Chapter 8
Switching
8.1 Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
Figure 8.1 Switched network
8.2
Figure 8.2 Taxonomy of switched networks
8.3
8-1 CIRCUIT-SWITCHED NETWORKS
A circuit-switched network consists of a set of switches
connected by physical links. A connection between two
stations is a dedicated path made of one or more links.
However, each connection uses only one dedicated
channel on each link. Each link is normally divided
into n channels by using FDM or TDM.
Topics discussed in this section:
Three Phases
Efficiency
Delay
Circuit-Switched Technology in Telephone Networks
8.4
Figure 8.3 A trivial circuit-switched network
8.5
Note
In circuit switching, the resources need
to be reserved during the setup phase;
the resources remain dedicated for the
entire duration of data transfer until the
teardown phase.
8.6
Example 8.1
As a trivial example, let us use a circuit-switched network
to connect eight telephones in a small area.
Communication is through 4-kHz voice channels. We
assume that each link uses FDM to connect a maximum
of two voice channels. The bandwidth of each link is then
8 kHz. Figure 8.4 shows the situation. Telephone 1 is
connected to telephone 7; 2 to 5; 3 to 8; and 4 to 6. Of
course the situation may change when new connections
are made. The switch controls the connections.
8.7
Figure 8.4 Circuit-switched network used in Example 8.1
8.8
Example 8.2
As another example, consider a circuit-switched network
that connects computers in two remote offices of a private
company. The offices are connected using a T-1 line
leased from a communication service provider. There are
two 4 × 8 (4 inputs and 8 outputs) switches in this
network. For each switch, four output ports are folded
into the input ports to allow communication between
computers in the same office. Four other output ports
allow communication between the two offices. Figure 8.5
shows the situation.
8.9
Figure 8.5 Circuit-switched network used in Example 8.2
8.10
Figure 8.6 Delay in a circuit-switched network
8.11
Note
Switching at the physical layer in the
traditional telephone network uses
the circuit-switching approach.
8.12
Blocking or Non-blocking
Blocking
A blocking network is unable to connect
end- points because the critical paths are in
use and there are no alternative paths
Used on voice systems
Short duration calls
Non-blocking
Permits all stations to connect (in pairs) at
once
Used for some data connections
8.13
Circuit-Switched Routing
Many connections will need paths through
more than one switch
Need to find a route
Efficiency
Resilience
Public telephone switches are a tree
structure
Static routing uses the same approach all the
time
Dynamic routing allows for changes in
routing depending on traffic
Uses a peer structure for nodes
8.14
8-2 DATAGRAM NETWORKS
In data communications, we need to send messages
from one end system to another. If the message is
going to pass through a packet-switched network, it
needs to be divided into packets of fixed or variable
size. The size of the packet is determined by the
network and the governing protocol.
Topics discussed in this section:
Routing Table
Efficiency
Delay
Datagram Networks in the Internet
8.15
Two Basic Forms of Packet
Switching
Packets handled in two ways
Datagram (covered in this section)
Virtual circuit (covered in the next
section)
8.16
Datagram
Each packet treated independently
Packets can take any practical route
Packets may arrive out of order
Packets may get lost or delayed
Up to receiver to re-order packets
and recover from missing packets
8.17
Virtual Circuit
Preplanned route established before any
packets sent
Call request and call accept packets
establish connection (handshake)
Each packet contains a virtual circuit
identifier instead of destination address
No routing decisions required for each
packet
Clear request to drop circuit
Not a dedicated
8.18
Internal
Virtual
Circuit
and
Datagram
Operation
8.19
Figure 8.7 A datagram network with four switches (routers)
8.20
Figure 8.8 Routing table in a datagram network
8.21
Note
A switch in a datagram network uses a
routing table that is based on the
destination address.
8.22
Note
The destination address in the header of
a packet in a datagram network
remains the same during the entire
journey of the packet.
8.23
Figure 8.9 Delay in a datagram network
8.24
Note
Switching in the Internet is done by
using the datagram approach
to packet switching at
the network layer.
8.25
8-3 VIRTUAL-CIRCUIT NETWORKS
A virtual-circuit network is a cross between a circuit-
switched network and a datagram network. It has
some characteristics of both.
Topics discussed in this section:
Addressing
Three Phases
Efficiency
Delay
Circuit-Switched Technology in WANs
8.26
Figure 8.10 Virtual-circuit network
8.27
Figure 8.11 Virtual-circuit identifier
8.28
Figure 8.12 Switch and tables in a virtual-circuit network
8.29
Figure 8.13 Source-to-destination data transfer in a virtual-circuit network
8.30
Figure 8.14 Setup request in a virtual-circuit network
8.31
Figure 8.15 Setup acknowledgment in a virtual-circuit network
8.32
Note
In virtual-circuit switching, all packets
belonging to the same source and
destination travel the same path;
but the packets may arrive at the
destination with different delays
if resource allocation is on demand.
8.33
Figure 8.16 Delay in a virtual-circuit network
8.34
Note
Switching at the data link layer in a
switched WAN is normally
implemented by using
virtual-circuit techniques.
8.35
S(witched)VC vs. P(ermanent)VC setup
A virtual circuit can be either switched or permanent.
If permanent, an outgoing VCI is given to the source,
and an incoming VCI is given to the destination.
The source always uses this VCI to send frames to
this particular destination.
The destination knows that the frame is coming from
that particular source if the frame carries the
corresponding incoming VCI.
If a duplex connection is needed, two virtual circuits
are established.
8.36
S(witched)VC vs. P(ermanent)VC setup
A PVC has several drawbacks:
1. Always connected, so always paying
2. Connection is between two parties only. If
you need a connection to another point, you
need another PVC.
Don’t like these disadvantages? Use an SVC.
8.37
8.38