CHAPTER -III NETWORK ELEMENTS & TOPOLOGIES OBJECTIVES The objectives of this chapter are to familiarize with the

following: i) ii) iii) iv) v) vi) INTRODUCTION Information does not exist in a vacuum. Just as the need to share information between desktop computers in an office has forced the proliferation of LANs, the need to share information beyond a single workgroup is forcing the adoption of LAN-to-LAN links, host gateways, asynchronous communication servers, and other methods of communication with other systems. LAN COMPONENTS Local Area Network is a high speed, low error data network covering a relatively small geographic area. LAN connects workstations, peripherals, terminal and other devices in a single building or other geographically limited area. LAN standard specifies cabling and signaling at the physical and data link layers of the OSI model. Ethernet, FDDI and Token ring are widely used LAN technology. In LAN technology to solve the congestion problem and increase the networking performance single Ethernet segment is to be divided into multiple network segments. This is achieved through various network components. Physical segmentation, network-switching technology, using full duplex Ethernet devices, fast Ethernet and FDDI, available bandwidth may be maximized. ETHERNET TERMINOLOGY Ethernet follows a simple set of rules that govern its basic operation. To better understand these rules, it is important to understand the basics of Ethernet terminology.

The LAN components and terminology Networking basics and topologies Hub Switch Router Gateway

Medium - Ethernet devices attach to a common medium that provides a path along which the electronic signals will travel. Historically, this medium has been coaxial copper cable, but today it is more commonly a twisted pair or fiber optic cabling. Segment - We refer to a single shared medium as an Ethernet segment. Node - Devices that attach to that segment are stations or nodes. Frame - The nodes communicate in short messages called frames, which are variably sized chunks of information.

The Ethernet protocol specifies a set of rules for constructing frames. There are explicit minimum and maximum lengths for frames, and a set of required pieces of information that must appear in the frame. Each frame must include, for example, both a destination address and a source address, which identify the recipient and the sender of the message. The address uniquely identifies the node, just as a name identifies a particular person. No two Ethernet devices should ever have the same address.

RTTC Hyderabad

Since a signal on the Ethernet medium reaches every attached node, the destination address is critical to identify the intended recipient of the frame. For example, in the figure above, when computer B transmits to printer C, computers A and D will still receive and examine the frame. However, when a station first receives a frame, it checks the destination address to see if the frame is intended for itself. If it is not, the station discards the frame without even examining its contents. One interesting thing about Ethernet addressing is the implementation of a broadcast address. A frame with a destination address equal to the broadcast address (simply called a broadcast, for short) is intended for every node on the network, and every node will both receive and process this type of frame.

Topology - Topology is the way that each node is physically connected to the network. Common topologies include:

Bus - Each node is daisy-chained (connected one right after the other) along the same backbone. Information sent from a node travels along the backbone until it reaches its destination node. Each end of a bus network must be terminated with a resistor to keep the signal that is sent by a node across the network from bouncing back when it reaches the end of the cable.

Bus network topology

Ring - Like a bus network, rings have the nodes daisy-chained. The difference is that the end of the network comes back around to the first node, creating a complete circuit. In a ring network, each node takes a turn sending and receiving information through the use of a token. The token, along with any data, is sent from the first node to the second node, which extracts the data addressed to it and adds any data it wishes to send. Then, the second node passes the token and data to the third node, and so on until it comes

RTTC Hyderabad

back around to the first node again. Only the node with the token is allowed to send data. All other nodes must wait for the token to come to them.

Ring network topology

Star - In a star network, each node is connected to a central device called a hub. The hub takes a signal that comes from any node and passes it along to all the other nodes in the network. A hub does not perform any type of filtering or routing of the data. It is simply a junction that joins all the different nodes together.

Star network topology

Star bus - Probably the most common network topology in use today, star bus combines elements of the star and bus topologies to create a versatile network environment. Nodes in particular areas are connected to hubs (creating stars), and the hubs are connected together along the network backbone (like a bus network). Quite often, stars are nested within stars, as seen in the example below:

A typical star bus network

RTTC Hyderabad

Local Area Network (LAN) - A LAN is a network of computers that are in the same general physical location, usually within a building or a campus. If the computers are far apart (such as across town or in different cities), then a Wide Area Network (WAN) is typically used. Network Interface Card (NIC) - Every computer (and most other devices) is connected to a network through an NIC. In most desktop computers, this is an Ethernet card (normally 10 or 100 Mbps) that is plugged into a slot on the computer's motherboard. Media Access Control (MAC) address - This is the physical address of any device -- such as the NIC in a computer -- on the network. The MAC address has two parts, each 3 bytes long. The first 3 bytes identify the company that made the NIC. The second 3 bytes are the serial number of the NIC itself. Unicast - A unicast is a transmission from one node addressed specifically to another node. Multicast - In a multicast, a node sends a packet addressed to a special group address. Devices that are interested in this group register to receive packets addressed to the group. An example might be a Cisco router sending out an update to all of the other Cisco routers. Broadcast - In a broadcast, a node sends out a packet that is intended for transmission to all other nodes on the network.

SWITCHES Switches are a fundamental part of most networks. They make it possible for several users to send information over a network at the same time without slowing each other down. Just like routers allow different networks to communicate with each other, switches allow different nodes (a network connection point, typically a computer) of a network to communicate directly with one another in a smooth and efficient manner. Switches that provide a separate connection for each node in a company's internal network are called LAN switches. Essentially, a LAN switch creates a series of instant networks that contain only the two devices communicating with each other at that particular moment ROUTERS Routers connect LANs at the Network layer of the OSI model Routers connect LANs that use the same Network-layer protocol, such as IPX-to-IPX and IP-to-IP. Because routers operate at the Network layer, they can be used to link dissimilar LANs, such as ARCNET, Ethernet, and Token Ring. Two networks connected via a router are physically and logically separate networks. Network-layer protocols have their own addressing scheme separate from the addressing scheme of MAC-layer protocols. This addressing scheme may or may not include the MAClayer addresses of the network cards. Each network attached to a router must be assigned a logical identifier, or network address, to designate it as unique from other physical networks. Routers only forward traffic addressed to the other side. This means that local traffic on one LAN will not affect performance on another. Routers can be proprietary devices, or can be software and hardware residing in a general purpose computer, such as a PC.

RTTC Hyderabad

GATEWAYS A gateway is a fundamentally different type of device than a router or switch and can be used in conjunction with them. A gateway makes it possible for an application program, running on a system, confirming to network architecture, to communicate with an application program running on a system confirming to some other network architecture.

A gateway performs its function in the Application layer of the OSI model. The function of a gateway is to convert one set of communication protocols to some other set of communication protocols. Protocol conversion may include the following:

Message Format Conversion- Different networks may employ different message format, maximum message size, or character codes. The gateway must be able to convert messages to appropriate format, size and coding. Address translation- Different networks may employ different addressing mechanism and network address structures. The gateway must be able to interpret network address in one network and convert them into network address in other network. Protocol conversion- When a message is prepared for transmission, each layer adds control information, unique to the protocol used in that layer. The gateway must be able to convert control information used by each layer so that the receiving system receives the control information in the format it expects. Services affected may include message segmentation and reassembly, data flow control, and error detection and recovery.

RTTC Hyderabad