IT-5302-3

Internet Architecture and

Protocols
Punjab University College of Information Technology,
University of the Punjab, Pakistan.

Lecture 01 & 02 - Introduction

 Lecture 01& 02 - Objectives

• Introduction
• Course Objectives, Outline and Grading Policies
• What is the Internet?
– Nuts and Bolts View
– Service Oriented View
• Network Edge
• Network Core
– Circuit Switched Networks
– Packet Switched Networks
• Datagram
• Virtual Circuits
• Network Access and Physical Media

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 Course Objectives

• To understand the design philosophy of the Internet and

its basic architectural components.
• To provide in-depth knowledge of major Internet
technologies.
• To understand the components of Internet service
provider and its role in Internet architecture.
• To strengthen the concepts of TCP/IP Protocol Suite.
• To provide comprehensive knowledge and
implementation of routing protocols.
• To realize the need of Quality of Service based
communication and to understand various QoS
techniques.
• To introduce the basic concepts of real time
communications.

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 What is the Internet?

• A Nuts and Bolts Description

– End systems
– Communication Links, Bandwidth
– Routers, Packet
– ISPs
– Protocols, TCP/IP
– Internet Standards, RFCs
• A service Description
– Distributed Applications
– Connection Oriented Reliable Service
– Connectionless Unreliable Service
• What is a protocol?

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 Describing the Internet

• Two ways to describe the Internet

– Nuts and Bolts View
• The basic hardware and software components
– Service Oriented View
• The networking infrastructure that provides
services to distributed applications

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 Nuts and Bolts View of the Internet

• Hosts or End Systems

– Computing Devices such as PCs, PDAs (Personal
Digital Assistants), TVs, servers, mobile computers,
automobiles, etc. connected to the Internet are
called hosts or end systems.

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Nuts and Bolts View of the Internet…

• Communication links
– End systems are connected together by communication
links.
– Communication links are made up of different types of
media, including twisted pair, coaxial cable, fiber optics,
and radio spectrum.
• Bandwidth
– Different links can transmit data at different rates.
– The link transmission rate is often called the bandwidth
(i.e, the width of the band) of the link which is measured in
bits per second (bps).

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Nuts and Bolts View of the Internet…

• Routers
– End systems are not directly connected to each
other via a single communication link.
– They are indirectly connected to each through
intermediate switching devices known as routers.
– A router receives chunk of information from one of
its incoming communication link and forwards it to
one of its outgoing communication link.

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Nuts and Bolts View of the Internet…

• Packets
– The chunk of information is called packet.
• Route or Path
– The path that the packet takes from the sending end
system, through a series of communication links and
routers, to the receiving end system is known as a route or
path.
• Packet switching
– The Internet uses a technique known as packet switching
that allows multiple communicating end systems to share
a path, or parts of path at the same time.

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Nuts and Bolts View of the Internet…

• Internet Service Providers (ISPs)

– End systems access the Internet through the Internet
Service Providers (ISPs).
– The different ISPs provide a variety of different types
of network access to the end systems, including
56Kbps dial up modem access, cable modem or DSL,
high speed LAN access, and wireless access.

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Nuts and Bolts View of the Internet…

• Protocols
– End systems, routers, and other pieces of the
Internet, run protocols that control the sending and
receiving of information within the Internet.
– TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and IP (Internet
protocol) are two of the most important protocols in
the Internet.
– The Internet’s principal protocols are collectively
known as TCP/IP Protocol Suite.

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 What is a Protocol?

• A Human Analogy
– “Assalam u Alaikum”
– “What’s the time?”
• In human protocols specific messages are sent,
and specific actions are taken in response to
messages received, or other events.
• Network protocols
– All activity in the Internet that involves two or more
communicating remote entities is governed by a
protocol.

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 What is a protocol?

A human protocol and a computer network protocol

Hi TCP connection
req
Hi
TCP connection
Got the response
time? Get http://www.awl.com/kurose-ross

2:00
<file>
time

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 What is a Protocol?…

• A Protocol is a set of rules and regulations that governs

the exchange of information between two or more
entities.
• It takes two (or more) communicating entities running
the same protocol in order to accomplish a task.
• All communication activity in Internet governed by
protocols.
• A protocol defines the format, order of messages
exchanged between two or more communicating
entities, as well as the actions taken on the transmission
and/or receipt of a message or other event.

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Nuts and Bolts View of the Internet…

• Intranets
– There are many private networks, such as many
corporate and government networks, whose hosts
cannot exchange messages with hosts outside of the
private network (unless the messages pass through
so-called firewalls, which restrict the flow of
messages to and from the network).
– These private networks are often referred to as
intranets, as they use the same types of hosts,
routers, links, and protocols as the public Internet.

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Nuts and Bolts View of the Internet…

• Internet Standards
– At the technical and development level, the Internet is
made possible through creation, testing, and
implementation of Internet Standards.
– These standards are developed by Internet Engineering
Task Force (IETF).
• RFCs
– The IETF standards documents are called RFCs (Request
for comments).
– RFCs started out as general request for comments (hence
the name) to resolve architecture problems of the Internet.
– They define protocols such as TCP, IP, HTTP, SMTP.

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Some Pieces of the Internet

router workstation
server
mobile
local ISP

regional ISP

company
network
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Service Oriented View of the Internet

• Distributed Applications
• Communication Services
– Connection oriented reliable service
– Connectionless unreliable service

• Distributed Applications
– The Internet allows distributed applications running
on its end systems to exchange data with each other.
– These applications include remote login, electronic
mail, web surfing, instant messaging, audio and video
streaming, Internet telephony, distributed games,
peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, and much more.

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 Service Oriented View of the
Internet…
• Internet Provides two services to its distributed
applications:
– Connection Oriented Reliable Service
• It guarantees that data transmitted from a sender
to a receiver will eventually be delivered to the
receiver in order and in its entirety.
– Connectionless Unreliable Service
• It does not make any guarantees about eventual
delivery.

• Thus, Internet is an infrastructure in which new

applications are being constantly invented and
deployed.

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 Connection Oriented Services

• Connection Oriented Service

– Reliable Data Transfer
• Using acknowledgements and retransmissions
– Flow Control
• sender won’t overwhelm receiver
– Congestion Control
• senders “slow down sending rate” when network
congested
– TCP
• Applications using TCP are:
– HTTP (Web), FTP (file transfer), Telnet (remote
login), SMTP (email)

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 Connectionless Services

• Connectionless Service
– Unreliable Data Transfer
• no flow control
• no congestion control
– Fast
• connectionless
– UDP
• Applications using UDP are:
– multimedia, videoconferencing, DNS, Internet
telephony

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 TCP vs. UDP

• Reliable Protocol • Unreliable Protocol

• Connection Oriented • Connectionless
• Performs three ways • Much faster than TCP
handshake • No acknowledgement
• Provision for error waits
detection and • No proper sequencing of
retransmission data units
• Most applications use • Suitable for applications
TCP for reliable and where speed matters
guaranteed transmission more than reliability

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 A closer look at network structure

• Network Edge:
– applications and hosts
• Network Core:
– routers
– network of networks
• Access networks, physical media:
– Residential, company and mobile access
– Twisted Pair, Coaxial, Fiber Optics, Radio Channels

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 Network Edge

• End Systems, Clients and Servers

– In Computer Networking, computers connected to the
Internet are referred to as End Systems, as they sit at the
edge of the Internet.
– End Systems = Hosts
– Hosts are subdivided into two categories: Client and
Servers
• Client/Server Applications
– A client program is a program running on one end system
that requests and receives a service from a server program
running on another end system.
– Client/Server Internet applications are, by definition,
distributed applications.

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 Network Edge

• Peer to Peer Applications

– In peer to peer application, the program running in a
peer (user’s machine) acts as a client when it
requests a file from another peer; and the program
acts as a server when it sends a file to another peer.
– Examples are peer-to-peer file sharing applications
like Napster, KaZaA etc.

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 Network Core – Circuit Switching

• Switched circuits allow data connections that

can be initiated when needed and terminated
when communication is complete
• Circuit switched network - a network in which
a dedicated circuit is established between
sender and receiver and all data passes over
this circuit.
• The telephone system is a common example.
• The connection is dedicated until one party or
another terminates the connection.

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 Circuit Switching

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 Network Core – Circuit Switching

• Dedicated communication path between two

stations
• Three phases (Establish, Transfer, Disconnect)
• Inefficient (for data traffic)
– Channel capacity dedicated for duration of connection
– Much of the time a data connection is idle
– If no data, capacity wasted
• Set up (connection) takes time
– Once connected, transfer is transparent
– Circuit switching designed for voice
– Constant Data rate
• Both ends must operate at the same rate

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 Network Core - Circuit Switching

• Multiplexing in Circuit Switched Networks

– Multiplexing is a technique, in which a single
transmission medium is being shared among
multiple users.
• Types of Multiplexing
– Frequency Division Multiplexing FDM
– Time Division Multiplexing TDM

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 Circuit Switching: FDM and TDM

Example: 4 users

FDM

Frequency

time
TDM

Frequency

time
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Synchronous TDM

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Synchronous TDM with empty time slots

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Statistical TDM or Asynchronous TDM

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 Network Core: Packet Switching

• Packet switched network

– A network in which data is transmitted in the form of
packets
– Multiple users share network resources
– No dedicated bandwidth is allocated
– No resources are reserved, resources used as
needed
– Each packet uses full link bandwidth

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 Packet Switching: Statistical Multiplexing

10 Mb/s
A Ethernet statistical multiplexing C

1.5 Mb/s
B
queue of packets
waiting for output
link

D E
Sequence of A & B packets does not have fixed pattern ➨ statistical multiplexing.

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 Network Core: Packet Switching

• The goal of packet switching is to

move packets through routers from
source to destination
• Packets sent one at a time to the network
• Two approaches are used:
– Datagram Approach
– Virtual Circuits Approach

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 Packet Switching - Datagram

• Datagram Approach:
– Each packet is treated independently
– No reference to packets that have gone before
– Each node chooses next node on path using destination
address
– Packets with same destination address may not follow
same route
– Packets may arrive out of sequence, may be lost
– It is up to receiver to re-order packets and recover from
lost packets
– No Call setup
– For an exchange of a few packets, datagram quicker
– The Internet is a Datagram network

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Packet Switching - Datagram

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 Packet Switching – Virtual Circuits

• Virtual Circuit Approach:

– Virtual circuit packet switched network create a
logical path through the network.
– Call request and call accept packets establish a
virtual connection
– Virtual route remains fixed through the call.
– All packets follow same route.
– Each packet contains a virtual circuit identifier
instead of destination address to determines the
next hop.
– Not a dedicated path-as in circuit switching, Packet
still buffered at node and queued for output
– No routing decisions required for each packet

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Internet Architecture and Protocols, PUCIT, University of the Punjab
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 Virtual Circuits vs. Datagram

• Network can provide • No call setup phase

sequencing and error – Better if few packets
control • More flexible
• Packets are forwarded – Routing can be used to
more quickly avoid congested parts of
– No routing decisions to the network
make • More reliable
• Less reliable – If a node fails, packets
– Loss of a node looses all may find an alternate
circuits through that route that bypass that
node node
• Less Node Delay • More Node Delay

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 Circuit Switching vs. Virtual Circuits

• Path • Route
– A dedicated path is – No dedicated path is
established between two established. Only a route
devices for the duration is defined. Each switch
of session. creates an entry in its
• Reserved Resources routing table for the
duration of virtual circuit
– The link (multiplexed /
not multiplexed) that • Shared Links
makes the path are – The link that makes a
dedicated, and cannot route can be shard by
be used by other other connections
connections
• constant data rates.

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 Features of Circuit and Packet
Switching
Feature Circuit Packet Switching
Switching
Data sent as packets? No Yes
Packets follow same route? N/A Yes (VC), No (Datagram)
Resources reserved in network? Yes No
Data  send  can  have  variable  latency No Yes
(response time)
Connection made? Yes VC: Yes, Datagram: No
State info stored at network nodes? N/A VC: Yes, Datagram: No
Addressing info needed? only  when  call  is VC: virtual circuit
set up                 number  
Datagram: destination 
                  Address

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 Network Taxonomy

Telecommunication
networks

Circuit-switched Packet-switched
networks networks

FDM Networks Datagram

TDM
with VCs Networks

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 Network Access

• Network Access:
– The physical link that connects an end system to its Edge
Router, which is the first router on a path from the end
system to any other distant end system.
• Classification of Network Access:
– Residential Access
• Connecting a home end system to an edge router
• Dial-up modems, DSL, HFC system
– Company Access
• Switched Ethernet LANs
– Mobile Access
• Wireless LAN (802.11b)
• Wide Area Wireless Access Networks (GPRS, 3G, WAP)

• Note: these categories are not hard and fast

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 Physical Media

• Twisted Pair Cable

– UTP Cat 5
• Coaxial Cable
– Baseband and Broadband Cable
• Fiber Optics
– Multimode and single mode
• Terrestrial Radio Channels
– Local Area Radio Channels (Wireless LANs)
– Wide Area Radio Channels (WAP, 3G)
• Satellite Radio Channels
– Geostationary Satellites (36000 km)
– Low Altitude Satellites

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 Reference Material

• Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach Featuring

the Internet; Chapter 1
By James F. Kurose

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 Net Surfing

• Some Good Hyperlinks:

– http://www.ietf.org
– http://www.iab.org
– http://www.w3.org
– http://www.ieee.org
– http://www.acm.org
– http://www.acm.org/sigcomm
– http://www.computer.org
– http://www.comsoc.org

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