IT Infrastructure Architecture

Infrastructure Building Blocks

and Concepts

Networking – Part 1
(chapter 8)
 Introduction
• Mainframe computers in the
1960s were stand-alone
machines
• In the late 1960s, a number of
computers were connected by
means of the ARPANET – the
predecessor of the internet
• With PCs in the 1980s, local
Area Networks (LANs) were
introduced
– They allowed PCs to connect to
each other and to shared
resources like a file server, a
printer or a router to the internet
Networking building blocks
 OSI Reference Model
• The OSI Reference
Model (OSI-RM) was
developed in 1984 by
the International
Organization for
Standardization (ISO)
• Seven layers define the
different stages that data
must go through to
travel from one host to
another over a network
 OSI Reference Model
• The OSI stack allows:
– Implementing network components independently of each other
– Ensuring all components work together
• Provides freedom to implement the network stack in an optimal
way for a certain usage
• Each layer’s payload contains the protocol for the next layer
Physical layer
 Cables
• At the most elementary level, networking is about cables
• Copper based cables:
– Coax
– Twisted pair
• UTP comes in several quality ratings called categories

Category Maximum bandwidth

5 or 5e 1 Gbit/s
6 10 Gbit/s
7 10 Gbit/s
8 40 Gbit/s
 Fiber optic cabling
• A fiber optic cable contains multiple strands of fiber glass or plastic
– Each provide an optical path for light pulses
• Light source:
– Light-emitting diode (LED)
– Laser
• Two types of fiber optic cable are most common:
– Multi-Mode Fiber (MMF)
– Single Mode Fiber (SMF)
 Patch panels
• Cables in buildings are most
visible in patch panels
– In racks in the datacenter
– In patch closets in various locations
in (office) buildings
• They connect systems in a flexible
way, without having to change the
installed cabling in the building
• Patch panels are passive
connecting devices
• Connecting systems is done using
patch cables
 Vertical and horizontal cabling
• The main
distribution cabling
in buildings connects
the patch panels on
the floors to the
datacentre (vertical
cabling)
• Endpoints in the
walls are connected
to the patch panels
(horizontal cabling)
 Leased lines
• Leased lines are dedicated data connections
between two locations, provided by a telecom
provider
• Leased lines are based on:
– T or E carrier lines
– SONET
– SDH
– Dark fiber
 Internet access
• Three ways to connect to the internet:
– Leased line
– Cable internet access
• Uses cable television infrastructure
– Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)
• Asymmetric DSL (ADSL)
• Symmetric DSL (SDSL)
• Very High DSL (VDSL)
 Network Interface Controllers (NICs)

• Hardware component that connects a server

or end user device to a physical network cable
• The NIC is actually both a physical layer and
data link layer device
– Provides physical access to a networking cable and
an implementation of a datalink protocol like
Ethernet
• A NIC has a fixed MAC address that is uniquely
assigned to its network interface
Datalink layer
 Ethernet
• Developed at Xerox PARC between 1973 and 1975
• Originally employed a shared medium topology, based on coax
cable
• Later Ethernet used twisted pair cabling with hubs and switches
– Decreased the vulnerability of the network caused by broken cables or
bad connectors
• An Ethernet packet contains:
– Source and destination MAC addresses
– Data that needs to be transported (payload)
– Cyclic redundancy check
 Ethernet CSMA/CD
• Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection
• Any machine can start transmitting packets when the
shared carrier is not in use
– Coax cable, twisted-pair hub or Wi-Fi radio signal spectrum
• Carrier sensing circuitry checks the activity on the carrier
• When two machines start to transmit a packet at the same
time, a packet collision occurs
– This is detected by all sending machines
– They will stop the transmission immediately
– After a short waiting time, they will retransmit their packet
when the carrier is not in use anymore
 WLAN (Wi-Fi)
• A wireless local area network (WLAN) links
two or more devices using radio transmissions
• Wi-Fi: WLANs that are based on the IEEE
802.11 protocol family
• Wi-Fi is a special implementation of Ethernet
– The radio spectrum is the shared medium
 WLAN (Wi-Fi)
• Wi-Fi range is about 30 m
• Access points are base stations for a wireless
network
• Data encryption: Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA)
– WPA dynamically generates a new key for each
packet
– WPA includes a Message Integrity Check
• Prevents an attacker from capturing, altering and/or
resending data packets
 Switching
• Switches split a single network segment into multiple
segments
– Each segment has one device
• Switches learn which MAC address is connected to which
port
• Data sent to a certain MAC address will only be forwarded
to the switch port that has that MAC address connected
• On a switched network, many simultaneous data transfers
can take place, in full-duplex
 WAN
• Wide Area Networks (WANs) started to appear in the 1980s
• Most WAN connections today are based on packet switching
technologies
– Devices transport packets via a virtual point-to-point link across a
carrier network
• Packet switched networks are very reliable
• Most WAN connections have been migrated to VPNs
running on one of the following technologies:
– The MPLS network of a network provider
– The internet using IPsec or SSL
– Dark fiber
 Public wireless networks
• Public wireless (mobile) networks are getting
more popular every day
• Public wireless networks are much less reliable
than private wireless networks and have lower
bandwidth
• Technologies:
– 1G and 2G: GSM, CDMA, GPRS and EDGE
– 3G: UMTS and HSDPA
– 4G: LTE
Network layer
 The IP protocol
• IP, in combination with TCP, was invented by Robert Kahn and
Vinton Cerf in 1973
• The IP protocol is by far the most used layer 3 protocol in the
world
• IPv4 is the dominant protocol on the internet today
• The IP protocol assumes that the network is inherently
unreliable and that it is dynamic in terms of availability of links
and nodes
• IP uses data packets that contain:
– Source address
– Destination address
– Payload data (typically an Ethernet packet)
 The IP protocol
• IP routing protocols dynamically define the path of IP
packets from source to destination
• Routing issues:
– Due to network disruption, IP packets can get lost or corrupted
– When an error is detected, the IP packet is dropped by the
node that found the error
– Since each IP packet is routed individually, IP packets can arrive
at the destination out of order
• The effects of dropped IP packets and IP packets arriving
out of order is handled by upper layer protocols like TCP
 IPv4 addresses
• IPv4 addresses are composed of 4 bytes (32 bits),
represented by 4 decimal numbers, and divided by a period
(like [Link])
• An IP address has a network prefix and a host number
• All hosts with the same network prefix can communicate
directly to each other
• Hosts in other networks can only be reached using a router
 IPv4 classes
• The first three bits of
the first byte of an IP
address define the
class of the address
• Three classes of
networks are defined

Max number of Number of available

Class First byte
hosts networks
A 0–127 16,777,214 128
B 128–191 65,534 16,384
C 192–223 254 2,097,152
 IPv4 subnetting
CIDR Available Hosts per subnet
Subnet mask
• Subnetting is used to prefix subnets
254
/24 [Link] 1
split up the host part /25 [Link] 2 126
4 62
of an IP network in /26 [Link]
8 30
/27 [Link]
smaller subnets, each /28 [Link] 16 14
/29 [Link] 32 6
forming a new IP /30 [Link] 64 2
network /31 [Link] 128 2 (only point-to-point)
 IPv4 - Private IP ranges
• Private IP addresses should be used for LANs
– The number of unique IP addresses on the internet is limited
– Hosts with public internet IP addresses can reach the internet
directly
• Private IP address ranges:
– [Link] to [Link] (class A address range)
– [Link] to [Link] (class B address range)
– [Link] to [Link] (class C address range)
• Private IP addresses:
– Are not used on the internet
– Are not routed by internet routers
 IPv6
• IPv6 was introduced in 1998 as a successor of
IPv4 to solve the problem of limited IP address
space
• IPv6 uses 128-bit addresses represented in
eight groups of four hexadecimal digits
separated by colons
• Example:
2001:0bb8:86a2:0000:0000:8b1e:1350:7c34
 IPv6
• IPv6 has the following benefits over IPv4:
– Expanded address space
– Better support for mobile IP
– Fixed header length
– Auto configuration
– Quality of Service
– Security
– MTU discovery
• IPv6 is not backwards compatible with IPv4
 IPv6
• Deployment models for IPv6:
– Use IPv6 on the LAN and on dedicated WAN links
– Protocol translation
– Dual stack
– IPv6 over IPv4 tunnels
• Dual stack is the simplest way to begin
deploying IPv6
 ICMP
• The Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP)
is an integral part of the IP protocol
• The best-known use of ICMP:
– 'ping‘
– 'traceroute‘
 Routing
• A router copies IP packages between
(sub)networks
• Routers compile routing tables to make IP
packet forwarding decisions
• Routing and switching functionality may be
combined in one device
– A switch capable of handling routing protocols is
also known as a layer 3 switch
 Routing protocols
• Dynamic routing protocols automatically create routing
tables
– Based on information exchange with neighboring routers
• When a network connection experiences problems, the
routing protocol automatically reconfigures the routing
tables to use alternative routes
• LAN and WAN routing protocols can be divided in three
classes:
– Distance vector protocols (like RIP and IGRP)
– Link state protocols (like OSPF and IS-IS)
– Path vector routing (like BGP)
 MPLS
• Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) routes
data from one network node to the next with
the help of labels
• MPLS allows setting up end-to-end circuit
– Across any type of physical transport medium
– Using any protocol
• In practice, MPLS is mainly used to forward IP
and Ethernet traffic
Transport layer
 Transport layer
• The transport layer can maintain flow control,
and can provide error checking and recovery of
data between network devices
• The most used transport layer protocols are
TCP and UDP
 TCP
• Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) uses the
IP protocol to create reliable transmission of
so-called TCP/IP packets
– TCP provides reliable, ordered delivery of a stream
of data between applications
– TCP introduces much overhead
 UDP
• User Datagram Protocol (UDP) emphasizes
reduced latency over reliability
– It sends data without checking if the data arrived
• Reduces much overhead
– UDP is typically used when some packet loss is
acceptable
• Real-time voice and video streams
• When only small amounts of data are transmitted, that
fit in one IP packet
 TCP and UDP ports
• TCP and UDP use logical port numbers
• Each side of a TCP or UDP connection uses an associated port number
between 0 and 65,535
• Received TCP or UDP packets are identified as belonging to a specific
connection by its combination of the IP address, and the TCP or UDP port
number
– For instance: [Link]:80, the number after the colon represents the port
number (80 in this case)
• Servers running a specific service listen to well-known ports:
– FTP (port 21)
– SSH (port 22)
– SMTP (port 25)
– DNS (port 53)
– HTTP (port 80)
Network Address Translation (NAT)
• NAT allows the use of a private addressing space within
an organization, while using globally unique addresses
for routing data to the internet
• As a packet passes a
NAT enabled router
from its internal
network interface to its
internet interface, NAT
replaces the packet’s
private IP address with
its public IP address
Session layer
 Session layer
• The session layer provides mechanisms for
opening, closing and managing a session
between end-user application processes
 Virtual Private Network (VPN)
• A Virtual Private Network (VPN) uses a public network
to interconnect private sites in a secure way
– Also known as a VPN tunnel
• VPN uses "virtual" connections based on IPsec/SSL
• Most network providers also offer private VPNs based
on MPLS
 Virtual Private Network (VPN)
• VPNs use strong encryption and strong user authentication
– Using the internet for transmitting sensitive data is considered safe
• VPN tunnels are often used for remote access to the LAN by
users outside of the organization's premises
• Most common VPN communications protocol standards:
– Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) for individual client to server
connections
– Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) for individual client to server
connections
– IPsec for network-to-network connectivity
• IPsec is built into IPv6 standard and is implemented as an add-on
to IPv4