply with legislative
and other responsibilities - content management software, accessibility, scalability, audit
requirements, document and information control and integration with telephone
systems.[3]
LANs may have connections to other LANs via routers and leased lines. Traditionally, the
network connecting two or more LANs is referred to as the WAN (Wide Area Network).
Recently, service providers have begun to offer additional services to link LANs together.
These technologies, such as Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs), and MPLS/VPN services
have diversified the standard model of interconnecting sites. There are also methods of
connecting LANs together through the use of Internet connections, VPN software or
hardware, and 'tunneling' across the Internet using VPN technologies.
Topology, protocols and media (The cables, like CAT5, or radio waves that connect
devices in the LAN) are the characteristics that differentiate LANs.
[edit] Home networks
With the proliferation of computers and IT devices in the modern home has come the
frequent use of LANs to connect them together. Many of these home LANs are wireless
and use the 802.11g/b wireless networking standard which transmits data as long wave
microwaves on the 2.4 GHz band. [4] Wireless LAN's connecting via the IEEE 802.11 Wi-
Fi standard are quickly replacing wired LAN's, and enabling internet connectivity in areas
that are otherwise impossible to connect to a computer network. [5] This is in response
to the declining price of home equipment and the increasing need of connectivity.
[edit] History
In the days before personal computers, a site might have just one central computer,
with users accessing this via computer terminals over simple low-speed cabling.
Networks such as IBM's SNA (Systems Network Architecture) were aimed at linking
terminals or other mainframes at remote sites over leased lines—hence these were wide
area networks.
The first LANs were created in the late 1970s and used to create high-speed links
between several large central computers at one site. Of many competing systems
created at this time, Ethernet and ARCNET were the most popular.
The development and proliferation of CP/M- and then DOS-based personal computers
meant that a single site began to have dozens or even hundreds of computers. The
initial attraction of networking these was generally to share disk space and laser
printers, which were both very expensive at the time. There was much enthusiasm for
the concept and for several years, from about 1983 onward, computer industry pundits
would regularly declare the coming year to be “the year of the LAN”.
In reality, the concept was marred by proliferation of incompatible physical layer and
network protocol implementations, and confusion over how best to share resources.
Typically, each vendor would have its own type of network card, cabling, protocol, and
network operating system. A solution appeared with the advent of Novell NetWare which
provided even-handed support for the 40 or so competing card/cable types, and a much
more sophisticated operating system than most of its competitors. Netware dominated[6]
the personal computer LAN business from early after its introduction in 1983 until the
mid 1990s when Microsoft introduced Windows NT Advanced Server and Windows for
Workgroups.
Of the competitors to NetWare, only Banyan Vines had comparable technical strengths,
but Banyan never gained a secure base. Microsoft and 3Com worked together to create
a simple network operating system which formed the base of 3Com's 3+Share,
Microsoft's LAN Manager and IBM's LAN Server. None of these were particularly
successful.
In this same timeframe, Unix computer workstations from vendors such as Sun
Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, Silicon Graphics, Intergraph, NeXT and Apollo were
using TCP/IP based networking. Although this market segment is now much reduced,
the technologies developed in this area continue to be influential on the Internet and in
both Linux and Apple Mac OS X networking, and the TCP/IP protocol has now almost
completely replaced IPX, AppleTalk, NETBEUI and other protocols used by the early PC
LANs.
OSI model

OSI Model
7 Application layer
6 Presentation layer
5 Session layer
4 Transport layer
3 Network layer
Data link layer
2 • LLC sublayer
• MAC sublayer
1 Physical layer
The Open Systems Interconnection Basic Reference Model (OSI Reference Model
or OSI Model for short) is a layered, abstract description for communications and
computer network protocol design, developed as part of the Open Systems
Interconnection initiative. It is also called the OSI seven layer model.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 History
• 2 Description of OSI layers
o 2.1 Layer 7: Application layer
o 2.2 Layer 6: Presentation layer
o 2.3 Layer 5: Session layer
o 2.4 Layer 4: Transport layer
o 2.5 Layer 3: Network layer
o 2.6 Layer 2: Data link layer
o 2.7 Layer 1: Physical layer
• 3 Interfaces
• 4 Examples
• 5 Humor
• 6 See also
[edit] History
In the late 1970s, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), began to
develop its Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) networking suite. OSI has two major
components: an abstract model of networking (the Basic Reference Model, or seven-
layer model), and a set of concrete protocols. The standard documents that describe OSI
are for sale and not currently available online.
Parts of OSI have influenced Internet protocol development, but none more than the
abstract model itself, documented in OSI 7498 and its various addenda. In this model, a
networking system is divided into layers. Within each layer, one or more entities
implement its functionality. Each entity interacts directly only with the layer immediately
beneath it, and provides facilities for use by the layer above it. Protocols enable an
entity in one host to interact with a corresponding entity at the same layer in a remote
host.
[edit] Description of OSI layers

[edit] OSI Model
Layer 7:
Data unit Layer Function
Applicati
on layer Application Network process to application
Host Data Presentation Data representation and encryption
The layers Session Interhost communication
Applicatio
n layer Segments Transport End-to-end connections and reliability (TCP)
provides a Packets Network Path determination and logical addressing (IP)
means for Media Frames Data link Physical addressing (MAC & LLC)
the user layers
to access Bits Physical Media, signal and binary transmission
information on the network through an application. This layer is the main interface for
the user(s) to interact with the application and therefore the network. Some examples of
application layer protocols include Telnet, applications which use File Transfer Protocol
(FTP), applications which use Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) and applications
which use Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). Applications built to use a protocol, such
as FTP, should not be confused with the protocols themselves, which often reside at the
session layer.
[edit] Layer 6: Presentation layer
The Presentation layer transforms data to provide a standard interface for the
Application layer. MIME encoding, data compression, data encryption and similar
manipulation of the presentation is done at this layer to present the data as a service or
protocol developer sees fit. Examples of this layer are converting an EBCDIC-coded text
file to an ASCII-coded file, or serializing objects and other data structures into and out
of XML.
[edit] Layer 5: Session layer
The Session layer controls the dialogues/connections (sessions) between computers. It

establishes, manages and terminates the connections between the local and remote
application. It provides for either full-duplex or half-duplex operation, and establishes
checkpointing, adjournment, termination, and restart procedures. The OSI model made
this layer responsible for "graceful close" of sessions, which is a property of TCP, and
also for session checkpointing and recovery, which is not usually used in the Internet
protocols suite.
[edit] Layer 4: Transport layer
The Transport layer provides transparent transfer of data between end users, thus
relieving the upper layers from any concern while providing reliable data transfer. The
transport layer controls the reliability of a given link through flow control,
segmentation/desegmentation, and error control. Some protocols are state and
connection oriented. This means that the transport layer can keep track of the packets
and retransmit those that fail. The best known example of a layer 4 protocol is the
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). The transport layer is the layer that converts
messages into TCP segments or User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Stream Control
Transmission Protocol (SCTP), etc. packets. Perhaps an easy way to visualize the
Transport Layer is to compare it with a Post Office, which deals with the dispatching and
classification of mail and parcels sent.
[edit] Layer 3: Network layer
The Network layer provides the functional and procedural means of transferring variable
length data sequences from a source to a destination via one or more networks while
maintaining the quality of service requested by the Transport layer. The Network layer
performs network routing functions, and might also perform
segmentation/desegmentation, and report delivery errors. Routers operate at this
layer—sending data throughout the extended network and making the Internet possible.
This is a logical addressing scheme – values are chosen by the network engineer. The
addressing scheme is hierarchical. The best known example of a layer 3 protocol is the
Internet Protocol (IP). Perhaps it's easier to visualize this layer as the actual Air Mail or
Consolidated Carrier that transfers the mail from Point A to Point B.
[edit] Layer 2: Data link layer
The Data Link layer provides the functional and procedural means to transfer data
between network entities and to detect and possibly correct errors that may occur in the
Physical layer. The best known example of this is Ethernet. Other examples of data link
protocols are HDLC and ADCCP for point-to-point or packet-switched networks and Aloha
for local area networks. On IEEE 802 local area networks, and some non-IEEE 802
networks such as FDDI, this layer may be split into a Media Access Control (MAC) layer
and the IEEE 802.2 Logical Link Control (LLC) layer. It arranges bits from physical layer
into logical chunks of data, known as frames.
This is the layer at which the bridges and switches operate. Connectivity is provided only
among locally attached network nodes forming layer 2 domains for unicast or broadcast
forwarding. Other protocols may be imposed on the data frames to create tunnels and
logically separated layer 2 forwarding domain.
[edit] Layer 1: Physical layer
The Physical layer defines all the electrical and physical specifications for devices. This
includes the layout of pins, voltages, and cable specifications. Hubs, repeaters, network
adapters and Host Bus Adapters (HBAs used in Storage Area Networks) are physical-
layer devices. The major functions and services performed by the physical layer are:
• Establishment and termination of a connection to a communications medium.

• Participation in the process whereby the communication resources are effectively
shared among multiple users. For example, contention resolution and flow control.
• Modulation, or conversion between the representation of digital data in user
equipment and the corresponding signals transmitted over a communications
channel. These are signals operating over the physical cabling (such as copper and
fiber optic) or over a radio link.
Parallel SCSI buses operate in this layer. Various physical-layer Ethernet standards are
also in this layer; Ethernet incorporates both this layer and the data-link layer. The
same applies to other local-area networks, such as Token ring, FDDI, and IEEE 802.11,
as well as personal area networks such as Bluetooth and IEEE 802.15.4.
[edit] Interfaces
In addition to standards for individual protocols in transmission, there are also interface
standards for different layers to talk to the ones above or below (usually operating-
system–specific). For example, Microsoft Windows' Winsock, and Unix's Berkeley sockets
and System V Transport Layer Interface, are interfaces between applications (layers 5
and above) and the transport (layer 4). NDIS and ODI are interfaces between the media
(layer 2) and the network protocol (layer 3).
[edit] Examples
Layer Misc. TCP/IP AppleTalk OSI IPX

SS7 SNA UMTS
# Name examples suite suite suite suite
HTTP, SMTP, ISUP,
FTAM,
HL7, SMPP, SNMP, INAP,
X.400,
7 Application Modbus, FTP, Telnet, MAP, AFP APPC
X.500,
SIP, SSI NFS, NTP, TUP,
DAP
RTP TCAP
TDI, MIME, XDR,
ASCII, SSL, TLS ISO
6 Presentation EBCDIC, (Not a AFP 8823,
MIDI, separate X.226
MPEG layer)
Sockets.
Session
establishment
Named
in TCP. SIP. ASP, ISO
Pipes,
5 Session (Not a ADSP, ZIP, 8327, NWLink DLC?
NetBIOS,
separate PAP X.225
SAP, SDP
layer with
standardized
API.)
TP0,
NetBEUI,
TCP, UDP, ATP, NBP, TP1,
4 Transport nanoTCP, SPX
SCTP AEP, RTMP TP2,
nanoUDP
TP3, TP4
RRC
IP, ICMP, MTP- X.25
NetBEUI, (Radio
3 Network IPsec, ARP, 3, DDP (PLP), IPX
Q.931 Resourc
RIP, OSPF SCCP CLNP
Control)
Ethernet,
802.11
(WiFi),
token LocalTalk,
IEEE
ring, TokenTalk,
X.25 802.3 MAC
FDDI, EtherTalk,
MTP- (LAPB), framing, (Media
2 Data Link PPP, PPP, SLIP AppleTalk SDLC
2 Token Ethernet Access
HDLC, Remote
Bus II Control)
Q.921, Access,
framing
Frame PPP
Relay,
ATM, Fibre
Channel
RS-232, MTP- RS-232, X.25 PHY
1 Physical Twinax
V.35, 1 RS-422, (X.21bis, (Physica
V.34, STP, EIA/TIA- Layer)
I.430, PhoneNet 232,
I.431, T1, EIA/TIA-
E1, 449,
10BASE- EIA-530,
T, G.703)
100BASE-
TX, POTS,
SONET,
DSL,
802.11a,
802.11b,
802.11g,
802.11n
[edit] Humor
• The seven layer model is sometimes humorously extended to refer to non-

technical issues or problems. A common joke is the 10 layer model, with layers
8, 9, and 10 being the "user", "financial", and "political" layers, or the "money",
"politics", and "religion" layers. Similarly, network technicians will sometimes refer
to "layer-eight problems", meaning problems with an end user and not with the
network.
• The OSI model has also been jokingly called the "Taco Bell model", since the
restaurant chain has been known for their seven layer burrito.
• Dick Lewis uses an analogy of James Bond delivering classified messages to

illustrate the seven-layer model.
• An acronym to remember the seven layers in order from one to seven is
"Please Do Not Take Sexy Penguin Away"
Routing
(Redirected from Routing algorithm)

This article discusses routing in computer networks. For other meanings, see
routing (disambiguation).
Routing Schemes
• anycast
• broadcast
• multicast
• unicast
In computer networking the term routing refers to selecting paths in a computer

network along which to send data.
Routing directs forwarding, the passing of logically addressed packets from their source
network, toward their ultimate destination through intermediary nodes; typically
hardware devices called routers. The routing process usually directs forwarding on the
basis of routing tables which maintain a record of the best routes to various network
destinations. Thus constructing routing tables, which are held in the routers' memory,
becomes very important for efficient routing.
Routing differs from bridging in its assumption that address-structures imply the
proximity of similar addresses within the network, thus allowing a single routing-table
entry to represent the route to a group of addresses. Therefore, routing outperforms
bridging in large networks, and it has become the dominant form of path-discovery on
the Internet.
Small networks may involve manually configured routing tables, while larger networks
involve complex topologies and may change constantly, making the manual construction
of routing tables very problematic. Nevertheless, most of the public switched telephone
network (PSTN) uses pre-computed routing tables, with fallback routes if the most direct
route becomes blocked; see routing in the PSTN. Dynamic routing attempts to solve this
problem by constructing routing tables automatically, based on information carried by
routing protocols, and allowing the network to act nearly autonomously in avoiding
network failures and blockages.
Dynamic routing dominates the Internet. However, the configuration of the routing
protocols often requires a skilled touch; one should not suppose that networking
technology has developed to the point of the complete automation of routing.
Packet-switched networks, such as the Internet, split data up into packets, each labeled
with the complete destination address and each routed individually. Circuit switched
networks, such as the voice telephone network, also perform routing, in order to find
paths for circuits (such as telephone calls) over which they can send large amounts of
data without continually repeating the complete destination address.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Dynamic routing basics

o 1.1 Distance vector algorithms
o 1.2 Link-state algorithms
o 1.3 Comparison of routing algorithms
• 2 Routed versus routing protocol
• 3 See also
• 4 References
[edit] Dynamic routing basics
If a designated path becomes unavailable, the existing nodes must determine an

alternate route to use to get their data to its destination. They usually accomplish this
through the use of a routing protocol using one of two broad classes of routing
algorithms: distance vector algorithms and link state algorithms, which together account
for nearly every routing algorithm in use on the Internet.
[edit] Distance vector algorithms
Main article: Distance-vector routing protocol

Distance vector algorithms use the Bellman-Ford algorithm. This approach assigns a
number, the cost, to each of the links between each node in the network. Nodes will
send information from point A to point B via the path that results in the lowest total cost
(i.e. the sum of the costs of the links between the nodes used).
The algorithm operates in a very simple manner. When a node first starts, it only knows
of its immediate neighbours, and the direct cost involved in reaching them. (This
information, the list of destinations, the total cost to each, and the next hop to send
data to get there, makes up the routing table, or distance table.) Each node, on a
regular basis, sends to each neighbour its own current idea of the total cost to get to all
the destinations it knows of. The neighbouring node(s) examine this information, and
compare it to what they already 'know'; anything which represents an improvement on
what they already have, they insert in their own routing table(s). Over time, all the
nodes in the network will discover the best next hop for all destinations, and the best
total cost.
When one of the nodes involved goes down, those nodes which used it as their next hop
for certain destinations discard those entries, and create new routing-table information.
They then pass this information to all adjacent nodes, which then repeat the process.
Eventually all the nodes in the network receive the updated information, and will then
discover new paths to all the destinations which they can still "reach".
[edit] Link-state algorithms
Main article: Link-state routing protocol

When applying link-state algorithms, each node uses as its fundamental data a map of
the network in the form of a graph. To produce this, each node floods the entire network
with information about what other nodes it can connect to, and each node then
independently assembles this information into a map. Using this map, each router then
independently determines the best route from itself to every other node.
The algorithm used to do this, Dijkstra's algorithm, does this by building another data
structure, a tree, with the current node itself as the root, and containing every other
node in the network. It starts with a tree containing only itself. Then, one at a time,
from the set of nodes which it has not yet added to the tree, it adds the node which has
the lowest cost to reach an adjacent node which already appears in the tree. This
continues until every node appears in the tree.
This tree then serves to construct the routing table, giving the best next hop, etc, to get
from the node itself to any other the network.
[edit] Comparison of routing algorithms
Distance-vector routing protocols are simple and efficient in small networks, and require
little, if any management. However, they do not scale well, and have poor convergence
properties, which has led to the development of more complex but more scalable link-
state routing protocols for use in large networks. Distance-vector protocols suffer from
the count-to-infinity problem [1].
The primary advantage of link-state routing is that it reacts more quickly, and in a
bounded amount of time, to connectivity changes. Also, the link-state packets that are
sent over the network are smaller than the packets used in distance-vector routing.
distance-vector routing requires a node's entire routing table to be transmitted, while in
link-state routing only information about the node's immediate neighbours are
transmitted. Therefore, these packets are small enough that they do not use network
resources to any significant degree. The primary disadvantage of link-state routing is
that it requires more storage and more computing to run than distance-vector routing.
Routed versus routing protocol
- Confusion often arises between routed protocol and routing protocol:
• Routed protocol : Any network protocol that provides enough information in its
network layer address to allow a packet to be forwarded from one host to another
host based on the addressing scheme, without knowing the entire path from
source to destination. Routed protocols define the format and use of the fields
within a packet. Packets generally are conveyed from end system to end system.
IP is an example of a routed protocol; Ethernet is considered a non-routable
protocol.
• Routing protocols : facilitate the exchange of routing information between

networks, allowing routers to build routing tables dynamically. Traditional IP
routing stays simple because it uses next-hop routing where the router only
needs to consider where it sends the packet, and does not need to consider the
subsequent path of the packet on the remaining hops.
Although this dynamic routing can become very complex, it makes the Internet very
flexible, and has allowed it to grow in size by more than eight orders of magnitude over
the years since adopting IP.
A routing metric consists of any value used by routing algorithms to determine
whether one route should perform better than another. Metrics can cover such
information as bandwidth, delay, hop count, path cost, load, MTU, reliability, and
communication cost. The routing table stores only the best possible routes, while link-
state or topological databases may store all other information as well.
Routers use the feature known as administrative distance to select the best path
when they "know" of two or more different routes to the same destination from two
different routing protocols. Administrative distance defines the reliability of a routing
protocol. Each routing protocol gets prioritized in order of most to least reliable using an
administrative-distance value.
Depending on the relationship of the router relative to other autonomous systems,
various classes of routing protocols exist:
• Ad hoc network routing protocols appear in networks with no or little

infrastructure. For the proposed protocols, see the Ad hoc routing protocol list
• Interior Gateway Protocols (IGPs) exchange routing-information within a

single autonomous system. Common examples include:
o IGRP (Interior Gateway Routing Protocol)
o EIGRP (Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol)
o OSPF (Open Shortest Path First)
o RIP (Routing Information Protocol)
o IS-IS (Intermediate System to Intermediate System)
Note: Pace various Cisco marketing documents, EIGRP definitely does not class as a
link-state protocol or as any sort of "hybrid" thereof.
• Exterior Gateway Protocols (EGPs) route between separate autonomous

systems. EGPs include:
o EGP (the original Exterior Gateway Protocol used to connect to the former
Internet backbone network -- now obsolete)
o BGP (Border Gateway Protocol: the current version, BGPv4, dates from
around 1995)
See also
• Routing algorithms:
o Hierarchical routing
o Edge Disjoint Shortest Pair Algorithm
o "Hot-potato routing"
o "Cold-potato routing"
• Deflection routing
• Policy based routing
• Wormhole routing
• Adaptive routing
• Specific designs
o Classless inter-domain routing (CIDR)
o MPLS routing
o ATM routing
o Routing in the PSTN
• Topics related to packet-forwarding (not path-selection)
o Network address translation (NAT)
o IP spoofing (Security)
• Mathematical complexity of routing with multiple metrics
o Quality of Service in routing
• Overlay network routing schemes
o Key based routing (KBR)
o Decentralized object location and routing (DOLR)
o Group anycast and multicast (CAST)
o Distributed hash tables (DHT)
• RPSL
• Hazy Sighted Link State Routing Protocol

• Open Shortest Path First (a link-state protocol)
• Fuzzy routing
• Geographic routing
UNICAST
CAST
ANYCAST
BROADCAST
MULTICAST
Circuit switching
In telecommunications, a circuit switching network is one that establishes a dedicated

circuit (or channel) between nodes and terminals before the users may communicate.
Each circuit that is dedicated cannot be used by other callers until the circuit is released
and a new connection is set up. Even if no actual communication is taking place in a
dedicated circuit then, that channel still remains unavailable to other users. Channels
that are available for new calls to be set up are said to be idle.
For call setup and control (and other administrative purposes), it is possible to use a
separate dedicated signalling channel from the end node to the network. ISDN is one
such service that uses a separate signalling channel while Plain Old Telephone Service
(POTS) does not.
The method of establishing the connection and monitoring its progress and termination
through the network may also utilize a separate control channel as in the case of links
between telephone exchanges which use CCS7 to communicate the call setup and
control information and use TDM to transport the actual circuit data.
Early telephone systems are a suitable example of circuit switching. The subscriber
would ask the operator to connect them to another subscriber, whether on the same
exchange or via an inter-exchange link and another operator. In any case, the end result
was a physical electrical connection between the two subscribers' telephones for the
duration of the call. The copper wire used for the connection could not be used to carry
other calls at the same time, even if the subscribers were in fact not talking and the line
was silent.
Since the first days of the telegraph it is possible to multiplex multiple connections over
the same physical conductor, but nonetheless each channel on the multiplexed link was
either dedicated to one call at a time, or it was idle between calls. Circuit switching can
be relatively inefficient because capacity is wasted on connections which are set up but
are not in continuous use (however momentarily). On the other hand, the connection is
immediately available and capacity is guaranteed until the call is disconnected.
Circuit switching contrasts with packet switching which splits traffic data (for instance,
digital representation of sound, or computer data) into chunks, called packets, that are
routed over a shared network. Packet switching networks do not require a circuit to be
established and allow many pairs of nodes to communicate almost simultaneously over
the same channel. Each packet is individually addressed precluding the need for a
dedicated path to help the packet find its way to its destination.
Packet switching
Packet switching, in computer networking and telecommunications, is the now-

dominant communications paradigm in which packets (units of information carriage) are
routed between nodes over data links shared with other traffic. This contrasts with the
other principal paradigm, circuit switching, which sets up a dedicated connection
between the two nodes for their exclusive use for the duration of the communication.
Packet switching is used to optimize the use of the bandwidth available in a network, to
minimize the transmission latency (i.e. the time it takes for data to pass across the
network), and to increase robustness of communication.
Contents
• 1 Packet routing
• 2 Packet switching in the networks
• 3 History of packet switching
• 4 See also
• 5 References
• 6 Further reading
Packet routing
Packets are routed to their destination as determined by a routing algorithm. The

routing algorithm can create paths based on various metrics and desirable qualities of
the routing path. For example, low latency may be of paramount concern and everything
else is secondary, or a minimum hop count.
It's also entirely possible to have to weigh the various metrics against each other. For
example, reducing the hop count could increase the latency to an unacceptable limit and
some kind of balance would need to be found. For multi-parameter optimization, some
form of optimization may be needed.
Once a route is determined for a packet it is entirely possible that the route may change
for the next packet, thus leading to a case where packets from the same source headed
to the same destination could be routed differently.
Packet switching influenced the development of the Actor model of concurrent
computation in which messages sent to the same address may be delivered in an order
different from the order in which they were sent.
Packet switching in the networks
The most well-known use of the packet switching is the Internet. The internet uses the
Internet protocol suite over a variety of data link layer protocols. For example, Ethernet
and Frame relay are very common. Newer mobile phone technologies (e.g., GPRS, I-
mode) also use packet switching.
X.25 is a notable use of packet switching in that, despite being based on packet
switching methods, it provided 'Virtual Circuits' to the user. In 1978, X.25 was used to
provide the first international and commercial packet switching network, the
International Packet Switched Service (IPSS).
Packet switching is also called connectionless networking because no connections are
established.
Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) is a hybrid technology, which uses cell relay instead
of packet switching.
Fast packet switching is a packet switching technique that increases the throughput by
eliminating overhead.
History of packet switching
The concept of packet switching had two independent beginnings, with Paul Baran and
Donald Davies (Abbate, 2000). Leonard Kleinrock conducted early research and
published a book in the related field of digital message switching (without the packets)
in 1961, and also later played a leading role in building and management of the world's
first packet switched network, the ARPANET.
Baran developed the concept of packet switching during his research at the RAND
Corporation for the US Air Force into survivable communications networks, first
published as RAND Paper P-2626 in 1962[1], and then including and expanding
somewhat within a series of eleven papers titled On Distributed Communications in 1964
[2]. Baran's P-2626 paper described a general architecture for a large-scale, distributed,
survivable communications network. The paper focuses on three key ideas: first, use of
a decentralized network with multiple paths between any two points; and second,
dividing complete user messages into what he called message blocks (later called
packets); then third, delivery of these messages by store and forward switching.
Baran's study made its way to Robert Taylor (computer scientist) and J.C.R. Licklider at
the Information Processing Technology Office, both wide-area network evangelists, and
it helped influence Lawrence Roberts to adopt the technology when Taylor put him in
charge of development of the ARPANET.
Baran's packet switching work was similar to the research performed independently by
Donald Davies at the National Physical Laboratory, UK. In 1965, Davies developed the
concept of packet switched networks and proposed development of a UK wide network.
He gave a talk on the proposal in 1966, after which a person from the Ministry of
Defense told him about Baran's work. Davies met Lawrence Roberts at the 1967 ACM
Symposium on Operating System Principles, bringing the two groups together.
Interestingly, Davies had chosen some of the same parameters for his original network
design as Baran, such as a packet size of 1024 bits. Roberts and the ARPANET team
took the name "packet switching" itself from Davies's work.
In 1970, Davies helped build a packet switched network called the Mark I to serve the
NPL in the UK. It was replaced with the Mark II in 1973, and remained in operation until
1986, influencing other research in the UK and Europe. [3]
Integrated Services Digital Network
The five layer TCP/IP model

5. Application layer
DHCP • DNS • FTP • HTTP • IMAP4 • IRC
• NNTP • XMPP • MIME • POP3 • SIP •
SMTP • SNMP • SSH • TELNET • BGP •
RPC • RTP • RTCP • TLS/SSL • SDP •
SOAP • L2TP • PPTP • …
4. Transport layer
TCP • UDP • DCCP • SCTP • GTP • …
3. Network layer
IP (IPv4 • IPv6) • ARP • RARP • ICMP •
IGMP • RSVP • IPSec • …
2. Data link layer
ATM • DTM • Ethernet • FDDI • Frame
Relay • GPRS • PPP • …
1. Physical layer
Ethernet physical layer • ISDN • Modems
• PLC • RS232 • SONET/SDH • G.709 •
Wi-Fi • …
Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) is a circuit-switched telephone network
system, designed to allow digital transmission of voice and data over ordinary telephone
copper wires, resulting in better quality and higher speeds than that available with the
PSTN system. More broadly, ISDN is a set of protocols for establishing and breaking
circuit switched connections, and for advanced call features for the user.
In a videoconference, ISDN provides simultaneous voice, video, and text transmission
between individual desktop videoconferencing systems and group (room)
videoconferencing systems.
Contents
• 1 ISDN elements
• 2 Consumer and industry perspectives
• 3 Configurations
• 4 Reference points
• 5 Types of communications
• 6 Sample call
• 7 See also
o 7.1 Protocols
o 7.2 Other
ISDN elements
The English term is a backronym that was thought to be better for English-language
advertisements than the original, "Integriertes Sprach- und Datennetz" (German for
"Integrated Speech and Data Net").
• Integrated Services refers to ISDN's ability to deliver at minimum two

simultaneous connections, in any combination of data, voice, video, and fax, over
a single line. Multiple devices can be attached to the line, and used as needed.
That means an ISDN line can take care of most people's complete communications
needs, without forcing the purchase of multiple analog phone lines at a much
higher transmission rate.
• Digital refers to its purely digital transmission, as opposed to the analog
transmission of plain old telephone service (POTS). Use of an analog telephone
modem for Internet access requires that the Internet service provider's (ISP)
modem has converted the website's digital content to analog signals before
sending it back and the modem then converts those signals back to digital when
receiving. When connecting with ISDN there is no analog conversion. ISDN
transmits data digitally, resulting in a very clear transmission quality. There is
none of the static and noise of analog transmissions that can cause slow
transmission speed.
• Network refers to the fact that ISDN is not simply a point-to-point solution like a
leased line. ISDN networks extend from the local telephone exchange to the
remote user and include all of the telecommunications and switching equipment in
between.
The purpose of the ISDN is to provide fully integrated digital services to the users. These
services fall under three categories: bearer services, supplementary services and
teleservices.
Consumer and industry perspectives
There are two points of view into the ISDN world. The most common viewpoint is that of
the end user, who wants to get a digital connection into the telephone/data network
from home, whose performance would be better than an ordinary analog modem
connection. The typical end-user's connection to the Internet is related to this point of
view, and talk about the merits of various ISDN modems, carriers' offerings and
tarriffing (features, pricing) are from this perspective. Much of the following discussion is
from this point of view, but it should be noted that as a data connection service, ISDN
has been mostly superseded by DSL.
There is, however, a second viewpoint: that of the telephone industry, where ISDN is
not a dead issue. A telephone network can be thought of as a collection of wires strung
between switching systems. The common electrical specification for the signals on these
wires is T1 or E1. On a normal T1, the signalling is done with A&B bits to indicate on-
hook or off-hook conditions and MF and DTMF tones to encode the destination number.
ISDN is much better because messages can be sent much more quickly than by trying to
encode numbers as long (100 ms per digit) tone sequences. This translated to much
faster call setup times, which is greatly desired by carriers who have to pay for line time
and also by callers who become impatient while their call hops from switch to switch.
It is also used as a smart-network technology intended to add new services to the public
switched telephone network (PSTN) by giving users direct access to end-to-end circuit-
switched digital services.
ISDN BRI has never gained popularity as a telephone network in North America and
today remains a niche product. However, most modern non-VoIP PBXs use PRI T1 lines
to communicate with a Telco Class 5 central office switch, replacing older analog two-
way and Direct Inward Dialing (DID) trunks. PRI is capable of delivering caller ID in both
directions so that the telephone number of an extension, rather than a company's main
number, can be sent. It is still commonly used in recording studios, when a voice-over
actor is in one studio, but the director and producer are in a studio at another location.
ISDN is used because of its "guaranteed" real-time, not-over-the-Internet service, and
its superior audio fidelity as compared to POTS service. A few companies make video
conference call equipment that combine three BRI lines and six 64K channels to create a
good quality picture.
In Japan, it became popular to some extent from around 1999 to 2001, but now that
ADSL has been introduced, the number of subscribers is in decline. NTT, a dominant
Japanese telephone company, provides an ISDN service with the names INS64 and
INS1500, which are much less recognized than ISDN.
In the UK, British Telecom (BT) provides ISDN2e (BRI) as well as ISDN30 (PRI). Until
April 2006, they also offered Home Highway and Business Highway, which are BRI
ISDN-based services that offer integrated analogue connectivity as well as ISDN. Later
versions of the Highway products also included built-in USB sockets for direct computer
access. Home Highway has been bought by many home users, usually for Internet
connection, although not as fast as ADSL, because it was available before ADSL and in
places where ADSL does not reach.
France Télécom offers ISDN services under their product name Numeris (2 B+D), of
which a professional Duo and home Itoo version is available. ISDN is generally known as
RNIS in France and has widespread availability. The introduction of ADSL is reducing
ISDN use for data transfer and Internet access, although it is still common in more rural
and outlying areas.
In Germany, ISDN is very popular with an installed base of 25 million channels (29% of
all subscriber lines in Germany as of 2003 and 20% of all ISDN channels worldwide).
Due to the success of ISDN, the number of installed analog lines is decreasing. Deutsche
Telekom (DTAG) offers both BRI and PRI. Competing phone companies often offer ISDN
only and no analog lines. Because of the widespread availability of ADSL services, ISDN
is today primarily used for voice traffic, but is still very popular thanks to the pricing
policy of German telcos. Today ISDN (BRI) and ADSL/VDSL are often bundled on the
same line.
In India, ISDN was very popular until the introduction of ADSL. Bharat Sanchar Nigam
Limited (A Govt. Of India Ent.), the largest telecom giant in India, is offering both ISDN
BRI and PRI services across the country over its ISDN network. After the introduction of
ADSL broadband technology with static IPs, the data transfer load is taken up by ADSL.
But ISDN still plays a very big role as a backup network for point-to-point leased line
customers and low cost reliable data network for organisations located all over India,
such as Banks,E-seva centres, LIC, and so on.
Configurations
In ISDN, there are two types of channels, B (for "Bearer") and D (for "Delta"). B
channels are used for data (which may include voice), and D channels are intended for
signaling and control (but can also be used for data).
There are three ISDN implementations. Basic rate interface (BRI) — also Basic rate
access (BRA) — consists of two B channels, each with bandwidth of 64 kbit/s, and one
D channel with a bandwidth of 16 kbit/s. Together these three channels can be
designated as 2B+D. Primary rate interface (PRI) — also Primary rate access
(PRA) — contains a greater number of B channels and a D channel with a bandwidth of
64 kbit/s. The number of B channels for PRI varies according to the nation: in North
America and Japan it is 23B+1D, with an aggregate bit rate of 1.544 Mbit/s (T1); in
Europe and Australia it is 30B+1D, with an aggregate bit rate of 2.048 Mbit/s (E1).
Broadband Integrated Services Digital Network (BISDN) is another ISDN
implementation and it is able to manage different types of services at the same time. It
is primarily used within network backbones and employs ATM.
Another alternative ISDN configuration can be used in which the B channels of an ISDN
basic rate interface are bonded to provide a total duplex bandwidth of 128 kbit/s. This
precludes use of the line for voice calls while the internet connection is in use.
Using bipolar with eight-zero substitution encoding technique, call data is transmitted
over the data (B) channels, with the signalling (D) channels used for call setup and
management. Once a call is set up, there is a simple 64 kbit/s synchronous bidirectional
data channel between the end parties, lasting until the call is terminated. There can be
as many calls as there are data channels, to the same or different end-points. Bearer
channels may also be multiplexed into what may be considered single, higher-bandwidth
channels via a process called B channel bonding.
The D channel can also be used for sending and receiving X.25 data packets, and
connection to X.25 packet network, this is specified in X.31. In practice, X.31 was only
commercially implemented in France and Japan.
Reference points
A set of reference points are defined in the ISDN standard to refer to certain points
between the telco and the end user ISDN equipment.
• R - defines the point between a non-ISDN device and a terminal adapter (TA)
which provides translation to and from such a device
• S - defines the point between the ISDN equipment (or TA) and a Network
Termination Type 2 (NT-2) device
• T - defines the point between the NT-2 and NT-1 devices1
• U - defines the point between the NT-1 and the telco switch2
1
Most NT-1 devices can perform the functions of the NT-2 as well, and so the S and T
reference points are generally collapsed into the S/T reference point.
2
Inside North America, the NT-1 device is considered customer premises equipment and
must be maintained by the customer, thus, the U interface is provided to the customer.
In other locations, the NT-1 device is maintained by the telco, and the S/T interface is
provided to the customer.
Types of communications
Among the kinds of data that can be moved over the 64 kbit/s channels are pulse-code
modulated voice calls, providing access to the traditional voice PSTN. This information
can be passed between the network and the user end-point at call set-up time. In North
America, ISDN is now used mostly as an alternative to analog connections, most
commonly for Internet access. Some of the services envisioned as being delivered over
ISDN are now delivered over the Internet instead. In Europe, and in Germany in
particular, ISDN has been successfully marketed as a phone with features, as opposed
to a POTS phone (Plain Old Telephone Service) with few or no features. Meanwhile,
features that were first available with ISDN (such as Three-Way Call, Call Forwarding,
Caller ID, etc.) are now commonly available for ordinary analog phones as well,
eliminating this advantage of ISDN. Another advantage of ISDN was the possibility of
multiple simultaneous calls (one call per B channel), e.g. for big families, but with the
increased popularity and reduced prices of mobile telephony this has become less
interesting as well, making ISDN unappealing to the private customer. However, ISDN is
typically more reliable than POTS, and has a significantly faster call setup time
compared with POTS, and IP connections over ISDN typically have some 30–35ms round
trip time, as opposed to 120–180ms (both measured with otherwise unused lines) over
56k or V.34 modems, making ISDN more pleasant for telecommuters.
Where an analog connection requires a modem, an ISDN connection requires a terminal
adapter (TA). The function of an ISDN terminal adapter is often delivered in the form of
a PC card with an S/T interface, and single-chip solutions seem to exist, considering the
plethora of combined ISDN- and ADSL-routers.
ISDN is commonly used in radio broadcasting. Since ISDN provides a high quality
connection this assists in delivering good quality audio for transmission in radio. Most
radio studios are equipped with ISDN lines as their main form of communication with
other studios or standard phone lines.
Sample call
The following is an example of a Primary Rate (PRI) ISDN call showing the Q.921/LAPD
and the Q.931/Network message intermixed (i.e. exactly what was exchanged on the D-
channel). The call is originating from the switch where the trace was taken and goes out
to some other switch, possibly an end-office LEC, who terminates the call.
The first line format is <time> <D-channel> <Transmitted/Received> <LAPD/ISDN
message ID>. If the message is an ISDN level message, then a decoding of the
message is attempted showing the various Information Elements that make up the
message. All ISDN messages are tagged with an ID number relative to the switch that
started the call (local/remote). Following this optional decoding is a dump of the bytes of
the message in <offset> <hex> ... <hex> <ascii> ... <ascii> format.
The RR messages at the beginning prior to the call are the keep alive messages. Then
you will see a SETUP message that starts the call. Each message is acknowledged by
the other side with a RR.
10:49:47.33 21/1/24 R RR
0000 02 01 01 a5 ....
10:49:47.34 21/1/24 T RR
0000 02 01 01 b9 ....
10:50:17.57 21/1/24 R RR
0000 02 01 01 a5 ....
10:50:17.58 21/1/24 T RR
0000 02 01 01 b9 ....
10:50:24.37 21/1/24 T SETUP

Call Reference : 000062-local
Bearer Capability : CCITT, Speech, Circuit mode, 64 kbit/s
Channel ID : Implicit Interface ID implies current span, 21/1/5, Exclusive
Calling Party Number : 8018023000 National number User-provided, not screened
Presentation allowed
Called Party Number : 3739120 Type: SUBSCRB
0000 00 01 a4 b8 08 02 00 3e 05 04 03 80 90 a2 18 03 .......>........
0010 a9 83 85 6c 0c 21 80 38 30 31 38 30 32 33 30 30 ...l.!.801802300
0020 30 70 08 c1 33 37 33 39 31 32 30 0p..3739120
10:50:24.37 21/1/24 R RR
0000 00 01 01 a6 ....
10:50:24.77 21/1/24 R CALL PROCEEDING

Channel ID : Implicit Interface ID implies current span, 21/1/5, Exclusive
0000 02 01 b8 a6 08 02 80 3e 02 18 03 a9 83 85 .......>......
10:50:24.77 21/1/24 T RR
0000 02 01 01 ba ....
10:50:25.02 21/1/24 R ALERTING

Progress Indicator : CCITT, Public network serving local user,
In-band information or an appropriate pattern is now available
0000 02 01 ba a6 08 02 80 3e 01 1e 02 82 88 .......>.....
10:50:25.02 21/1/24 T RR
0000 02 01 01 bc ....
10:50:28.43 21/1/24 R CONNECT

0000 02 01 bc a6 08 02 80 3e 07 .......>.
10:50:28.43 21/1/24 T RR
0000 02 01 01 be ....
10:50:28.43 21/1/24 T CONNECT_ACK

0000 00 01 a6 be 08 02 00 3e 0f .......>.
10:50:28.44 21/1/24 R RR
0000 00 01 01 a8 ....
10:50:35.69 21/1/24 T DISCONNECT

Cause : 16, Normal call clearing.
0000 00 01 a8 be 08 02 00 3e 45 08 02 8a 90 .......>E....
10:50:35.70 21/1/24 R RR
0000 00 01 01 aa ....
10:50:36.98 21/1/24 R RELEASE

0000 02 01 be aa 08 02 80 3e 4d .......>M
10:50:36.98 21/1/24 T RR
0000 02 01 01 c0 ....
10:50:36.99 21/1/24 T RELEASE COMPLETE

0000 00 01 aa c0 08 02 00 3e 5a .......>Z
10:50:36.00 21/1/24 R RR
0000 00 01 01 ac ....
10:51:06.10 21/1/24 R RR
0000 02 01 01 ad ....
10:51:06.10 21/1/24 T RR
0000 02 01 01 c1 ....
10:51:36.37 21/1/24 R RR
0000 02 01 01 ad ....
10:51:36.37 21/1/24 T RR
0000 02 01 01 c1 ....
See also
Protocols
• DSS1 (ETSI "Euro-ISDN", also used in many non-European countries)

• DSS2 (Digital Subscriber Signalling System No. 2)
• NI-1 (US National ISDN Phase 1)

• NI-2 (US National ISDN Phase 2)
• INS-NET 64/1500 (Japanese national/NTT carrier-specific protocol)

• DACS used in the UK by British Telecom it uses non standard D channel signalling
for Pair gain
• FTZ 1 TR 6 (obsolete German national protocol)

• TS.013/TS.014 (obsolete Australian national protocol)
• VN2/VN3/VN4 (obsolete French national protocols)
Specifications defining the physical layer and part of the data link layers of ISDN:
• ISDN BRI: ITU-T I.430.

• ISDN PRI: ITU-T I.431.
From the point of view of the OSI architecture, an ISDN line has a stack of three
protocols
• physical layer
• data link layer
• network layer (the ISDN protocol, properly)
External links
Wikibooks has a book on the topic of

Nets, Web and the Information Infrastructure
• http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~fine/ISDN/
• http://www.itu.org
• http://www.ralphb.net/ISDN/
• Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) - Guide
(http://forums.techarena.in/showthread.php?t=5170)
Basic rate interface

Basic rate interface (BRI, 2B+D, 2B1D) is an Integrated Services Digital Network
configuration defined in the physical layer standard I.430 produced by the ITU. This
configuration consists of two 64 kbit/s "bearer" channels (B channels) and one 16 kbit/s
"data" channel (D channel). The B channels are used for voice or user data, and the D
channel is used for any combination of: data, control/signalling and X.25 packet
networking. The two B channels can be bonded together giving a total data rate of 128
kbit/s. BRI is the kind of ISDN interface most likely to be found in residential service.
The I.430 protocol defines 48-bit packets comprising 16 bits from the B1 channel, 16
bits from B2 channel, 4 bits from the D channel, and 12 bits used for synchronization
purposes. These packets are sent at a rate of 4 kHz, giving the data rates listed above
for a maximum possible throughput of 144 kbit/s.
There are two modulation methods that can be used to deliver the U-Interface signals
over an ordinary copper pair. The most popular is 2B1Q.
Contents
• 1 2B1Q line coding

• 2 4B3T line coding
• 3 Physical interfaces
• 4 References
• 5 See Also
2B1Q line coding
2B1Q coding is the standard used in North America. 2B1Q means that two bits are
combined to form a single Quaternary line state. 2B1Q combines two bits at a time to
represent one of four amplitude levels on the line. The baud rate, therefore, is 80
kilobaud. It operates with a maximum frequency range of 40 kHz.
2B1Q coding is defined in ANSI T1.601 and ETR 080, Annex A. It can operate at
distances up to about 18,000 feet (5.5 km) with loss up to 42 dB. An internal
termination impedance of 135 ohms is presented to the line at each end of the U-
interface. Echo cancellation techniques allow full-duplex operation on the line.
2B1Q transmission can be simply described as an amplitude modulation scheme for DC
pulses as indicated in the diagram below.
4B3T line coding
4B3T is a standard used in Europe and elsewhere in the world. 4B3T is a "block code"
that uses Return-to-Zero states on the line. 4B3T combines 4 bits to represent one
"ternary" line signal state. The baud rate is 3/4ths of the data rate (120 kbaud).
4B3T is defined in ETR 080, Annex B and other national standards, like Germany's
1TR220. 4B3T can be transmitted reliably at up to 4.2 km over 0.4 mm cable or up to
8.2 km over 0.6 mm cable. An internal termination impedance of 150 ohms is presented
to the line at each end of the U-interface. Echo cancellation techniques allow full-duplex
operation on the line.
In 4B3T coding, there are three states presented to line: a positive pulse (+), a negative
pulse (-), or a zero-state (no pulse: 0). An analogy here is that operation is similar to
B8ZS or HDB3 in T1/E1 systems, except that there is an actual gain in the information
rate by coding 16 possible binary states to one of 27 ternary states.
There are many ways to perform this conversion, but BRI standards define a code
known as MMS43 (Modified Monitoring State 43).
One of the requirements for line transmission is that there should be no DC build-up on
the line, so there are some code substitutions based upon the transmission of the
previous bits. These are indicated in the lower half of the table above. The next state
(S1 - S4) to be transmitted is indicated in the column labled Go. In the table above, the
left-most bits and pulses are transmitted first.
The diagram below indicates a binary code of 1100 transmitted first (State S1). Then a
squence of 1101 is transmitted (using State S4).
Physical interfaces
In ISDN technology there are three main types of interfaces for ISDN Basic Rate
interface:
• S/T Interface (S0). Uses four wires with a separate pair of wires for the uplink and
another pair for the downlink. The most used of the four interfaces
• Up Interface. Uses one wire pair using the half duplex "ping-pong" protocol. Used
by many PABX systems that use ISDN technology. Depending of the possible cable
range there are two varieties called UpN and Up0.
• Uk0 Interface. one wire pair with echo cancellation. Used for the long last mile
cable between the telephone exchange and the network terminator.
Primary rate interface
The primary rate interface (PRI) is a telecommunications standard for carrying

multiple DS0 voice and data transmissions between two physical locations.
All data and voice channels are ISDN and operate at 64 kbit/s.
North America and Japan use a T1 of 23 B channels and one D channel which
corresponds to a T1 line. Europe, Australia and most of the rest of the world use the
slightly higher capacity E1, which is composed of 30 B channels and one D channel.
Fewer active B channels (also called user channels) can be used for a fractional T1. More
channels can be used with more T1's, or with a fractional or full T3 or E3.
See T-carrier for DS0, T1, E1, T3, E3 and other carrier communications terms.
In the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), there are two levels of service: the
Basic Rate Interface (BRI), intended for the home and small enterprise, and the Primary
Rate Interface (PRI), for larger users. Both rates include a number of B-channels and a
D-channel. Each B-channel carries data, voice, and other services. The D-channel carries
control and signaling information. The Basic Rate Interface consists of two 64 kbit/s B-
channels and one 16 kbit/s D-channel. Thus, a Basic Rate Interface user can have up to
128 kbit/s service. The Primary Rate Interface consists of 23 B-channels and one 64
Kbps D-channel using a T-1 line or 30 B-channels and 1 D-channel using an E1 line.
Thus, a Primary Rate Interface user on a T-1 line can have up to 1.544 Mbit/s service or
up to 2.048 Mbit/s service on an E1 line. PRI uses the Q.931 protocol over the D-
channel. The B and D channel sizes are dependant on the Framing format of the T-1
circuit. ie. Super Frame(SF) is a 56kb channel and the Extended Super Frame (ESF) is a
64kb channel.
The Primary Rate Interface channels are carried on a T-carrier system line (in the U.S.,
Canada, and Japan) or an E-carrier line (in other countries) and are typically used by
medium to large enterprises. The 23 (or 30) B-channels can be used flexibly and
reassigned when necessary to meet special needs such as videoconferences. The
Primary Rate user is hooked up directly to the telephone company central office.
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