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PART I: OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
Subject: Computer Networks
Ch-1
Tutor: Bilal Munir Mughal
Content Outline
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DATA COMMUNICATIONS
Components
Data Representation
Data Flow
NETWORKS
Network Criteria
Physical Structures
Content Outline
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NETWORK TYPES
Local Area Network
Wide Area Network
Switching
The Internet
Accessing the Internet
STANDARDS AND ADMINISTRATION
Internet Standards
Internet Administration
INTERNET HISTORY
Data Communications: Definition
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Data Communications:
Transfer of data from one device to another via
some form of transmission medium.
For data communications to occur, the communicating
devices must be part of a communication system
made up of a combination of hardware (physical
equipment) and software (programs).
Data Communications: Motivations
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Efficient way to share resources
Cost– less expensive
Accessibility – easier
Efficient way to exchange information
Time – faster
Size – bigger
Correctness – more accurate
Data Communications: Effectiveness
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The effectiveness of a data communications system
depends on four fundamental characteristics:
1. Delivery. The system must deliver data to the correct destination. Data must be
received by the intended device or user and only by that device or user.
2. Accuracy. The system must deliver the data accurately. Data that have been
altered in transmission and left uncorrected are unusable.
3. Timeliness. The system must deliver data in a timely manner. Data delivered late
are useless. In the case of video and audio, timely delivery means delivering data
as they are produced, in the same order that they are produced, and without
significant delay (called real-time transmission).
4. Jitter. Jitter refers to the variation in the packet arrival time. It is the uneven delay
in the delivery of audio or video packets. For example, let us assume that video
packets are sent every 30 ms. If some of the packets arrive with 30-ms delay and
others with 40-ms delay, an uneven quality in the video is the result.
Data Communications
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Hi, Hi,
how how
are are
you? you?
Hi, how are you? Hi, how are you?
Computer User
01010001 01010001
Data Communications: Components
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1 Message
Hi, how are you?
5 Protocol
2 Sender 3 Receiver
4 Medium
Data Representation
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Numbers
8/16/32 bit integers
floating point
150
2
Text
ASCII, Unicode
Images
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Bit patterns, Graphics formats JPG/GIF/etc
Audio Samples of continuous signal
Video Sequence of bitmap images
Direction of Data Flow
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Simplex: One direction only
data flow
Server Monitor
data flow
Keyboard
Direction of Data Flow
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Half Duplex: Both directions, one at a time
data flow at time 1
data flow at time 2
E.g., walkie-talkies
Direction of Data Flow
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Full Duplex: Both directions simultaneously
data flow
data flow
E.g., telephone
Can be emulated on a single communication link using
various methods
Networks
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Network: a set of devices connected by media links
Laptop
iM ac
Workstation
Media Links
Server
SD
Printer Scanner
Networks: Criteria
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A network must be able to meet a certain number
of criteria. The most important of these are
Performance
Reliability
Security
Networks: Criteria
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Performance can be measured in many ways,
including transit time and response time.
Transittime is the amount of time required for a
message to travel from one device to another.
Response time is the elapsed time between an inquiry
and a response.
The performance of a network depends on the
number of users
type of transmission medium
capabilities/efficiency of hardware, software
Networks: Criteria
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Performance is often evaluated by two networking
metrics: throughput and delay.
We often need more throughput and less delay.
However, these two criteria are often contradictory.
If we try to send more data to the network, we may
increase throughput but we increase the delay
because of traffic congestion in the network.
Networks: Criteria
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Reliability
In addition to accuracy of delivery, network reliability
is measured by the frequency of failure, the time it
takes a link to recover from a failure, and the network’s
robustness in a catastrophe.
Security
Network security issues include protecting data from
unauthorized access, protecting data from damage,
and implementing policies and procedures for
recovery from breaches and data losses.
Physical Structures: Types of
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Connections
Point-to-point
Multipoint (multidrop)
Point-To-Point Connection
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A point-to-point connection provides a dedicated link between two devices.
Multipoint Connection
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A multipoint (also called multidrop) connection is one in which more than two specific
devices share a single link.
Wireless
Topology
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Topology: physical or logical arrangement of
devices
Mesh
Star
Bus
Ring
Hybrid
Fully Connected Mesh Topology
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A D
B C
Fully Connected Mesh Topology
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Pros:
A Dedicated links
D
Robustness
Privacy
Easy to identify fault
Cons:
A lot of cabling
A lot of I/O ports
Difficult to move
B C
Number of physical links n (n – 1) / 2 in duplex-mode
Star Topology
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A D
Hub Drop
B C
Drop
Star Topology
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A D
Switch
B C
Star Topology
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A D
Hub
B C
Star Topology
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Pros:
One I/O port per device
Little cabling
Easy to install
Hub Robustness
Easy to identify fault
Cons:
Single point of failure
More cabling still required
Number of physical links n
where n = number of nodes
Bus Topology
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Drop
line
Tap
Terminator
Bus Topology
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A B C D
Bus Topology
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Bus Topology
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Pros:
Little cabling
Easy to install
Cons:
Difficult to modify
Difficult to isolate fault
Break in the bus cable
stops all transmission
Number of physical links n + 1(backbone)
where n = number of nodes
Ring Topology
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D
B
A
Ring Topology
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Ring Topology
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Pros:
Easy to install
Easy to identify fault
Cons:
Delay in large ring
Break in the ring stops
Number of physical links n all transmission
where n = number of nodes
Hybrid Topologies
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101112 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
10M100M
ACT ACT
PWR UPLINK
COL COL
SWITCH 131415161718192021222324 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101112 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
10M100M
ACT ACT
PWR UPLINK
COLCOL
SWITCH 131415161718192021222324 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Network Types
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Local Area Network (LAN)
Wide Area Network (WAN)
Local Area Networks
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Network in a small area e.g. single office, building,
or campus
Wide Area Networks
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Network providing long-distance communication over
a country, a continent, the whole world or beyond
Wide Area Networks
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Distinct examples of WANs today: point-to-point
WANs and switched WANs.
Point-to-Point WAN
Switched WAN
Switching
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Network of Networks
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Company A Company B
Network Interface Card (NIC)
Company C Company D
Internetworking
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How to allow devices from different standards to
communicate
Gateways/routers – devices capable of
communicating in several standards
These become "network of networks"
Internetworks
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Two or more connected networks become an
internetwork, or internet
Network1 Network2
Gateway
Network3
Example: The Internet
The Internet
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The largest internetwork (network of networks) in the
world
Devices communicating with TCP/IP protocol suite
Accessing The Internet
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Using Telephone Networks
Dial-upservice
DSL Service
Using Cable Networks
Using Wireless Networks
Direct Connection to the Internet
Internet Standards
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An Internet standard is a thoroughly tested
specification that is useful to and adhered to by
those who work with the Internet.
It is a formalized regulation that must be followed.
Internet Standards
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There is a strict procedure by which a specification
attains Internet standard status. A specification
begins as an Internet draft.
An Internet draft is a working document (a work in
progress) with no official status and a six-month lifetime.
Upon recommendation from the Internet authorities, a
draft may be published as a Request for Comments
(RFC).
Each RFC is edited, assigned a number, and made available
to all interested parties.
RFCs go through maturity levels and are categorized
according to their requirement level.
Internet Standards: RFC Maturity
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Levels
Maturity Levels
An RFC, during its lifetime, falls into one of six maturity
levels:
Internet Standards: RFC Maturity
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Levels
Proposed Standard.
A proposed standard is a specification that is stable, well
understood, and of sufficient interest to the Internet community.
At this level, the specification is usually tested and implemented
by several different groups.
Draft Standard.
A proposed standard is elevated to draft standard status after
at least two successful independent and interoperable
implementations.
Barring difficulties, a draft standard, with modifications if specific
problems are encountered, normally becomes an Internet
standard.
Internet Standards: RFC Maturity
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Levels
Internet Standard.
A draft standard reaches Internet standard status after
demonstrations of successful implementation.
Historic.
The historic RFCs are significant from a historical
perspective.
They either have been superseded by later specifications or
have never passed the necessary maturity levels to become
an Internet standard.
Internet Standards: RFC Maturity
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Levels
Experimental.
An RFC classified as experimental describes work related to
an experimental situation that does not affect the operation
of the Internet.
Such an RFC should not be implemented in any functional
Internet service.
Informational.
An RFC classified as informational contains general,
historical, or tutorial information related to the Internet.
It is usually written by someone in a non-Internet
organization, such as a vendor.
Internet Standards: RFC
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Requirement Levels
RFCs are classified into five requirement levels
Required.
An RFC is labeled required if it must be implemented by all
Internet systems to achieve minimum conformance.
For example, IP and ICMP (Chapter 19) are required
protocols.
Recommended.
An RFC labeled recommended is not required for minimum
conformance; it is recommended because of its usefulness.
For example, FTP (Chapter 26) and TELNET (Chapter 26)
are recommended protocols.
Internet Standards: RFC
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Requirement Levels
Elective.
An RFC labeled elective is not required and not
recommended. However, a system can use it for its own
benefit.
Limited Use.
An RFC labeled limited use should be used only in limited
situations. Most of the experimental RFCs fall under this
category.
Not Recommended.
An RFC labeled not recommended is inappropriate for
general use. Normally a historic (deprecated) RFC may fall
under this category.
Internet Administration
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Appendix G gives the addresses, e-mail addresses,
and telephone numbers for some of groups involved
in growth and development of the internet.
Figure 1.17 shows general organization of Internet
administration.
Internet Administration
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The Internet Society (ISOC) is an international,
nonprofit organization formed in 1992 to provide
support for the Internet standards process.
ISOC accomplishes this through maintaining and
supporting other Internet administrative bodies such as
IAB, IETF, IRTF, and IANA.
ISOC also promotes research and other scholarly
activities relating to the Internet
Internet Administration
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The Internet Architecture Board (IAB) is the technical
advisor to the ISOC.
The main purposes of the IAB are to oversee the continuing
development of the TCP/IP Protocol Suite and to serve in a
technical advisory capacity to research members of the Internet
community.
IAB accomplishes this through its two primary components, the
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the Internet Research
Task Force (IRTF).
Another responsibility of the IAB is the editorial management of
the RFCs, described earlier.
IAB is also the external liaison between the Internet and other
standards organizations and forums.
Internet Administration
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The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is a forum
of working groups managed by the Internet
Engineering Steering Group (IESG).
IETF is responsible for identifying operational problems
and proposing solutions to these problems.
IETF also develops and reviews specifications intended as
Internet standards.
The working groups are collected into areas, and each
area concentrates on a specific topic.
Currently nine areas have been defined. The areas include
applications, protocols, routing, network management, IP next
generation (IPng), and security.
Internet Administration
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The Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) is a forum
of working groups managed by the Internet
Research Steering Group (IRSG).
IRTF focuses on long-term research topics related to
Internet protocols, applications, architecture, and
technology.
INTERNET HISTORY
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Check your textbook for reference.
Questions?
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