L2/L3 datacom requirements

1) PTP message exchanges, SyncE, SyncE frequency

2) ARP, IP forwarding, OSPF, BGP, IPv4 vs IPv6
3) VLAN,
4) MAC layer
5) Packet MTU ( Maximum Transmission Unit 1518 bytes )
6) Data Center opertation
7) Sequence of protocols from Laptop-1 to 2 via a router.
8) IPSec, MACSec.
9) Why VLAN ? Tell practical scenario for VLANs ( to create segmentation in big LAN’s to avoid
broadcast flooding due to ARP + to create Layer-2 VPN’s )
10) Access and Trunk ports: ( Access port is end point with one VLAN, Trunk has multiple VLAN’s
configured so that it allows traffic from multiple VLAN’s, it is connected to another switch or
router )
11) Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) – full convergence steps (timers, types of BPDUS, drawbacks,
Guards)
12) How is RSTP differ from STP? RSTP convergence on link failure
13) MSTP vs RSTP
14) BGP vs OSPF (practical usage)
15) Explain BGP protocol (states, messages, timers, route reflector, IBGP, EBGP)
16) NAT traversal, Port Forwarding, Firewall, etc
 1) PHY Layer Technologies
Optical transmission, FEC (forward error correction), DWDM, WDM, OTN, Optical fibre.

Optical Fibre types:

1) Multi Mode: multimode (MM) fiber, which has a large core and allows for multiple paths
through the fibre. It is less expensive but only used for shorter distance 100-300 meter.
2) Single Mode: it is thin core & Expensive. Used for long distance (10 km).

DWDM:

Dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) is an optical fiber multiplexing technology that is used
to increase the bandwidth of existing fiber networks. It combines data signals from different sources
over a single pair of optical fiber, while maintaining complete separation of the data streams.

FEC: Forward Error Correction

Forward error correction (FEC) is a method of obtaining error control in data transmission in which the
source (transmitter) sends redundant data and the destination (receiver) recognizes only the portion of
the data that contains no apparent errors.
FEC technique was devised for the cases where retransmission was costly like satellite transmission, etc.
It is now used in optical communication as well.

2) How packets move from one node

to another node in a network
 Typical Routing table (maintained by routers)

 It has destination IP address or subnet, default route has IP [Link]. Default route means if
destination do not match any of the subnet entry in routing table then it is forwarded to default
route.
 gateway IP refers to a device on a network which sends local network traffic to other networks
o If you add routing entry for a particular prefix pointing a next hop, the next hop is the
gateway for that particular prefix.
o If you add a routing entry to route the traffic destined to reach any destination pointing
a next hop address, the next hop is your default gateway.
 Typical ARP table

 ARP table contains mapping of IP address & MAC address of all neighbouring network nodes
(within same network) and the default gateway (for outside network and internet).

How ARP works

 ARP finds MAC address of a host from its known IP Address.
 It is Layer-2 Protocol.
 ARP Request is a Broadcast, but ARP response is Unicast
 ARP protocol is only used in IPV4 environment.
 ARP is never generated for the device of other network (outside networks).
Proxy ARP: In case of Mobile-IP the Home Agent uses proxy ARP in order to receive messages on behalf
of the Mobile Node so that it can forward the appropriate message to the actual mobile node's
address (Care-of address).

Gratuitous ARP: A Gratuitous ARP is an ARP Response that was not prompted by an ARP Request.
Gratuitous ARP is where a device broadcasts its own MAC and IP address pair, solely for the purpose of
causing other devices to update their ARP caches. It is also used for resolving IP address conflicts.

Reverse ARP: Reverse ARP is a networking protocol used by a client machine in a local area network to
request its Internet Protocol address (IPv4) from the gateway-router's ARP table. Used with DHCP
server.

ARP Request Header

MAC address is 6 bytes long ( 48 bits )

MAC Address table

ARP tables map a Layer 3 address to a Layer 2 address configuration, while MAC tables map a Layer 2
address to a Layer 1 (physical layer) interface

MAC Address table is maintained by the Layer-2 switch

A switch populates the MAC address table based on source MAC addresses. As frames enter the switch,
the switch “learns” the source MAC address of the received frame and adds the MAC address to the
MAC address table or refreshes the age timer of an existing MAC address table entry.

To forward the frame, the switch examines the destination MAC address and compares it to addresses
found in the MAC address table. If the address is in the table, the frame is forwarded out the port
associated with the MAC address in the table. When the destination MAC address is not found in the
MAC address table, the switch forwards the frame out of all ports (flooding) except for the ingress
port of the frame.

[Link]
Above are the various tables entries for communication from A to D.
 3) VLAN

You can also assign multiple VLANS to a single switch port. For that you need to configure the port as a
trunk and not access port. By default, trunk port carries traffic for all VLANs but you have the option of
specifying which VLANs are allowed on a trunk.

VLAN tag is 4 additional bytes within Ethernet frame.

Tag protocol identifier (TPID)(16 bit): a 16-bit field set to a value of 0x8100 in order to identify the
frame as an IEEE 802.1Q-tagged frame

User Priority Bits(3 bit): It is used for DSCP marking for implementing QoS.

Canonical Format Indicator( 1 bit): Canonical Format Indicator is a 1-bit field. If the value of this field is
1, the MAC address is in non-canonical format. In non-canonical MAC address, bits within each byte
are transposed (swapped)

VLAN ID( 12 bits): Under IEEE 802.1Q, the maximum number of VLANs on a given Ethernet network
is 4,094 (4,096 values provided by the 12-bit VID field minus reserved values at each end of the range, 0
and 4,095)

OK so 0 & 4095 are reserved. Configurable VLAN ID values are 1 to 4094.

*********

Ethernet Type Field( 2bytes ):

1) 0x88F7 Precision Time Protocol (PTP) over IEEE 802.3 Ethernet

2) 0x8800 Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4)
3) 0x0806 Address Resolution Protocol (ARP)
4) 0x8035 Reverse Address Resolution Protocol (RARP)
5) 0x8100 VLAN-tagged frame (IEEE 802.1Q)
6) 0x86DD Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6)
7) 0x8847 MPLS unicast
8) 0x8848 MPLS multicast
9) 0x888E EAP over LAN (IEEE 802.1X)
10) 0x8848 Service VLAN tag identifier (S-Tag) on Q-in-Q tunnel
11) 0x88CC Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP)
12) 0x88E5 IEEE 802.1AE MAC security (MACsec)
 802.1Q Tunneling ( Q in Q) is used as Layer-2 VPN.

802.1Q tunneling (aka Q-in-Q) is a technique often used by Metro Ethernet providers as a layer 2 VPN
for customers. Here one more VLAN tag is added to route the traffic between 2 customer locations.

Access Port vs Trunk Port in a Layer-2 Switch

Access port is connected to end point. Only one VLAN is connected to it. Trunk port has multiple VLAN’s
configured & they are used as gateway ports which are connected to other switch or routers.

The common MAC layer technologies are CSMA/CD for Ethernet and CSMA/CA for Wi-Fi
 4) Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)
Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) is a Layer 2 network protocol used to prevent looping within a network
topology. STP was created to avoid the problems that arise when computers exchange data on
a localarea network (LAN) that contains redundant paths.

STP protocol if enabled over switch sends multicast probe messages at regular intervals. It detects loops
if it receives it’s own message. Then after detection it select the best path & blocks the redundant paths.

RSTP: Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol

MSTP: Multiple Spanning Tree Protocol

Shortest Path Bridging is the latest protocol used instead of older STP/RSTP/MSTP.

To enable the STP functionality on the switch, enter the following:

// configuring mode

Without STP protocols, broadcast messages will be flooded in infinite loops & will chock the network.
 5) OSPF ( Open Shortest Path First )

There are 5 types of Areas in OSPF:

 Backbone area (area 0) ( all areas communicate through this area )

 Standard area
 Stub area
 Totally stubby area
 Not-so-stubby area (NSSA)
Packet types for OSPF

 Hello packet. This packet is sent by the OMPROUTED server to discover OSPF neighbor
routers and to establish bidirectional communications with them. ... It will help to select the
Designated router( middle router of a area ). DR maintains the topology and share it will all
the neighbours.
 Database description packet: itl exchanges a description of the link-state databases
between adjacent partners
 Link-state update packet. : update the LSA
 Link-state request packet: request
 Link-state acknowledgment packet: acknowledgment

OSPF Packet header

Router ID is highest IP address on the router

OSPF only sends the parts of the routing table that have changed and only when a change
has occurred
Hello Packet Header Format

LSR Packet
The link-state advertisement (LSA) is a basic communication means of the OSPF routing protocol for
the Internet Protocol (IP). It communicates the router's local routing topology to all other local routers in
the same OSPF area.

6) BGP (Border Gateway Protocol)

Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) refers to a gateway protocol that enables the internet to exchange
routing information between autonomous systems (AS). As networks interact with each other, they
need a way to communicate. This is accomplished through peering. BGP makes peering possible.

7) Network Address Translation

Network address translation (NAT) maintains a table for private IP’s & public IP’s. When it receives
an outgoing packet it changes the private SRC IP with the public IP.

When it receives the incoming packet for a public IP, it changes the destination Public IP with the private
IP & forwards it internally.

NAT do not work with IPSEC, since integrity of the packet is lost once tempered.
 8) Port Forwarding( Firewall )
With port forwarding, you can make a computer or other network device (the security camera for
example) accessible from the internet. You only allow specific traffic (that comes through a port
number) to travel into your network to the network device (or computer). This is commonly used for
security camera’s, gaming, hosting a (web)server or making you NAS accessible from the internet.

By setup a port forwarding rule in our router, we can tell the router to forward all data package that is
sent through port 3074 to forward it to our game console. The PlayStation will handle the data further.

 The port forwarder will change the source-ip to the public-ip of a outgoing packet.
 It changes the destination IP of the incoming packet.

Port forwarding works on the top of NAT. It is an optional feature of a device providing a NAT service
which allows external client requests for specific services to pass from the outside world, through the
router, to a designated internal device.

Basically NAT blocks all incoming traffic. Port forwarding allows external connection request for specific
ports. All other ports are blocked.

Basically by NAT internal machine can easily communicate with external device. But all incoming traffic
is dropped. Port forwarding allows external connection requests for specific ports.

Ports / application & IP’s are maintained in Port forwarding table.

Port forwarding Rules

 9) QoS : Quality of Service
It’s a traffic prioritization based on Application, src/des IP, ports, protocol, DSCP marking, VLAN ID, etc.

It is to guarantee Bandwidth, delay, loss, jitter, etc for a particular traffic.

Diffserv QoS. It is about providing QoS based on DSCP marking in in a 8-bit DS field in IPv4 header.

10) PTP Precision Time Protocol

PTP Protocol is used for time synchronization across network. Messages exchanged are above

Type of clocks:

1) GM ( Grand Master connected to GPS )

2) Boundary clock. It is synchronised with GM & it also serve as a master for other slave nodes. So
it works as both master and slave.
3) Ordinary clock: It is end node, as a slave.

It can be both Layer-2(75.1) & Layer-3(75.2). In 75.2 mode, it is not necessary that intermediate nodes
support freq sync or PTP protocol.
SyncE ( Synchronous Ethernet )

SyncE is the ability to distribute precise frequency around a network over Ethernet. It is Layer-2. Chip
used was microchip.

11) DHCP
( Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol )

1) DHCP discover message ( broadcast message sent by the client )

2) DHCP offer message ( Unicast messsge by the DHCP server & it will offer multiple IP address )
3) DHCP request ( Unicast message to allocate and reserve particular IP for the node )
4) DHCP Acknowlede ( Unicast to acknowledge the request )
5) DHCP Client can now renew the lease once expired.
6) DHCP Release : to release the IP
7) DHCP inform: is used to inform DHCP server that static IP is assigned to the client.

DHCP Proxy can only renew the lease. It cannot allocate the IP address. DHCP relay can relay the DHCP
request to DHCP server.
 12) SNMP
(Simple Network Management Protocol)

It is protocol for configuration and fault management. It is based on Manager agent architecture.

SET, GET, TRAPS messages are used.

13) Radius Server

Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) is a networking protocol that authorizes and
authenticates users who access a remote network.
 14) IPSEC

For securing IP traffic. Traffic is encrypted/decrypted using dynamically generated keys.

It can be of 2 types tunnel mode vs transport mode

15) NETCONF
NETCONF is a protocol defined by the IETF to “install, manipulate, and delete the configuration of
network devices”. NETCONF operations are realized on top of a Remote Procedure Call (RPC) layer using
an XML encoding and provide a basic set of operations to edit and query configuration on a network
device.

16) IP Header( TCP and UDP Protocol )

Fragmentation field in IP header

17) WiFi Extender

18) 5G Fixed Wireless Access

19) IPV4 vs IPV6

 SD-WAN

Overlay Management Protocol (OMP) is enabled. OMP is the protocol responsible for establishing and
maintaining the Cisco SD-WAN control plane.