Computer Networks

M. Ajanthan
Computer Networks
V S B Engineering College
Karur – 639 111
 COMPUTER NETWORKS
(CS 1302) – Semester – V (CSE / IT), Semester – VI (ECE)

M. Ajanthan
Department of ECE
V S B Engineering College
Karur – 639 111

Contact us at: [email protected]

www.ajanthan.in
+91 - 9916972651

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 Acknowledgement

I heartedly thank our beloved Governing Council members principal

Dr. G. S. Jeyapragasham, Director Prof. M. Kumaravel, our Head
of the Department Asst. Prof
Prof. R Dhayabharani, and all our department
members of V S B Engineering College, Karur for their constant support
and guidance in bringing out this book.

Yours friendly

M. Ajanthan

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I heartily dedicate this book to my beloved grandpa,
my friends and my sister

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Syllabus
Unit – I Data Communications

Components, Direction of data flow, Networks, Components and categories, Types of

connections, Topologies, Protocols and standards, ISO / OSI model, Transmission media, Coaxial
cable, Fiber optics, Line coding, Modems, RS232 interfacing sequences.

Unit – II Data Link Layer

Error, Detection and correction, Parity, LRC, CRC, Hamming codes, Flow and Error
control: Stop and wait, Go back – N ARQ, Selective Repeat ARQ, Sliding window Techniques,
HDLC. LAN: Ethernet IEEE 802.3, IEEE 802.5, IEEE 802.11, FDDI, SONET, Bridges.

Unit – III Network Layer

Internetworks, Packet switching and datagram approach, IP addressing methods,

Subnetting, Routing, Distance vector routing, Link state routing, Routers.

Unit – IV Transport Layer

Duties of transport layer, Multiplexing, Demultiplexing, Sockets, User Datagram Protocol

(UDP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), Congestion control, Quality of Services (QOS), integrated
services.

Unit – V Application Layer

Domain Name Space (DNS), SMTP, FDP, HTTP, WWW, Security, Cryptography.

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 Unit - I

Data Communications

Data Communications

Data Communications is the exchange of data between two devices via some form of
transmission medium such as wire cable. For the data communications to occur, the communicating
devices must be part of a communication system made up of a combination of hardware and
software. The effectiveness of the data communication system depends on three fundamental
characteristics: delivery, accuracy, and timeliness.

1. Delivery: The system must deliver data to the correct destination. Data must be
received by the intended 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 the 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, without significant delay. This kind
of delivery is called real – time transmission

1.1 Components

A data communications system has five components.

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 Protocol Protocol
Message

Medium

Sender Receiver

Fig 1.1 Data communication components

1. Message: the message is the information or data to be communicated. It can consist of

text, numbers, pictures, sound, or video – or any combination of these.

2. Sender: The sender is the device that sends the data message. It can be computer,
workstation, telephone, video camera, and so on.

3. Receiver: The receiver is the device that receives the message. It can be computer,
workstation, telephone, television, and so on.

4. Medium: The transmission medium is the physical path by which the message travels
from sender to the receiver. It could be a twisted pair wire, coaxial cable, fiber optic
cable, or radio waves.

5. Protocol: A protocol is the set of rules that governs the data communications. It
represents an agreement between the communicating devices. Without protocol two
devices may be connected but not communicating.

1.2 Direction of Data flow

Communication between two devices can be simplex, half duplex, or full duplex

1. Simplex

In simplex mode, the communication in unidirectional, as on a one – way street. Only one of the
two devices on the link can transmit; the other can only receive as shown in fig 1.2 (a)

Direction of data

CPU Monitor

Fig 1.2 (a) Simplex Communication

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Examples:
Key boards and traditional monitors are the most known examples for the simplex
communication, because this type of communication has only one direction. The keyboard can
only produce the input and the monitor can only display the output.

2. Half - Duplex

In half duplex mode, each station can transmit and receive the data, but not at the same time.
When one device is sending means the other can only receive at the time, and vise versa as
shown in fig 1.2 (b).

Direction of data at time1

Direction of data at time 2

Work station fig 1.2 (b) half - duplex work station

The entire channel capacity is taken over by whichever of the two devices is transmitting at the
time.

Example:
Walkie – talkies and citizen band (CB) radios are the examples for the half duplex
communication.

3. Full – Duplex

In full – duplex mode, both stations can transmit and receive the data simultaneously. The full –
duplex mode is also called as duplex mode communication.

Direction of data

Work station fig 1.2 (C) full - duplex work station

In full – duplex mode, the signals going in either direction share the capacity of the link. This
sharing can occur in two ways: Either the link must contain two physically separate transmission
paths, one for sending and the other for receiving; or the capacity of the channel is divided
between signals travelling in both directions.

Example:
A common example for the full – duplex communication is the telephone network. When two
peoples are communicating by telephone line, both can talk and listen at the same time.

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1.3 Networks

A network is a set of devices connected by the communication links. Each device is referred
to as a node. A node can be a computer, printer, or any capable of sending and/ or receiving
data generated by the nodes on the network.

Network criteria

A network must satisfy following criteria.

a) Performance: It can be measured by transit time (propagation delay) and response time
(speed of operation). Performance is decided by many factors such as number of users,
type of transmission medium, hardware and software.

b) Reliability: Network reliability is measured by accuracy, failure rate, establishment time,

and robustness.

c) Security: Network security concerned with protection of data from unauthorized access.

1.3.1 Type of connections

The nodes in computer network are interconnected by some link. A link is a communication
pathway that transfers the data from one device to another. There are two types of
connections are available. They are

1) Point – to – point

2) Multipoint / Multidrop

Point – to – point:

A point – to – point connection provides a dedicated link between two devices. The entire
capacity of the link is reserved for transmission between those two devices. The link can be a
cable or microwave link. The fig 1.3.1 (a) shows the point – to – point link. The typical
example for the point – to – point connection is TV and its remote control.

Link

Work station fig 1.3.1(a) Work station

Multipoint:

A multipoint connection (also called as Multidrop) is one in which more than two specific
devices share a single link. In the multipoint environment, the capacity of the channel is
shared, either spatially or temporally. If several devices can use the link simultaneously, it is
a spatially shared connection. If user must take turns, it is a timeshare connection. The fig
1.3.1 (b) shows the multipoint link.
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 Link

Work station

Main frame fig 1.3.1 (b)

1.3.2 Topology

The term topology refers to the way in which a network is laid out physically. Two or more
devices connected to a link; two or more links form a topology. The topology of the network
is the geometrical representation of the relationship of all the links and linking devices (or
nodes) to one another. There are four topologies that are commonly used. They are

1. Mesh topology

2. Star topology

3. Bus topology

4. Ring topology

Mesh topology:

In a mesh topology, every device has a dedicated point – to – point link to every other
device. The term dedicated means that the link carries traffic only between the two devices
it connects. A fully connected mesh network has n(n-1)/2 physical channels to link n devices.
To accommodate that many links, every device on the network must have n-1 input /output
ports. The figure 1.3.1 shows the mesh topology.

Fig 1.3.1

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 Advantages

1. Dedicated link between nodes ensure optimum data rate and eliminates traffic problem.

2. Better privacy and security.

3. Mesh topology is robust.

4. Failure of any link will not cause failure of entire network.

5. Point – to – point links make fault identification and fault isolation easy.

Disadvantages

1. Large amount of cabling and I/O ports are required.

2. Hardware required for each link and redundant link increase cost.

3. Difficulty in installation

4. Difficult to reconfigure.

1.3.2 Star topology

In star topology, each device has a dedicated point – to – point link only to a central
controller, usually called hub. The devices are not directly linked to one another. If one
device wants to send data to another, it sends the data to the controller(hub), which then
relays the data to the other connected device. The fig 1.3.2 shows the star topology.

Hub

Fig 1.3.2

Advantage

1. Each device needs only one link and one I/O port makes star topology less expensive,
easy to configure.

2. Robust topology.

3. If any link fails, it does not affect entire network.

4. Easy fault identification and fault isolation.

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 5. It is easy to add new nodes to star network without disturbing the rest of the network.

Disadvantage

1. If the central hub fails the whole network fails to operate.

2. Each device requires its own cable segment.

3. In hierarchical network, installation and configuration is difficult.

1.3.3 Bus topology

Bus topology uses multipoint link i.e. multiple devices are connected by means of connectors
or drop cables. One long cable acts as a backbone to link all the devices in the network. Fig
1.3.3 shows the bus topology.

Drop line Error! Not a valid link. Error! Not a valid link.
Error! Not a valid link.

Advantage

1. Bus topology is easy to install.

2. Because of backbone, less cable is required.

3. Number of I/O ports required is less. Also the hardware is reduced.

4. The backbone can be extended by using the repeater.

5. Cost of the network is low.

Disadvantage

1. Heavy network traffic can slow a bus considerably.

2. Difficult reconnection and fault isolation (troubleshooting).

3. Difficult to add new device/ node.

4. Single reflection at the taps can cause degradation in quality.

5. Failure of backbone affects failure of all devices on the network.

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1.3.4 Ring topology

In a ring topology, each device has a dedicated point – to – point connection only with two
devices on either side of it. A signal is passed along the ring in one direction, from device to
device, until it reaches its destination. Each device in the ring incorporates a repeater. When
a device receives the signal intended for another device, its repeater regenerates the bits
and passes them along the link. Fig 1.3.4 shows ring topology.

Advantage

1. A ring is relatively easy to install and reconfigure.

2. Link failure can be easily found as each device is connected to its immediate neighbors
only.

3. Because every node is given equal access to the token no one node can monopolize the
network.

Disadvantage

1. Maximum ring length and number of devices is limited.

2. Failure of one node on the ring can affect the entire network.

3. Adding or removing nodes disrupts the network.

1.4 Protocols and Standards

A protocol is a set of rules that governs data communications. Protocol defines what is
communicated, how it is communicated and when it is communicated. The key elements of
a protocol are syntax, semantics, and timing.

Syntax: syntax refers to the structure or format of the data, meaning the order in
which they are presented. For example, a simple protocol might expect the first 8
bits of a data to be the address of the sender, the second 8 bits to be the address of
the receiver, and rest of them to be the message.

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Semantics: Semantics refers to the meaning of each section of bits. How a particular
pattern is to be interpreted, and what action is to be taken based on that
interpretation? For example, does an address identify the route to be taken or the
final destination or message?

Timing: Timing refers to two characteristics: when data should be sent and how fast
they can be sent. For example, if a sender produces data at 100 Mbps but the
receiver can process data at only 1 Mbps, the transmission will overload the receiver
and the data will be largely lost.

Standards:

Standards provide guidelines to the manufacturers, venders, government agencies

and service provider. It ensures the interconnectivity and compatibility of the device.

Standards help in maintaining market competitiveness and guaranties

interoperability.

Data communication standards are of few categories.

a) De facto : Standards that have not been approved by an organized body but have
been adopted as standards through widespread use are de facto standards.

b) De jure : Those that have been legislated by an officially recognized body are de
jure standards.

1.5 ISO/ OSI Model

The international organization for standards (ISO) developed the open system
interconnection (OSI) reference model. OSI model is most widely used model for
networking. OSI model is a seven layer standard. The figure 1.5 shows OSI model.

The OSI model does not specify the protocols to be used for networking tasks but is a
model for understanding and designing network architecture.

OSI model provides following services:

1) Provides peer to peer logical services with layer physical implementation.

2) Provides standards for communication between systems.

3) Defines point of interconnection for the exchange of information between systems.

4) Each layer should perform a well defined function.

5) Narrows the options in order to increase the ability to communicate without expansive
conversions and translation between products.

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 Application layer
Presentation layer
Session layer
Transport layer
Network layer
Data link layer
Physical layer
Fig 1.5 OSI Model

1.5.1 Physical Layer

The physical layer coordinates the functions required to transmit a bit stream over a
physical medium. It deals with the mechanical and electrical specifications of the interface
and transmission media. It also defines the procedures and functions that physical devices
and interfaces have to perform for transmission to occur.

The physical layer is responsible for transmitting individual from one node to next.
Simply it can be called node to node delivery. The position of the physical layer with the
transmission medium and the next layer (data link layer) is shown in figure 1.51.

From data link layer to data link layer

1010100000001011110011 1010100000001011110011

Physical layer physical layer

Transmission medium

The major duties of the physical layers are as follows:

Physical characteristics of interface and media: The physical layer defines the
characteristics of the interface between the devices and the transmission media. It
also defines the type of transmission medium.

Representation of bits: The physical layer data consists of a stream of bits without
any interruption. To be transmitted, bits must be encoded into signals – electrical or
optical. The physical layer defines the types of the representation.

Data rate: the data rate or transmission rate is the number of bits sent each second
– is also defined by the physical layer. In other words, the physical layer defines the
duration of bit, which is how long it lasts.

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 Synchronization of bits: The sender and the receiver not only must use the same bit
rate but also must be synchronized at the bit level. In the other words, the sender
and the receiver clocks must be synchronized.

1.5.2 Data link layer

The data link layer transforms the physical layer, a raw transmission facility, to a reliable
link. It makes the physical layer appear error – free to the upper layer (network layer). Fig
1.5.2 shows the data link layer.

From network layer To network layer

T2 Data H2 T2 Data H2

To Physical layer From physical layer

The data link layer is responsible for transmitting frames from one node to the next.
The data link layer provides hop – to – hop (node – to – node) delivery. The major duties of
the data link layer are as follows:

Framing: The data link layer divides the stream of data bits received from the
network layer into manageable data units called frames.

Physical addressing: If the frames are to be distributed to different systems on the

network, the frame should be included with the header and the receiver. The data
link layer does this process. This adds the header and the receiver to the frame to
define the sender and the receiver.

Flow control: When the rate of the data transmitted and the rate of data received
by the receiver is not same, then there will be some losses in the data. The data link
layer prevents the data by the flow control mechanism from the overwhelming of
receiver.

Error control: The data link layer incorporates reliability to the physical layer by
adding mechanism to detect and retransmit the damaged or lost frames.

Access control: When two or more devices are connected to the same link, the data
link layer will determines which device has the control over link.

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1.5.3 Network layer

When two systems are connected to the different networks with connecting devices
between the networks, there is a need for the network layer to accomplish the source to
destination delivery. Fig 1.5.3 shows the network layer.

From transport layer To transport layer

Data H3 Data H3

To data link layer from data link layer

The network layer is responsible for source – to – destination delivery. (For the
delivery of packets from original source to the final destination). The major duties of
network layer as follows:

Logical addressing: The physical addressing implemented by the data link layer
handles the address problem locally. If the packet is in the network boundary we
need another addressing system to distinguish the source and the destination. the
network layer adds a header to the packet coming from upper layer includes the
logical address of the source and the destination.

Routing: When the independent networks are connected to create an internetwork

or a large network, the connecting devices routes or switches to its final destination.

1.5.4 Transport layer

The transport layer is responsible for process – to – process delivery of the entire
message. Whereas the network layer oversees the host – to – destination delivery of the
individual packets, it does not recognize any relationship between those packets. The
transport layer on the other hand side ensures the whole message arrives intact and in
order, overseeing both error control and flow control at the process to process level. Fig
1.5.4 shows the transport layer.

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 From application layer to application layer

Data H4 Data H4 Data H4 Data H4 Data H4 Data H4

To transport layer from network layer

The transport layer is responsible for delivery of message from one process to
another. The major functions of transport layer as follows:

Port addressing: Computers often run several processes at the same time. For this
region process to process delivery not only from one computer to other but also
from the specific process on one computer to the specific process on the other. The
transport layer header must therefore include the type of addressing called port
addressing.

Segmentation and reassembling: A message is divided into transmittable segments,

each segment contains a sequence number which enables transport layer to
reassemble at destination.

Connection control: The transport layer can be either connectionless or connection

oriented.
The connectionless transport layer treats each segment as an independent
packet and delivers it to the transport layer at the destination machine.
The connection oriented transport layer makes a connection with the
destination machine first before delivering the packets. After all the data is
transferred the connection will be terminated.

Flow control: The transport layer is responsible for end to end flow control
mechanism rather than across a single link.

Error control: Error control in transport layer is performed end to end rather than
across the link. The sending transport layer makes sure that the entire message
arrives at receiving transport layer without error. Error correction is usually achieved
through retransmission.

1.5.5 Session layer

The session layer is network dialog controller i.e. it establishes and synchronizes the
interaction between communication systems. Fig 1.5.5 shows the session layer.

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 From presentation layer to presentation layer

Data H5 Data H5 Data H5 Data H5 Data H5 Data H5

To transport layer from transport layer

Major functions of session layer as follows:

Dialog Control: Communication between two process take places in either half
duplex or full duplex mode. The session layer manages the dialog control for this
communication.

Synchronization: Session layer adds synchronization points into stream of data.

1.5.6 Presentation Layer

The presentation layer deals with the syntax and semantics of the information being
exchanged. Fig 1.5.6 shows the presentation layer.

from application layer to application layer

Encoded, encrypted and H5 Decoded, decrypted and H6

compressed data decompressed data

To session layer from session layer

The major functions of the presentation layer as follows:

Translation: Different computers use different encoding systems. The presentation

layer maintains interoperability between two encoding systems.

Encryption: Encryption is transforming sender information to the other form to

ensure privacy while transmission. Decryption is a reverse process.

Compression: Compression is a technique of reducing number of bits required to

represent the data.

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1.5.7 Application Layer

Application layer enables the user, whether human or software, to access the
network. It provides user interfaces and support for service such as electronic mail, remote
file access and transfer, access to the World Wide Web, and so on. Fig 1.5.7 shows the
application layer.

(User)

SMTP Telnet …………. HTTP SMTP Telnet …………. HTTP

H7 H7
Data Data

To presentation layer from presentation layer

The major functions of the application layer as follows:

Mail services: This application is the basis for email forwarding and storage.

File transfer and success: This application allows a user to access the files in remote
host (to make changes or data), to the retrieve files from a remote computer for use
in the local computer for use in the local computer, and to manage or control files in
a remote locality.

Remote log-in: A user can log into a remote computer and access the resources of
that computer.

Accessing the World Wide Web: The most common application today is the access
of World Wide Web (WWW).

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1.6 Transmission Media

Transmission media is the physical structure used for the communication between
two or more devices. The transmission media is classified in to two types. They are

1. Guided transmission medium

2. Unguided transmission medium

1.6.1 Guided transmission medium

Guided media, which are those that provide a conduit from one device to another,
include twisted – pair cable, coaxial cable, and fiber – optic cable. A signal traveling along
any of these media is directed and contained by the physical limits of the medium.

Twisted – Pair Cable

A twisted pair consists of two conductors (normally copper), each with its own
plastic insulation. Twisted pair together, as shown in figure

One of the wires is used to carry signals to the receiver, and the other is used only
as a ground reference. The receiver uses the difference between the two levels. In addition
to the signal sent by the sender on one of the wires, interference (noise) and crosstalk may
affect both wires and create unwanted signals. The register at the end, however, operates
only on the difference between these unwanted signals. If the two wires are parallel, the
effect of these unwanted signals is not the same in both wires because they are at different
location related to the noise or crosstalk sources. This results in a difference at the receiver.
By twisting pairs, a balance is maintained.

CONNECTORS
The most common UTP connector is RJ45 (Registered Jack). The RJ45 is a keyed
connector, meaning the connector can be inserted in only one way.

PERFORMANCE
One way to measure the performance of twisted pair cable is to compare
attenuation versus frequency and distance. A twisted pair cable can pass a wide range of
frequencies.

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 APPLICATIONS
The twisted pair cables are used in telephone lines to provide voice and data
channel.
The DSL lines that are used by the telephone companies to provide high data rate
connections also use the high bandwidth capability of unshielded twisted – pair cables.
Local area networks, such as 10Base –T and 100Base –T, also use twisted pair
cables.

Coaxial Cable

The most common means of conducting video signals from one piece of equipment
to another is coaxial cable. Coaxial cable is often referred to as simply "coax". Not only is
coax the most commonly used cable, but also the least expensive, most reliable, most
convenient, and easily maintained way of transferring electronic images in a CCTV system.

Coax is available from many manufacturers and comes in a variety of sizes, shapes,
colors, specifications and capabilities. The most commonly recommended "coax" type is
RG59/U, but this designation actually represents a family of cables with widely varying
electrical characteristics. Other varieties like RG59/U are RG6/U and RG11/U; these are used
predominately in CCTV and video work.

Though similar in many ways, each cable group has its own various physical and
electrical characteristics, which must be taken into consideration.

All three "coax" cable groups are included in the same general family classification
for coaxial cables. The RG reference is the cable specification for use as a "radio guide ",
while the numerical value helps differentiate the specifications of each individual cable.
Although each cable has its own number, characteristics, and size, there is no difference in
the way these different numbered cables work.

COAXIAL CONSTRUCTION

Common "coax" cable RG59//U, RG6/U, and RG11/U is circular. Each has a center
conductor surrounded by dielectric insulating material, which in turn is covered by a braid to
shield against electromagnetic interference (EMI). The outer covering is the "jacket".

The coaxial cable's two conductors are separated by a nonconductive or dielectric

material. The outer conductor (braid) acts as a shield and helps isolate the center conductor
from spurious electromagnetic interference. The outer covering helps physically protect the
conductors.

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 CENTER CONDUCTOR

The center conductor is the primary means of carrying a video signal. The center
conductor comes in varying diameters, usually ranging from 14 gauges to 22 gauges. The
structure of the center conductor generally is solid copper or copper- clad steel, designated
as bare copper weld, or BCW. For CCTV applications, solid copper conductors are required.
Copper clad, copper weld or BCW cables have much greater loop resistance at baseband
video frequencies and should never be used for CCTV. To determine the type, look at the cut
end of the center conductor. Copper clad cable will be silver in the center instead of copper
all the way through. Variation in the size of the center conductor has an overall effect on the
amount of DC resistance offered by cable. Cables which contain large diameter center
conductors have lower resistances than cables with smaller diameters. This decreased
resistance of large diameter cable enhances the ability of a cable to carry a video signal over
a longer distance with better clarity, but, it is also more expensive and harder to work with.

For applications where the cable may move up/down or side-to-side, select cable
that has a center conductor consisting of many small strands of wire. As the cable moves,
these strands flex and resist wear due to fatigue better than a cable with a solid center
conductor.

DIELECTRIC INSULATING MATERIAL

Surrounding the center conductor is an evenly made dielectric insulating material

which is available in some form of either polyurethane or polyethylene. This dielectric
insulator helps determine the operating characteristics of coax cable by maintaining uniform
spacing between the center conductor and its outer elements over the entire length of the
cable. Dielectrics made of cellular polyurethane or foam are less likely to weaken a video
signal than those made with solid polyethylene. This lower attenuation is desirable when
calculating the loss/length factor of any cable. Foam also gives a cable greater flexibility,
which may make an installer's job easier. Although foam dielectric material offers the best
performance, it can absorb moisture, which will change its electrical behavior.

Because of its rigid properties, solid polyethylene maintains its shape better than
foam and withstands the pressures of accidental pinching or crimping, but, this
characteristic also makes it slightly more difficult to handle during installation. In addition, its
loss/length attenuation factor is not quite as good as foam, which should be considered in
long cable runs.

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 BRAID OR SHIELD

Wrapped around the outside of the dielectric material is a woven copper braid
(shield), which acts as a second conductor or ground connection between the camera and
the monitor. It also acts as a shield against unwanted external signals commonly called
electromagnetic interference or EMI, which may adversely affect a video signal.

The amount of copper or wire strands in the braid deter- mine how much EMI it
keeps out. Commercial grade coax cables containing loosely woven copper braid have
shielding coverage of approximately 80 percent. These cables are suitable for general
purpose use in applications where electrical interference is known to be low. They also work
well when the cable is to be installed in metal conduit or pipe, which also aids in shielding.

If you are not sure of the conditions and are not running pipe to screen out more
EMI, use a cable with a "maximum shield" or heavy braid--type cable containing more
copper than those of commercial grade coax. This extra copper obtains the higher shielding
coverage by having more braid material made in a tighter weave. For CCTV applications,
copper conductors are needed.

Cables using aluminum foil shielding or foil wrap material are not suitable for CCTV
work. Instead, they usually are intended to transmit radio frequency signals such as those
employed in transmitter systems or in master antenna distribution systems.

Aluminum or foil cable may distort a video signal to such a point that signal quality
may be far below the level required for proper system operation, especially over long cable
runs, and therefore not recommended for CCTV use.

OUTER JACKET

The last component comprising a coax cable is the outer jacket. Although other
materials are used, polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, is commonly used in its construction.
Available in many colors such as black, white, tan, and gray, the jacket lends itself to both
indoor and outdoor applications.

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 COAXIAL CABLE CONNECTORS

Coaxial Cable Connectors are used to connect coaxial cable to devices. The most
common type of connector is the Bayone Neill-concelman or BNC connectors. There
are three popular types of connectors

BNC connectors

BNC T connectors &

BNC terminator

BNC CONNECTOR

It is used to connect the end of the cable to a device such as a TV set.

BNC T CONNECTOR

It is used in Ethernet networks to branch out a cable for connection to a computer

or other devices.

BNC TERMINATOR

It is used at the end of the cable to prevent the reflection of the signal.

PERFORMANCE

Attenuation is much higher in coaxial cables than in twisted pair cable.

Coaxial cable has a much higher bandwidth the signal weakens rapidly and needs
the frequent use of repeaters.

BASIC DEFINITIONS

Signal Attenuation is the phenomenon whereby the amplitude of a signal decreases

as it propagates along a transmission line.

Attenuation is a function of distance and frequency of signal

Repeaters are used to increase the power of the signal at appropriate intervals

Skin effect, which increases attenuation as the bit rate of the transmitted signal
increases

APPLICATIONS

Coaxial cable is used in analog telephone network where a single coaxial cable
could carry 10,000 voice signals.

It is also used in digital telephone network where a cable could carry digital data
up to 600 Mbps.

Cable TV networks also used RG-59 coaxial cables.

It is also used in traditional Ethernets.

26 M. Ajanthan | Computer Networks V S B Engineering College

 Fiber-Optic Technology
DEFINITION
Fiber-optic communications is based on the principle that light in a glass medium
can carry more information over longer distances than electrical signals can carry in a copper
or coaxial medium or radio frequencies through a wireless medium. The purity of today’s
glass fiber, combined with improved system electronics, enables fiber to transmit digitized
light signals hundreds of kilometers without amplification. With few transmission losses, low
interference, and high bandwidth potential, optical fiber is an almost ideal transmission
medium.

OVERVIEW
The advantages provided by optical fiber systems are the result of a continuous
stream of product innovations and process improvements. As the requirements and
emerging opportunities of optical fiber systems are better understood, fiber is improved to
address them. This tutorial provides an extensive overview of the history, construction,
operation, and benefits of optical fiber, with particular emphasis on outside vapor
deposition (OVD) process.

FROM THEORY TO PRACTICAL APPLICATION: A QUICK HISTORY

An important principle in physics became the theoretical foundation for optical fiber
communications: light in a glass medium can carry more information over longer distances
than electrical or radio frequency (RF) signals can carry in a copper, coaxial or wireless
medium. The first challenge undertaken by scientists was to develop a glass so pure that one
percent of the light would be retained at the end of one kilometer (km), the existing
unrepeatered transmission distance for copper-based telephone systems. In terms of
attenuation, this one-percent of light retention translated to 20 decibels per kilometer
(dB/km) of glass material. Glass researchers all over the world worked on the challenge in
the 1960s, but the breakthrough came in 1970, when Corning Incorporated scientists Drs.
Robert Maurer, Donald Keck, and Peter Schultz created a fiber with a measured attenuation
of less than 20 dB per km. It was the purest glass ever made. The three scientists’ work is
recognized as the discovery that led the way to the commercialization of optical fiber
technology. Since then, the technology has advanced tremendously in terms of
performance, quality, consistency, and applications.
Working closely with customers has made it possible for scientists to understand
what modifications are required, to improve the product accordingly through design and
manufacturing, and to develop industry-wide standards for fiber. The commitment to optical
fiber technology has spanned more than 30 years and continues today with the endeavor to
determine how fiber is currently used and how it can meet the challenges of future
applications. As a result of research and development efforts to improve fiber, a high level of
glass purity has been achieved. Today, fiber’s optical performance is approaching the
theoretical limits of silica-based glass materials. This purity, combined with improved system
electronics, enables fiber to transmit digitized light signals hundreds of kilometers without
amplification. When compared with early attenuation levels of 20 dB per km, today’s

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 achievable levels of less than 0.35 dB per km at 1310 nanometers (nm) and 0.25 dB per km
at 1550 nm, testify to the incredible drive for improvement.

HOW FIBER WORKS

The operation of an optical fiber is based on the principle of total internal reflection.
Light reflects (bounces back) or refracts (alters its direction while penetrating a different
medium), depending on the angle at which it strikes a surface.

One way of thinking about this concept is to envision a person looking at a lake. By
looking down at a steep angle, the person will see fish, rocks, vegetation, or whatever is
below the surface of the water (in a somewhat distorted location due to refraction),
assuming that the water is relatively clear and calm. However, by casting a glance farther
out, thus making the angle of sight less steep, the individual is likely to see a reflection of
trees or other objects on an opposite shore. Because air and water have different indices of
refraction, the angle at which a person looks into or across the water influences the image
seen. This principle is at the heart of how optical fiber works. Controlling the angle at which
the light waves are transmitted makes it possible to control how efficiently they reach their
destination. Light waves are guided through the core of the optical fiber in much the same
way that radio frequency (RF) signals are guided through coaxial cable. The light waves are
guided to the other end of the fiber by being reflected within the core. The composition of
the cladding glass relative to the core glass determines the fiber’s ability to reflect light. That
reflection is usually caused by creating a higher refractive index in the core of the glass than
in the surrounding cladding glass, creating a “waveguide.” The refractive index of the core is
increased by slightly modifying the composition of the core glass, generally by adding small
amounts of a dopant. Alternatively, the waveguide can be created by reducing the refractive
index of the cladding using different dopants.

THE DESIGN OF FIBER CORE AND CLADDING

An optical fiber consists of two different types of highly pure, solid glass, composed
to form the core and cladding. A protective acrylate coating (see Figure 1) then
surrounds the cladding. In most cases, the protective coating is a dual layer
composition.

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 A protective coating is applied to the glass fiber as the final step in the
manufacturing process. This coating protects the glass from dust and scratches that
can affect fiber strength. This protective coating can be comprised of two layers: a
soft inner layer that cushions the fiber and allows the coating to be stripped from the
glass mechanically and a harder outer layer that protects the fiber during handling,
particularly the cabling, installation, and termination processes.

SINGLE-MODE AND MULTIMODE FIBERS

There are two general categories of optical fiber: single-mode and multimode (see
Figure 2). Multimode fiber was the first type of fiber to be commercialized. It has a much
larger core than single-mode fiber, allowing hundreds of modes of light to propagate
through the fiber simultaneously. Additionally, the larger core diameter of multimode fiber
facilitates the use of lower-cost optical transmitters (such as light emitting diodes [LEDs] or
vertical cavity surface emitting lasers [VCSELs]) and connectors.

Single-mode fiber, on the other hand, has a much smaller core that allows only one
mode of light at a time to propagate through the core. While it might appear that multimode
fibers have higher capacity, in fact the opposite is true. Single mode fibers are designed to
maintain spatial and spectral integrity of each optical signal over longer distances, allowing
more information to be transmitted. Its tremendous information-carrying capacity and low
intrinsic loss have made single-mode fiber the ideal transmission medium for a multitude of
applications. Single-mode fiber is typically used for longer-distance and higher-bandwidth
applications (see Figure 3). Multimode fiber is used primarily in systems with short

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 transmission distances (under 2 km), such as premises communications, private data
networks, and parallel optic applications.

OPTICAL FIBER SIZES

The international standard for outer cladding diameter of most single-mode optical
fibers is 125 microns (μm) for the glass and 245 μm for the coating. This standard is
important because it ensures compatibility among connectors, splices, and tools used
throughout the industry. Standard single-mode fibers are manufactured with a small core
size, approximately 8 to 10 μm in diameter. Multimode fibers have core sizes of 50 to 62.5
μm in diameter.

FIBER-OPTIC CABLE CONNECTORS

There are three different types of connectors are used by fiber –optic cable.
SC (subscriber channel) Connector:
It is used in cable TV.

ST (Straight-tip) Connector:
It is used for connecting cable to networking devices.

PERFORMANCE:

Attenuation is flatter than in the case of twisted pair cable and coaxial cable.

Few repeaters are needed when we use fiber optic cable.

APPLICATION
It is used in cable TV and LAN (Fast Ethernet and 100Base –X.

ADVANTAGES
Higher bandwidth: It can support higher bandwidth than twisted pair or coaxial cable.
Less signal attenuation: Transmission distance is greater than that of other guided media.
Signals can be transmitted for 50 km without requiring regeneration.
Immunity to electromagnetic Interference: Electromagnetic noise can not affect fiber-optic
cables
Resistance to corrosive materials: glass is more resistant to corrosive materials.
Light-weight: It is of less weight than the copper cables.

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 More immune to taping: Fiber-optic cables are more immune to taping than copper cables.

DISADVANTAGES:
Installation/Maintenance: Installation/Maintenance need expertise since it is a new
technology.
Unidirectional: Propagation of light is unidirectional. Bidirectional communication is
achieved by means of two optical fibers.
Cost: It is more expensive and the use of optical fiber cannot be justified if the need for
bandwidth is not high.

1.7 Line Coding and decoding

Line coding is the process of converting the binary data, sequence of bits, to a digital
signal. Figure 1.7 shows the line coding technique.

10100 Line coding

CHARACTERISTICS OF LINE CODING

Some characteristics of line coding are

Signal level versus data level

Pulse rate vs. bit rate

Dc components and

Self-synchronization
SIGNAL LEVEL
The number of values allowed in a particular signal is termed as signal level.

DATA LEVEL
The number of values used to represent data is termed as data level.

DC COMPONENT (ZERO FREQUENCY):

If the positive voltages are not get cancelled by the negative voltages then it is called
a dc component. This component is undesirable for 2 reasons. They are

If the signal is to pass through a system that does not allow the passage of a dc
component, the signal is distorted and may create errors in the output.

This component is an extra energy residing on the line and is useless.
SELF-SYNCHRONIZATION:
Need: To correctly interpret the signals received from the sender, the receivers bit
intervals must correspond exactly to the senders bit intervals. If the receiver clock is faster
or slower, the bit intervals are not matched and the receiver might interpret the signals
differently than the sender intended.

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 A Self-synchronizing digital signal includes timing information in the data being
transmitted. This can be achieved if there are transitions in the signal that alert the receiver
to the beginning, middle or end of the pulse. If the receiver’s clock is out of synchronization,
these alerting points can reset the clock

LINE CODING SCHEMES

The line coding schemes can be categorized into three types. They are,

Unipolar

Polar

Bipolar

1.7.1 Unipolar

Unipolar encoding uses only one voltage level. 1’s are encoded as positive value and
0’s are encoded as zero value. Fig 1.7.1 shows the unipolar encoding.

1.7.2 Polar

Polar encoding uses two voltage levels, one positive and one negative. By using two
levels, in most polar encoding methods are average voltage levels on the line is reduced and
the dc component problem seen in unipolar encoding is avoided. The polar encoding
schemes are classified as follows

Non Return to Zero (NRZ)

Return to Zero (RZ)

Manchester Coding and

Differential Manchester Coding

NON RETURN TO ZERO (NRZ)

In NRZ encoding, the value of the signal is always either positive or negative. The NRZ
encoding is classified in to two categories. They are

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 NRZ- L

In NRZ-L level encoding, the level of the signals depends on the type of bit that
represents. A positive value is represented for symbol ‘1’ and the negative value is
represented for the symbol ‘0’. Thus the level of signal depends on the bit.

NRZ-I

In NRZ-I level encoding an inversion of voltage level is represented for a symbol ‘1’. It
is the transition between a positive and the negative voltage, not the voltage itself that
represents the bit‘1’. A ‘0’ bit is represented by no change. The diagram shows the non
return to zero level encoding.

RETURN TO ZERO (RZ)

The return to zero line coding scheme uses three voltage levels. They are positive,
negative and the zero level. The signal will reach to zero level after completing the half of
the present signal.

There will be two signal changes to encode on single bit. And this type of encoding
scheme will occupies more bandwidth. These are the main disadvantages of the RZ type of
encoding.

MONCHESTER ENCODING

Manchester encoding uses an inversion at the middle of each bit interval for both
synchronization and the data reception. The bit 1 represents the negative - to - positive
transition. The bit 0 represents the positive - to - negative transition. The Manchester level
encoding achieves the same level of synchronization as RZ level. The figure shows the
Manchester encoding.

DIFFERENTIAL MANCHESTER ENCODING

In differential Manchester level encoding the inversion at the middle of the bit
intervals is used for synchronization. Presence or absence of additional transition at the
beginning of the interval is used to identify the bit. A bit 0 is represented by a transition. A

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 bit 1 means no transition. It requires two signal changes to represent binary 0, but only one
to represent binary 1.

1.7.3 Bipolar encoding

It uses three voltage levels Positive, Negative and Zero. The bit 0 is represented by
zero level .The 1s are represented by alternate positive and negative voltages. If the first 1
bit is represented by positive amplitude, the second will be represented by the negative
amplitude, and so on.
There are three types of bipolar encoding

AMI

B8ZS

HDB3

BIPOALR ALTERNATIVE MARK INVERSION

A binary 0 represented by the zero voltage. A binary 1s are represented by alternate

positive and negative voltages. By inverting on each occurrence of 1, the dc component is
zero. A long sequence of 1s stays synchronized.

The figure shows the different types of the line coding schemes.

Unipolar encoding

Polar encoding

Bipolar encoding

1.8 Modems

The term modem is a composite word that refers to the two functional entities that
make up the device; a signal modulator and a signal demodulator. A modulator creates a
band-pass analog signal from binary data. A demodulator recovers the binary data from the
modulated signal. Modem stands for modulator and demodulator.

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1.8.1 Telephone Modems

Traditional telephone lines can carry frequencies between 300 and 3300 HZ, giving them
BW of 3000 Hz; All this range is used for transmitting voice, where a great deal of
interference and distortion can be accepted without loss of intelligibility.

The effective BW of a telephone line being used for data Transmission is 2400 Hz,
covering the range from 600 to 3000 Hz.

MODULATION /DEMODULATION

Telco Telco
Telephone
network

Modem Modem

A B

Figure shows the relationship of modems to a communication link. The computer on

the left sends binary data to the modulator portion of the modem; the data is sent as an
analog signal on the telephone lines. The modem on the right receives the analog signal,
demodulates it through its demodulator, and delivers data to the computer on the right.

The communication can be bidirectional, which means the computer on the right
can also send data to the computer on the left using the same modulation and
demodulation processes.

MODEM STANDARDS

V-series standards published by the ITU-T.

V.32

V.32bis

V.34bis

V.90

V.92

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 V.32

This modem uses a combined modulation and demodulation encoding technique

called trellis-coded modulation. Trellis is essentially QAM plus a redundant bit. The Data
stream is divided into 4-bit sections. Instead of a quad bit, however, a pentabit is
transmitted. The value of the extra bit is calculated from the values of the data bits.

In any QAM system, the receiver compares each received signal point to all valid
points in the constellation and selects the closest point as the intended value. A signal
distorted by transmission noise can arrive closer in value to an adjacent point than to the
intended point, resulting in a misidentification of the point and an error in the received data.

By adding a redundant bit to each quad bit, trellis-coded modulation increases the
amount of information used to identify each bit pattern thereby reduces the number of
possible matches.

The V.32 calls for 32-QAM with a baud rate of 2400. Because only 4 bits of each
pentabit represents data, the resulting speed is 4*2400=9600.

FDX 2400 baud 9600 bps 2-wire

600 1800 3000

Bandwidth diagram

V.32 bis

The V.32 bis modem support 14,400-bps transmission. The V.32 uses 128-QAM
transmission.

V.34 bis

The V.34 bis modem support 28,800-bps transmission with a 960-point constellation
to a bit rate of 33,600 with a 1664-point constellation.

V.90

Traditional modems have a limitations on the data rate.V.90 modems with a bit rate
of 56,000 bps, called 56Kmodems, are available. Downloading rate is 56K, while the
uploading rate is a maximum of 33.6 kbps.

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1.8.2 Traditional Modems

In traditional modems data exchange is between two computers, A and B, through

digital telephone network.

Sampling & noise

Inverse PCM
Telephone
PCM
network

Modem B to A Modem

Quantization
noise happens in
the telco office
A near B B

After modulation by the modem, an analog signal reaches the telephone company switching
station. Where it is sampled and digitized to be passed through the digital network. The
quantization noise introduced in the signal at the sampling point limits the data rate
according to the capacity. This limit is 33.6 Kbps.

V.92

The standard above V.92 is called V.92. These modems can adjust their speed, and if
the noise allows, they can upload data at the rate of 48 Kbps. The modem has additional
features. For example, the modem can interrupt the internet connection when there is an
incoming call if the line has call-waiting service.

1.9 RS 232 Interface

RS 232 is a standard interface by EIA and RS232C is the latest version of this
interface.

1.9.1 Interfacing with RS 232

It expects a modem to be connected to both receiving and transmitting end.

The modem is termed as DCE (Data Communication Equipment) and the computer
with which modem is interfaced is called DTE (Data Terminal Equipment).

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The DCE and DTE are linked via a cable whose length does not exceed 50 feet. The
DTE has 35 pins male connector and DCE has 25 pins Female connector.
1.9.2 Features of Rs 232 Interface

RS232 SIGNAL LEVEL

RS232 standard follows –ve logic, Logic1 is represented by negative voltage. Logic0 is
represented by +ve voltage.

Level 1 varies from -3 to -15v and level 0 varies from 3 to 15v

RS232 SIGNALS

SL NO PIN NUMBER SIGNAL SIGNAL NAME

1 1 --- Frame ground

2 2 TXD Transmit data

3 3 RXD Receive data

4 4 RTS Request to send

5 5 CTS Clear to send

6 6 DSR Data Set Ready

7 7 SG Signal Ground

8 8 RLSD or CD Received line signal detect or carrier detect

9 20 DTR Data Terminal Ready

10 22 RI Ring Indicator

1.9.3 Communication between DCE and DTE

Before sending data to the other end the DTE requests the permission from the
modem by issuing RTS signal.

The modem has a method to find out if any telephone line is free and if the other
end of modem is ready.

When the modem finds the communication path is ready for communication it
issues CTS signal to DTE as an acknowledgement.

The DTE issues DTR signal when it is powered on, error free and ready for logical
connection through the modem.

The modem issues a DSR signal to indicate that it is powered on and it is error free.

The data is transferred by TXD signal from DTE to DCE and RXD signal receives data
from DCE to DTE.

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The RI and RLSD signals are used with the dialed modem, when the telephone link is
shared.
1.9.4 Communication

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40 M. Ajanthan | Computer Networks V S B Engineering College
 Unit - 2

Data link layer

Data Link Layer

Data link layer (DLL) is the second layer in OSI reference model. The DLL lies between the
network layer and the physical layer. It receives services from the physical layer and provides the
service to the network layer. The DLL is the responsible for carrying a packet from one hop to next
hop

Duties of Data Link Layer

Duties of DLL are as under

Packaging

Addressing

Error control

Flow control

Medium access control

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2.1 Error

Data can be corrupted during transmission. For reliable communication, errors must
be detected and corrected. Signals flows from one point to another. It is subjected to
unpredictable interferences from heat, magnetism and other forms of electricity.

2.1.1 Types of Errors

SINGLE BIT ERROR:

The term single bit error means that only one bit of a given data unit is changed
from 1 to 0 or 0 to 1. 010101 are changed to 110101 here only one bit is changed by single
bit error.

BURST ERROR:

A burst error means that 2 or more bits in the data unit have changed.

Example: Here two bits are corrupted.

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 THREE KINDS OF ERRORS CAN OCCUR:

The bits in the frame can be inverted, anywhere within the frame including the data
bits or the frame's control bits,
Additional bits can be inserted into the frame, before the frame or after the frame
and
Bits can be deleted from the frame.

2.2 Detection

REDUNDANCY

Error detection use the concept of redundancy, which means adding extra bits for
detecting errors at the destination .i.e., instead of repeating the entire data stream, a
shorter group of bits may be appended to the end of each unit.

1010000000010101 10100000000101010

Ok

101000000001010 1011101 1010000000010101 1011101

Medium

101000000001010
Data unit

101101 Redundancy unit

Above figure shows the process of using redundant bits to check the accuracy of a
data unit. Once the data stream has been generated, it passes through a device that
analyses it and adds an appropriately coded redundancy check.

The receiver puts the entire stream through a checking function. The received bit
stream passes the checking criteria. The data portion of the unit is accepted if there is no
error, otherwise rejected and the redundant bits are discarded.

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2.3 Detection Methods

Parity Check
Cyclic redundancy check
Check sum

2.3.1 Parity Check

A redundant bit called parity bit is added to every data unit so that the total number
of 1’s in the unit becomes even (or odd).

2.3.1.1 Simple Parity Check

In a simple parity check a redundant bit is added to a string of data so that total
number of 1’s in the data become even or odd.

The total data bit is then passed through parity checking function. For even parity, it
checks for even number of 1’s and for odd parity it checks even number of 1’s. If an error is
detected the data is rejected.

EXAMPLE 1: DATA TO BE TRANSMITTED = 10110101

5 1’s in the data

Parity bit is 1

Transmitted codeword = 101101011

If receiver gets 101101011, parity check ok ---accept (OK)

If receiver gets 101100011, parity check fails ---reject (OK), ask for frame to be re-
transmitted

If receiver gets 101110011, parity check ok ---accept (NOT OK: even number of errors
undetected)

If receiver gets 001100011, parity check ok ---accept (NOT OK: even number of errors
undetected)

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2.3.1.2 Dimensional Parity Check (Longitudinal Redundancy Check)

Form data into a 2-dimensional array; add single parity check bits to each row and
each column; transmit row-by-row

Example: data = 1110001 1000111 0011001

Form 3×7 array and add row and column parity bits:

Data bits
1110001 0
1000111 0 row
0011001 1 parity bits

0101111 1
Column parity
Bits

transmitted: 11100010 10001110 00110011 01011111

Receiver knows to form received bit string into 4×8 array, then check the row and
column parity bits…

Can detect any odd number of bit errors in a row or column, and can detect an even
number of bit errors if they’re in a single row (using the column parity checks) or in a
single column (using the row parity checks); and can correct any single bit error

2.3.2 Cyclic Redundancy Check

CRC is based on binary division. In CRC, instead of adding bits to achieve the desired
parity, a sequence of redundant bits, called the CRC or the CRC remainder, is appended to
the end of the data unit so that the resulting data unit becomes exactly divisible by a second,
predetermined binary number. At its destination, the incoming data unit is assumed to be
intact and is therefore accepted. A remainder indicates that the data unit has been damaged
in transit and therefore must be rejected.

Step by step procedure

 Dividing the data unit by a predetermined divisor derives the redundancy bits used
by CRC; the remainder is CRC.

 First a starting of n 0’s is appended to the data unit. The number n is one less than
the number of bits in the predetermined divisor, which is n+ 1 bit.

 The newly elongated data unit is divided by the divisor, using a process called binary
division. The remainder resulting from this division is the CRC.

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  The CRC of n bits derived in step 2 replaces the appended 0s at the end of the data
unit. Note that the CRC may consist of all 0s.

 The data unit arrives at the receiver data first, followed by the CRC. The receiver
treats the whole string as unit and divides it by the same divisor that was used to
find the CRC remainder.

 If the string arrives without error, the CRC checker yields a remainder of zero add
the data unit passes. If the string has been changed in transit, the division yields a
non- zero remainder and the data does not pass.

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 CRC Checker and Generator

CRC Generator

It uses modulo-2 division. The following figure shows this process

CRC Checker

• A CRC checker function is exactly as the generator does. After receiving the data
appended with the CRC, it does the same modulo-2 division.
• If the remainder is all 0s, the CRC is dropped and the data are accepted; otherwise,
the received stream of bits is discarded and data are resent.
• The following figure shows the process of division in the receiver. We assume that
there is an error.
• The remainder is not full of 0s, and the data are rejected.

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2.4 Check Sum

The checksum is based on the redundancy.

Check Sum Generator

• In the sender side, the checksum generator subdivides the data unit into equal
segments of n bits.
• These segments are added using ones complement a, the total is also in n bits long
• The total is then complemented and appended to the end of the original data unit as
redundancy bits, called the checksum field.
• The extended data is transmitted across the network.

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 Check Sum Checker

• The receiver subdivides the data unit into k sections each of n bits.
• All sections are added using ones complement arithmetic to get the sum.
• The sum is complemented.
• If the result is zero, the data are accepted: otherwise they are rejected.

EXAMPLE

Suppose the block of 16 bits is to be sent using a checksum of 8 bits.

10101001 00111001

The numbers are added using ones complement arithmetic

10101001

00111001

1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 sum

0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 Checksum (1’s complement value of sum)

The pattern sent is

10101001 00111001 00011101

Checksum

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 Now the receiver receives the pattern with no error

10101001 00111001 00011101

The receiver adds these three sections, it will get all ones, which, after
complementing, is all 0s and shows that there is no error.

10101001

00111001

00011101

11111111 sum

00000000 complement (pattern is ok)

Suppose there is a burst error of length 5 that affects four bits.

10101111 11111001 00011101

When the receiver adds these sections, it gets

10101111

11111001

00011101

111000101

1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 sum

0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 complement (the pattern is corrupted)

PERFORMANCE

• It detects all errors involving an odd number of bits as well as most errors involving
an even number of bits.
• If one or more bits of a segment are damaged and the corresponding bit or bits of
opposite value in the second segment are also damaged, the sum of those columns
will not change and the receiver will not detect the problem.

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2.5 Hamming code
• A minimum number of redundancy bits needed to correct any single bit error in the
data

• A minimum of 4 redundancy bits is needed if the number of data bits is 4.

• Redundancy bits in the Hamming code are placed in the codeword bit positions that
are a power of 2

• Each redundancy bit is the parity bit for a different combination of data bits

• Each data bit may be included in more than one parity check.

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 • Easy way to compute the redundancy bit values: write down binary
representations for positions of data bits which contain a 1; compute parity
bits for each “column”; put parity bits into codeword in correct order.

• Here: data is 1001101 so codeword will look like 100x110x1xx (where x denotes
redundancy bits) 1’s in positions 3, 6, 7, and 11
11: 1 0 1 1
7: 0 1 1 1
6: 0 1 1 0
3: 0 0 1 1
1001
Parity bits
r1 r2 r4 r8

So codeword is 10011100101(as before)

Suppose that the bit in position 7 is received in error:

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  If the transmitted codeword is received error – free, the “new” parity bits the
receiver computes will all be 0, the receiver knows no bit errors occurred

 This simple form of hamming code can be used to provide some protection against
burst errors, by transmitting 1st bit from every codeword to be transmitted, then 2nd
bit from every one of these codeword, and so on… in some cases, burst errors can
be corrected.

2.6 Flow and Error Control

The two main features of data kink layer are flow control and error control.

Flow Control

Flow control coordinates that amount of data that can be sent before receiving ACK
It is one of the most important duties of the data link layer.

Error Control

• Error control in the data link layer is based on ARQ (automatic repeat request),
which is the retransmission of data.
• The term error control refers to methods of error detection and retransmission.
• Anytime an error is detected in an exchange, specified frames are retransmitted.
This process is called ARQ.

Flow and Error Control

1. STOP-AND WAIT ARQ.

2. GO-BACK-N ARQ.
3. SELECTIVE-REPEAT ARQ.

• STOP-AND- WAIT ARQ

This is the simplest flow and error control mechanism. It has the following
features.

• The sending devise keeps the copy of the last frame transmitted until it receives an
acknowledgement for that frame. Keeping a copy allows the sender to re- transmit
lost or damaged frames until they are received correctly.

• Both data and acknowledgement frames are numbered alternately 0 and 1. A data
frame 0 is acknowledged by an ACK 1.

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 • A damaged or lost frame is treated in the same manner by the receiver. If the
receiver detects an error in the received frame, it simply discards the frame and
sends no acknowledgement.
• The sender has a control variable, which we call S, that holds the number of recently
sent frame. The receiver has a control variable, which we call R that holds the
number of the next frame expected.

• The sender starts a timer when it sends a frame. If an ACK is not received within an
allotted time period the sender assumes that the frame was lost or damaged and
resends it.

• The receivers send only positive ACK for frames received safe and sound; it is silent
about the frames damaged or lost.

OPERATION:

The possible operations are

Normal operation

Lost frame

ACK lost

Delayed ACK.

NORMAL OPERATION:
The sender sends frame 0 and wait to receive ACK 1. When ACK 1 is received it sends
frame 1 and then waits to receive ACK 0, and so on.

The ACK must be received before the time out that is set expires. The following
figure shows successful frame transmission.

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 LOST OR DAMAGED FRAME

When the receiver receives the damaged frame it discards it, which essentially
means the frame is lost. The receiver remains silent about a lost frame and keeps its value of
R.
For example in the following figure the sender transmits frame 1, but it is lost. The
receiver does nothing, retaining the value of R (1). After the timer at the sender site expires,
another copy of frame 1 is sent.

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 LOST ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

A lost or damaged ACK is handling in the same by the sender; if the sender receives a
damaged ACK, it discards it.
The following figure shows a lost ACK 0.the waiting sender does not know if frame 1
has been received. When the timer for frame 1 expires the sender retransmits frame 1.
Note that the receiver has already received frame 1 and is expecting to receive
frame 0. Therefore, its silently discards the second copy of frame 1.

DELAYED ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

An ACK can be delayed at the receiver or by some problem with the link. The
following figure shows the delay of ACK 1; it ids received after the timer for frame 0 as
already expired.

The sender has already retransmitted a copy of frame 0. The receiver expects frame
1 so its simply discards the duplicate frame 0.

The sender has now received two ACK’s, one that was delayed and one that was
sent after the duplicate frame 0 arrived. The second ACK 1 is discarded.

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 • BIDIRECTIONAL TRANSMISSION:
The stop – and – wait mechanism is unidirectional. We can have bi-directional
transmission if the two parties have two separate channels for full duplex communication or
share the same channel for off duplex transmission. In this case, each party needs both S
and R variables to track frames sent and expected.

PIGGYBACKING

It’s a method to combine a data frame with an ACK. In following figure both the
sender and the receiver have data to send. Instead of sending separate data and ACK
frames. It can save bandwidth because the overhead from a data frame and an ACK frame
can be combined into just one frame

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 GO-BACK-N ARQ
 As in Stop-and-wait protocol a sender has to wait for every ACK then next frame is
transmitted. But in GO-BACK-N ARQ number of frames can be transmitted without
waiting for ACK. A copy of each transmitted frame is maintained until the respective
ACK is received.

FEATURES OF GO-BACK-N ARQ

1. Sequence numbers.

Sequence numbers of transmitted frames are maintained in the header of frame. If k

is the number of bits for sequence number, then the numbering can range from 0 to 2k -
1. Example: if k=3 means sequence numbers are 0 to 7.
2. Sender sliding window:

Window is a set of frames in a buffer waiting for ACK. This window keeps on sliding
in forward direction, the window size is fixed. As the ACK is received, the respective
frame goes out of window and new frame to sent come into window. Figure illustrates
the sliding window.
If Sender receives ACK 4, then it knows Frames upto and including Frame 3 were
correctly received

Window size=7

3. Receiver sliding window:

In the receiver side size of the window is always one. The receiver is
expecting to arrive frame in specifies sequence. Any other frame is received which is
out of order is discarded. The receiver slides over after receiving the expected
frame. The following figure shows the receiver side-sliding window.

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 6 7 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

4. Control variables:

Sender variables and Receiver variables:

Sender deals with three different variables

S -> sequence number of recently sent frame

SF -> sequence number of first frame in the window.

SL -> sequence number of last frame in the window.

The receiver deals with only one variable

R -> sequence number of frame expected.

5. Timers

The sender has a timer for each transmitted frame. The receivers don’t have any
timer.

6. Acknowledgement:

The receiver responds for frame arriving safely by positive ACK. For
damaged or lost frames receiver doesn’t reply, the sender has to retransmit it when timer of
that frame elapsed. The receiver may ACK once for several frames.

7. Resending frames:

If the timer for any frame expires, the sender has to resend that frame and the
subsequent frame also, hence the protocol is called GO-BACK-N ARQ.
OPERATION
NORMAL OPERATION:
Following diagram shows this mechanism. The sender keeps track of the outstanding
frames and updates the variables and windows as acknowledgements arrive.

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 DAMAGED OR LOST FRAME:

Figure shows that frame 2 is lost. Note that when the receiver receives frame 3, it is
discarded because the receiver is expecting frame 2, not frame3. After the timer for frame 2
expires at the sender site, the sender sends frame 2 and 3.

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 Damaged or lost acknowledgement:

If an ACK is lost, we can have two situations. If the next ACK arrives before the
expiration of timer, there is no need for retransmission of frames because ACK are
cumulative in this protocol.. if the next ACK arrives after the timeout, the frame and all the
frames after that are resent. The receiver never resends an ACK.

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 Delayed Acknowledgement:

A delayed ACK also triggers the resending of frames.

SELECTIVE REPEAT ARQ

• The configuration and its control variables for this are same as those selective repeat
ARQ.
• The size of the window should be one half of the value 2m.
• The receiver window size must also be the size. In this the receiver is looking for a
range of sequence numbers.
• The receiver has control variables RF and RL to denote the boundaries of the window.

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 Selective repeat also defines a negative ACK NAK that reports the sequence number
of a damaged frame before the timer expires.

OPERATION
NORMAL OPERATION:
Normal operations of the selective repeat ARQ are same as GO-BACK-N ARQ
mechanism.
LOST OR DAMAGED FRAME
The following figure shows operation of the mechanism with an example of a lost
frame.
Frame 0 and 1 are accepted when received because they are in the range specified
by the receiver window. When frame 3 is received, it is also accepted for the same reason.
However the receiver sends a NAK 2 to show that frame 2 has not been received. When the
sender receives the NAK 2, it resends only frame 2, which is then accepted because it is in
the range of the window.

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 LOST AND DELAYED ACKS AND NAKS

In this sender also sets a timer for each frame sent. The remaining operations are
same as GO-BACK-N ARQ.

2.7 HDLC

• HDLC stands for High Level Data Link Control.

• HDLC standardized ISO in 1979 and accepted by most other standards bodies (ITU-T,
ANSI)
• 3 types of end-stations:
Primary–sends commands
Secondary–can only responds to Primary’s commands
Combined–can both command and respond
• 3 types of configuration
(Note: no balanced multipoint)

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 TRANSFER MODE

• Mode = relationship between 2 communicating devices;

• Describes who controls the link
o NRM = Normal Response Mode
o ABM = Asynchronous Balanced Mode
NRM:

Only difference is that secondary needs permission from the Primary in NRM, but
doesn’t need permission from the Primary in ARM.

FRAMES:
3 types of Frames are
I-Frame – transports user data and control info about user data.
S-Frame – supervisory Frame, only used for transporting control information
U-Frame – unnumbered Frame, reserved for system management(managing the link itself)

FRAME FORMAT

U-FRAMES:

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 • U-frames are used for functions such as link setup. They do not contain any
sequence numbers.
• Five code bits denote the frame type (but there are not 32 different possibilities):
• Set Asynchronous Balanced Mode (SABM).Used in the link set up to indicate ABM
mode will be used.
• Set Normal Response Mode (SNRM).Used for asymmetric mode (master/slave).
• SABME and SNMRE—extended format.
• Disconnect (DISC).Used to disconnect the logical connection.
• Frame Reject (FRMR)—reject frame with incorrect semantics.
• Unnumbered Acknowledgement (UA).Used to acknowledge other frames in this
class.
• Unnumbered Information (UI)–initialisation, poling and status information needed
by the data link layer.
• U-frames may carry data when unreliable connectionless service is called for.

S-FRAMES:

• S-frames are similar to unnumbered frames, the main difference being that they do
carry sequence information.
• Some supervisory frames function as positive and negative acknowledgements, they
therefore play a very important role in error and flow control.
• Two bits indicate the frame type, so that there are four possibilities.

• Receiver Ready -RR(Positive Acknowledgement)

• Receiver Not Ready -RNR
• Reject -REJ(NAK go-back-N)
• Selective Reject -SREJ(NAK selective retransmit)

CONTROL FIELD:

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2.8 IEEE 802.4 Token bus
• IEEE 802.4 describes the token bus LAN standard.
• In token passing method stations, connected on a bus are arranged in a logical ring.
When the logical ring is initiated, the highest number station may send the first
frame. After this it passes permission to its immediate neighbor by sending a special
frame called a token.
• The token propagates along the logic ring, with only the token holder being
permitted to transmit frames. Since only one station can hold the token at a time,
collision will not occur.
• There is no relation between physical location of the station on the bus and its
logical sequence number.
The following figure shows the operation of token bus topology

PHYSICAL TOPOLOGY

Logical sequence of token passing

TOKEN PASSING IN A BUS

802.4 cable standards

• The token bus standard specifies three physical layer options in terms of
transmission medium, signaling technique, data rate and maximum electrical cable
segment length.

Medium options

1. Broadband: Transmission medium is co-axial cable and its uses AM/PSK as

signaling techniques, data rate is 1,5,10 mbps.

2. Carrier band: Transmission medium is co-axial cable and its uses KSK as a
signaling techniques, data rate is 1, 5, 10Mbps.

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 3. Optical fiber: Transmission medium is optical fiber and its uses ASK with
Manchester encoding as a signaling techniques, data rate is 5, 10, 20Mbps.
IEEE 802.4 Frame format

• Token bus frame format is shown in the following figure.

• Preamble: the preamble is an at least one byte long pattern to establish bit
synchronization
• SD: Start frame delimiter: Its also one byte unique bit pattern, which marks the start
of the frame.
• FC: Frame control: The frame control field is used to distinguish data frames from
control frames. For data frame, it carries the frames priority. The frame control field
indicates the type of the frame data frame or control frame.
• DA: Destination address: The destination address field is 2 or 6 bytes long.
• SA: Source address: The destination address field is 2 or 6 bytes long.
• DATA: Data field
• FCS: Frame check sequence: frame check sequence is 4 bytes long and contains CRC
code. It is used to detect transmission errors on DA, SA, FC and data fields.
• ED: End delimiter: It is a unique bit pattern, which marks the end of the frame. It is
one byte long.
The total length of the frame is 8191 bytes.
PERFORMANCE:

For token ring, the slightly higher delay compared to CSMS/CD bus occurs. For
higher transmission loads the token ring performs well.
2.9 IEEE 802.5 Token Ring
• IEEE 802.4 describes a token ring LAN standard.
• In a token ring a special bit pattern, called the token circulates around the ring when
all stations are idle.
• When a station transmits, it breaks the ring and inserts its own frame with source
and destination address.
• When the frame eventually returns to the originating station after completing the
round, the station removes the frame and closes the ring. Because there is only one
token, only one station can transmit at a given instant, thus solving the channel
access problem.

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 • Each station is connected to the ring through a Ring Interface Unit (RIU). The
sequence of token is determined by the physical locations of the stations on the
ring.

The following figure shows the operation and arrangement of the Token Ring.

802.5 cable standards

Its uses two types of transmission medium.

1. Shielded twisted pair cable: (STP)

It uses differential Manchester encoding technique. Data rate is 4 or

16 Mbps. Maximum numbers of repeaters allowed is 250.

2. Unshielded twisted pair cable: (UTP)

It uses differential Manchester encoding technique. Data rate is

4Mbps. Maximum number of repeaters allowed is 250.

IEEE 802.5 Frame format

• Token ring frame format is shown in the following figure.

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 Token frame format

Data Frame

• SD: Start frame delimiter: Its also one byte unique bit pattern, which marks the start
of the frame.
• AC: Access control: It is one byte long field containing priority bits (P), Token bit (T),
monitoring bit (M), and reservation bit (R).
• FC: Frame control: The frame control field is used to distinguish data frames from
control frames. For data frame, it carries the frames priority. The frame control field
indicates the type of the frame data frame or control frame.
• DA: Destination address: The destination address field is 2 or 6 bytes long.
• SA: Source address: The destination address field is 2 or 6 bytes long.
• DATA: Data field
• FCS: Frame check sequence: frame check sequence is 4 bytes long and contains CRC
code. It is used to detect transmission errors on DA, SA, FC and data fields.
• ED: End delimiter: It is a unique bit pattern, which marks the end of the frame. It is
one byte long.
• FS: Frame status: This field is none byte long and contains a unique bit pattern
marking the end of a token or a data frame.
PERFORMANCE:

When traffic is light, the token will spend most of its time idly circulating around the
ring. When traffic is heavy, there is a queue at each station. Network efficiency is more.

DISADVANTAGES:

• A break in a link or repeater failures disturbs the entire network.

• Installation of new repeaters requires identification of two topologically adjacent
repeaters.
• Since the ring is closed loop, a packet will circulate indefinitely unless it is removed.
• Each repeater adds an increment of delay.
• There is practical limit to the number of repeaters.

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2.10 FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Interface)

INTRODUCTION:

The Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) specifies a 100-Mbps token-passing,

dual-ring LAN using fiber-optic cable. FDDI is frequently used as high-speed backbone
technology because of its support for high bandwidth and greater distances than copper. It
should be noted that relatively recently, a related copper specification, called Copper
Distributed Data Interface (CDDI), has emerged to provide 100-Mbps service over copper.

FDDI uses dual-ring architecture with traffic on each ring flowing in opposite
directions (called counter-rotating). The dual rings consist of a primary and a secondary ring.
During normal operation, the primary ring is used for data transmission, and the secondary
ring remains idle. As will be discussed in detail later in this chapter, the primary purpose of
the dual rings is to provide superior reliability and robustness. Figure 8-1 shows the counter-
rotating primary and secondary FDDI rings.

FDDI SPECIFICATIONS

FDDI specifies the physical and media-access portions of the OSI reference model.
FDDI is not actually a single specification, but it is a collection of four separate specifications,
each with a specific function. Combined, these specifications have the capability to provide
high-speed connectivity between upper-layer protocols such as TCP/IP and IPX, and media
such as fiber-optic cabling.

FDDI's four specifications are the Media Access Control (MAC), Physical Layer
Protocol (PHY), Physical-Medium Dependent (PMD), and Station Management (SMT)
specifications. The MAC specification defines how the medium is accessed, including frame
format, token handling, addressing, algorithms for calculating cyclic redundancy check (CRC)
value, and error-recovery mechanisms. The PHY specification defines data
encoding/decoding procedures, clocking requirements, and framing, among other functions.
The PMD specification defines the characteristics of the transmission medium, including
fiber-optic links, power levels, bit-error rates, optical components, and connectors. The SMT
specification defines FDDI station configuration, ring configuration, and ring control features,
including station insertion and removal, initialization, fault isolation and recovery,
scheduling, and statistics collection.

FDDI is similar to IEEE 802.3 Ethernet and IEEE 802.5 Token Ring in its relationship
with the OSI model. Its primary purpose is to provide connectivity between upper OSI layers
of common protocols and the media used to connect network devices. Figure 8-3 illustrates
the four FDDI specifications and their relationship to each other and to the IEEE-defined
Logical Link Control (LLC) sublayer. The LLC sublayer is a component of Layer 2, the MAC
layer, of the OSI reference model.

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Figure 8-3: FDDI Specifications Map to the OSI Hierarchical Model.

FDDI Frame Format

The FDDI frame format is similar to the format of a Token Ring frame. This is one of the areas in
which FDDI borrows heavily from earlier LAN technologies, such as Token Ring. FDDI frames can
be as large as 4,500 bytes. Figure 8-10 shows the frame format of an FDDI data frame and token.

Figure 8-10: The FDDI Frame Is Similar to That of a Token Ring Frame.

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 FDDI Frame Fields

The following descriptions summarize the FDDI data frame and token fields
illustrated in Figure 8-10.

• Preamble— gives a unique sequence that prepares each station for an upcoming
frame.
• Start delimiter—indicates the beginning of a frame by employing a signaling pattern
that differentiates it from the rest of the frame.
• Frame control— indicates the size of the address fields and whether the frame
contains asynchronous or synchronous data, among other control information.
• Destination address—Contains a unicast (singular), multicast (group), or broadcast
(every station) address. As with Ethernet and Token Ring addresses, FDDI
destination addresses are 6 bytes long.
• Source address— identifies the single station that sent the frame. As with Ethernet
and Token Ring addresses, FDDI source addresses are 6 bytes long.
• Data— contains either information destined for an upper-layer protocol or control
information.
• Frame check sequence (FCS)—Is filed by the source station with a calculated cyclic
redundancy check value dependent on frame contents (as with Token Ring and
Ethernet). The destination address recalculates the value to determine whether the
frame was damaged in transit. If so, the frame is discarded.
• End delimiter—Contains unique symbols; cannot be data symbols that indicate the
end of the frame.
• Frame status—Allows the source station to determine whether an error occurred;
identifies whether the frame was recognized and copied by a receiving station.

Dual Ring

FDDI's primary fault-tolerant feature is the dual ring. If a station on the dual ring fails
or is powered down, or if the cable is damaged, the dual ring is automatically wrapped
(doubled back onto itself) into a single ring. When the ring is wrapped, the dual-ring
topology becomes a single-ring topology. Data continues to be transmitted on the FDDI ring
without performance impact during the wrap condition. Figure 8-6 and Figure 8-7 illustrate
the effect of a ring wrapping in FDDI.

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 Figure 8-6: A Ring Recovers from a Station Failure by Wrapping

Figure 8-7: A Ring also wraps to withstand a Cable Failure.

When a single station fails, as shown in Figure 8-6, devices on either side of the
failed (or powered-down) station wrap, forming a single ring. Network operation continues
for the remaining stations on the ring. When a cable failure occurs, as shown in Figure 8-7,
devices on either side of the cable fault wrap. Network operation continues for all stations.

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 It should be noted that FDDI truly provides fault tolerance against a single failure
only. When two or more failures occur, the FDDI ring segments into two or more
independent rings that are incapable of communicating with each other.

2.11 IEEE 802.3

• Figure 7-4 shows the IEEE 802.3 logical layers and their relationship to the OSI
reference model. As with all IEEE 802 protocols, the ISO data link layer is divided into
two IEEE 802 sublayers, the Media Access Control (MAC) sublayer and the MAC-
client sublayer. The IEEE 802.3 physical layer corresponds to the ISO physical layer.
• Figure 7-4 Ethernet's Logical Relationship to the ISO Reference Model

• The MAC-client sublayer may be one of the following:

• Logical Link Control (LLC), if the unit is a DTE. This sublayer provides the interface
between the Ethernet MAC and the upper layers in the protocol stack of the end
station. The LLC sublayer is defined by IEEE 802.2 standards.
• Bridge entity, if the unit is a DCE. Bridge entities provide LAN-to-LAN interfaces
between LANs that use the same protocol (for example, Ethernet to Ethernet) and
also between different protocols (for example, Ethernet to Token Ring). Bridge
entities are defined by IEEE 802.1 standards.
• Because specifications for LLC and bridge entities are common for all IEEE 802 LAN
protocols, network compatibility becomes the primary responsibility of the
particular network protocol. Figure 7-5 shows different compatibility requirements
imposed by the MAC and physical levels for basic data communication over an
Ethernet link.

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 Figure 7-5 MAC and Physical Layer Compatibility Requirements for Basic Data
Communication

• The MAC layer controls the node's access to the network media and is specific to the
individual protocol. All IEEE 802.3 MACs must meet the same basic set of logical
requirements, regardless of whether they include one or more of the defined
optional protocol extensions. The only requirement for basic communication
(communication that does not require optional protocol extensions) between two
network nodes is that both MACs must support the same transmission rate.
• The 802.3 physical layer is specific to the transmission data rate, the signal encoding,
and the type of media interconnecting the two nodes. Gigabit Ethernet, for example,
is defined to operate over either twisted-pair or optical fiber cable, but each specific
type of cable or signal-encoding procedure requires a different physical layer
implementation.

THE ETHERNET MAC SUBLAYER

The MAC sub layer has two primary responsibilities:

• Data encapsulation, including frame assembly before transmission, and frame

parsing/error detection during and after reception

• Media access control, including initiation of frame transmission and recovery from
transmission failure
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 THE BASIC ETHERNET FRAME FORMAT

The IEEE 802.3 standard defines a basic data frame format that is required for all
MAC implementations, plus several additional optional formats that are used to extend the
protocol's basic capability. The basic data frame format contains the seven fields shown in
Figure 7-6.

• Preamble (PRE)—Consists of 7 bytes. The PRE is an alternating pattern of ones and

zeros that tells receiving stations that a frame is coming, and that provides a means to
synchronize the frame-reception portions of receiving physical layers with the
incoming bit stream.

• Start-of-frame delimiter (SOF)—Consists of 1 byte. The SOF is an alternating pattern of

ones and zeros, ending with two consecutive 1-bits indicating that the next bit is the
left-most bit in the left-most byte of the destination address.

• Destination address (DA)—Consists of 6 bytes. The DA field identifies which station(s)

should receive the frame. The left-most bit in the DA field indicates whether the
address is an individual address (indicated by a 0) or a group address (indicated by a
1). The second bit from the left indicates whether the DA is globally administered
(indicated by a 0) or locally administered (indicated by a 1). The remaining 46 bits are a
uniquely assigned value that identifies a single station, a defined group of stations, or
all stations on the network.

• Source addresses (SA)—Consists of 6 bytes. The SA field identifies the sending station.
The SA is always an individual address and the left-most bit in the SA field is always 0.

• Length/Type—consists of 2 bytes. This field indicates either the number of MAC-client

data bytes that are contained in the data field of the frame, or the frame type ID if the
frame is assembled using an optional format. If the Length/Type field value is less than
or equal to 1500, the number of LLC bytes in the Data field is equal to the Length/Type
field value. If the Length/Type field value is greater than 1536, the frame is an optional
type frame, and the Length/Type field value identifies the particular type of frame
being sent or received.

• Data—Is a sequence of n bytes of any value, where n is less than or equal to 1500. If
the length of the Data field is less than 46, the Data field must be extended by adding
a filler (a pad) sufficient to bring the Data field length to 46 bytes.

• Frame check sequence (FCS)—Consists of 4 bytes. This sequence contains a 32-bit

cyclic redundancy check (CRC) value, which is created by the sending MAC and is
recalculated by the receiving MAC to check for damaged frames. The FCS is generated
over the DA, SA, Length/Type, and Data fields.

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 Figure 7-6. The Basic IEEE 802.3 MAC Data Frame Format

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 Unit - 3

Network layer

Network Layer

The network layer in the internet model is responsible for carrying a packet from one
computer to another; it is responsible for host – to – host delivery. In other words, when we send
the packet from San Francisco to Miami, the two network – layer protocols in the two computers co-
operate to supervise the delivery of message.

• Transport segment from sending to receiving host.

• On sending side encapsulates segments into datagrams.

• On receiving side, delivers segments to transport layer.

• Network layer protocols in every host, router.

• Router examines header fields in all IP datagrams passing through it.

NETWORK-LAYER FUNCTIONS

• Forwarding: move a packet from router’s input to appropriate router Output.

• Routing: determine route taken by packets from source to destination.

3.1 INTERNETWORKING

• Internetworking is a scheme for interconnecting multiple networks of dissimilar

technologies
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 • Uses both hardware and software
o Extra hardware positioned between networks
o Software on each attached computer
• System of interconnected networks is called an internetwork or an internet

SWITCHING SCHEMES

• Circuit Switching

• Message Switching (Store-and-Forward)

• Packet Switching (Store-and-Forward)

CIRCUIT SWITCHING

Provides service by setting up the total path of connected lines hop-by-hop from the
origin to the destination

• Example: Telephone network

1. Control message sets up a path from origin to destination.

2. Return signal informs source that data transmission may proceed.

3. Data transmission begins.

4. Entire path remains allocated to the transmission (whether used or not).

5. When transmission is complete, source releases the circuit.

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 VC IMPLEMENTATION

A VC consists of:

1. Path from source to destination

2. VC numbers, one number for each link along path
3. Entries in forwarding tables in routers along path

• Packet belonging to VC carries a VC number.

• VC number must be changed on each link.
• New VC number comes from forwarding table

PACKET SWITCHING

• Messages are split into smaller pieces called packets.

• These packets are numbered and addressed and sent through the network one at a
time.

• Allows Pipelining

Overlap sending and receiving of packets on multiple links.

3.2 IP Addressing
Each network interface on the Internet as a unique global address, called the IP address.
An IP address- is 32 bits long. It encodes a network number and a host number.IP
addresses are written in a dotted decimal notation:

128.238.42.112 means
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 10000000 in 1st Byte

11101110 in 2nd Byte

00101010 in 3rd Byte

01110000 in 4th Byte

INTERNET ADDRESS CLASSES:

IP distinguishes 5 classes of addresses. Address Classes

IP ADDRESS CLASSES

• Class A:

– For very large organizations

– 16 million hosts allowed

• Class B:

– For large organizations

– 65 thousand hosts allowed

• Class C

– For small organizations

– 255 hosts allowed

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 • Class D

– Multicast addresses

– No network/host hierarchy

Internet= a collection of connected networks which share a common set of rules for
communication

IP ADDRESS HIERARCHY

• Note that Class A, Class B, and Class C addresses only support two levels of
hierarchy

• Each address contains a network and a host portion, meaning two levels of
Hierarchy.

• However, the host portion can be further split into “subnets” by the address class
owner

• This allows for more than 2 levels of hierarchy.

IP SUBNETTING

• Subnetting is a technique used to allow a single IP network address to

Span multiple physical networks

• IP hosts should support Subnetting.

• Subnetting is done by using some of the bits of the host-id part of the IP address
physical layer network identifier

• The subnet mask is used to determine the bits of the network identifier.

• All hosts on the same network should have the same subnet mask.

• IP address is composed of a Net id part and a Host id part 2-level hierarchy.

Sometimes a 2-level hierarchy is insufficient for an organization’s needs.

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 SUBNETTING:

• An IP packet from some other network destined for host 141.14.2.21 still reaches
router R1, since the destination address is still a Class B address with Netid141.14
and Host id 2.21 as far as the rest of the Internet is concerned.

• when the packet reaches router R1, the interpretation of the IP address changes

• R1 knows that there are 3 levels of hierarchy within the organization, and that in this
case, the Net id is 141.14, the Subnet id is 2, and the Host id is 21.

• How is this knowledge of the internal network hierarchy implemented in the

organization’s routers?

• Masking of IP addresses during the packet-forwarding process.

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 • Masking is done whether or not Subnetting is being used with Subnetting,

The Net id defines the site, the Subnet id defines the physical network, and the Host
id defines the actual machine.

SUBNET MASKS

Subnet masks allow hosts to determine if another IP address is on the same subnet
or the same network.

3.3 Routing

• A router is a hardware component used to interconnect networks

• A router has interfaces on multiple networks

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 • Networks can use different technologies
• Router forwards packets between networks
• Transforms packets as necessary to meet standards for each network

ROUTING ISSUES:

Scalability: must be able to support large numbers of hosts, routers, networks

Adapt to changes in topology or significant changes in traffic, quickly and efficiently

Self-healing: little or not human intervention

Route selection may depend on different criteria

Performance: "choose route with smallest delay"

Policy: "choose a route that doesn't cross a government network" (equivalently: "let
no non-government traffic cross this network")

CLASSIFICATION OF ROUTING ALGORITHMS

Centralized versus decentralized

Centralized: central site computes and distributed routes (equivalently: information

for computing routes known globally, each router makes same computation)

Decentralized: each router sees only local information (itself and physically -
connected neighbors) and computes routes on this basis. pros and cons?

Static versus adaptive

Static: routing tables change very slowly, often in response to human intervention

Dynamic: routing tables change as network traffic or topology change

Two basic approaches adopted in practice:

Link-state routing: centralized, dynamic (periodically run)

Distance vector: distributed, dynamic (in direct response to changes)

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 ROUTERS

Routers are distinguished by the functions they perform

Internal routers

• Only route packets within one area

Area border routers

• Connect to areas together

Backbone routers

• Reside only in the backbone area

AS boundary routers

• Routers that connect to a router outside the AS

ROUTING
The most common routing algorithms are distance-vector and link-state routing.
Distance-vector:
• Each router exchanges information about the entire network with neighboring
routers at regular intervals.
• Neighboring routers = connected by a direct link (e.g. a LAN)
• Regular intervals: e.g. every 30 seconds

Link-state:

• Each router exchanges information about its neighborhood with all routers in the
network when there is a change.
• Neighborhood of a router = set of neighbor routers for this router.
• Each router’s neighborhood information is flooded through the network.
• Change: e.g. if a neighboring router does not reply to a status message.

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 • “Clouds” represent LANs; number in cloud represents network ID
• A, B, C, D, E, F are routers (or gateways)
• Each router sends its information about the entire network only to its neighbors

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 How do non-neighboring routers learn about each other and share information?
• A router sends its information to its neighbors
• Each neighbor router adds this information to its own, and sends the updated
information to its neighbors; the first router learns about its neighbors’
neighbors.

Routing table update algorithm (distributed Bellman-Ford algorithm):

• Add 1 to cost of each incoming route (since each neighbor is 1hop away)
• If a new destination is learned, add its information to the routing table
• If new information received on an existing destination:
• If Next Hop field is the same, replace existing entry with the new information even if
the cost is greater(“new information invalidates old”)
• If Next Hop field is not the same, only replace existing entry with the new
information if the cost is lower

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 Example of routing table update algorithm

Final routing tables:

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 Problem with distance-vector routing:
• Slow convergence of distance vector routing algorithms under some conditions
• Slow reaction to link/router failure because information only comes from
neighboring routers and it may be out-of-date (e.g. it may not properly reflect the
impact of the failure on route costs)

Link-State routing

• Each router sends information about its neighborhood to every other router

• Link cost is usually a weighted sum of various factors

• e.g. traffic level, security level, packet delay
• Link cost is from a router to the network connecting it to another router.
• when a packet is in a LAN (which is typically a broadcast network), every node –
including the router –can receive it
• No cost assigned when going.

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 • Routers share information by advertising, which means sending link-state packets•.

• Every router builds a link-state packet and floods it through the network, so when all
such packets have been received at a router, it can build its link-state database.
• Assuming that every router receives the same set of link-state packets (as if the
routers were synchronized),every router builds the same link-state database. Using
this database, each router can then calculate its routing table.

To calculate its routing table, a router uses Dijkstra’s Shortest-Path algorithm:

• First, identify all link costs in the network: either from the link-state database, or
using the fact that the cost of any link from a network to a router is 0
• This algorithm builds a shortest-path spanning tree for the router such a tree has a
route to all possible destinations, and no loops.
• The router running the algorithm is the root of its shortest-path spanning tree.
• Even if all routers’ link-state databases are identical, the trees determined by the
routers are different (since the root of each tree is different)
• A node is either a network or a router; nodes are connected by arcs.

• The algorithm keeps track of 2 sets of nodes and arcs –Temporary and Permanent.
• Initially, the Temporary set contains all neighbor nodes of the router itself, and the
arcs connecting them to the router; only the router is initially Permanent.
• When all nodes and arcs are in the Permanent set, the algorithm has terminated.
• Identify the Temporary node whose arc has the lowest cumulative cost from the
root: this node and arc are moved into the Permanent set.
• Any nodes which are connected to the new Permanent node and are not already in
the Temporary set, along with the connecting arcs, are made Temporary.

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 • Also, if any node already in the Temporary set has a lower cumulative cost from the
root by using a route passing through the new Permanent node, then this new route
replaces the existing one
• Repeat until all nodes and arcs are Permanent.

Let’s follow the steps of the algorithm run by router A.

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 • Once a router has found its shortest-path spanning tree, it can build its routing table.
• To complete the Example, here is router A’s link-state routing table

• In large networks, the memory required to store the link-state database and the
computation time to calculate the link-state routing table can be significant.
• In practice, since the link-state packet receptions are not synchronized, routers may
be using different link-state databases to build their routing tables.

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 Unit - 4

Transport layer

Transport Layer

The transport layer is the fourth layer in OSI layered architecture. The transport layer is
responsible for reliable data delivery. The upper – layer protocols depends heavily on the transport
layer protocol. A high level of error recovery is also provided in this layer. This layer ensures, that
packets are delivered error free, in sequence and with no losses or duplications.

The Transport Layer is responsible for end-to-end data transport

Primary functions include:
• Provision of connection oriented or connectionless service.
• Disassembling and reassembling data.
• Setup and release of connections across the network.

Services provided by Internet transport protocols

TCP service:

• connection- oriented: setup required between client, server

• reliable transport between sending and receiving process

• flow control: sender won’t overwhelm receiver

• congestion control: throttle sender when network overloaded

• does not provide: timing, minimum bandwidth

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 UDP service:

• unreliable data transfer between sending and receiving process

• does not provide: connection setup, reliability, flow control, congestion control,
timing, or bandwidth guarantee guarantees

4.1 UDP

UDP is a connectionless transport protocol–extends IP’s host-to-host delivery service

into a process-to-process communication service

• Can have multiple application processes on a single host, each with their
own port number.
• A process is uniquely addressed by a < port, host > pair
• Common services are available at well-known (and reserved) ports on each
host; user applications must choose their ports from the set of non-reserved
ports.

UDP doesn’t support flow control or reliable/in-order delivery, but it does support
error detection by computing an “optional” checksum over the UDP header, UDP data, and
IP pseudo header (includes source and destination address fields from the IP header)

New: Reliable UDP –provides reliable in-order delivery (up to a maximum number of
retransmissions), with simple window flow control, for virtual connections.

Addressing

An address at the transport layer is typically a tuple (Station, Port) where

• Station is the network address of the host, and

• Port identifies the application

UDP Data Packet

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 • The source port, much like the source port in TCP, identifies the process on the
originating system. TCP ports and UDP ports are not the same. There is no
relationship between the two.
• The destination port identifies the receiving process on the receiving machine.
Whereas the IP address identifies which machine should get the packet, the port
identifies which machine should get the data.
• The length field contains the length of the UDP datagram. This includes the length of
the UDP header and UDP data. It does not include anything added to the packet in-
transit by other protocols -- but these are stripped away before UDP sees the
datagram at the other side.
• The checksum field is used by UDP to verify the correctness of the UDP header and
data. If the checksum indicates an error, the packet is dropped. UDP is unreliable, so
it makes no attempt to mitigate the loss.

Application

• Datagram oriented
• unreliable, connectionless
• simple
• unicast and multicast
• Useful only for few applications, e.g., multimedia applications
• Used a lot for services
– Network management (SNMP), routing (RIP), naming (DNS), etc.
Port Numbers

• UDP (and TCP) use port numbers to identify applications

• A globally unique address at the transport layer (for both UDP and TCP) is a tuple <IP
address, port number>
• There are 65,535 UDP ports per host.

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4.2 TCP (Transmission Control Protocol)

TCP is a reliable, point-to-point, connection-oriented, full-duplex protocol.

Reliable: A reliable protocol ensures that data sent from one machine to another will
eventually be communicated correctly. It does not guarantee that this data will be
transmitted correctly within any particular amount of time -- just that given enough time, it
will arrive. Life isn't perfect, and it is possible for corrupted data to be thought correct by a
reliable protocol -- but the probability of this occurring is very, very, very low Point-to-point:
Point-to-point protocols are those protocols that communicate information between two
machines. By contrast, broadcast and multicast protocols communicate information from
one host to many hosts.

• Connection-oriented: A connection oriented protocol involves a connection or

session between the endpoints. In other words, each host is aware of the other
and can maintain information about the state of communication between them.
The connection needs to be initialized and destroyed. The shared state that is
possible with a connection-oriented protocol is essential to a reliable protocol.
In particular, the notion of a sequence number or serial number is a practical
necessity, if not a theoretical necessity.

• Full-duplex: By full-duplex we mean a mode of communication such that both

sides can send and receive concurrently
TCP Data Packet

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 TCP header fields

Flag bits:

– URG: Urgent pointer is valid

• If the bit is set, the following bytes contain an urgent message in the sequence
number range “SeqNo <= urgent message <= SeqNo + urgent pointer”
• ACK: Segment carries a valid acknowledgement
• PSH: PUSH Flag
• Notification from sender to the receiver that the receiver should pass all data that it
has to the application.
• Normally set by sender when the sender’s buffer is empty
• RST: Reset the connection
• The flag causes the receiver to reset the connection.
• Receiver of a RST terminates the connection and indicates higher layer application
about the reset
• SYN: Synchronize sequence numbers
• Sent in the first packet when initiating a connection
• FIN: Sender is finished with sending
• Used for closing a connection
• Both sides of a connection must send a FIN.

TCP Connection Establishment

TCP uses a three-way handshake

1) ACTIVE OPEN: Client sends a segment with

• SYN bit set *

• port number of client
• initial sequence number (ISN) of client

2) PASSIVE OPEN: Server responds with a segment

• SYN bit set *

• initial sequence number of server
• ACK for ISN of client

3) Client acknowledges by sending a segment with

• ACK ISN of server (* counts as one byte)

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Connection Termination:

4.3 congestion control

OPEN LOOP CONGESTION CONTROL

-To prevent congestion before it happens

Retransmission policy:

Good Retransmission policy & Retransmission timer.

Window policy:

-Selective Repeat Window.

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 Acknowledgement policy:

-Does not acknowledge every packet.

Discarding Policy:

-Good discarding Policy.

Admission Policy

-Switches check the resource requirement of flow.

CLOSED LOOP CONGESTION CONTROL

- To alleviate congestion after it happens

Back Pressure (router con):

-Inform the previous upstream router.

Choke point:

-packet sent by router to Source.

Implicit Signaling:

-Source can detect

Explicit Signaling:

-Routers inform sender

Backward Signaling:

-Warn the Source (opp dir)

Forward Signaling:

-Warn the Destination

SLOW START:

Set cwnd size to max. seg size. Increases exponentially.

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 ADDITIVE INCREASE:

After it reaches threshold increase by 1 seg. If it reaches time-out then multiplicative

decrease.

MULTIPLICATIVE DECREASE:

Set the threshold to one half of last cwnd size. Each time it is reduced to one half of
last cwnd size if a time –out occurs.

TRAFFIC SHAPING

• Traffic shaping controls the rate at which packets are sent (not just how many)

• At connection set-up time, the sender and carrier negotiate a traffic pattern (shape)

• Two traffic shaping algorithms are:

– Leaky Bucket
– Token Bucket

THE LEAKY BUCKET ALGORITHM

• The Leaky Bucket Algorithm used to control rate in a network. It is implemented

as a single-server queue with constant service time. If the bucket (buffer)
overflows then packets are discarded.

• The leaky bucket enforces a constant output rate regardless of the burstiness of
the input. Does nothing when input is idle.

• The host injects one packet per clock tick onto the network. This results in a
uniform flow of packets, smoothing out bursts and reducing congestion.

• When packets are the same size (as in ATM cells), the one packet per tick is
okay. For variable length packets though, it is better to allow a fixed number of
bytes per tick.

TOKEN BUCKET ALGORITHM

• In contrast to the LB, the Token Bucket (TB) algorithm, allows the output rate to
vary, depending on the size of the burst.

• In the TB algorithm, the bucket holds tokens. To transmit a packet, the host
must capture and destroy one token.

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 • Tokens are generated by a clock at the rate of one token every ∆t sec.

• Idle hosts can capture and save up tokens (up to the max. size of the bucket) in
order to send larger bursts later.

TOKEN BUCKET OPERATION

• TB accumulates fixed size tokens in a token bucket

• Transmits a packet (from data buffer, if any are there) or arriving packet if the
sum of the token sizes in the bucket add up to packet size

• More tokens are periodically added to the bucket (at rate ∆t). If tokens are to be
added when the bucket is full, they are discarded

TOKEN BUCKET PROPERTIES

• Does not bound the peak rate of small bursts, because bucket may contain
enough token to cover a complete burst size

• Performance depends only on the sum of the data buffer size and the token
bucket size

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106 M. Ajanthan | Computer Networks V S B Engineering College
 Unit - 5

Application layer

Application Layer

This is the part of the book explores several application programs, available at the topmost
layer, layer five, of the internet model. The application layer allows people to use the internet. We
could say that the other four layers are created so that people can use these application programs.

5.1 Domain Name System

Introduction

• A sys that can map a name to an address or an add to a name.

• Mapping was done using a host file

It has 2 columns

Name and address

• Every host could store the host file on its disk and should be updated from master
file.
• If a program or a user wanted to map a name to an add, host consulted the host file
and found mapping
• Divide the huge amt of info into smaller parts
• Store each part on a different computer
• The host that needs mapping can contact the closest computer holding the needed
information
• i.e. DNS

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 Name Space

• Names assigned to machines must be selected from name space with control over
the binding between names and IP addresses.
• A name space that maps each address to a unique name can be organised in two
ways.

Flat Name Space

Hierarchical Name Space

Flat Name Space:

• Name is assigned to an address.

• Name in this space is a sequence of characters without structure.

Demerit:

• Can’t be used in large system such as Internet

• It must be centrally controlled to avoid ambiguity and duplication

Hierarchical Name Space

• Each name is made of several parts

• First part – nature of the organization
• Second part – Name
• Third part – department
• So the authority to assign and control the name space can be decentralized
• Suffixes can be added to the name to define the host or resources
• To have a hierarchical name Space, DNS was designed
• Names are defined in an inverted tree structure with root at the top.
• Tree can have only 128 levels

Label:

Each node in the tree has a label (a string with a maximum of 63 characters)

• Root label is a null string

• Children of a node have different labels which guarantee the uniqueness of domain
names.

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 Domain Name:

• Each node in the tree has a domain name.

• DN is a sequence of labels separated by dots
• Always read from the node up to the root

FQDN

• If label is terminated by a null string it is called a FQDN

• A domain name that contains the full name of a host
• Contains all labels from specific to general
• Uniquely define the name of the host. challenger.atc.fhda.edu.

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 PQDN

• If label is not terminated by a null string it is called PQDN.

• Starts from a node but does not reach the root.
• Used when the name to be resolved belongs to the same site as client.
• Resolver can supply the missing part called suffix, to create an FQDN.
• DNS client adds suffix atc.fhda.deu before passing the address to the DNS server.

DOMAIN:

• A domain is a sub-tree of the domain space.

• Domain may itself be divided into sub domains.

Distribution of Name Space

• The info contained in the domain name space must be stored.

• Not reliable to have info in 1 computer.
• So distribute the information among many computers called servers

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 Hierarchy of Name Servers

• Distribute the info among many computers called DNS servers

• Divide the whole space into many domains based on the first level.
• Let the root stand alone and create as many domains as there are

• Allows domains to be divided further into smaller domains

• Each server can be responsible for either a large or a small domain

ZONE

• What a Server is responsible for or has authority over is called zone.

• If a server accepts responsibility for a domain and does not divide the domain into
smaller domains.
• The domain and the zone refer to the same thing.
• Server makes a database called a zone file.
• It keeps all the information for every node under that domain

ROOT SERVER

• Is a server whose zone consists of whole tree

• It does not store any info about domain but delegates authority to other servers

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 Primary server:

• A server that stores a file about the zone for which it is an authority.
• Responsible for creating, maintaining the and updating the zone file
• It stores the zone file on a local disk

Secondary Server

• A server that transfers the complete information about a zone from another server
and stores the file on its local disk
• It neither creates nor updates the zone files.
• Updating is done by a primary server, which sends the updated version to secondary

A primary server loads all information from the disk file; the secondary server loads
all information from the primary server

5.2 DNS in the Internet

In the Internet, Domain name space (tree) is divided into 3 sections.

Generic Domain

• It defines registered hosts according to their generic behavior.

• Each node in the tree defines a domain, which is an index to the domain name space
database.
• Seven labels describe three organization types.

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 Generic Domain Labels:

Label Description

com Commercial organizations

edu Educational institutions

gov Government institutions

int International organizations

mil Military groups

net Network support centers

org Nonprofit organizations

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 Country Domain:

Follows the same format as the generic domain but uses two character country
abbreviations.

Inverse Domain

It is used to map an address to a name

Ex:

• When a server has received a request from a client to do a task

• Whereas the server has a file that contains a list of authorized clients, the server lists
only the IP address of the client
• To determine if the client is on the authorized list ,server send a query
• To inverse DNS server and ask for a mapping of address to a name
• This query is called inverse or pointer (PTR) query
• To handle this ,inverse domain is added to the domain space with the first level
node called arpa
• Second level is also one single node named in-addr.
• Rest of the domain defines the IP address.

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 Resolution

• Mapping a name to an address or an address to a name is called name-address

resolution.

Resolver

• A host that needs to map an address to a name or a name to an address calls a DNS
client named a resolver.
• It accesses the closest DNS server with a mapping request
• If the server has the information, it satisfies the resolver.
• Otherwise it refers the resolver to other servers or asks other servers to provide
information.
• After the resolver receives the mapping, it interprets to see if it is a real resolution or
an error and finally delivers the result to the process that requested it.

Mapping Names to Addresses

• The resolver gives a domain name to the server and asks for the corresponding
address
• In this ,server checks the generic domain or the country domain to find the mapping
• If from the generic domain the resolver receives a domain name such as
chal.atc.fhda.edu.
• Query is sent by the resolver to the local DNS server for resolution
• If cant refers the resolver to other servers or ask other servers directly

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 • If from the country domain, the resolver receives a domain name such as
ch.fhda.cu.ca.us.

Mapping Addresses to Names

• Client can send an IP address to a server to be mapped to a domain name – called

PTR query
• To answer this uses inverse domain
• In the request IP address is reversed and 2 labels in-addr & arpa are appended to
create a domain acceptable by the inverse domain section
• 132.34.45.121 ,121.45.34.132.in-addr.arpa.

Recursive Resolution

• The resolver expects the server to supply the final answer

• If server is the authority for the domain name ,it checks the database and responds
• If not the authority ,sends the request to another server (parent) and waits for
response
• If the parent is the authority respond otherwise sends the query to yet another
server
• If resolved, response travels back until it reaches the requesting client
• This is recursive resolution

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 Iterative Resolution

5.3 DNS Messages

Header format

 Identification
Used by the client to match the response with the query.

Uses a diff id no. each time it sends a query.

Server duplicates this no. in the corresponding response.

 Flag
Collection of fields that define the

Type of message

Type of answers requested

Type of desired resolution (recursive or iterative)

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 No. of question records

Contains the number of queries in the question section of the message.

No. of answer records

Contains the number of answer records in the answer section of the

response msg.

Value is zero in the query message

No. of authoritative records

Contains the number of authoritative records in the authoritative section of a

response message
value is zero in query message
No. of additional records

Contains the number of additional records in the additional section of a response

message
value is zero in query message

Question Section

Consist of one or more question records

Present on both query and response message

Answer Section

Consist of one or more resource records

Present only on response message
It includes the answer from the server to the client (resolver)

Authoritative Section

Consist of one or more resource records

Present only on response message
It gives info (domain name ) about one or more authoritative servers for the query

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 Additional Information Section

Consist of one or more resource records

Present only on response message
It gives additional info (domain name ) that help the resolver

DNS can use the services of UDP or TCP, using the well-known port 53.

5.4 SMTP

Mail: Exchanges info between people

Format of an email

Addresses

• To deliver mail, an addressing system used by SMTP consists of 2 parts

• Local part : defines the name of a specific file called mail box
• All the mail received for a user is stored in the mail box for retrieval by the user
agent
• Domain Name : comes from the DNS database or is a logical name (name of the
organization)

Email address

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 User agent

A s/w package that composes, reads, replies to, and forward messages.

Some examples of command-driven user agents are mail, pine, and elm

Some examples of GUI-based user agents are Eudora, Outlook, and Netscape.

5.5 MIME:

It converts a Non-ASCII code to ASCII code.

MIME Header:

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 Data types and subtypes in MIME

Type Subtype Description

Text Plain Unformatted text

Mixed Body contains ordered parts of different data types

Parallel Same as above, but no order

Multipart
Digest Similar to mixed, but the default is message/RFC822

Alternative Parts are different versions of the same message

RFC822 Body is an encapsulated message

Message Partial Body is a fragment of a bigger message

Ext. Body Body is a reference to another message

JPEG Image is in JPEG

Image
GIF Video is in GIF format

Video MPEG Video is in MPEG format

Audio Basic Single-channel encoding of voice at 8 KHz

PostScript Adobe PostScript

Application
Octet-
General binary data (8-bit bytes)
Stream

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 Content-transfer encoding

Category Description

Type ASCII characters and short lines

7bit ASCII characters and short lines

8bit Non-ASCII characters and short lines

Non-ASCII characters with unlimited-

Binary
length lines

6-bit blocks of data are encoded into 8-bit

Base64
ASCII characters

Quoted Printable: Non-ASCII characters are encoded as an equal sign followed by an

ASCII code.

Base64

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 Base64 encoding table

Value Code Value Code Value Code Value Code Value Code Value Code

0 A 11 L 22 W 33 h 44 s 55 3

1 B 12 M 23 X 34 i 45 t 56 4

2 C 13 N 24 Y 35 j 46 u 57 5

3 D 14 O 25 Z 36 k 47 v 58 6

4 E 15 P 26 a 37 l 48 w 59 7

5 F 16 Q 27 b 38 m 49 x 60 8

6 G 17 R 28 c 39 n 50 y 61 9

7 H 18 S 29 d 40 o 51 z 62 +

8 I 19 T 30 e 41 p 52 0 63 /

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9 J 20 U 31 f 42 q 53 1 ฀ ฀

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10 K 21 V 32 g 43 r 54 2 ฀ ฀
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䦋Ü 䦋Ü

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 Quoted Printable:

5.6 MTA

• Actual mail transfer is done through MTA

• To send mail a system must have a client MTA and to receive a mail a server MTA
• Mail transfer occurs between two mail servers

MTA client and server

Commands and responses

• Uses commands and responses to transfer messages between an MTA client and an
MTA server
• Command or reply is terminated by a two character end–of–line token

Commands

• Sent from client to server

• Consist of a keyword followed by zero or more arguments

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 Responses

• Sent from server to the client

• Response is a three digit code that may be followed by additional textual
information
Mail transfer

• Transferring a mail message occurs in 3 phases

Connection establishment

•
After a client has made a TCP connection to the well known port 25 ,SMTP
server starts the connection phase.
Message transfer

Message between a sender and one or more recipients can be exchanged.

Connection Termination

After the message is transferred, the client terminates the connection

5.7 Mail Delivery

Consists of 3 stages

First stage

• Email goes from user agent to the local server.

• Mail does not go directly to the remote server.
• Mail is stored in the local server until it can be sent.
• User agent uses SMTP client s/w and the local server uses SMTP server s/w.

Second stage

• Email is relayed by local server, which now acts as SMTP client to the remote
server, which is the SMTP server in this stage
• Email is delivered to the remote server ,not to the remote user agent

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 Third stage

• The remote user agent uses a mail access protocol such as POP3 or IMAP4 to
access the mailbox and the mail

Mail Access Protocols

• SMTP is involved in the first and second stages but not in third stage, since it is a
push protocol (pushes msgs from sender to receiver).
• The third stage needs a pull protocol
• Operation must start with the recipient
• Mail must stay in the mail server mailbox until the recipient receives it
• Third stage uses a mail access protocol(POP3,IMAP4)

POP3

• Simple but limited in functionality

• Mail access starts with the client when the user needs to download email from the
mailbox on the mail server
• Client (user agent opens a connection with the server on TCP port 110.
• It sends its user name and password to access the mailbox
• User can then list and retrieve the mail messages one by one

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 POP3 has two modes
Delete mode& Keep mode

Delete mode

• Mail is deleted from the mail box after each retrieval

• Normally used when the user is working at permanent computer and save and
organize the received mail after reading or replying
Keep mode

• Normally used when the user accesses mail away from primary computer. Mail is
read but kept in the system for later retrieval and organizing.
• Assumes that each time a client accesses the server, the whole mailbox will be
cleared out
• Not convenient when access their mailboxes from different clients (home or hotel)
IMAP4

• Powerful and more complex.

• User can check the email header prior to downloading.
• User can check the contents of email for a specific string of characters prior to
downloading.
• Can partially download email.
• User can create, delete or rename mailboxes on the mail server.
• Can create a hierarchy of mailboxes in a folder for email storage.

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5.8 FTP

For copying a file from one host to another

FTP uses the services of TCP. It needs two TCP connections. The well-known port 21
is used for the control connection, and the well-known port 20 is used for the data
connection

• When a user starts an FTP session control connection opens

• While the control connection is open, the data connection can be opened and close
multiple times if several files are transferred
• Conn remains open during the entire process
• Service type used is minimize delay
• User types commands and expects to receive responses without significant delay

Data connection

• Uses the well known port 20 at the server site

• Connection open when data ready to transfer
• Closed when it is not needed
• Service type used is maximize throughput

Communication

• FTP client and server run on different computers

• Must communicate with each other
• May use different operating system, diff character sets, diff file structures and diff
file formats
• FTP make this compatible
• FTP has 2 diff approaches. one for ctrl conn & the other for data conn

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 Communication over ctrl conn

• Same approach as SMTP

• Uses the ASCII character set.
• Communication is achieved through commands and responses
• Each line is terminated with a two-character (carriage return and line feed) end-of-
line token

Communication over data conn

• To transfer files through data conn, client must

• Define the type of file
• Structure of the data
• Transmission mode
Heterogeneity solved by

File type ,data structure and transmission mode

Using the data connection

File transfer

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5.9 HTTP

• Used mainly to access data on the www

• The protocol transfers data in the form of plain text, hyper text, audio and video and
so on.
• A client sends a request ,which looks like mail to the server
• The server sends the response which looks like a mail reply to the client

The request and response messages carry data in the form of a letter with a MIME-
like format

HTTP uses the services of TCP on well-known port 80.

Request Message

Request Line:

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 Request message

Request type:

Several request types are defined

RT categorizes the request msgs into several methods

URL

A client that wants to access a web page needs an address.

To facilitate access of documents, it uses URL.

It defines 4 things

• Method: a protocol used to retrieve the document (FTP and HTTP)

• Host : a computer where info is located
• Port number of server
• Path name of file where info is located
• Current version is HTTP 1.1

Methods

• Request type defines several kinds of messages referred as methods

• Request method is the actual command or request that a client issues to the server
• GET :if the client wants to retrieve the document from the server
• HEAD: if the client wants some info about the document
• POST: used by the client to provide some info to the server
• PUT: used by the client wants to provide a new or replacement document to be
stored on the server
• PATCH: similar to PUT with some differences to be implemented with the existing
file.
• COPY : copies a file to another location
• MOVE: moves a file to another location
• DELETE : removes a document on the server
• LINK : creates a link or links from a doc to another location
• UNLINK: deletes the link created by the link

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 Response Message:

Status Line:

Header Format:

• Exchange additional info between the client and the server

• Example:
Client can request that the doc be sent in a special format

Server can send extra info about the document

• General header: gives info about the msg

• Request Header: can only be in response msg

Specifies the servers configuration and special info about the request

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 • Entity header :gives info about the body of the document

Other features

• Persistent Connection: the server leaves the connection open for more requests
after sending a response.
• Non-Persistent Connection: one TCP connection is made for each request and
response.
HTTP version 1.1 specifies a persistent connection by default

5.10 WWW

Repository of info spread all over the world and linked together
It has a unique combination of flexibility, portability and user-friendly features .
It is a distributed client-server service.
A client using a browser can access a service using a server.
The service provided is distributed over many locations called websites.

Hypertext and hypermedia

Info is stored in a set of documents that are linked using the concept of pointers
An item can be associated with another document by a pointer
Hypermedia: It can contain pictures , graphics and sound
A unit of Hypertext or hypermedia available on the web is called a page

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 Hypertext:

Browser Architecture:

Categories of Web documents

Static Document:

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5.11 HTML

 A language for creating web pages.

 Allows to embed formatting instructions in the file itself.

Boldface tags

Effect of boldface tags

Structure of a Web page

 A web page is made of 2 parts

 Head and Body
 Head : contains the title of the page

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 Beginning and ending tags

Common tags

Beginning Ending
Meaning
Tag Tag

Skeletal Tags

<HTML> </HTML> Defines an HTML document

<HEAD> </HEAD> Defines the head of the document

<BODY> </BODY> Defines the body of the document

Title and Header Tags

<TITLE> </TITLE> Defines the title of the document

<Hn> </Hn> Defines the title of the document

Beginning Ending
Meaning
Tag Tag

Text Formatting Tags

<B> </B> Boldface

<I> </I> Italic

<U> </U> Underlined

<SUB> </SUB> Subscript

<SUP> </SUP> Superscript

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 Data Flow Tag

<CENTER> </CENTER> Centered

<BR> </BR> Line break

Beginning Ending
Meaning
Tag Tag

List Tags

<OL> </OL> Ordered list

<UL> </UL> Unordered list

<LI> </LI> An item in a list

Image Tag

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Hyperlink Tag

<A> </A> Defines an address (hyperlink)

Executable Contents

<APPLET> </APPLET> The document is an applet

This example shows how tags are used to let the browser format the appearance of
the text

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 Dynamic Document

 Do not exist in a predefined format

 It is created by a web server whenever a browser requests the document

Active document

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 Skeleton of an applet

Instantiation of the object defined by an applet

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 Creation and compilation

HTML document carrying an applet

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 In this example, we first import two packages, java.awt and java.applet. They contain the
declarations and definitions of classes and methods that we need. Our example uses only one
publicly inherited class called First. We define only one public method, paint. The browser can
access the instance of First through the public method paint. The paint method, however, calls
another method called drawString, which is defined in java.awt.*.

import java.applet.*;
import java.awt.*;

public class First extends Applet

{
public void paint (Graphics g)
{
g.drawString ("Hello World", 100, 100);
}
}

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Reference:
www.google.com,
www.csnetworking.com,
www.indiancomtnetworks.com,
www.gnet.com,
www.net.comp.in,
www.networkingidea.com,
www.wikipedia.com,
www.cmpnet.com,
www.ajilipnet.com
www.comtechnet.com
www.netlogics.org
www.asianetworks.org
www.srvrclint.mnet.in

Computer networking – James F.Kurose, Kaith W. Ross

Computer Nertwoks - Andrew S. Tanenbaum
Computer networks – V.S. Bagad, I.A. Dhotre
Data communication and networking – Behrouz A Forouzan

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