Networking Today!

DAT230 – Communication Technology I

Naeem Khademi
Associate Professor, IDE/UiS
[email protected]

1
Communication
• Communication is a vital aspect of our day-to-day life!
• It has become possible through the use of computer networks
• Anywhere/Anytime and anything!

2
 Network Components (#1)
• Host, end-device: every computer on the
network
• Servers: obviously serving (providing data
service) to end-devices (e.g., email, web, file
servers )
• Clients: send requests to servers e.g.,
– Fetch a web-page from a web-server
– Retrieve an email from mail server
• Peer-to-Peer (p2p) vs Client-Server
communication models
– Device is both client and server at the same
time!
– p2p application examples are file sharing (e.g.,
using BitTorrent), multimedia multicasting, BitCoin,
Tor,…
P2P Advantages P2P Disadvantages
Easy to set up No centralized administration
Less complex Not as secure
Lower cost Not scalable
3
Used for simple tasks: transferring files and sharing printers Slower performance
 Network Components (#2)
• Intermediary devices (middleboxes):
interconnects end-devices – e.g., switches,
routers, wireless access points, firewalls
• Middleboxes manage the data flow through
the network and
– Regenerate and retransmit data signals.
– Maintain information about what network
paths
– Notify other devices of errors and
communication failures.

• Network media: data is carried through a

medium within the network
Media Types Description
Metal wires within Uses electrical impulses
cables
Glass or plastic fibers Uses pulses of light.
within cables (fiber-optic
cable)
Wireless transmission Uses modulation of specific
frequencies of
4
electromagnetic waves.
 Network Representation & Topology Diagrams (Cisco)

• Network diagrams aka topology

diagrams
• Physical topology: physical location of
intermediary devices and cable
installation
• Logical topology: devices,
ports/interfaces, and addressing
scheme of the network

Logical topology Physical topology

5
 Network Types
Small Home SOHO
• Network vary greatly in terms of:
– Covered area size
– Number of connected users
– Number and types of services available
– Area of responsibility
• Two most common types:
– LAN (Local Area Network): small geo area
– WAN (Wide Area Network): wide geo area
Medium/Large Worldwide
LAN WAN
Interconnect end devices in a Interconnect LANs over wide geographical
limited area. areas.
Administered by a single Typically administered by one or more service
organization or individual. providers.
Provide high-speed bandwidth Typically provide slower speed links between
to internal devices. LANs.

6
 The Internet! (and Intranet)
• Intranet as a private collection of LANs/WANs
within an organization
• The Internet: worldwide collection of
interconnected LANs and WANs.
– LANs are connected to each other using WANs
– WANs may use copper wires, fiber optic cables, and
wireless transmissions.
• Who owns the Internet? not owned by any
individual or group. Following entities maintain the
structure of the Internet:
– IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force): main
standardization body (~9K RFCs)
• RFCs: initially “Requests for Comments” but in fact
standards, specifications, best practices
– ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names
and Numbers): coordinating databases related to
namespace and numerical spaces of the Internet
– IAB (Internet Architecture Board): a committee
within the IETF; architectural oversight of Internet
protocols 7
 Internet Access Technologies
Connection Description
SOHO
Cable high bandwidth, always on, Internet offered by cable TV providers
DSL high bandwidth, always on, Internet connection that runs over a phone line
Cellular uses a cellular network for Internet connectivity
Satellite major benefit to rural areas without Internet Service Providers (ISP)
Dial-up an inexpensive, low bandwidth option using a modem

Connection Description
Dedicated These are reserved circuits within the service provider’s network that
Leased Line connect distant offices with private voice and/or data networking
Ethernet This extends LAN access technology into the WAN
WAN
DSL Business DSL is available in various formats including Symmetric Digital
Subscriber Lines (SDSL)
Satellite This can provide a connection when a wired solution is not available Business 8

What are the corporate

(business) Internet
requirements?
– Higher bandwidth
– Dedicated connections
– Managed services
– … Converging networks
Reliable Networks
• Network architecture: Fault-tolerance: limit the impact
technologies supporting of failure by limiting the number
intrastcuture that moves data of affected devices; redundency
across the network – 4 basic enabled by using packet
characteristics to meet the user switching in reliable nets.
expectations

QoS: voice and video have higher

service requirements – e.g., high Network Security: net
bandwidth for video, low delay for infrastructure security
interactive voice/video. (physical, unauthorized access)
& information security
(protection of data/info over
the network); Three goals:
confidentiality, integrity and
availability 9
 Network trends (few observations, #1)
• Networks must be able to evolve in order to adapt to new technologies and
emerging user requirements

CNN’s landing page on 12.01.2021; source: cnn.com

CNN’s landing page in 1996; source: thoughtcatalog.com

10
 Network trends (few observations, #2)
• Networks must be able to evolve in order to adapt to new technologies and
emerging user requirements
This NeXT
Computer used
by Tim Berners-
Lee at CERN
became the
world's first
web server!

Thomas Schanz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

YouTube in 2005; source:

versionmuseum.com

YouTube on 12.01.2021; source:

youtube.com

Connie Zhou for Google

Network trends (Classroom activity)
a) Video traffic share of global IP traffic?
a) Interactive (Skype, Zoom, Whatsapp) vs Video-on-Demand (VOD streaming)
b) Increase in quality and resolution (SD, HD, HD|2K, UHD|4K, UHD|8K,…)
c) 3D, 360, AR/VR/XR
b) Mobile vs Stationary user devices
c) User devices vs Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices
d) Machine-to-Machine communication
e) Smart home
f) Powerline networking
g) Wireless broadband by WISP
h) What types of “network” jobs in the market?

12
Network Trends -- Cloud Computing
• Computation and/or storage is performed
on servers over the Internet instead of user
devices
– Different types of services (e.g., SaaS, PaaS,
IaaS)
– Services (e.g., applications) can be delivered
anywhere/anytime
– Made possible by datacenters
– Normally offered by big companies to smaller
companies and individuals https://www.bmc.com/blogs/saas-vs-paas-vs-iaas-whats-the-difference-and-how-to-choose/

Saas: Dropbox, Google apps

PaaS: Google App Engine, AWS Elastic Beanstalk
IaaS: AWS, Google Compute Engine

Connie Zhou for Google 13

Network Trends -- Cloud Computing
Four types of Clouds:
• Public Clouds: available to the general public through a pay-per-use model or for free.
• Private Clouds: intended for a specific organization or entity such as the government.
• Hybrid Clouds: made up of two or more Cloud types – for example, part custom and
part public. Each part remains a distinctive object, but both are connected using the
same architecture.
• Custom Clouds: built to meet the needs of a specific industry, such as healthcare or
media; can be private or public.

Amazon’s AWS US West

(Oregon) cloud centre
Source: Google Earth

14
 Network Security
External Threats:
– Viruses, worms, and Trojan horses
– Spyware and adware
– Zero-day attacks Internal Threats:
– Threat Actor attacks – lost or stolen devices
– Denial of service attacks – accidental misuse by employees
– Data interception and theft – malicious employees
– Identity theft

• Security must be implemented in multiple layers using

more than one security solution.
• Network security components for home or small office
network:
– Antivirus and antispyware software on end devices.
– Firewall filtering used to block unauthorized access to the
network
• Larger networks have additional security requirements:
– Dedicated firewall system
– Access control lists (ACL) The study of network security starts with
a clear understanding of the underlying
– Intrusion prevention systems (IPS) switching and routing infrastructure!
– Virtual private networks (VPN) 15