Fundamentals of Computer Networking
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
• Computer networks are an integral part of the modern
computing infrastructure
• The local network (LAN) is usually Ethernet
• LAN’s are inter-connected with other LAN’s in a hierarchical
fashion eventually forming the Internet
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
• The operation of computer networks is governed by
hardware and software protocols
• There are two standard network models
• The 7-layer ISO model
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSI_model
•The 5-layer TCP/IP model
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TCP/IP_model
• These models are abstract representations of the division of
labor
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
Network Models
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
Network Model
• Layer 1 (Physical) is the electrical specification
• Layer 2 (Data Link) defines the interface to Layer 1
• Layer 3 (Network) is generally responsible for transferring
data between networks
• Layer 4 (Transport) is generally responsible for packaging
data into packets for transfer between computers
• Layer 5 (Application) is generally responsible for
communication between applications
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
Ethernet
• The networking protocol of the Local Area Network is
Ethernet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet
• Ethernet is defined in layers 1 and 2
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
TCP/IP Suite
• The networking protocol of the Internet is TCP/IP
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TCP/IP
• The functionality of TCP/IP resides in layers 3, 4, and 5
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
Layer 2 - Ethernet
• Ethernet was invented by Xerox in 1970’s
• Speeds are currently 10, 100, 1000 Mbps
• Data is packaged in frames
• The major contents of a frame are
• source address (6 bytes)
• destination address (6 bytes)
• payload (up to 1500 bytes)
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
Layer 2 - Ethernet
• An ethernet is 48 bits in length and each device has a
unique address
• An ethernet address is usually referred to by the terms
• MAC address
• Physical address
• The address is normally written as
• xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
• xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx
• “x” is a hexi-decimal digit, 0-f
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
Layer 2 - Ethernet
• The ethernet address space is flat
• Addressing is not scalable
• Ethernet transmissions are “unreliable”, the receiver does
not acknowledge receipt
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
Layer 3
• Three common layer 3 TCP/IP protocols are
• IP the inter-networking protocol
• ICMP the IP control message protocol
• ARP the address resolution protocol
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
Layer 3 - IP
• Data is packaged in packets
• Contents of an IP packet are
• source address (4 bytes)
• destination address (4 bytes)
• payload
• IP addresses are hierarchical
• Written as
• ddd.ddd.ddd.ddd
• where ddd ranges from AE6382
0-255
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
Layer 3 - IP
• An IP address consists of a network part and a
host part
• Displayed as address and subnet mask
• Can also be displayed as 172.16.11.200/16
• IPv4 addresses are 64 bits
• IPv6 addresses are 128 bits
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
Layer 3 - ICMP
• These messages convey information about an IP connection
• Host unreachable
• Route not found
• This is also the carrier for the ping command
• ping www.ae.gatech.edu
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
Layer 3 - ARP
• Address resolution protocol
• Fits between layers 2 and 3
• Creates and maintains the mappings between ethernet
addresses and IP addreses
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
Layer 4 - UDP
• User Datagram Protocol
• Connectionless, send and forget
• Packet ordering not guaranteed
• Does not provide a reliable connection between nodes
• Less expensive to setup than TCP
• Uses source and destination ports for addressing
• Requires IP addressing to locate remote computer
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
Layer 4 - TCP
• Transmission Control Protocol
• Connection oriented, creates a virtual connection between
computers
• Packet ordering is guaranteed
• Does provide a reliable connection between computers
• will retransmit as necessary
• Uses source and destination ports for addressing
• Requires IP addressing to locate remote computer
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
Layer 5 - Application
• There are many application level protocols
• http, smtp, pop, telnet, ssh, smb, nfs, …
• These all rely on the capabilities of the lower levels
• Most are TCP but some are UDP
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
Packaging Data
• Each layer will add additional content to the data to be
transmitted
• For example, an HTTP request will consist of,
• An HTTP request enclosed in a TCP packet, which in
turn is enclosed in an IP packet, which is finally enclosed
in an ethernet frame
• Each level add its own functionality and addressing
scheme
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
Example
• http://www.ae.gatech.edu/
• HTTP request (5) – GET / HTTP/1.0
• TCP packet (4) – specifies port 80
• IP packet (3) – specifies address of web server (128.61.191.2)
• Ethernet frame (2) – puts request on the wire to server (00:50:da:b9:4b:c5)
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
IP Addresses
• To uniquely identify a connection requires
• source IP address (3)
• source port number (4)
• destination IP address (3)
• source port number (4)
• Sometimes written as 128.61.191.2:80
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
IP Addresses - Ports
• The addressing scheme of TCP and UDP uses a source and destination port
number
• Both TCP and UDP are point to point in nature – they see only the other
computer – they identify a resource on the other end
• Port numbers are assigned and well-known
• 22 ssh
• 25 smtp
• 80 http
• 3389 rdp
• Source port is usually randomly selected
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
IP Addresses - Names
• The Domain Name System (DNS), a layer 5 protocol,
provides a mapping service between names and addresses
• A name consists of name.domain
• The naming system is hierarchical
• Examples
•www.gatech.edu - 130.207.165.120
•www.ae.gatech.edu - 128.61.191.2
•asdlserver.asdl.ae.gatech.edu - 172.16.0.100
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
IP Addresses – Obtaining
• A computer will usually acquire its IP address from
• manual configuration
• from a DHCP (dynamic host configuration protocol)
server (a UDP layer 5 protocol)
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
IP Addresses - Routing
• IP addresses are partitioned into network and host parts
• Computers in the same network are usually on the same
ethernet LAN – they do not require routing, they use ARP
• Computers on different networks require a router to reach
each other
• Ethernet frames are not routed, only IP packets
• IP configuration will specify a default router address
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
IP Addresses – Reserved
• The internal loopback address – traffic that stays in the host
• 127.0.0.0/8
• The private addresses – not routed to the Internet
• 10.0.0.0/8
• 172.16.0.0/16 – 172.31.0.0/16 (172.16.0.0/12)
• 192.168.0.0/24 – 192.168.255.0/24 (192.168.0.0/16)
• 169.254.0.0/16 - randomly assigned by host
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
IP Addresses – Reserved
• The non-routed Link Local addresses
• 169.254.0.0/16
• 169.254.1.0/24 – 169.254.254.0/24
•A computer that has been configured to acquire its IP
address from a DHCP server will select an address from this
range after a suitable time-out period has expired
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
Terms – protocol
• frame – the sequence of bytes in an ethernet transmission
• packet – the sequence of bytes in IP based protocols
• TCP/IP – the DoD created protocol suite used for the Internet
• ethernet – the Xerox created protocol used for LAN’s
• tcp stack – refers to the software implementation of the network model
• DNS name – the name associated with an IP address
• IP address – the address of a host using TCP/IP
• MAC address – the address used by ethernet frames
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
Terms – network devices
• firewall – a device that filters packets based on content or addresses, usually
also an IP router
• router – a device that connects IP network segments
• bridge – a device that connects ethernet segments
• proxy – a device that connects to a network service on your behalf
• vpn – virtual private network, a device that creates a virtual network on a public
network (Internet). It is usually encrypted.
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
Windows Network Commands
• ipconfig – a command that will display configuration of all network devices (see
ipconfig /help)
• ipconfig /all
• ipconfig /release and ipconfig /renew
• route – a command that will configure and display the current route tables on
your computer (see route help)
• route – route add 192.168.10.0 mask 255.255.255.0 192.168.10.50
• route print
• netstat – a command to display current network connections (see netstat help)
• netstat – default to display current TCP connections
• netstat –a – display all connections, including listening
• tracert – this command will display the path to the target host
• tracert www.ae.gatech.edu
• ping – send a ping packet to the remote host (some hosts do not respond)
• ping www.ae.gatech.edu
• nbtstat – display MS specific network info (see nbtstat help)
• nbtstat –A asdlserver.asdl.ae.gatech.edu
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
Windows - ipconfig
•
The ipconfig command will display the
current IP configuration of a windows
computer.
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
Windows - nbtstat
The nbtstat command displays information about other Windows systems on the
network. It accepts either DNS name or NetBIOS name.
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
Windows - netstat
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
Windows - netstat
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
Windows - netstat
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
Windows - arp
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
Windows - tracert
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
Linux/Unix network commands
• ifconfig – configure and display network devices
• ifconfig eth0 – display configuration of eth0
• route – configure and display the hosts route tables
• route – display route table
• ip – multi-purpose network command
• ip addr – display network configurations
• ip route – display route table
• netstat – display current network connections
• netstat – display all current tcp and udp connections
• netstat –at – display all current tcp connections including listening ports
AE6382
Fundamentals of Computer Networking
Linux/Unix network commands
• traceroute – display the path to remote host
• traceroute www.ae.gatech.edu
• ping – send a ping to the remote host
• ping www.ae.gatech.edu
AE6382
