NETWORKING ESSENTIALS ASSIGNMENT
BISF GROUP B
GROUP 6
Group members
21/02155-Stephen Karenju
21/07407-Dennis Kimani
21/06830-Ruth Khalayi
21/06345-Meshack Ekasiba
Discuss major differences between Datagram networks and Virtual networks
INTRODUCTION
One of the important components of a computer network is the communication subnetwork. It includes
the hardware and the software required for the transmission of data within the network.
Traditionally, two different types of networks have supported the communication needs of end users;
the telecom networks (telephone, cable and satellite networks) and data networks (internet).
The telephone network is designed to support high quality audio communications. These networks are
engineered to provide low delay and a fixed bandwidth service. Telecom networks are based on circuit-
switching mode of operation in which, at the start of each session, the network determines the
connection route and establishes end-to-end path from sender to receiver.
In contrast, when a sender has a block of data to send, data networks are usually based on packet-
switching, where there is no fixed physical path between a sender and a receiver. Instead, when a
sender has aa block of data to send, it is received in its entirety and then forwarded to the next hop
along the path to destination.
Even though providing service guarantees is easier in circuit-switched mode of communication, because
of the bursty nature of the traffic, packet-switching is favored in the present-day internet.
Also, with the increasing demand for mobile and wireless communication, better techniques need to be
developed for data transfer in packet-switch environment.
In the context of the internal operation of a network, a connection is usually called virtual circuit in
analogy with the physical circuits set up by the telephone system. The independent packets of the
connectionless organizations are called datagrams, in analogy with data networks.
The idea behind a virtual circuit is to avoid having to make routing decisions for every packet set. The
route from source to destination is chosen as part of the connection setup mechanism.
In contrast, with datagram network, no routes set up in advance. Each packet is routed independently.
Successive packets may follow different routes. While datagram networks have to do more work, they
are more robust and adapt to congestion and failures easily.
Clients and servers that communicate via a perfect channel have a dedicated point to point
channel between themselves.
To communicate, they first establish the connection, transmit the data, and then close down the
connection. All data sent over the channel is received in the same order that it was sent.
In contrast, clients and servers that communicate via datagrams send and receive completely
independent packets.
A packet sent over a perfect channel does not contain any information about its source or its
destination.
Therefore a Datagram can be defined as an independent, self-contained message sent over the
Network who’s Arrival, arrival time and content is not guaranteed.
Virtual network is a wireless software where all servers, networking devices and gadgets are
connected.
It uses virtualized versions of traditional network tools, like switches and Network Adapters.
ISSUE VIRTUAL CIRCUIT DATAGRAM
Addressing Each packet contains a short VC Each packet contains the source
number and the destination address
State information State information about each vc Does not hold packet level state
is maintained information
Routing Route is chosen when VC is Each packet is routed
setup. independently.
All packets follow this route
Congestion control Easy if enough buffers can be Difficult
allocated in time.
Resource failure All Vcs passing through the Packets are only lost during
failed resources are terminated resource failure
Suitability Connection-oriented service Connection oriented and
connectionless service
1.A Virtual Circuit is connection oriented. This means that there is reservation of
resources like buffers, bandwidth for the time the newly setup VC is used for data
transfer WHILE Datagram is a connectionless service where there is no reservation of
resources as there is no dedicated path.
[Link] Circuit uses fixed path for a particular session after which connection is broken
and another path has to set up for next session. For Datagram, network is based on true
packets and there is no fixed path for transmitting data.
[Link] Virtual all packets flow in same path hence global header is requires only for the first
packet of connection only WHILE in Datagram every packet is free to choose any path, hence all
packets must be associated with a header containing information about the source and the upper
layer.
4. In Virtual networking Implementation of virtual circuits is costly as each time a new
connection has to be set up with reservation of resources and extra information WHILE
Datagram is cost efficient to implement as there is no need of reserving resources and
making a dedicated path each time an application has to communicate.
[Link] Circuits are highly reliable while Datagram are less reliable
Conclusion
In the connection oriented service, a connection is called a virtual circuit while in the
connectionless service, the independent packets are called Datagrams.
References
Cisco net cad
Article-Energy consumption trade-offs in wireless sensor networks
ICN/CCNx Routing project
Routing in packet-switched Networks using path-finding algorithms-University of California
Santa Cruz