COMPUTER NETWORKS

NETWORK DEVICES
 Network Interface Cards
• Also known as LAN cards or LAN adapters
• Makes the connection between the computer
and the network [Link] it is the hardware
added to the machine that allows it to
communicate with the network.
• These cards typically use Ethernet connection
and are available in 10, 100, and 1000 Mbps.
• Most new computers have Ethernet capabilities
integrated into the motherboard chipset.
• NICs are specifically designed
 NIC
Ethernet speed
10Mbp Ethernet
100Mbps Fast Ethernet
1Gbps(1000Mbps) Gigabit Ethernet
NIC
 NICs
• This device has a unique Media Access Control
Address (MAC address) assigned by the
manufacturer to uniquely identify a device on
the network. The MAC is a physical address for
the network card
• It is hard coded to the device by the
manufacturer.
• This address is unique from all other network
cards. It physically identifies a device on a
network.
 NICs
The MAC address is a 12 digit hexadecimal
number that is most often displayed with a
colon or hypen separating every two digits (an
octet), making it easier to read. Example: A
MAC address of 2c549188c9e3 is typically
displayed as 2C:54:91:88:C9:E3 or 2c-54-91-88-
c9-e3
NICs
 Repeaters
• As a signals travel along a network cable or any
other medium of transmission, they degrade and
become distorted in a process that is called
attenuation.
• If a cable is long enough, the attenuation will
finally make a signal unrecognizable by the
receiver.
• Repeaters work at the physical layer of the OSI
model.
• Its main function is to regenerate the signal.
 Repeaters
• A repeater cleans the signal, regenerates it to it
original strength (preserve signal integrity) i.e it
recovers the digital pattern from the signal it
gets and retransmits it as a new signal.
• It extends the range over which data can safely
travel.
• It connects two segments of a network cable.
• It requires a small amount of time to regenerate
the signal. This can cause propagation delay.
 Repeaters
• Repeaters will not enable communication
between for example 802.3 Ethernet segment
and an 802.5 Token ring segment.
• Cannot translate an Ethernet packet to a
Token ring packet.
• Repeaters do not translate anything
• It can connect different physical media such
as UTP, Fiber optic etc
 Hubs
• Its a type of network device found in small
business networks.
• Hubs have existed for many years but their
popularity has dropped significantly due to the
development of other devices with improved
capabilities, performance and reduced cost.
• A hub can join multiple PCs or devices to form a
single network segment. On this network
segment, all computers can communicate
directly with each other.
Hubs
 Hubs
• A hub includes a series of port that each accept
network cable.
• Small hubs network 4 computers. They contain 4
or 5 ports. Larger hubs contain 12, 16, or even 24
ports.
• They operate on layer 1 (Physical layer) of the
OSI model.
• They do not read any of the data passing through
them(they are not aware of their source or
destination).
 Hubs
• It simply receives the incoming packets and
broadcasts these packets out to all devices on
the network.
• There are 3 different types of hubs
✔ Passive hubs
✔ Active hubs
✔ Smart hubs
Passive hubs pass a signal without any
amplification or regeneration.
 Hubs
• A passive hub is simply a central connection
point. They are used as junction points. Some
people use the word concentrator when
referring to passive hubs. (requires no electrical
power)
• Active hubs –They are the majority of hubs
installed in networks. They regenerate the
signals as they receive them. Generally active
hubs have many ports, and are sometimes called
multiport repeaters or repeating hubs.
 Hubs
A multiport repeater is a device that does the
following
• Take a signal coming in on one port
• Clean the signal by filtering out noise and other
undesired information
• Strengthen the signal by regenerating it to
original signal levels
• Send the regenerated signal out to all other
ports. ( Require electrical power)
 Hubs
Smart hubs are similar to active hubs. In
addition they contain some type of
management software to help determine
possible network problems and isolate them.
• The management software uses protocols such
as SNMP to communicate with various network
devices and obtain real time statistics such as
throughput, bandwidth etc
 Action of a hub
• A hub interconnects two or more
workstations into a local area network.
• When a workstation transmits to a hub, the
hub immediately resends the data frame to
all connecting links.
• Hubs expand one Ethernet connection into
many. For example, a four-port hub connects
up to four machines
Hubs
 Bridges
• A bridge is a device that connects two
segments of the same network. The two
networks being connected can be alike or
dissimilar.
• Bridges are protocol-independent. They
simply forward packets without analyzing and
re-routing messages
 Bridge
• A bridge connects networks and forwards
frames from one network to another
PORTS
A B
E F

BRIDGE

G
C D H
 Selective Forwarding
▪ If A sends a frame to E - the frame must be
forwarded by the bridge.
▪ If A sends a frame to B - there is no reason to
forward the frame.
▪ A bridge is a layer 2, Data Link layer of the OSI
layer
▪ The bridge needs a database that contains
information about which hosts are on which
network.
 Bridges
• Has one input and one output
• Used to isolate network traffic and computers
Examines incoming packets and source and
destination address(MAC) address.
• Extracts destination address from the frame
• Works at the Data Link- MAC sub-layer
• Connects two or more LAN segments
 Bridges
• Forwards the frame to the appropriate LAN
segment
• Bridges learn which packets belong to which
side of the network segment.
• If the destination address is on the same
segment as the source address, discard the
packet, otherwise forward.
Bridge interconnecting two identical LANs
A bridge interconnecting two dissimilar LANs
 Transparent Bridges
• A transparent bridge does not need programming but
observes all traffic and builds routing tables from this
observation.
• This observation is called backward learning.
• Each bridge has two connections (ports) and there is a
routing table associated with each port.
• A bridge observes each frame that arrives at a port,
extracts the source address from the frame, and
places that address in the port’s routing table.
• A transparent bridge is found with CSMA/CD LANs
 Source-routing Bridges
• A source-routing bridge is found with token ring
networks.
• Source-routing bridges do not learn from watching
tables.
• When a workstation wants to send a frame, it must
know the exact path of network / bridge
• If a workstation does not know the exact path, it sends
out a discovery frame.
• The discovery frame makes its way to the final
destination, then as it returns, it records the path.
 Remote Bridges
• A remote bridge is capable of passing a data
frame from one local area network to another
when the two LANs are separated by a long
distance and there is a wide area network
connecting the two LANs.
• A remote bridge takes the frame before it leaves
the first LAN and encapsulates the WAN headers
and trailers.
• When the packet arrives at the destination
remote bridge, that bridge removes the WAN
headers and trailers leaving the original frame.
 Translational Bridges
• Generally speaking bridges are intended to
connect two network segments of the same
architecture.
• However translation bridges can connect an
Ethernet network to a Token ring network.
• To Ethernet nodes, these bridges appear as
transparent bridges and accept Ethernet frames.
To Token ring nodes, they appear as source-
routing bridges and accept token ring frames.
Switches
• A switch is a layer 2 device of the OSI Data
Link layer. However Layer 3 switches have
been designed to have advanced capabilities
than layer 2 and they operate on layer 3 of
the OSI model
• A switch like a hub is the central connectivity
point in a star topology
• A switch determines to which port the
destination device is connected and forwards
the message to only that port.
 Switches
• This allows a switch to handle several
conversations at one time, thereby providing
the full network bandwidth to each device
rather than bandwidth sharing.
• When a frame arrives at a switch, the switch
examines the destination address and
forwards the frame out the one necessary
connection.
 Switches
• Major role: isolating traffic patterns and providing
multiple access.
Basic operation of a Switch
• The performance advantage of switches have made
them the device of choice in Corporate networks.
• Most networks today are designed to use switches for
connecting computers, servers and peripheral devices.
• Although multiport repeaters (hubs) can still be found
in the workplace, few new networks are being
designed to include these devices which are quickly
becoming obsolete
 Switches

• Many ports allow many network segments to

be connected
• Speed at which they perform tasks
• Sends a frame only to the network segment
on which a computer resides. Each port on a
switch provides a separate collision domain.
• Switches receive a frame an one port and
forward it out another port using a variety of
methods
 Cut-through switching
• Reads enough of incoming frame to
determine the frames source and destination
address.
• After the forwarding location is determined,
the frame is switched internally from
incoming port to the outgoing port and the
switch is free to handle additional frames.
• The benefit of cut-through is speed
 Switches

• The disadvantage of this method is that th switch

can send frames containing errors, it ties up BW
needlessly for frame which will be discarded.
Store and Forward switching
• The switch reads the entire frame into its buffers
before forwarding it.
• First it examines the frame check sequence(FCS)
field to be sure the frame contains no errors,
before its forwarded.
 Switches

• If an error is found, the switch discards the frame.

Advantage
Conserve BW when many frames contain errors
Disadvantage
• The entire frame must be read, stored in
memory, and examined before it can be
forwarded. This process takes time and slows
down the network.
 Benefits of switching
• Its capability to dedicate BW to each port on the
switch.
• A switch ensures that the maximum bandwidth is
available to all the computers on the network
• A switch permits full duplex communication allowing a
connected device to send and receive data
simultaneously, further increasing throughput.
• Switching supports centralized management, and
certain computers (routers or servers, for example)
can receive priority settings over other computers.
 Switches
They can get preferential access to a channel
because of priority settings or because of
Quality of Service guarantees ( which offer
access to minimum guaranteed bandwidth
for time sensitive network services, such as
video or audio streams.
 Switches
for time sensitive network services, such as video or
audio streams.
• Also a switch can have connection ports that operate at
different speeds, so for example, all client stations can be
attached to 100 Mbps Ethernet ports, and servers can be
attached to 1Gbps ports.
• Another important feature available on switches is the
capability to segment a network into Virtual Local Area
networks (VLANs).
• (VLANs) allow network administrators to group users
and resources logically instead of by physical location
Workstations connected to a shared segment of a LAN
Workstations connected to a dedicated segment of a LAN
A Switch with Two Servers Allowing Simultaneous Access to
Each Server
A server with two NICs and two connections to a
switch
A pair of remote bridges and switch combination
designed to isolate network traffic
Full Duplex Switches
• A full duplex switch allows for simultaneous
transmission and reception of data to and from a
computer.
• This full duplex connection helps to eliminate
collisions.
• To support a full duplex connection to a switch,
two sets of wires are necessary - one for the
receive operation and one for the transmit
operation.
Routers
• Routers are often called “layer 3 devices”.
• They operate at the third layer, or OSI network
layer, of the packet.
• Routers often incorporate firewall functions.
• Work with packets as the protocol Data Units.
• Core function is path selection, ie selecting the
best path for routing data.
• They are used to connect separate logical
networks to form an internetwork.
 Routers
• When a router receives a packet, it analyzes
the packets destination network address and
looks up that address in the routing table.
• The router sends the data to the next router
on the path.
• Routers can send data on different network
architectures.
• Example, routers can send a packet received
from a token ring network over an Ethernet
network.
 Routers
• The router removes the token ring frame,
examines the packet to determine the network
address, repackages the data into Ethernet
frames and sends the data to the Ethernet
network.
• A routing table contains only network address
and addresses of routers that handle those
networks.
• A router can use different paths to a network
and can use load balancing to spread traffic load
over multiple paths.